Staffers working on bird flu

Department of Agriculture working to "rescind" termination letters sent to staffers working on bird flu

From CNN’s Carma Hassan, Meg Tirrell and Rene Marsh

The US Department of Agriculture said it is trying to revoke termination letters it sent to workers supporting the bird flu response.

Positions such as animal health technicians and veterinarians were exempt from being terminated, according to a spokesperson with the USDA.

“USDA continues to prioritize the response to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Several job categories, including veterinarians, animal health technicians, and other emergency response personnel have been exempted from the recent personnel actions to continue to support the HPAI response and other animal health priorities,” the USDA said in a statement. “Although several positions supporting HPAI were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters.”

The terminations were among the scores of firings at government agencies that began last week.