The Trump administration has launched a significant workforce reduction, targeting over 200,000 probationary federal employees across multiple agencies, including a staggering purge at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

The day of reckoning at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, saw scientists and medical researchers walking out in disbelief, some in tears, some walking arm-in-arm, as they were forced to clear out their offices, according to NBC Washington.

It is unclear how many employees were terminated in the Friday purge, but according to Katie Sandlin, an Education Outreach Specialist at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the number was 2,000.

"Today, along with 2,000 other NIH employees, I had to clear out my office," said Katie Sandlin, an Education Outreach Specialist at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

"It was truly the honor of my life to work with such incredibly passionate people focused on improving human health," she added.

Angela Dice Ciao expressed her frustration in a Facebook post after her husband was terminated.

"I don't normally post, but I need to. Thanks to NIH cuts and Pitt now cutting costs, my husband is out of a job. Just like that, after 16 years of giving his life to research and being underpaid for it most of the time…. One month notice. Just like that! If anyone knows of a university or company that is hiring locally in Pittsburgh, given the new NIH executive order and cuts, who knows, but he is PhD in molecular biology, and his skills are in: cloning, vector design, molecular recombination, evolution and molecular genetics and gene therapy," she wrote.