Almost half of the probationary workers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others at the National Institutes of Health are being forced out as President Donald Trump overhauls government agencies,

As many as 1,300 probationary employees at CDC and 1,500 at NIH are losing their jobs. Many fear for the future of public health and scientific research.

Department of Health and Human Services officials expected most of the agency’s roughly 5,200 probationary employees to be fired.

More than 1,000 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been put on notice less than 24 hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office.

The CDC did not immediately respond to Atlanta Business Chronicle's requests for comment. Tasked with protecting Americans from public health threats, the agency had a headcount o