A group of more than 1,000 current and former Department of Health and Human Services employees released a letter on Sept. 3 demanding Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s resignation.Barring Kennedy’s resignation, the letter calls on Congress and President Donald Trump to appoint a new HHS secretary “whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science.”
HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said in a statement to USA TODAY that Kennedy and his team “have accomplished more than any health secretary in history in the fight to end the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”
“From his first day in office, he pledged to check his assumptions at the door—and he asked every HHS colleague to do the same,” Nixon said.
Nixon also added, “Secretary Kennedy has been clear: the CDC has been broken for a long time. Restoring it as the world’s most trusted guardian of public health will take sustained reform and more personnel changes.”From his first day in office, he pledged to check his assumptions at the door—and he asked every HHS colleague to do the same,” Nixon continued. “That commitment to evidence-based science is why, in just seven months, he and the HHS team have accomplished more than any health secretary in history in the fight to end the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”
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.HHS employees release letter demanding RFK Jr.’s resignation
More than 1,000 current and former HHS employees are calling on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to resign as Health and Human Services secretary, accusing him of endangering U.S. health and destabilizing the federal healthcare department.
The letter sent to Kennedy Wednesday comes amid tumult at HHS — especially at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is reeling from the firing of Director Susan Monarez and the departure of several senior CDC leaders last week.
Signers of the letter, some of whom remained anonymous for fear of retribution, also said Kennedy failed to respond to a separate letter from hundreds of HHS employees that asked him to protect staffers after a shooting at the CDC in late August.Jr. leading HHS
“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,” the letter reads, in part.
It continues, “Thus, we warn the President, Congress, and the Public that Secretary Kennedy’s actions are compromising the health of this nation, and we demand Secretary Kennedy’s resignation.”
In a statement to ABC News, HHS communications director Andrew Nixon said the CDC “has been broken for a long time” and it will take “sustained reform and more personnel changes” to restore trust in the institution.
“From his first day in office, [Kennedy] pledged to check his assumptions at the door — and he asked every HHS colleague to do the same,” the statement read, in part. “That commitment to evidence-based science is why, in just seven months, he and the HHS team have accomplished more than any health secretary in history in the fight to end the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”
