The Trump administration’s purge at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has left employees reeling.

The firings, which began late Friday, ran across more than a dozen divisions and centers. They impacted teams that investigate infectious disease outbreaks, chronic disease, respiratory disease surveillance, immunization, and more.

Yet in an apparent reversal, the administration has been racing to rescind some of those firings, leading to even more confusion.

The moves came in the second week of a government shutdown and are part of President Trump’s efforts to slash the government workforce. Top administration officials blame Democrats and say the firings are meant to punish them.

Trump said at the White House last week that the firings, which are not typical during a shutdown, would target primarily “Democrat” programs.

“HHS employees across multiple divisions have received reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown,” Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement Friday.

"All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda.”

Here’s what to know:

More than a thousand fired; hundreds brought back

The Trump administration said in court filings Friday that about 4,200 federal employees across seven different agencies would begin receiving reduction-in-force notices. An estimated 1,100 to 1,200 employees from the Department of Health and Human........

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