The Minister of Health Robert Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday that he reformed his ministry from top to bottom, a restructuring which involves the abolition of almost a quarter of the workforce, including 10,000 layoffs.
In the midst of a measle epidemic
This announcement comes at a time when the United States faces a major health crisis with the resumption of measles, a very contagious serious illness, which contaminated more than 380 people and left two dead, the first recorded in the country in a decade.
According to the plan of the Minister of Health Robert Kennedy Jr, strongly criticized by health professionals for his management of this epidemic, around 10,000 people will be dismissed. Some 10,000 other positions will be removed after voluntary or early retirement, a statement said. The ministry’s staff will drop from 82,000 full -time employees to 62,000.
These layoffs concern various services from the ministry and agencies which it supervises, in particular those responsible for the response to epidemics or the approval of new drugs.
Often disputed dismissal
These are the latest cuts in the federal apparatus announced by the government of Donald Trump, which has since returned to power in January to massive dismissals, often disputed in court.
The restructuring announced Thursday also provides for the reduction in the number of departments within the ministry from 28 to 15 and the closure of half of its regional antennas.
All of these measures should allow the press release to save about $ 1.8 billion per year.
“Winner-win for taxpayers”
“This overhaul will be a win-win solution for taxpayers,” says Robert Kennedy Jr, who took the reins of the ministry in mid-February, promising to tackle institutions that “steal the health” of the Americans.
“We are not sure to reduce the bureaucratic proliferation” of the ministry, “we reorient the organization towards its main mission and our new priorities to reverse the epidemic of chronic diseases,” he said.
“Make America Healthy Again”
This former environmental lawyer is the figurehead of a movement called “Make America Healthy Again” which aims to “return to America his health”, a slogan modeled on the famous Maga (“Make America Great Again”) of Donald Trump.
The reform must allow the ministry to devote its efforts to the fight against chronic diseases such as obesity, via a more “healthy diet, clean water and the elimination of toxic environmental substances”.
Anti -vaccini positions
Many caregivers and scientists opposed the appointment of RFK JR due in particular to its anti -vaccini positions. They recently worried about his latest speaking, between minimization of the gravity of the measles epidemic and the promotion of alternative remedies whose efficiency is not proven for the most part.
Several experts have also highlighted the risk of abandoning research on infectious diseases and their surveillance, when the number of threats in this area continues to increase.
“The list of diseases that worry us has really gained incredible magnitude,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology at Brown University, evoking the important circulation of avian flu that makes a new potential pandemic fear.
