Greater than 750 present and former employees of the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) are calling on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to cease “spreading inaccurate health information” and do extra to guard public well being professionals within the wake of a taking pictures on the headquarters of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month.
The letter despatched Wednesday to Kennedy and members of Congress accused the secretary of endangering the nation’s well being and the lives of his staff together with his rhetoric. The employees famous the Aug. 8 assault “was not random.”
“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 letter famous.
Legislation enforcement officers mentioned the alleged shooter was distrustful of the COVID-19 vaccine and thought he had been harmed by it. The shooter allegedly fired 500 rounds, and about 200 struck six totally different CDC buildings, pockmarking home windows throughout the primary Atlanta campus.
DeKalb County police officer David Rose was fatally shot, and the letter writers mentioned they needed to honor him.
“CDC is a public health leader in America’s defense against health threats at home and abroad. When a federal health agency is under attack, America’s health is under attack. When the federal workforce is not safe, America is not safe,” the letter said.
The staffers emphasised they signed the letter of their private capacities, and a few remained nameless “out of worry of retaliation and private security.”
The signatories mentioned Kennedy is “complicit in dismantling America’s public well being infrastructure and endangering the nation’s well being.”
They cited his rhetoric questioning the integrity of the CDC’s workforce, disbanding of an skilled vaccine advisory panel, false and deceptive claims concerning the measles vaccine and mRNA vaccines, and the company’s firing of 1000’s of staff in a “destroy-first-and-ask-questions-later manner.”
HHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Kennedy posted a message to social media the day after the taking pictures expressing assist for public well being staff.
“No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” he wrote. “We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose — even in moments of grief and uncertainty.”
Kennedy visited CDC headquarters and met with the company’s new director, Susan Monarez, two days after the taking pictures, a time when most staff had been advised to remain house and telework.
Kennedy has but to handle misinformation about COVID vaccines. When requested immediately a few plan to quell misinformation and forestall one thing just like the CDC taking pictures from occurring once more throughout a Scripps Information interview, Kennedy deflected any direct hyperlink.
The letter requested 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;” affirm the CDC’s scientific integrity; and assure the security of the HHS workforce.
“The deliberate destruction of trust in America’s public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people—your friends, your families, and yourselves,” the letter said.
