Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies

One of the divisions of the FDA most impacted by workforce cuts has been the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. It ensures the safety and quality of biological products for human use, like red blood cells for people with sickle cell disease, immunotherapy for those battling cancer and vaccines for everyone. Since January, the center has lost about 500 people, or 26% of its workforce.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the center played a crucial role in ensuring the quick rollout of safe and effective vaccines. It reviews and approves new vaccines and oversees their manufacturing and use. The center also conducts its own research to support the development of vaccines.

But in February, when the administration began slashing the federal workforce, the research stalled. “At some point, we decided which experiments were the priority for us,” a former CBER scientist told ProPublica.

“The center was already somewhat understaffed for the workload,” said Dr. Peter Marks, who led the center from 2016 to 2025. “Now with these cuts, particularly cuts of the most experienced individuals who have left for various reasons, the agency, and in particular the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, is just a shadow of its former self.”

Marks, who helped launch the program to rapidly develop COVID-19 vaccines, resigned under pressure in March, citing an “unprecedented assault on scientific truth” in his departure letter. Kennedy, who has long been a fierce critic of vaccines, has used his office to further sow doubt about immunizations, despite decades of evidence of their safety and efficacy.

Two of the center’s top cell and gene therapy officials were placed on leave this summer. HHS did not respond to questions about the high-profile exits, but it has previously suggested the gene therapy leaders weren’t aligned with the administration’s goals and said that Marks had no place at the agency if he did not support “restoring science to its golden standard.”

As civil servants have departed the center, political appointees have gained a foothold. Under the leadership of Dr. Vinay Prasad, who the administration brought in to lead CBER in May, the center “was run as a political organization,” said Marks. “Decisions were not being made on science, nor were they even being made on articulated policy. They were being made essentially on an arbitrary basis.” The New York Times reported that Prasad overruled his center’s experts on the use of COVID vaccines, recommending restricting the shots. Prasad did not respond to ProPublica’s emailed questions.

A spokesperson for HHS said in an email that Kennedy was not antivaccine and that the agency would continue to regulate immunizations. “The FDA remains steadfast in enforcing rigorous vaccine oversight, ensuring the highest standards of safety and protection for all Americans,” said the spokesperson, adding that Kennedy was “pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability.”