FDA lays off bird flu leadership, among steep cuts to senior veterinarians

The top veterinarians overseeing the bird flu response at the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine were laid off on Tuesday, as part of sweeping cuts ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the nation's health agencies.

Out of some 10,000 workers laid off Tuesday across the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 130 staff were cut in the FDA's veterinary center, multiple officials said. The center oversees medicines and food given in the U.S. to animals, ranging from pets to cattle. 

Officials said cuts impacted virtually all of the leadership team in the Center for Veterinary Medicine's office of the director, except for the director herself, Tracey Forfa.