Some of the 10,000 layoffs this week at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were mistakes and are being rolled back, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on April 3.
The mass terminations, which took place across HHS and its divisions, were focused on streamlining administrative sections and consolidating work on communications, information technology, and human resources, the health secretary told reporters in Virginia.
“In the course of that, there were a number of instances where studies that should have not been cut were cut—we’re reinstating them. Personnel that should not have been cut were cut—we’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan,” Kennedy said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch was wrongly cut, and is being reinstated, according to the health secretary. The program is focused on preventing children from being exposed to lead by providing money and other support to state and local public health departments.
The CDC declined to comment.
HHS declined to give more examples of cuts that are being rolled back.
“HHS is planning to continue the important work of the lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch that works to eliminate childhood lead poisoning under the Administration for a Healthy America,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
HHS on April 1 sent termination notices to about 10,000 workers, including about 2,400 CDC employees, after officials identified what they said were redundant jobs and divisions.
A review uncovered a lack of communication and cooperation that even included officials charging money for data instead of sharing it, he added, showing a need for change.
“We’re streamlining the agencies. We’re going to make it work for public health, make it work for the American people,” Kennedy told reporters on Thursday.
He referenced the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked by President Donald Trump to work with various agencies, including HHS, to identify what officials describe as unnecessary jobs and programs.
“Part of the DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80 percent cuts, but 20 percent of those are going to have to be reinstalled, because we'll make mistakes,” Kennedy said. “And one of the things that President Trump has said is that if we make mistakes, we’re going to admit it and we’re going to remedy it.”
Calley Means, a special government employee at HHS, told a health care forum in Washington on Thursday that HHS had a “record of utter failure” and said dramatic reform is why people voted for Trump, whom Kennedy endorsed after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
The new comments came after some lawmakers criticized the terminations.
Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the panel’s chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), on April 1 asked Kennedy to appear before the panel and answer questions about the HHS reorganization.
Kennedy, as he sought votes from senators during the confirmation process, committed to appearing before the committee once per quarter, the lawmakers said.
“This will be a good opportunity for him to set the record straight and speak to the goals, structure, and benefits of the proposed reorganization,” Cassidy said in a statement.
