New cuts announced by the Department of Health and Human services are sparking fears among many health experts about the impact they could have on life-saving vaccines.HHS announced on Thursday that it will lay off 10,000 worker s. The cuts will include staff at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.In a video message, HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his goal was to "streamline" his department."We're keenly focused on paring away excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists and frontline health providers so that we can do a better job for the American people," Kennedy said.But there are fears that any cuts could impact the work of essential health agencies key in the production of vaccines."The FDA, for example, they are responsible for reviewing the research and development side and providing a license for vaccines," said Associate Director for Global Health Policy at KFF Josh Michaud. "At NIH, they're responsible for doing basic research which supports the development of vaccines. CDC has a role in reviewing the public health recommendations around approved vaccines. So, cuts to these agencies can have an effect in all different phases of the vaccine development and implementation process."RELATED STORY | FDA cancels advisory committee's flu shot meeting amid uncertainty in HHS leadershipThe cuts are the latest HHS overhaul. On Tuesday, federal health officials announced billions of dollars in COVID funding cuts from local health departments. That move could be a costly mistake, according to virologist and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health professor Andrew Pekosz."To just broadly cut COVID-19 projects because there's a perception that COVID-19 research isn't needed because there's no longer a pandemic -- it's not only short sighted, but it's actually dangerous," Pekosz said.Pekosz and other health experts say the moves overhauling HHS could have consequences down the road and he quested the extent to which the cuts will actually increase efficiency."Worst case scenario, I think people will end up being more susceptible to infectious diseases because the vaccines aren't there, nor is the messaging to get vaccinated going to be there and put forward in an efficient manner," Pekosz said. "In terms of efficiency, I think every organization can be more efficient. I find it hard to believe that this much waste is going on at the HHS to merit this level of cutting of individual." ...read more read less