At least 600 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from layoffs but not others.

The notices went out this week, and many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at CDC.

The CDC played a crucial role in gathering data and setting health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The terminations come months after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced efforts to let go of 20,000 employees, downsizing the department by more than 20 percent.

AFGE officials said they are

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