‘It’s just too much’: CDC employees have faced layoffs, vaccine misinformation and now — violence

The Health and Human Services Department is working to repair the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters after an individual who police said opposed the COVID-19 vaccine shot at the campus on Aug. 8, killing a responding police officer before committing suicide. 

Agency leaders are also attempting to console and reassure CDC’s workforce, but employees, who have been facing the threat of losing their jobs for months, said those efforts are falling short. In particular, they pointed to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for spreading misinformation about vaccines and has taken several anti-vaccine actions since he was confirmed to the role in February. 

“People at CDC love CDC. We're there not just because it's a job,” said one employee, who preferred to be unnamed due to fears of retaliation. “We still love CDC, but the people who are in charge of CDC don't love us.” 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified Patrick Joseph White, 30, as the shooter. A GBI press release said that he had “discontent” with the COVID vaccine and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. More than 500 shell casings were recovered from the scene, and the windows of CDC’s buildings are littered with bullet holes. 

“Thankfully, this guy [didn’t] come at lunchtime during the week because everybody was either already gone home or about to go home because he did it right before five o'clock on a Friday,” the employee said. “On any given Wednesday, people are crossing like a block from where he was shooting to go back and forth to restaurants.” 

An HHS press release said that most CDC employees at the Roybal Campus are teleworking this week and that additional security measures would be put in place before they return to the office. Officials said that the department “continues to support CDC personnel and their families”. 

HHS didn’t respond to a request for comment about when employees would be required to work again from the office or what safety measures were being installed. 

Director Susan Monarez was sworn in about a week before the shooting. The employee said that the department is sending daily email updates since the shooting. 

“I think they're probably doing the best that they can,” the employee said. “I'm very grateful that Dr. Monarez is there now because compared to what we've had [when] we had almost no communication from leadership basically since the beginning of the year.”

CDC, like most of the federal government, has had to deal with workforce reductions. Officials said in June that the agency had lost nearly a quarter of its staff, or 3,000 employees, since President Donald Trump took office through reductions in force, retirement incentives, deferred resignation and firings. Some layoffs have been reversed. 

American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883 urged agency leadership after the shooting to condemn vaccine disinformation. 

“Their leadership is critical in reinforcing public trust and ensuring that accurate, science-based information prevails,” according to the statement. “This condemnation is necessary to help prevent violence against scientists that may be incited by such disinformation.”

Kennedy said in an X post that “No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others.” He also visited CDC headquarters on Monday and met with the widow of slain police officer David Rose. 

In 2021, the not-for-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate identified Kennedy as one of the top purveyors of COVID vaccine misinformation. 

As HHS secretary, Kennedy has replaced the members of a vaccine advisory board and terminated $500 million in research funding for mRNA vaccines. The COVID shot relies on mRNA technology. 

Multiple media outlets reported that Monarez sent a memo to CDC staff blaming the shooting, in part, on misinformation. 

The CDC employee said that all of these events are taking a toll on the workforce. 

“I keep thinking of the word despair right now. That's the word today,” the worker said. “They asked us in a [work] counseling meeting ‘what's your one word?’ And people said ‘angry,’ ‘disappointed,’ ‘betrayed,’ ‘frightened.’”  

“It’s just too much,” the employee added. “This year has been too much.”