{"id":46063,"date":"2025-08-12T23:25:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=46063"},"modified":"2025-08-12T23:25:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:25:38","slug":"cdc-director-tells-staff-misinformation-can-be-dangerous-in-agency-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=46063","title":{"rendered":"CDC director tells staff ‘misinformation can be dangerous’ in agency meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Susan Monarez, warned staffers about the dangers of misinformation during an agencywide meeting, the first since last week\u2019s shooting at the CDC\u2019s headquarters<\/a> in Atlanta, which left one police officer dead, according to a transcript of her remarks obtained by NBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monarez conducted Tuesday\u2019s staff meeting virtually, joined by Jim O\u2019Neill, the deputy secretary of health and human services, and Jeff Williams, director of the CDC\u2019s Office of Safety, Security and Asset Management, in an effort to reassure the people who work at the Atlanta campus about their safety. She said the agency has taken steps to bolster security and expand mental health sources for employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic health should never be under attack,\u201d Monarez said, echoing an earlier social media post from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that misinformation can be dangerous,\u201d Monarez told staffers. \u201cNot only to health, but to those that trust us and those we want to trust. We need to rebuild the trust together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monarez said the agency can rebuild that trust with \u201crational, evidence-based discourse\u201d communicated <\/strong>with \u201dcompassion and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect,\u2002<\/a>Patrick White, 30, fired close to 200 rounds that struck six buildings at the CDC\u2019s campus, law enforcement officials said at a separate news conference Tuesday. Five firearms, including rifles and a shotgun, were recovered at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday\u2019s call, Williams, the head of CDC\u2019s security, said the campus buildings \u201csustained excessive damage,\u201d adding that it will take time for cleanup and repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 100 children at the childcare center located within CDC\u2019s campus were reunited with their parents Friday night after the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because CDC employees have been working remotely since the attack, Monarez expressed regret that they couldn\u2019t meet in person. She said that as staffers return to campus in the coming weeks, it will be \u201cdifferent\u201d and \u201cunsettling, in many ways, for some time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White’s motive remains under investigation, although officials said they found documents at his home in Kennesaw, Georgia, expressing his discontent with the Covid vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One police officer, David Rose, was killed while responding to the gunfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the attack on the CDC, staffers have been voicing frustration over Kennedy\u2019s past vaccine comments<\/a>, which they said has fueled growing hostility toward public health officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA\u2019s former top vaccine official, said the job of public health officials is difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dThere\u2019s a lot of nuance to public health communication,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s black and white, but usually, there\u2019s a fair amount of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether Kennedy planned to address vaccine misinformation, Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said Monarez and CDC leadership \u201cremain focused on supporting staff during an extraordinarily difficult time as evidenced by their continued direct engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a time to stand in solidarity with our public health workforce and we hope the media will respect the moment rather than exploiting a tragedy and further exacerbating an already harrowing experience by the dedicated CDC staff,\u201d Nixon said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referring to Kennedy, Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children\u2019s Hospital of Pennsylvania, said: \u201dThe irony is her boss is the biggest spreader of misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offit, also vaccine adviser for the FDA, said the staff at CDC aren\u2019t responsible for the misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese people, they\u2019re hardworking public health folks, who care deeply about getting it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Kanter, the CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, a group that represents state public health agencies, said in a statement Tuesday that \u201cin this time of heated rhetoric and polarization, we implore everyone to help dampen inflammatory slander undeservingly aimed at public health professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Kennedy visited CDC\u2019s headquarters, where security led him through campus, pointing out shattered windows across multiple buildings, HHS said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Kennedy met with the widow of the killed police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HHS statement also said the agency “continues to support CDC personnel and their families.\u201d Over the weekend, Kennedy sent an email to staff, saying the agency is \u201cstanding together\u201d in the wake of the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy has been active in opposing use of the Covid vaccines. He filed a citizens\u2019 petition<\/a> in 2021 requesting that the Food and Drug Administration revoke the authorization of the Covid vaccines. The same year, he described the Covid shot as the \u201cdeadliest vaccine ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has also taken steps the limit use of the updated Covid vaccines for the fall, restricting its use to older adults and those with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Kennedy\u2002terminated nearly two dozen contracts<\/a> focused on developing mRNA vaccines \u2014 the same technology used to develop Pfizer\u2019s and Moderna\u2019s Covid shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy hasn\u2019t yet spoken publicly about vaccine misinformation that may have contributed to the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Tuesday meeting, the head of CDC security tried to ease worries about returning to the agency’s campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll indications are that this was an isolated event involving one individual,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Susan Monarez, warned staffers about the dangers of misinformation during an agencywide meeting, the first since last week\u2019s shooting at the CDC\u2019s headquarters in Atlanta, which left one police officer dead, according to a transcript of her remarks obtained by NBC News. Monarez conducted Tuesday\u2019s staff meeting virtually, joined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5784],"tags":[1664,4802,1430,5370,1537],"class_list":["post-46063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-cdc","tag-mental-health","tag-misinformation","tag-safety-and-security","tag-shootings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46065,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46063\/revisions\/46065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}