Public health officials face grim new reality after CDC shooting

A Georgia man who blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his mental health problems opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Atlanta headquarters on August 8, killing a police officer before he died from gunshot wounds, according to media reports.

The man, Patrick White, 30, had five guns on him during the attack, and a spray of bullets hit at least four buildings on the CDC’s Atlanta campus, police reported. Authorities do not know if he was shot by law enforcement or whether his wounds were self-inflicted. White had told his neighbors he believed the COVID-19 vaccine caused him to experience depression.

In the aftermath of the attack, the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents CDC workers, has called on both the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—the CDC’s parent organization—to condemn the vaccine misinformation that fueled the attack.

“The deliberate targeting of CDC through this violent act is deeply disturbing, completely unacceptable, and an attack on every public servant,” said the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2883. “Early reports indicate the gunman was motivated by vaccine disinformation, which continues to pose a dangerous threat to public health and safety.

Condemnation is necessary to help prevent violence against scientists that may be incited by such disinformation.

“Condemnation is necessary to help prevent violence against scientists that may be incited by such disinformation,” the Union said. 

‘Tepid’ Kennedy response criticized 

Over the weekend HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine critic who has ushered in the end of mRNA vaccine research and dramatically limited the groups of Americans recommended to get annual COVID-19 vaccines, said on X, “We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others.”

Some CDC staff are now calling for Kennedy to resign, saying he has fostered dangerous misinformation about vaccines in the United States. During a CDC meeting over the weekend, many said this incident is the culmination of Kennedy’s decades-long campaign against vaccines and the CDC, an agency he has called a “cesspool of corruption,” and the COVID-19 vaccines in particular, which he has said are the deadliest vaccines ever made. 

Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, who served as surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first administration, spent the weekend urging officials to speak out against vaccine misinformation. In a Stat op-ed, Adams wrote, “This tragedy is not an isolated event. It is a dire reflection of ever-escalating threats public health workers face in a climate increasingly shaped by misinformation, politicization, and inflammatory rhetoric.”

Adams also appeared on “Face the Nation” yesterday condemning Kennedy’s response to the shooting. 

“It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings, and that’s not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric in the past have actually contributed to a lot of what’s been going on,” said Adams.

Rallying point for public health 

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, publisher of CIDRAP News, said the shooting reveals the underlying conditions plaguing public health in the United States. 

“We’ve always worried that public health workers would be recipients of violence of doing our work, but this situation drove that home in spades,” he said. “It’s not enough to just have tighter security. What do we do to deal with the root of the problem? “

We’ve always worried that public health workers would be recipients of violence of doing our work, but this situation drove that home in spades.

In a statement, the American Public Health Association (APHA) called for the shooting to become a rallying point. 

“Reports of the shooter’s alleged motive are very concerning and highlight the inherent danger and human cost of disinformation surrounding life-saving vaccines and other evidence-based protections,” APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD, said. “Let us ensure this attack on the CDC, a beacon for science and knowledge, is a rallying point for support for this critical institution and all those who dedicate their lives to improving our health.”