More than a year after cutting 30% of its workforce and disrupting dozens of public health programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is lagging in hiring compared to other health agencies in the federal government, according to the union representing current and former CDC employees.
The newly revealed numbers on hiring come as a clearer picture is emerging of the impact of widespread cuts made by the Trump administration’s now-shuttered Department of Government Efficiency in its effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce.
The Department of Health and Human Services has been authorized to make hundreds of new hires, but according to an analysis conducted by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2883, the CDC has roughly one new hire for every six reported staff laid off or placed on administrative leave.
According to the union’s analysis of USAJOBS and Office of Personnel Management data, the numbers, first reported by ABC News, show the CDC posted 147 job announcements from Jan. 2 through Sept. 10, 2026, with 95 new hires from January to July 2026. Those new hires are just 16.5% of the total number of employees lost to DOGE reductions in force. NIH has newly hired 34%, the FDA 39% and CMS 131.7%.
Across the CDC, there are roughly 50 so-called “zombie” programs — initiatives that Congress has fully funded with American taxpayer dollars but with little staff to do the work, according to a union analysis.
In a statement, the Department of Health Human Services said, “CDC continues to deliver on its critical public health responsibilities, while strategically hiring and aligning its workforce with the agency’s priorities.”
But according to the union analysis that ABC News reviewed, there are dozens of “zombie” programs across the public health field that impact chronic diseases, injury prevention, oral health, reproductive care, traumatic brain injury and rape prevention. Yet, the programs remain idle with reduced staff. It remains funded because CDC experts were laid off, are on paid leave or have left.
For example, the Office of Smoking and Health has a budget of $246 million and all of the programs within the office are on hold or it’s trying to do its work with contractors while the full-time employees are on paid administrative leave and are not allowed to work, according to AFGE.
Among other programs faced with steep cuts and little staff: a $6 million program for sickle cell data collection; $11 million for managing epilepsy; and $41 million for Alzheimer’s surveillance and risk prevention, according to the union.
The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, one of five programs Congress funded within the $113.5 million Safe Motherhood/Infant Health initiative, was also impacted. The PRAMS program provided one of the most comprehensive collections of data on maternal health.
‘Catch-as-catch-can’
In many cases, full-time employees like doctors and scientists who are experts in their fields are on administrative leave. Those staffers are paid but not allowed to come to work as lawsuits challenge the cuts. In other cases, the agency hired contractors to replace the CDC experts who have long guided decisions on research, data collection and community health programs.
Health care experts are sounding the alarm.
“The programs are running kind of as catch-as-catch-can,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, who serves as CEO of the American Public Health Association.
While some public health efforts have continued in the program, Benjamin stressed that it’s limited.
“It means people who are doing the work are working really hard to do minimal stuff,” he told ABC News.
“What it ultimately means is that we will not have the information that’s necessary to make sure as we all grow old, we’ll be able to live our best,” he said.
Sickle cell program in jeopardy
The Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia relies on data collected by the CDC and the state to reach patients with sickle cell in underserved communities. Many of those patients are willing to wait hours for care, knowing their monthly visit is their only window to see a specialized hematologist.
“If we don’t [treat them], then nobody will, and these people just go without healthcare,” Dr. Anthony Onyegbula said.
ABC News followed Onyegbula as he made his approximately 100 mile journey from Atlanta to Columbus, Georgia, to treat patients who otherwise would have to travel for specialized care. On this day, Onyegbula and his nurse saw 39 patients in a single day, including Marcus McGhee, who is now blind in his left eye due to complications from the disease. McGhee, 34, said he’s holding his breath in between his medical visits.
“It’s like a ‘to be continued,’ McGhee said. “During this whole month, my mind is just racing … What am I gonna have to go through this time?” he said.
Sickle cell is a genetic blood disorder that can cause chronic pain and be potentially fatal. The disease predominantly impacts African Americans and minorities.
Dr. Tabatha McGee, CEO of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia, said the data from the CDC’s sickle cell data collection program is critical to reaching patients.
‘We will lose more warriors if we don’t know where they are,” she said, adding, “We can’t get them the care that they need. We will lose them.”
Health experts seeing an impact
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News, “President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have made improving care and outcomes for Americans living with sickle cell disease a top priority.”
“Across HHS, CMS is expanding access to treatment, FDA is approving new options, HRSA is strengthening care, NIH is advancing research, and CDC is continuing surveillance that helps states identify gaps in care and treatment,” the spokesperson added.
Yet, health experts warn they are seeing an impact.
In a September letter to the CDC Director Erica Schwartz, the American Society of Hematology stated that the division was facing “a number of immediate challenges” and warned there were “early signs that the national data infrastructure built through years of federal investment is beginning to erode.”
“Grantees facing difficulties in planning with the risk of losing key staff with essential program and data expertise; pauses in data collection and analysis; and disruptions to patient care,” the group wrote in its letter to Schwartz.
The federal health department notes research has expanded across other federal health agencies. In July, the FDA approved the first gene therapy for children as young as two with sickle cell disease and awarded grants to expand access to care.
Under the first Trump administration, the sickle cell data collection program expanded to reach 16 states, covering half of the nation’s sickle cell population. The program provides grants to states, academic institutions and non-profit organizations to gather data on the disease, complications and treatment.
But health experts paint a much different picture in Trump’s second term.
“It’s just morally wrong,” Dr. Karen Remley, the former CDC Director for the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, told ABC News.
Remley argued: “It is wrong to know that we have ways to help people with disease and to intentionally not take care of them. That is wrong.”
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
