Well being Secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slashing a complete of 20,000 jobs throughout the Division of Well being and Human Providers—or about 24 % of the workforce—in a sweeping overhaul mentioned to enhance effectivity and get monetary savings, Kennedy and the HHS introduced Thursday.

Combining workforce losses from early retirement, the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation deal, and 10,000 positions axed within the reductions and restructuring introduced right this moment, HHS will shrink from 82,000 full-time staff to 62,000 beneath Kennedy and the Trump administration. The HHS’s 28 divisions might be reduce down to fifteen, whereas 5 of the division’s 10 regional workplaces will shut.

“This might be a painful interval,” Kennedy mentioned in a video announcement posted on social media. Calling the HHS a “sprawling forms,” Kennedy claimed that the cuts can be geared toward “extra directors.”

“I need to promise you now that we’re going to do extra with much less,” he mentioned within the video.

Kennedy and HHS mentioned the cuts will save $1.8 billion every year. That is about 0.027 % of whole federal spending, based mostly on the $6.75 trillion the federal government spent in 2024, and about 0.06 % of the $2.8 trillion HHS budget for that yr.

The downsizing introduced right this moment contains important cuts to the Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.

Cuts upon cuts

The FDA will lose 3,500 staff, which The Wall Road Journal reported was about 19 percent of its staff. HHS didn’t present present workers ranges on the company stage or share cuts. The CDC, which is able to take up the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), will lose 2,400 staff (1,400 from CDC and 1,000 from ASPR). The Journal reported that to be about 18 % of the whole workforce. NIH will lose 1,200 staff, about 6 % of its staff.