More than a thousand current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services have called on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign, saying his leadership has imperiled public health and driven the agency into turmoil.
In a letter delivered Wednesday to Kennedy, Congress, and the White House, staff accused him of destabilizing the nation’s premier health institutions. They cited the firing of newly confirmed CDC director Dr. Susan Monarez—who reportedly refused to approve proposed vaccine restrictions—as a breaking point. Her ouster triggered the resignation of four senior colleagues, underscoring the depth of dissent within the ranks.
“Secretary Kennedy continues to endanger the nation’s health,” the employees wrote, denouncing his removal of key vaccine advisers, his installation of “political ideologues” in sensitive roles, and his decision to revoke emergency authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines without releasing supporting data.
The secretary’s team has pushed back hard. “The CDC has been broken for a long time,” said HHS communications director Andrew Nixon. He argued that Kennedy’s shake-up is restoring credibility and pointed to what he called record progress against chronic disease.
The criticism comes on the heels of another employee letter last month, following the fatal shooting at CDC headquarters, which implored Kennedy to stop spreading “inaccurate health information.” Kennedy responded by accusing critics of politicizing tragedy.
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Pressure has been mounting outside the agency as well. Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, urged the White House last week to dismiss him, while Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in the New York Times that Kennedy’s “crusade against vaccines” made him unfit for office. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut joined those calls during a budget hearing Tuesday.
In his own defense, Kennedy has portrayed his efforts as a bid to restore trust in science. In an op-ed published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal, he said his reforms are intended to root out “conflicts of interest” and refocus the CDC on infectious disease.
Still, the letter from HHS staff was unequivocal: if Kennedy refuses to resign, they want the president and Congress to find a replacement who will put peer-reviewed science above ideology.