ATLANTA — Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock joined protesters outside the CDC headquarters in DeKalb County Tuesday evening as thousands of people who lost their jobs are demanding answers.
Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes was at the protest as the Senator showed up. She said the crowd was mainly made up of CDC workers who have been let go or retirees in support of them.
A group of OBGYN researchers who have been collecting data on the maternal mortality rate in Georgia – which is one of the highest in the country – are among the latest employees who have been let go.
The research they were doing was saving lives.
Among the people at the protest were Rep. Hank Johnson and state Sen. Emmanuel Jones. They said they just can’t be quiet while thousands of qualified researchers are losing their jobs, especially on the heels of a pandemic.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Early disruptions at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene town hall in Cobb County
- Little Caesars’ attack leads to police raid at suspect’s home, uncovers fentanyl and guns
- Gov. Kemp signs $1 billion special tax refund bill. Here’s how much you could get
On April 1, a team of about 20 OBGYNS were locked out of their systems and presumably terminated.
“So last week when I got the news that Dr. Wanda Barfield and her entire team had been eliminated from the CDC, that was heartbreaking from a macro level,” Dr. Simone Whitmore said.
Fernandes spoke to a father who lost his wife during childbirth. Charles Johnson said he can’t believe the federal government would cut funding while so many mothers are dying during labor.
“If we are not doing everything as a country to protect mothers and babies, then what are we doing? If that’s not a priority for us, then what is?” Johnson said.
Jones said it’s unreal.
“These are some of the country’s best and brightest. They’re not people you can easily replace. They have advanced degrees, they’re doing advanced research, they’re saving lives with the work they do. How do you replace research like that?” Jones said.
Whitmore said Georgia needs more research and more equitable healthcare for Black mothers, so losing this federal funding could be deadly.
“I think we’re going to have to start holding politicians’ feet to the fire, and by that, I mean voting,” Whitmore said. “It’s gonna be hard to catch up when you have four years of no research being done.”
Protesters said that as long as drastic cuts are being made at the CDC, they could put this entire country in jeopardy.
©2025 Cox Media Group
