The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced plan to terminate the employment of 10,000 full-time employees across various health agencies, the department told CNN on Thursday.
An HHS spokesman confirmed this as an effort by its Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as he works to reshape the nation’s federal health agencies.
Those job cuts are in addition to about 10,000 employees who opted to leave HHS since President Donald Trump took office, through voluntary separation offers.
The terminations will also affect various departments within HHS responsible for critical functions such as those responding to disease outbreaks, approving new medications, and managing insurance programmes for low-income Americans.
With the implementation of these changes, the HHS Department will see its workforce decrease by about 25%, from over 80,000 to 62,000 federal health employees.
Despite this significant reduction in staff, the department will retain five regional offices. Documents reviewed indicate that essential health services are expected to continue without disruption.
