Since last week, about 600 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees have received layoff notices that have not since been rescinded, internal CDC officials not authorized to speak to the media told CBS News on Tuesday.
About 1,000 CDC employees initially received layoff notices, the government term for layoffs, on Oct. 10, officials said.
But in about 24 hours, hundreds of those notices were revoked, bringing the total number of layoffs at the agency since Oct. 10 to about 600, officials said.
CDC programs that have seen staff reductions include, but are not limited to, the CDC's Washington, D.C., offices, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, the National Health, Nutrition and Examination Survey, and the CDC Human Resources Division, CDC officials told CBS News.
Among the layoffs were D.C. staffers who served as liaisons between the agency and Congress, often providing members with data and information about the CDC's work, officials told CBS News. For example, these were the employees who provided information to Congress about the measles outbreak. earlier this year.
In a media conference call Tuesday, AFGE Local 2883, the union representing CDC employees, told reporters that it estimates the CDC has lost about 3,000 employees this year through resignations and layoffs, reducing the agency's staffing levels by about 23%. CDC officials also confirmed this figure to CBS News.
The CDC is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Michael Kaplan, Caitlin Huey-Burns
