CDC Rehires Scientists After Landsman Letter

Cincinnati, OH – Today, Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH-01) announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had rehired more than 30 terminated scientists following a letter he sent to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging a reversal of the firings.

On June 6, Congressman Landsman led 15 House Democrats in sending a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling on the Administration to reverse its decision fire more than 30 scientists at the CDC’s National Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Reference Laboratory in Atlanta, GA. The CDC STD Laboratory provides critical assistance to public health programs across the country for the prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases, and is one of three labs in the world that tracks drug-resistant STDs.

Last week, the CDC reversed its plan and rehired more than 400 workers  – including the more than 30 scientists from the STD laboratory.

Congressman Landsman’s letter reads, in part:

“CDC’s STD laboratory employees provide unique expertise, technological tools, and services to public health laboratories across the nation to confirm STD diagnosis for challenging cases, monitor trends, and respond quickly when an outbreak happens and when treatment fails. This work is crucial to clinicians, public health surveillance, and outbreak response efforts…

“The closure of this laboratory and cessation of its work leaves the U.S. unprepared for a STD public health emergency, and the health and safety of the public will suffer.

“As such, you must restore the CDC STD laboratory’s important work and immediately reinstate all employees and contractors who have been impacted.”

The full text of Congressman Landsman’s letter can be found here.

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