ATLANTA, GA — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now says some programs at the Atlanta-based CDC were eliminated by mistake amid the DOGE cuts this week.

He had been asked why the department cut a CDC program that monitors lead levels in children.

This is a major reversal at the Department of Health and Human Services after DOGE began laying off 10,000 workers and shuttering whole divisions.

Kennedy says he expects about 20% of recently fired employees to be reinstated, as well as some programs.