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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has several “zombie programs” that appear to be alive according to legislation and congressional appropriations but that are functionally or nearly dead because the experts who did the work were laid off or put on leave.
The big picture: Not all efforts associated with impacted programs stopped. Most of CDC’s budget is passed on to state and local programs, and much of grant processing has continued.
- But: The experts doing the work — researching health threats, assessing which programs work, setting a framework for best ways to save lives — are gone.
The details:
- While some of the layoffs conducted by the administration last year were reversed, many endure.
- An appropriations bill enacted in January specified funding for more than 200 projects/activities. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain staff to carry out statutorily required program work, but it does not say how many staffers must be in each program to do it.
- Current and former CDC employees have compiled a list of dozens of funded-but-decimated CDC programs. They include:
- The Office on Smoking and Health, which tracked trends, supported quit lines, and operated the Tips from Former Smokers campaign
- An $18 million program to support overdose prevention in tribal communities
- The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, the most comprehensive data on health behaviors and outcomes before, during, and after childbirth (including on mental health and substance use)
Read more: The CDC has zombie programs. Congress funds them, but few people are left to do the work
Published
August 2026