Trump administration scrambles to rehire 'accidentally' fired bird flu experts: report

The Department of Agriculture is quickly flailing to rehire the bird flu experts they just "accidentally" fired, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

"Although several positions supporting [avian flu] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a spokesperson for the agency told the outlet. "USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfill our statutory mission."

President Donald Trump and his tech billionaire ally Elon Musk, via the Department of Government Efficiency task force, have moved to institute sweeping cutbacks to both public programs and the federal workforce, much of which is being challenged in litigation — but this is not the first time they accidentally dismissed critical federal workers.

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For instance, they are similarly having to rehire officials from the National Nuclear Safety Administration and reportedly had difficulty because they were missing updated contact information for the terminated employees.

The H5N1 avian flu is a highly virulent and dangerous illness that can be transmitted from birds to humans. As of now, there are no documented cases of the virus transmitting from person to person, but it still poses a critical risk to the food supply.

The outbreak of the virus in chickens has caused dire shortages of eggs around the country, resulting in a surge in egg prices even as broader inflation trends have recently stabilized.