On August 11, 2025, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, GA, in response to a gunfire attack a few days earlier at the CDC campus. The attack claimed the lives of DeKalb County, GA, Police Officer David Rose, as well as the alleged gunman, and left windows shattered and numerous buildings bullet-ridden.1
The incident occurred on Clifton Road near the Emory University campus, and Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, GA, was named as the suspected shooter. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation noted during a press conference on August 12 that investigators “found documents expressing his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines, though they contained no specific threats to the CDC,” according to FOX 5 Atlanta.2
CDC security staff led Secretary Kennedy on a tour of the nearly empty Roybal Campus (CDC employees were directed to work from home in the wake of the incident), pointing out the shattered windows across multiple buildings, including the main guard booth, according to a statement from HHS.1 Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and CDC Director Susan Monarez accompanied him on the tour.
Secretary Kennedy visited the DeKalb County Police Department where he met with Police Chief Greg Padrick. Later, he met privately with the widow of Officer Rose and offered his deepest condolences. He posted on X, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC’s Atlanta campus that took the life of Officer David Rose. We stand with his wife and 3 children and the entire CDC family.” In their statement, HHS officials said they “continue to support CDC personnel and their families.”3
During his unsuccessful presidential campaign last year, Secretary Kennedy took to that same social media platform to write, “As President, I will clean up the cesspool of corruption at CDC.” Months later, in May 2025, he said at a House Appropriations Committee hearing in response to a measles question, “I don’t want to seem like I’m being evasive, but I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.”4
In his first few months in office, Secretary Kennedy, who is described on the HHS website as an “influential environmentalist,” has fired several members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, moved to limit the use of several vaccines, and canceled research into several types of healthcare initiatives, including those for mRNA technology that enabled COVID vaccines.
In the wake of the shooting and Secretary Kennedy’s tour, several members of the CDC have taken to their own social media pages to show that this shooting puts a fine point on how potentially dangerous their jobs are and how American health will continue to suffer, particularly as antivaccine sentiments grow louder.
Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, who is the former director of the CDC, advised her former CDC colleagues on LinkedIn on August 12 to “remind each other about why you choose to do this important work.” It feels like an appropriate time to reflect on these wise words from Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Speak clearly, if you speak at all. Carve every word before you let it fall.”
References
- Department of Health and Human Services. Statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services [press release]. August 11, 2025. Accessed August 11, 2025. www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-secretary-kennedy-visits-cdc-after-atlanta-shooting.html
- Fox 5 Atlanta. CDC shooting: gunman fired 500 shots, left vaccine complaint documents. August 12, 2025. Accessed August 12, 2025. www.fox5atlanta.com/news/cdc-atlanta-shooting-gbi-announces-press-conference-tuesday
- Weber L, Gilbert C. RFK Jr. disparaged vaccines dozens of times in recent years and made baseless claims on race. January 28, 2025. Accessed August 12, 2025. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/28/rfk-jr-disparaged-vaccines-dozens-times-recent-years-misled-race/
- Moniuszko S. RFK Jr. says people shouldn’t take his medical advice when asked about vaccines at hearing. CBS News. May 14, 2025. Accessed August 13, 2025. www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-medical-advice-vaccine-question-hearing/