‘Often flying blind’: Up to $246 million of taxpayer-funded CDC programs are largely unstaffed

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program.

Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year.

There’s just no one staffing it.

Then there’s the agency’s Office on Smoking and Health.

Congress allocated $246 million for that.

Its staffers were cut, too.

Same for the epilepsy program.

Its sickle cell disease data collection operation.

Its rape prevention unit.

Think of them as the CDC’s zombie programs — they appear to be alive, at least according to legislation and congressional appropriations.

But functionally they are dead or nearly dead, because the CDC experts who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave — paid but not allowed to do their jobs.

The Atlanta-based CDC is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats.

When Dr.

Erica Schwartz became the agency’s latest director last week, she inherited these zombie programs and congressional pressure to bring some of them back to life.