More than 1,000 past and present HHS employees demanded the resignation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stating his attacks on vaccines endanger Americans' lives. The workforce blamed Kennedy for turmoil at the CDC, including the firing of the agency's chief and replacement by a Donald Trump loyalist without medical or scientific credentials. Numerous senior CDC officials resigned, including Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan, and Debra Houry. Political appointees with discredited views were installed in advisory roles, and some promoted the long-debunked vaccine-autism link. The FDA limited eligibility for updated COVID-19 vaccines while Kennedy posted messages about rescinded mandates and restricted availability.
The hard-hitting letter, addressed to Congress members, blames Kennedy for turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the firing of the agency's chief and replacement by a Donald Trump loyalist with no medical or scientific background. It comes two days after nine former CDC officials wrote in a New York Times guest essay that Kennedy's leadership, and ousting of the CDC director, Susan Monarez, months after he appointed her, was unacceptable and unlike anything we have ever seen.
The letter posted on Wednesday by a group calling itself Save HHS assails Kennedy for endangering the nation's health by spreading inaccurate health information. It cites the resignations of other leading health officials, including Demetre Daskalakis, director of CDC's national center for immunization and respiratory diseases; Daniel Jernigan, the agency's director for emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases; and Debra Houry, its chief medical officer.
Collection
[
|
...
]