More than 1,000 current and former Department of Health and Human Services employees slammed Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership in a letter on Wednesday, calling on him to resign for “compromising the health of this nation.”
The letter was also addressed to members of Congress and followed a turbulent week at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which Kennedy oversees. The Trump administration announced that it fired newly confirmed CDC Director Susan Monarez, which prompted four other senior officials at the public health agency to resign in protest. Monarez was reportedly pushed out after she refused to sign off on new vaccine restrictions.
“Secretary Kennedy continues to endanger the nation’s health,” the employees wrote in Wednesday’s letter. They cited several reasons: the facilitation of Monarez’s firing, the resignations of longtime CDC leaders, the appointment of what they called “political ideologues” to key positions, and the rescinding of the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, among others.
Last month, more than 750 current and former HHS employees wrote to Kennedy after the Aug. 8 shooting at CDC headquarters, urging him to “cease endangering the nation’s health by spreading inaccurate health information, affirm CDC’s scientific integrity, and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce.”
In response to that letter, an HHS spokesperson said in a statement that Kennedy “is standing firmly with CDC employees—both on the ground and across every center—ensuring their safety and well-being remain a top priority.”
The statement continued by saying that, “For the first time in its 70-year history, the mission of HHS is truly resonating with the American people—driven by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s bold commitment to Make America Healthy Again. Any attempt to conflate widely supported public health reforms with the violence of a suicidal mass shooter is an attempt to politicize a tragedy.”
This week’s letter signers – including anonymous signers who feared retaliation – emphasized that they did so in their personal capacities on their personal time, without the use of any government equipment.
“Should he decline to resign, we call upon the president and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science,” they wrote.
In addition to public health groups, Kennedy has faced increased pressure from some members of Congress. In the wake of Monarez’s ouster, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, called on the White House to fire the HHS secretary.
Citing his “longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joined the chorus calling for Kennedy’s resignation Saturday, in an opinion piece published by The New York Times.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted on X last week that the departure of Monarez and other senior CDC officials “will require oversight by the HELP committee,” which he chairs.
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