Over 1,000 current and
former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services have demanded
that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign for “placing the health of all
Americans at risk.”
The signatories, who
released the letter on Wednesday, include representatives from a number of
health-related agencies, such as the Administration for Children and Families,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of
Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and more.
After a reportedly
anti-vax shooter attacked the CDC on August 8, a number of federal health
employees sent a letter to Kennedy, urging him to stop spreading false
information about Covid-19. But
now, as Kennedy “continues to endanger the nation’s health,” these horrified
federal workers, scientists, and physicians are leveling up their demands.
Last week, Kennedy fired
CDC Director Susan Monarez, which spurred the resignations of multiple other
high-ranking officials. Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the National Center
for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was one of those who stepped down.
He shared his resignation letter on X, writing: “I am unable to serve in an environment
that treats the CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not
reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the
public’s health.”
Current and former
employees cited these examples, along with Kennedy’s appointment of
“political ideologues who pose as scientific experts,” his refusal
to be briefed by CDC experts, and his
rescinding of the FDA’s emergency use authorization for the Covid vaccine, as
reasons they were demanding Kennedy’s resignation.
“We swore an oath to
support and defend the United States Constitution and to serve the American
people. Our oath requires us to speak out when the Constitution is violated and
the American people are put at risk,” employees wrote.
The letter is also
addressed to Congress. If Kennedy refuses to step down, the signatories
requested that Congress and the president appoint someone new to take his
place.
But for the sake of
these federal employees, and the health of all Americans, let’s hope it doesn’t
get to the point where relying on the sanity and compassion of congressional
Republicans is our only option.
The post RFK Jr.’s Employees Are Really, Really Sick of Him appeared first on New Republic.
