CDC staffers voice frustration over Kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric

Source: NBC News

Aug. 11, 2025, 12:31 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 11, 2025, 5:08 PM EDT


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers are voicing frustration over Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s past vaccine comments, following Friday’s shooting at the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta that left one police officer dead. Although the motive of the suspected shooter — Patrick White, 30, from Kennesaw, Georgia — remains unknown, he told a neighbor that he believed the Covid vaccines had made him sick, a source told NBC News on the condition of anonymity.

Kennedy visited CDC’s headquarters earlier Monday, where security led him through campus, pointing out shattered windows across multiple buildings, according to statement from the Department of Health and Human Services. Later, Kennedy met with the widow of the killed police officer.

Employees were instructed to work remotely this week. A virtual only all-staff meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, although it isn’t clear if Kennedy will be in attendance. The shooting took place near the campuses of both the CDC, which includes an on-campus day care center, and Emory University.

For some employees, the shooting highlighted growing hostility toward public health officials, which they feel has been shaped by Kennedy’s long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, including the Covid vaccine.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/atlanta-shooting-cdc-rfk-jr-vaccine-misinformation-rcna224249