Kennedy announces Health Department job cuts; local depts. worry over loss of expertise, funding

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Job cuts and closures are coming for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. President Donald Trump's administration is laying off over 10,000 workers and shutting down entire agencies.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is calling the department he now oversees an inefficient sprawling bureaucracy.

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There is an impact on local agencies, as well.

The 10,000 jobs cut are in addition to 10,000 workers who have chosen to leave through buyouts or early retirements at HHS.

State and local health departments rely on the department for expertise and a majority of their funding.

Whether it's battling COVID-19, heart disease or cancer, local health departments rely on the federal government's help to keep people healthy and safe. But, according to Kennedy, his department is far too bloated.

"I have some good news, though. As part of President Trump's DOGE workforce reduction initiative, we're going to streamline HHS to make our agency more efficient and more effective," Kennedy said.

Kennedy is slashing more jobs, including thousands at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health: 28 divisions of the health agency will be consolidated in 15 new ones.

"Losing that much staff will impact our ability to have those important, meaningful conversations to keep our state healthy and safe," Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said.

Vohra said cutting so many HHS employees means losing vital experts.

"We want the most qualified, dedicated people to come into these government spaces to protect our health," Vohra said.

Kennedy claims his restructuring will eliminate excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists. The massive layoffs come a day after the federal government is taking away $125 million in extended COVID money from IDPH and local health departments.

"This money was actually being used on the ground to help combat the spread of infectious diseases," Vohra said.

Vohra says the money was used for disease prevention efforts like waste water surveillance and preparations for public health emergencies: 65% of IDPH's money comes from the federal government. The Chicago Department of Public Health heavily relies on federal money, too.

With a scaled-down HHS, Mayor Brandon Johnson is worried about future funding.

"Just within CDPH, we are talking about $500-600 million in grants that the city of Chicago relies upon from federal government," Johnson said.

Mayor Johnson says there will be severe consequences if the city's health department loses more federal funding.

Besides the $125 million the state is losing for disease prevention, earlier this week, the Trump administration slashed mental health and substance abuse grants from Illinois.