
The Trump Administration has initiated what one former official has called a “massacre” of federal health agencies, firing thousands of workers considered vital for the protection of public health.
According to the office of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), part of these cuts includes the firing of the CDC’s entire assisted reproductive technologies team. This despite Donald Trump’s claim last week that he’s the “fertilization president” and the fact that he signed an executive order in February purportedly to expand IVF access (though it didn’t really do that).
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On Tuesday, thousands of employees from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), received emails that they’d been terminated. Some reportedly only found out when they tried to swipe into their buildings and were denied.
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Both Murray and NPR reported that in one fell swoop, entire teams were eliminated across the agencies, including the communications team at the FDA, almost two-thirds of the staff at the CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the entire Division of Energy Assistance, which helps 5.9 million people pay their utility bills, and 40% of staff from the Administration for Community Living, which regulates aging and disability policy.
Additionally, over 800 people (out of 6,000 employees) have been fired from the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which approves new drugs and monitors side effects. At the National Institutes of Health, the biggest global funder of biomedical research, 1,300 people lost their jobs this week after the administration already fired 1,100 people. The top vaccine regulator at the FDA, Dr. Peter Marks, was also forced out last week.
Source: LGBTQ Nation