The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services laid off senior veterinarians vital to the bird flu response and food safety oversight, alarming experts amid a growing outbreak.
Rachel Roubein and Lena H. Sun report for The Washington Post.
In short:
- The Food and Drug Administration cut nearly a dozen senior veterinarians, including those studying how bird flu spreads through dairy herds and raw pet food, and how to inform the public about protecting animals.
- The firings were part of a broad shake-up led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who framed the move as a strategy to refocus the agency on chronic disease prevention.
- Among those dismissed were experts working on antimicrobial resistance and food contamination prevention, raising concerns from veterinary and public health leaders.
Key quote:
“This is one of the dumbest things you could possibly do with your government, laying off the very people you need to combat one of the biggest problems affecting our food supply right now.”
— Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois)
Why this matters:
As H5N1 avian flu continues its alarming spread, federal agencies are shedding key veterinary staff at a moment when their expertise has never been more critical. Veterinarians within the government quietly anchor our food safety systems, ensuring that outbreaks are tracked, pathogens studied, and the public properly warned. The recent infections in nearly 1,000 cattle herds signal that this outbreak is not confined to poultry or wild birds anymore. Experts warn that dismantling the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine not only weakens the nation’s ability to respond to this specific outbreak, but also compromises decades of progress in combating antimicrobial resistance and foodborne illnesses, both of which depend heavily on cross-species surveillance and containment strategies.
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