 "US health department plans to slash 10,000 jobs, says RFK Jr")
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Robert F Kennedy Jr, announced plans to lay off 10,000 employees and close half of its regional offices on Thursday as part of a major overhaul of the department.
The job cuts will add to 10,000 full-time workers who have already left their jobs at the HHS voluntarily after US President Donald Trump took office in January. So, in total, one quarter of the department’s workforce has left their jobs, leaving it with just 62,000 employees now.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy Jr. said.
The latest layoffs are part of Trump and his ally Elon Musk’s effort to reduce the federal workforce. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has vowed to “clean up” the federal bureaucracy and by doing so it believes it will be saving the American taxpayers money.
What’s the HHS overhaul?
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a massive $1.7 trillion agency responsible for a wide range of areas, including the regulation of vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and scientific research, as well as maintaining public health infrastructure, preparing for pandemics, and overseeing food and tobacco products.
As part of the restructuring, 28 units of the HHS will be consolidated into 15 new divisions, including a new ‘Administration for a Healthy America’, or AHA.
AHA will combine offices in HHS that address addiction, toxic substances and occupational safety, among others, into one central office, the agency said.
Who will lose their jobs?
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Kennedy’s plans will snatch jobs from 3,500 full-time employees from the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 employees from the National Institutes of Health and 300 workers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
With inputs from agencies
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