Hundreds of HHS staff call on RFK Jr. to condemn health misinformation following CDC shooting
This article reports that over 750 current and former staff members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have urged HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to publicly condemn health misinformation. Their appeal follows a shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, where the gunman blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for causing depression and suicidal thoughts. The staffers’ letter accuses Kennedy of contributing to the erosion of public trust in vaccines and public health by spreading doubts about vaccine safety and effectiveness, which they say has led to harassment and violence against CDC employees.Some signatories expressed fear of retaliation and chose to remain anonymous. Although Kennedy condemned the violence, he did not address vaccine misinformation. The letter demands that Kennedy stop spreading false claims about vaccines and public health institutions and requests a written response by September 2. A CDC employee union similarly warned that misinformation endangers staff safety, highlighting concern that the current rhetoric from HHS leadership has legitimized such misinformation.
Hundreds of HHS staff call on RFK Jr. to condemn health misinformation following CDC shooting
More than 750 former and current Department of Health and Human Services staff have called on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to condemn misinformation in the health space.
Their request comes after a shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month in which the gunman claimed the COVID-19 vaccine made him depressed and suicidal.
“The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization – and now, violence,” the staffers wrote in the letter.
The letter accused Kennedy of being “complicit in dismantling America’s public health infrastructure and endangering the nation’s health” by suggesting that COVID-19 vaccines are not safe or effective and sowing doubt in the public about other vaccines. The letter alleges that this contributed to “harassment and violence experienced by the CDC staff.”
The staffers noted that they signed the letter in their “own personal capacities.” Some said they signed it anonymously “out of fear of retaliation and personal safety.”
Earlier this month, a gunman approached the CDC main campus when his gunfire struck six buildings. CDC employees barricaded themselves in offices and hid in fear. A police officer was killed, and the gunman killed himself.
Kennedy has for years expressed skepticism about certain vaccines. He removed every member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and reversed several vaccine policies in recent weeks.
After the shooting, Kennedy condemned the violence, but did not directly touch on anti-vaccine sentiment expressed against the CDC.
The letter asked Kennedy to “cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America’s public health institutions.” The letter asked for a written response from Kennedy by Sept. 2.
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A union representing employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention similarly warned Kennedy that misinformation surrounding vaccines created a dangerous environment.
“The fact that the inflammatory rhetoric and misinformation about COVID vaccines is now coming from the HHS Secretary and from the administration has fueled it and given it legitimacy it may not have had before,” Dr. Fiona Havers, a former CDC official and a signatory on the letter who left the agency in June, told National Public Radio.
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