Hundreds of employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received termination notices on Wednesday. The layoffs come in the wake of a deadly shooting incident at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters on August 8.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the layoffs but not the number. However, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees told The Hill that approximately 600 workers were dismissed.

“The cuts are across the agency, including the Division of Violence Prevention, EEO, FOIA, the Office of Financial Resources, the offices of the chief information and chief operating officers and more,” the union said in a statement. “When we face that next public health crisis, we do so with a decimated and demoralized workforce. HHS has shown that it does not have the organizational or operational capacity to take over the support functions that the agency had before these firings. This reduction in force was operationally a mess. They have shown they are in no way prepared to support CDC when America needs it most.”

The staff reductions came after U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose revised her previous injunction in which she said the firings likely were unlawful. Her revision specified several subagencies and programs that could not terminate workers, leaving others open to layoffs.

Meanwhile, more than 750 HHS employees on Wednesday sent a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and members of Congress, asking the secretary to stop spreading what they called misinformation. After citing multiple examples, the letter asked the secretary to do the following by Sept. 2:

  • Stop spreading inaccurate health information. Cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission and America's public health institutions.
  • Affirm CDC's scientific integrity. Acknowledge and affirm that CDC’s work is rooted in scientific, non-partisan evidence focused on improving the health of every American.
  • Guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce. Ensure that the HHS workforce can carry out its duties in an environment free from imminent threats of harm. This should include emergency procedures and alerts that are fully functional for all workers and taking vigorous action to remove high-profile online material targeting the federal workforce, such as the widely seen "DEI watchlists."

"Our asks in the letter are genuine, and we certainly hope that Secretary Kennedy will hold true to his oath and do his best to advance science and affirm that CDC does scientific, nonpartisan work," a CDC employee who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News. "We certainly hold that hope, and you know that I would say that our desire for that, and our hope for that is genuine."

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