More than 1,000 current and former employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services wrote a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday, arguing that his leadership has “put the health of all Americans at risk” and demanding his resignation.
The letter, which was also addressed to members of Congress, comes after a tumultuous week at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that saw its newly confirmed director, Dr. Susan Monarez, declared to be fired by the Trump administration, spurring the resignations of four other senior officials at the public health agency. Monarez was ousted after refusing to bend to pressure from top HHS officials to sign off on potential new vaccine restrictions, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Secretary Kennedy continues to endanger the nation’s health,” the employees wrote in Wednesday’s letter, citing actions including the facilitation of Monarez’s firing, the resignations of key, longtime CDC leaders, the appointment of what they called “political ideologues” to influential roles in vaccine policy, and the rescinding of emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines without, they said, “providing the data or methods used to reach such a decision.”
HHS didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Hundreds of current and former HHS staffers also wrote to Kennedy last month, after the August 8 shooting at CDC headquarters that killed a police officer, imploring the secretary to stop “spreading inaccurate health information” and to guarantee the safety of HHS’s workforce.
