{"id":76434,"date":"2025-08-12T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/76434\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:30:10","slug":"cdc-and-other-public-health-workers-express-alarm-in-the-wake-of-cdc-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/76434\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC and Other Public Health Workers Express Alarm in the Wake of CDC Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of a fatal shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/a> in Atlanta on Friday, CDC employees and others professionally involved in public health work are expressing concerns over the increase in extremist views that might impact their safety.<\/p>\n

A man identified as Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, Georgia, was identified on Saturday, August 9, one day after he had opened fire across from the CDC headquarters<\/a>, killing a police officer and spraying gunfire, shattering numerous windows in the headquarters complex. He was killed in a confrontation with police during the incident; officers had prevented him from entering the CDC headquarters itself.<\/p>\n

In the wake of that attack, individuals working in the CDC and in public health-related functions, are expressing concern, after it was revealed that White had acted based on an incorrect belief that the COVID-19 vaccine had caused him physical problems.<\/p>\n

ABC News\u2019s Faith Abubey, Sasha Pezenik, and Josh Margolin, referencing the Georgia Bureau of Investigations\u2019 initial investigation, wrote on Sunday, August 10<\/a>, that \u201cPatrick White is believed to have struggled with his mental health, according to that information. As he grappled with those issues, sources said, White had become increasingly fixated on the COVID-19 vaccine as a source of his grievances. Several Kennesaw residents who knew the 30-year-old suspected shooter told ABC News they had heard White express similar angry and conspiracy-minded sentiments. One neighbor, who asked not to be named, said White would sit on her porch for long stretches, often complaining that after he got the COVID-19 shot, he had lost a lot of weight, developed problems swallowing and gastrointestinal issues. And, the neighbor said he believed the media and government weren’t covering it.\u201d The ABC News reporters quoted the neighbor as sating that “He thought the vaccines were killing him and that people needed to know the truth,” they wrote, with the neighbor \u201cadding that she didn’t agree with him, but would listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact has been visceral upon federal workers. KFF HealthNews\u2019s Andy Miller and Rebecca Grapevine wrote on Monday, August 11<\/a>, that Friday\u2019s attack added to the stress of CDC staff members, even as many are stuck in a limbo around their jobs. They quoted a lab scientist at the CDC as telling them that\u00a0 \u201cWe feel threatened from inside, and, obviously, now from outside. The trauma runs so differently in all of us. And is this the last straw for some of us? The overall morale \u2014 would you go back in the building and you could be shot at?\u201d<\/p>\n

Both reporters, who are on the news service\u2019s \u201cHealthbeat\u201d desk, wrote that \u201cHealthbeat interviewed 11 CDC workers, who offered a rare glimpse into conditions at the agency. All but one had been fired then offered their jobs back. Most have worked on HIV-related projects for at least several years. All spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing a fear of retaliation. They fear their employment, in the HIV scientist\u2019s terms, \u2018is on shaky ground.\u2019\u201d And they quoted an HIV epidemiologist as saying that\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m concerned there is chaos and that we lost ground on HIV prevention\u201d from reductions in data collection and layoffs of local public health workers, an HIV epidemiologist said. \u201cI feel like a pawn on a chessboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the reporters\u2019 inquiry, they reported that HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard gave them a statement that began thus: \u201cUnder Secretary Kennedy\u2019s leadership, the nation\u2019s critical public health functions remain intact and effective. The Trump administration is committed to protecting essential services \u2014 whether it\u2019s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases. HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority,\u201d Hilliard said in the statement.<\/p>\n

