The executive order could come as soon as next week, if the Trump administration goes ahead with plans, according to people familiar with the matter.

Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services are bracing for layoffs across the vast public health agency, as Donald Trump ’s administration instructs federal health officials to rank their essential workers and those who are deemed less essential.

Managers across the health agencies were tasked with categorizing their probationary workers to determine those who were not mission critical, according to two new media reports citing internal sources.