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In Partnership With:
October 17, 2025
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Spotlight
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- This week, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued an emergency order to temporarily halt mass layoffs of federal employees as the shutdown continues. The ruling comes after the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO asked for a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out.
- Last Friday, nearly 1,300 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees received termination notices. The following day, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rescinded approximately 700 of those layoffs. Staff that were let go include:
- All of CDC-Washington, which helps provide technical assistance, arrange expert briefings, and provide hearing support for congressional offices;
- The National Center for Health Statistics which works across multiple divisions that are dedicated to disseminating and communicating data from CDC research and disease surveillance;
- Communications and IT staff for the Office of Public Health Data, Science, and Technology, which are critical for getting data out to public health and policymakers for action;
- Staff for CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion;
- Prion disease and public health office staff for the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases;
- Several branches within the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which is modernizing outbreak response at CDC and helping states more efficiently respond to outbreaks.
- The administration also reportedly dismissed dozens of staff within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
- The Administration had threatened mass firings since the beginning of the shutdown, and the HHS has not provided an official list of those who have been terminated. According to a court document filed by the Administration last week, 1,000 – 1,100 would be dismissed. Meanwhile, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought stated that federal firings could reach over 10,000 during the shutdown.
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Congressional and Administration Updates
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- Last week, Jim O'Neill, Acting CDC Director, signed off on the recommendations made at the September 18th meeting of the Advisory Council on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP members voted unanimously to recommend Covid vaccination for those over 6 months of age based on “individual decision-making,” recommending adults and children under age 65 consult with a health care provider such as a pharmacist or nurse. This sign-off rectifies a delay for Vaccine for Children (VFC) providers' ability to order and administer Covid shots. This delay created a disparity in access for those who receive vaccinations under VFC versus those who do not. These recommendations allow for immunization coverage through public and private payment mechanisms. The updated immunization schedule also recommends toddlers receive a standalone varicella (chicken pox) vaccine rather than the longstanding combined measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (MMRV) vaccine.
- Dr. Anthony Letai was sworn in as the new Director of the National Cancer Institute. After graduating from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in physics, Dr. Letai received his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago. He completed his Ph.D. on the molecular basis of heritable blistering diseases before residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a clinical fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Letai began his studies of programmed cell death in cancer in a post-doctoral fellowship before establishing his laboratory at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to study how cell death can be evaded by cancer cells. Dr. Lentai also served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is detailing more than 70 Public Health Service Officers to the Indian Health Service (IHS) to address staffing shortages. While these temporary transfers address some IHS shortfalls in the immediate term, they do not provide a longer-term solution to shortages. The transfers are also reportedly creating a strain on the agencies the officers are leaving, especially following mass layoffs and with many other agency employees furloughed as a result of the government shutdown.
- Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan Mental Health Services for Students Act alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01). This legislation would bring critical, on-site mental health services to students in public schools across the country and provide $300 million in federal funding for school-based mental health programs to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis.
- Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23) introduced H.R. 9656, the bipartisan Career and Technical Education (CTE) Student Mental Health and Wellness Act, alongside co-chairs of the Career and Technical Education Caucus, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson (PA-15) and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01). This legislation would expand the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention grant program to make Career & Technical Education schools eligible for mental health and substance use disorder services grants.
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Reports and Announcements
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- Yesterday, TFAH released The State of Obesity 2025: Better Policies for a Healthier America. Newly released data found that nineteen states had adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent in 2024, down from 23 states the prior year. This is a first time decrease in the number of states at or above the 35 percent level for the dataset. However, U.S. adult obesity rates remain at epidemic levels, while federal prevention programs face funding and program cuts that jeopardize progress in chronic disease prevention. In addition to analyzing the most recent available data, the report highlights how recent federal actions to reduce funding for nutrition and chronic disease prevention programs, eliminate expertise within CDC, and restrict access to nutrition support programs could undermine efforts to curb obesity and related diseases. Included in the report is a special feature on the emerging science and policy considerations concerning ultra-processed foods and their role in the obesity crisis. Click here for state-by-state fact sheets.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has published the Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) Decision Navigator, a first-of-its-kind framework designed to support governments in navigating complex decisions on PHSM during health emergencies. WHO has developed the PHSM Decision Navigator, in response to the request of Member States, to provide a clear, systematic, and equitable framework in guiding governments in making these critical decisions.
- HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General published the Youth Vaping Resource Guide, which aims to combat the ongoing youth vaping epidemic. Despite recent declines in use, e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students, with more than 1.6 million youth reporting current use in 2024. The guide contains information targeted toward parents and caregivers, educators, healthcare providers, researchers, regulators, and retailers.
- CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Report published two new articles:
- Pediatric Influenza-Associated Encephalopathy and Acute Necrotizing encephalopathy: Authors analyzed occurrences of influenza-associated encephalopathy (IAE), a rare, severe neurologic complication of influenza. During the high-severity 2024–25 influenza season, 109 U.S. pediatric IAE cases were identified. Thirty-seven IAE cases were subcategorized as acute necrotizing encephalopathy (ANE), a severe form of IAE characterized by rapid neurologic decline and a poor prognosis. Overall, 74 percent of IAE patients were admitted to an intensive care unit, and 19 percent died; 41 percent of ANE patients died. Only 16 percent of vaccine-eligible IAE patients had received the 2024–25 influenza vaccine. The authors state that annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all children aged under 6 months to prevent influenza and associated complications, potentially including IAE.
- Clinical Recommendation for the Use of Injectable Lenacapavir as HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis: Due to adherence to Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) regimens being suboptimal, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved injectable lenacapavir (LEN) administered every 6 months as HIV PrEP. LEN’s efficacy at reducing HIV infection was found to be 100 percent among females and 96 percent among a primarily male trial population over a follow-up of 52 weeks, giving LEN the potential to improve PrEP adherence and thus enhance HIV prevention.
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- HHS announced $60 million in funding for the Administration for Community Living in new grant awards to states, territories, tribes, and local organizations supporting older adults and Americans with disabilities. This funding will go toward enhancing programs for preventing falls among seniors, managing chronic conditions, reducing hospitalizations and care costs, advancing state caregiver strategies, funding dementia-capable programs in Indian County and across the national aging network, and enhancing senior nutrition programs. These grants will also aid state-based programs in implementing the RAISE Family Caregivers Act recommendations and bolster funding for the National Center for Benefits Outreach & Enrollment and the Senior Medicare Patrol Resource Center – programs that ensure older adults and people with disabilities can access benefits and protect themselves against fraud. Additionally, these resources will aid efforts to expand elder justice innovations and adult protective services in tribal communities to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation, as well as supporting services for Holocaust survivors and other older adults with a history of trauma through person-centered, trauma-informed programs.
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