After shooting, HHS staff ask RFK Jr to tone down rhetoric

Hundreds of current and former workers at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have penned a letter to Robert F Kennedy Jr, asking him to stop spreading misinformation that is inciting harassment and violence against federal healthcare staff.

The letter – which was also sent to members of Congress – makes the allegation that Kennedy's stance on vaccines since taking over as HHS Secretary played a role in a fatal attack earlier this month on the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.

They claim the 8th August attack, in which a man shot at four CDC buildings, firing hundreds of rounds and killing police officer David Rose, was not random and had been driven by "politicised rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainisation."

It has been reported by investigators that the attacker – named as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene – had become convinced that COVID-19 vaccination had made him unwell, depressed, and suicidal.

In the letter, the federal staffers claim that Kennedy is "complicit in dismantling America’s public health infrastructure and endangering the nation’s health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information," such as calling the CDC a "cesspool of corruption."

It also criticises him for falsely claiming mRNA vaccines are ineffective and slashing funding to study them, asserting that the measles shot has not been properly safety tested and also lacks efficacy, perpetuating the debunked notion that childhood vaccines may lead to autism, and promoting inappropriate advice, for example, that taking vitamin A can protect against measles.

Other decisions slammed by the more than 750 signatories include Kennedy's firing of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and widespread dismissal of other agency staff, which they claim have contributed to a climate of harassment and violence against federal healthcare workers.

They are calling on Kennedy to stop spreading inaccurate health information, publicly affirm the CDC's scientific integrity, and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce.

One of those putting their name to the latter, NIH scientist Dr Ian Morgan, said: "The targeting of CDC employees and the tragic death of Officer Rose should have been a wake-up call for HHS leaders – including Secretary Kennedy and NIH Director Bhattacharya. Yet, we've seen them persist in the same antivaccine and anti-science rhetoric that led to the shooting, endangering the lives of HHS workers and the American public."

So far, Kennedy has refused to comment on the motive for the shooting. In a statement, the HHS said: "Any attempt to conflate widely supported public health reforms with the violence of a suicidal mass shooter is an attempt to politicise a tragedy."

The department also said that the HHS Secretary is "standing firmly with CDC employees – both on the ground and across every centre – ensuring their safety and wellbeing remain a top priority."