The KFF HealthNews people added that \u201cThe workers received some positive news July 31, when a Senate committee voted to keep CDC funding at more than $9 billion, near its current level. \u2018It is very encouraging, but that\u2019s only one step in the appropriations process,\u201d an HIV research at the CDC told them.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill,\u201d they wrote, \u201cunder the Trump administration\u2019s budget request, the CDC\u2019s programs on HIV face uncertainty. John Brooks, who retired as chief medical officer of the CDC\u2019s Division of HIV Prevention last year, expressed concern over the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. Launched in President Donald Trump\u2019s first term, it \u2018breathed new life into HIV prevention,\u2019 Brooks said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, the New York Times\u2019s Apoorva Mandavilli wrote an extensive article on the set of issues, under the headline, \u201cAfter Years of Anger Directed at C.D.C., Shooting Manifests Worst Fears.\u201d<\/a> She wrote that The day after a lone gunman opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a police officer and shattering windows across the agency\u2019s campus, employees were reeling from shock, fear and rage.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019We\u2019re mad this has happened,\u2019 Dr. Debra Houry, the C.D.C.\u2019s chief medical officer, said in a large group call Saturday morning with Susan Monarez, the agency\u2019s newly confirmed director, who tried to reassure them. Another employee on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The New York Times, asked Dr. Monarez: \u2018Are you able to speak to the misinformation, the disinformation that caused this issue? And what your plan forward is to ensure this doesn\u2019t happen again?\u2019 The investigation into the shooting and the gunman\u2019s potential motives was still in early stages on Saturday. But law enforcement officials said that the suspect identified in the shooting had become fixated with the coronavirus vaccine, believing that it was the cause of his physical ailments. Inside the C.D.C., the shooting was viewed as part of a pattern in which health workers have been targets of political, verbal and physical assaults on them and their workplaces,\u201d Mandavilli noted.<\/p>\n

And she quoted Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDC\u2019s respiratory diseases division, as telling Dr. Monarez \u201con the call that employees wanted to see a plan for their safety and an acknowledgment that the attack was not just \u2018a shooting that just happened across the street with some stray bullets.\u2019 Dr. Daskalakis was not in his office when its windows were pierced by one of the gunman\u2019s bullets. Many Americans, and even some top federal health officials in the Trump administration, have blamed the C.D.C. for lockdowns, school closings and vaccine mandates, even when some of those decisions were made by state and local governments, or businesses,\u201d Mandavilli noted. And she quoted Dr. Anne Zink, a former president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials who served as Alaska\u2019s chief medical officer until last year, as saying that \u00a0\u201cI am heartbroken, angry and somehow not surprised,\u201d noting that \u201cThreats against her have increased even though she is no longer a government official.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandavilli wrote that \u201cThe New York Times spoke with or texted a dozen C.D.C. scientists on Saturday, who discussed the shooting on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. They described being terrified as bullets shattered the glass windows, and some recounted the chilling sight of casings littered in front of the C.D.C. In interviews, the employees conveyed sadness about the police officer who had died trying to keep them safe, and a feeling of betrayal and devastation at being demonized while working to improve Americans\u2019 health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, Mandavilli wrote, \u201cDr. Fiona Havers, who resigned from her position as a senior C.D.C. adviser on vaccine policy earlier this year, was on lockdown at Emory University Hospital while visiting a colleague. She heard the sirens, and stayed in close contact with her friends and former colleagues, including in a 900-person chat group where C.D.C. employees shared terrifying details of the shooting.\u201d And she quoted Dr. Havers, who quit after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, as saying that \u201cI am feeling very angry and very sad for my colleagues that are still at C.D.C. This was a major attack on a federal facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, NBC News\u2019s Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Priya Sridhar, and Daniela Hernandez, wrote on Monday morning<\/a>, as the news emerged that Secretary Kennedy was planning to visit the CDC headquarters on Monday afternoon, that, \u201cFor some employees, the shooting highlighted growing hostility toward public health officials, which they feel has been shaped by Kennedy\u2019s long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, including the Covid vaccine.\u201d And they quoted CDC employee Elizabeth Soda as saying that \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of misinformation, a lot of really dangerous rhetoric that\u2019s currently being spread by the current administration, that makes us seem like villains, that makes us seem like our work is setting out to hurt people. So it\u2019s not at all surprising, right, that people are going to listen to our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they quoted Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who said that the Covid vaccine has become an easy scapegoat \u2014 a symbol of all the losses the pandemic inflicted on people, including loss of life, physical and mental health and personal freedoms. \u2018The vaccine is something you could focus on, instead of a general feeling of loss,\u2019 he told them.<\/p>\n

The shooting took place just a few days after Secretary Kennedy had announced the cancellation of contracts for the high-volume production of mRNA-based vaccines<\/a>, including the vaccine for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Healthcare Innovation will bring readers new developments as they emerge.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the wake of a fatal shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-76434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}