After two weeks Gun holder set fire But CDC headquarters In Atlanta, the agency is facing renewed turmoil, as the leaders announced a new panel to review security and effectiveness Kovid -19 MRNA vaccineAt the same time, employees are reporting harassment in view of the attack and absorbing the impact of more than 600 job cuts that have destroyed the entire public health programs.
This week, the officials confirmed that the suspect – who Hundreds of rounds fired On August 8, in the main campus of the CDC, a police officer died – two days ago tried to enter the CDC Visitors Center, which investigators believe that there was a reconnaissance.
Shooting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy was a few days after Junior. Federal funding canceled For mRNA vaccine research -A step observed by Anti-Vaxin groups. Investigators have said The suspect was fixed On the mistrust of covid vaccines.
In later days, employees say they have been targeted HarassThe callers asked, “Are you flexible?” Before playing the sound of bullets. The agency’s own post-shooting messaging taunts have shook the employees.
Against this background, CDC announced a new panel headed by MIT Professor Retsef Levi, which to investigate concerns raised by critics of Covid MRNA vaccines. Restph himself has been vocal in his criticism of vaccines. The leadership implicated it as an attempt to combat misinformation, but many employees see it as a concession for disintegration narratives.
The composition of the panel has already deepened the restlessness inside an institution under stress.
In a letter sent after the attack, the employees urged Kennedy to stop spreading wrong health information, confirmed the scientific integrity of the CDC and guaranteed the workforce safety.
On Thursday, more than 600 CDC employees were officially allowed to leave, part of a wave of force cut by a federal judge earlier this month. The entire branches were abolished in the division of global HIV and tuberculosis, including teams working to prevent mother-to-children HIV transmission. CDC’s long -running violence against maternal and child health services, oral health programs, and children and youth surveys (VACs) was also cut.
Nearly two decades -old VACS programs have provided important data to measure the prevalence of violence against children and to design interference in the response. “The data we had collected was a catalyst,” said a researcher. “Throughout the night, that work is gone.”
The trimmed expanded the prevention of injury – a bitter irony, given that the agency was targeted in just one large -scale shooting. Employees who studied the deaths related to firearm, mistrust in young athletes, and prevention of decline in older adults were among those who were rejected.
“Injuries are a major cause of death,” an experienced scientist said, whose unit was abolished. “Stopping them will result in less death. It is so easy. But our entire team was wiped out with a single letter.”
Other programs finished had a history of decades. Global HIV prevention and treatment efforts shaped the care of millions of people worldwide with CDC technical assistance on the 1990s dates. Oral health and mother-child health branches are similar pillars of domestic prevention work for a long time. Their sudden closure, employees say, erase the systems that take generations to make.
Employees say that the process is isolating itself. For a long time, the worker said, “It is isolated and alone.” “People with whom we worked for decades were also afraid of talking to us, and we were just cut off.” Another couple: “We are not just lazy federal bureaucrats. We have put our hearts and souls in this work, showing day after day to keep people safe.”
For many employees, the message is Starc: CDC is being asked to examine its scientific foundation, even misunderstandings against the agency are uncontrolled.
