(NewsNation) — More than 750 current and former Health and Human Services support workers have signed a letter saying HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements contributed to a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and asking him to take action.
The letter says Kennedy is “complicit” in efforts to spread mistrust in public institutions and the vilification of public health workers.
The authors detail things Kennedy has said regarding public health, including calling the CDC a “cesspool of corruption,” falsely claiming mRNA vaccines did not protect against COVID-19, making false claims about the safety and efficacy of the measles vaccine and falsely claiming childhood vaccines cause autism.
DOJ investigating whether declining DC crime rates were manipulated
The shooting at the CDC on Aug. 8 included more than 180 rounds fired onto the agency’s Atlanta campus. No employees were injured, but a police officer was killed before the shooter died by suicide.
Authorities said documents found at the home of Patrick Joseph White showed his anger regarding COVID-19 vaccines. White’s father said his son suffered from mental health issues and was driven by COVID-19 misinformation, believing the vaccine had harmed him.
After the shooting, Kennedy contradicted law enforcement and said they didn’t know about the shooter’s motives. He said political violence is wrong before returning to criticism of the CDC and saying he was trying to return it to “gold-standard science.”
Kennedy has repeatedly espoused views on health care that are not scientifically backed, including antivaccine skepticism and claims that Vitamin A can cure measles, which is not the case.
The workers who signed the letter are asking Kennedy to stop spreading misinformation about vaccines, public health and infectious disease, to affirm the CDC’s scientific integrity and to protect the safety of HHS workers.
