'This is going to further put us behind': Fired Maine CDC workers concerned about impacts
PORTLAND (WGME) -- Dozens of Mainers are out of a job Friday after massive federal cuts from the Department of Health and Human Services led to the cancellation of $91 million in grant funding for Maine.
Jeff, who asked CBS13 not to share his last name for fear of retaliation, was a contracted employee with the Maine CDC, where he was scheduled to work through July 2026.
His team of about 50 people was responsible for collecting data and tracking infectious diseases in Maine. All of them returned their state-issued computers Friday and are now out of work.
“It was quite jarring and shocking,” Jeff said. “This is going to further put us behind in being proactive and having a proactive response to other diseases like bird flu, like measles.”
The federal Department of Health and Human Services terminated $11.2 billion in COVID-era grants, including $91 million in funding for Maine.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” HHS wrote in a statement.
While the funding began as an effort to contain COVID-19, Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association, said the funding also supported efforts to track and contain other diseases.
“It’s hard to predict how much this will ripple into our communities and have an impact,” Wellington said. “What often happens is we don’t know what those impacts are until it’s too late.”
CDC workers like Jeff worry that without this work, Maine won’t be as prepared for the next potential outbreak.
“When the next pandemic hits, if and when, are we going to be prepared for that?” Jeff said.
The slashed grant money was appropriated by congress, and like many other sweeping federal cuts, terminated employees expect the issue to go to court.
But for people like Jeff, that leaves a big question mark around his livelihood.
“This may play out in the courts for years, and by then hopefully everyone will have found another job,” said Jeff. “But if not, are there opportunities for back pay if they find out that all of these employees across the state and the country were basically terminated illegally?”
A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said the agency is still working to determine the impacts of these federal cuts but said it will impact dozens of contracts with vendors across the state.
