The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reinstating hundreds of employees who were fired in earlier this year, according to media reports.

Fox News, which first reported the news, said the reinstated employees come from the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, the National Center for Environmental Health, the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center. Among the rehired employees are staffers at a lab that does testing for sexually transmitted infections, and scientists who work on lead poisoning, according to the Associated Press.

The reinstated workers, who were notified of the move by email yesterday morning, represent roughly 20% of the 2,400 CDC employees dismissed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under a Reduction in Force (RIF) in early April, CNN reports. The RIF and other layoffs at HHS divisions have been spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency.

A pattern of reinstatements

The layoffs at the CDC aren't the first that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has had to walk back. In March, 180 CDC workers fired in February were told they could come back to work. In May, Kennedy reinstated more than 300 employees who had been laid off from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

"Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective," HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon told CNN in a statement. “HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work."

A group representing fired CDC employees told the AP that the reinstatements don't undo the damage that Kennedy and the Trump administration are doing to public health.

"Bringing a few hundred people back to work out of thousands fired is a start, but there are still countless programs at CDC that have been cut, which will lead to increased disease and death," said Abby Tighe, one of the founding members of Fired But Fighting.