News: Half of CDC "disease detectives" terminated. DOGE takes aim at US disease surveillance.
Entire first-year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service must be out by 5 p.m., sources say. Also: a major CDC contractor "just let go," and others may follow.
CBS News just reported something I was about to break in Inside Medicine. I’ve got many more details, so I’m pushing this out now, so that people understand what is at stake here. I spoke to CDC insiders who described the carnage, and what it means. Please read and share this.
Here’s what we know…
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Entire first-year class of CDC’s “disease hunters” terminated by DOGE.
Half of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service has been terminated from their jobs by the Trump administration, multiple sources at the CDC told Inside Medicine, matching a scoop by CBS News.
No explanation was given to these employees, who are technically part of a renowned epidemiology training program.
According to the CDC, the EIS is the agency’s “globally recognized applied epidemiology training program….Established in 1951, EIS has trained over 4,000 disease detectives who have investigated and responded to a wide range of public health challenges and emergencies.” The EIS program lasts two years. The Trump administration has therefore sacked half of the officers in its latest Friday afternoon assault on US public health.
The exact number of jobs terminated is not known, but it could range from 100-120 or so. The terminated EIS detectives were told to be out by 5 p.m., one CDC official told me. Multiple sources confirmed the news and personally knew of young employees who were affected.
Disease hunters are our eyes and ears.
What kind of work do EIS officers do? “They do disaster work. Preparedness work. They get tasked with owning a project that is disease or population specific,” another CDC employee who works with EIS detectives told Inside Medicine. “They cover so many diseases, from, Covid, SARS, and then things like hepatitis, polio, or threats like Zika.”
Part of the appeal of the program is that it deploys and cultivates emerging experts. “They give all their time and attention to that one thing. With that, they do important field research,” the CDC official told me.
That research often leads to real-time reports on an emerging health threat in far-flung communities. “What is nice about having that person come from inside the CDC is that they can report the information directly, without extra layers of bureaucracy.”
In other words, EIS disease hunters are a major component of how the CDC (and therefore the US), discovers, tracks, and understands emerging health threats to the public.
The opposite of draining the swamp…
“Our EIS workers do a lot of good work, and they are not being paid a competitive rate,” the source told me.
That’s notable and matches my personal experience as a physician. I’ve known graduating resident physicians who were accepted and joined the CDC’s EIS. This meant that rather than taking a clinical job that might have paid $200,000 to 350,000 per year, these passionate individuals took a salary that was more like $74,000 to $96,000 in order to work and train in the EIS. The program is a feeder into full-time positions at the CDC. The program is highly competitive, and acceptance is considered an honor.
These are the talented emerging experts who were cut today. This is not a draining of the swamp or “low-productivity workers” that the Trump administration imagines filling seats at the CDC—but the future of our epidemiology infrastructure.
CDC contractors “just let go.” Is CDC the next USAID?
But the Trump administration is not done. I’ve also learned and confirmed that Katmai Government Services, a major contractor with the CDC and other federal agencies was “just let go,” and that it’s possible that all CDC contractors have or soon will suffer the same fate, according to one of my CDC contacts.
“We are nervous that we will get a USAID’ing,” another CDC official told me earlier this week.
The attempt to achieve that now appears to be unfolding…
That’s what we know for now. Thanks for reading, sharing, speaking out, and supporting Inside Medicine! Please ask your questions in the comments and if you can’t upgrade due to financial considerations, just email me.
They don't understand science and medicine, they don't care, and their only job is to save money and screw us normal taxpayers, and further enrich the tech bros and oligarchs and hand what's left on a silver platter to the PRC or highest bidder. They don't care how many people suffer or die. Collateral damage.
Seems like this administration is all set to burn down our best public agencies. STAT also reported that thousands more will be let go at the National Institutes of Health before the end of the day.