{"id":868,"date":"2026-08-21T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=868"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:09:55","slug":"new-cdc-chief-looks-to-rebuild-a-workforce-fearful-of-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=868","title":{"rendered":"New CDC chief looks to rebuild a workforce fearful of retaliation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says she will focus on restoring trust with a workforce spread thin by staffing cuts and public health challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more OPM wants to woo young workers. Can internet memes overcome Trump\u2019s cuts to the civil service?<\/a><\/p>\n

CDC Director Erica Schwartz told staff at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday that she will \u201cspeak truth to power,\u201d and ensure CDC employees can offer candid feedback on policy matters without fear of retaliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI will listen to you. I will respect your expertise, and I will support you as you carry out this mission. I want CDC to be a place where an employee can respectfully say, \u2018But ma’am, the evidence points in another direction,\u2019 and know that your concern will be heard,”\u00a0Schwartz said, according to a transcript obtained by\u00a0Government Executive.<\/em>\u00a0“Scientific integrity requires us to make room for respectful disagreement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schwartz is the CDC\u2019s first permanent leader in a year. The last permanent CDC director,\u00a0Susan Monarez, was fired last summer,\u00a0less than a month on the job, following conflicts with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schwartz acknowledged Monarez\u2019s firing, but told staff \u201cthere is no retribution for honest thought and honest conversation\u201d under her leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to feel psychologically safe. I do not want you to feel like you’re in an environment where retribution will rain down upon you. That is not how I lead as a leader. And I feel very comfortable making sure that I can represent the CDC to our leadership and\u00a0making sure that the secretary understands our point of view,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schwartz said the CDC has been in a \u201ca period of significant uncertainty,\u201d and is looking to rebuild trust in the agency after more than a year of upheaval.\u00a0The CDC recently commemorated the one-year anniversary of a shooting at its headquarters campus. On Aug. 8, 2025, a gunman fired more than 180 shots at the CDC headquarters, wanting to send a message against COVID-19 vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent months, CDC has responded to outbreaks of Ebola and hantavirus abroad, as well as\u00a0cyclospora and measles outbreaks in the United States. It also stood up an emergency operations center for the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

Schwartz said she will work with CDC leadership to address the agency\u2019s staffing gaps. The CDC has lost about a quarter of its workforce through layoffs and voluntary separation incentives.\u00a0CDC officials told employees last month that a \u201cstrategic planning process\u201d is underway to identify its staffing gaps and where hiring is most urgently needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the critical areas that if we don’t get these filled, we will fail in our mission for the American people? That information I will take back, and I will be that advocate for the CDC,\u201d Schwartz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among her concerns, Schwartz cited recent\u00a0reporting from the Associated Press on \u201czombie programs\u201d at the CDC that have been funded by Congress, but lack the staff to operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people that are here … they’re burning out, they’re exhausted. And they’re questioning, \u2018Is this going to be the new normal?\u2019 Well, the good news is, I’m here, I’m week one of being here, and now I can certainly be able to advocate for the CDC,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A retired U.S. Public Health Services Commissioned Corps rear admiral, Schwartz previously served as the Coast Guard\u2019s chief medical officer and deputy surgeon general.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has announced changes to the federal childhood immunization schedule that raise\u00a0alarms among public health experts.\u00a0Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccines. Schwartz said she will try to earn back trust\u00a0with vaccine skeptics during her tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Appeals court keeps limits on DHS immigration enforcement near churches<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of Americans who have vaccine hesitancy, and they feel that the CDC has been somewhat paternalistic when it came to vaccines, and so they feel that the CDC may not be speaking for them.\u00a0I do think we have to be honest as an agency to say, ‘Are we an agency for just those Americans that believe in vaccines, or are we an agency for all Americans and helping those Americans that have vaccine hesitancy understand why vaccines are so safe and effective?’\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CDC employees reiterated concerns about staffing shortages and fear of retaliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for acknowledging that we are tired, because we are,\u201d one CDC employee said during the Q&A. \u201cWe are at a significant reduction in our employees. And that makes it really hard on the rest of us to pick up the slack, because the work doesn’t change. We were already under-resourced and understaffed in public health, as you know, and now it’s even worse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another CDC employee told Schwartz\u00a0that \u201cfear of retribution\u201d is a common concern among staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been shot at. We see multiple outbreaks right now,\u201d the employee said. \u201cWe also know what happened to the previous director. And I think that there is a general fear of speaking [about] what’s actually happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third employee asked if former employees who received reduction in force notices would have an opportunity to rejoin the agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many vacancies, and we had these wonderful staff that were not separated due to performance. They were separated because of the way the RIF was done. Many of them are very eager to come back,\u201d the third employee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schwartz and other senior CDC leaders said they would look into opportunities for RIF\u2019d employees to come back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yolanda Jacobs, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, which represents CDC employees,\u00a0previously told reporters that CDC has made very little progress on hiring, and that recently laid-off employees looking to rejoin the agency haven\u2019t made it far in the hiring process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kennedy recently told lawmakers that HHS is looking to hire 12,000 employees\u00a0after going through widespread layoffs last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only have we not had any excessive amounts of new hires, or even any really significant hiring of CDC employees, but we’ve also had ignoring and stalling when it comes to those employees that had been RIF’d, who were supposed to have priority for some of those jobs as the rehiring starts,” Jacobs said. “Those individuals are not seeing any action as far as hiring goes. Those who have even applied have been told that they did not meet the qualifications for their own jobs, the jobs that they previously had.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacobs, however, added that “a new CDC director has an opportunity to turn the tide.”<\/p>\n

Read more Federal job listings provide clues for next set of Schedule P\/C conversions<\/a><\/p>\n

Sean Michael Newhouse contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Dr. Erica Schwartz told staff \u201cthere is no retribution for honest thought and honest conversation\u201d under her leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management"],"yoast_head":"\nNew CDC chief looks to rebuild a workforce fearful of retaliation\u00a0 - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=868\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New CDC chief looks to rebuild a workforce fearful of retaliation\u00a0 - 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