Union officials say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lost roughly one in three positions since January 2017, a reduction they argue has hollowed out core surveillance, laboratory and field capacity at a moment when the United States faces mounting infectious‑disease and climate‑related threats. The tally, disclosed this week in materials shared with reporters, frames a multiyear personnel crisis that union leaders link to hiring restrictions, voluntary buyouts, attrition and shifting priorities during the Trump administration.

"This hollowing out of CDC staff has left critical gaps in our ability to detect and respond to disease outbreaks, especially in communities already underserved by public health systems," a union leader said in a statement accompanying the data. The union did not disclose its methodology for the 33 percent figure; it said the losses include both headquarters and field staff who support state and local health departments.

A CDC spokesperson pushed back on concluding that the agency is incapable of fulfilling its mission, noting that the agency has "adapted and prioritized critical programs" while pursuing targeted recruitment and modernization efforts. "We continue to recruit, rebuild and work closely with state and local partners to protect the public’s health," the spokesperson said, emphasizing recent hires and investments in laboratory upgrades.

Public health researchers and former agency officials said the shortfall nonetheless has practical consequences. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, gaps in laboratory staffing, epidemiologists and data analysts complicated early surveillance and impeded timely contact tracing and community outreach in the heaviest-hit areas, they said. Those shortfalls persist in less visible programs — immunization outreach, maternal and child health surveillance, and chronic disease prevention — that are essential to long‑term community resilience.

"When you lose institutional memory and on‑the‑ground capacity, it’s not something you can fix with a single emergency appropriation," said an academic public‑health expert who has worked with federal and state agencies. "It takes years to train epidemiologists and lab scientists; the people who left are not easily replaced."

The staffing decline also has equity implications. Local health departments with thin budgets rely on CDC field assignees and technical support to run school vaccination clinics, disease investigations and targeted interventions in low‑income and rural communities. As the CDC’s footprint shrinks, experts warn, those communities may bear disproportionate burdens during outbreaks and environmental health crises.

The political drivers of the decline are complex. The union and critics point to the Trump administration’s budget proposals and some high‑profile moves to reorganize agency priorities as disincentives for recruitment and retention. Agency defenders note that Congress ultimately overrides many administration proposals and that bipartisan investments during the pandemic temporarily boosted resources. Yet recruiting and retaining a stable, well‑compensated public‑health workforce remains a chronic policy gap, they say.

Union leaders urged Congress and the administration to make binding investments in personnel pipelines, pay parity, and sustained operating budgets for surveillance and laboratory networks. Without that commitment, they warned, the nation risks recurring shortages at precisely the moments when rapid, expert response is most needed.

The debate over staffing underscores a broader question: whether the United States will treat public health infrastructure as a long‑term national security priority rather than a series of ad hoc responses. For communities still recovering from COVID‑19 and facing new threats, the answer matters now.