Employees at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are accusing the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of laying off Black CDC workers at higher rates than other racial demographic groups.

Thousands of workers were laid off Tuesday at the Atlanta-based CDC as part of restructuring in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans’ health.

Employees across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have begun receiving notices of dismissal in a major overhaul expected to ultimately lay off up to 10,000 people.

A protest erupted outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Roybal campus in Atlanta Tuesday as employees voiced frustration over sweeping job cuts announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Thousands were laid off Tuesday from the Atlanta-based CDC, dealing a blow to the city’s public health workforce, local, national and global research on illness prevention, and likely the city’s economy.

The Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies on Tuesday, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, with security guards barring entry to some employees just hours after they received dismissal notices.

The layoffs included several top officials and affected agencies responsible for overseeing the nation's food and drug safety, as well as those fighting disease. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced last week that 10,