Joint statement calling for Secretary Kennedy resignation

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people.    

Forcing high-level CDC expert leaders to turn their back on decades of sound science to meet Kennedy’s agenda puts us all at risk. This final exclamation point on a term defined by repeated efforts to undermine science and public health definitively leaves Americans less safe in a multitude of ways:   

• Food safety: Reduced capacity to protect the public from foodborne illness, including a drastic reduction in the number of infections monitored and a resulting increased risk of foodborne illness.  
  
  
• Diagnostic testing and expert consultation: Limited testing capacity and consultation for less common infections where expertise, testing or medications may only be available at CDC. 
  
  
• Infection tracking and surveillance: Lack of information about what infections are circulating in local communities, which health care providers rely upon to evaluate and protect patients.   
  
  
• Public and provider education: Loss of expertise and trust in what was once the premier source of information to support clinicians and empower patients to make the best decisions to protect themselves and their families.  
  
  
• Chronic disease prevention and management: Weakened initiatives that promote healthy behaviors, preventive care and community-based projects to prevent and manage chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. 
  
  
• Emergency response: Diminished leadership and capacity to detect and mount effective responses to emerging infectious diseases and bioterror attacks.  
  
  
• Longstanding epidemics: Reversal of progress made in ending the HIV epidemic, eliminating viral hepatitis and addressing sexually transmitted infections.  
  
  
• Health and safety throughout the lifespan: Loss of expertise and information to support healthy pregnancy, child development and injury prevention.  
  
  
• Vaccination: Decimated capacity to make evidence-based vaccine recommendations and objectively oversee vaccine safety. 
   
• State and local health departments: Loss of expert guidance, technical support and resources to protect communities from routine health threats.   

We are gravely concerned that American people will needlessly suffer and die as a result of policies that turn away from sound interventions. After careful consideration, we insist on Kennedy’s resignation to restore the integrity, credibility and science-driven mission of HHS and all its agencies. Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe. We are speaking out because protecting public health is our responsibility as physicians, scientists and patient advocates. It is also the responsibility of our elected officials, and we call for their support at this critical moment to protect the health of the nation. It is time to reverse course and begin rebuilding the public health infrastructure overseen by CDC. Kennedy has proven himself unwilling and ill-prepared to lead that effort. 

Thank you,   

Academic Pediatric Association 

AIDS Action Baltimore  

AIDS Foundation Chicago 

American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology  

American Academy of HIV Medicine 

American Association of Immunologists 

American Families for Vaccines 

American Public Health Association  

American Sexual Health Association 

American Society for Microbiology 

American Society for Virology 

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 

American Thoracic Society 

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) 

Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 

Atlanta ID Group, PC 

AVAC (formerly the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition) 

Camenzind Solutions LLC 

Coai, Inc. 

Defend Public Health 

Fast-Track Cities Institute  

HIV Medicine Association  

Housing Works 

ID Care 

Infectious Disease Association of California 

Infectious Diseases Society of America 

Infectious Diseases Society of New Jersey 

Infectious Diseases Society of New York 

Infectious Diseases Society of Ohio 

International Association of Providers of AIDS Care 

Los Angeles LGBT Center 

Massachusetts Infectious Diseases Society 

ME Sorensen Consulting 

Michigan Infectious Diseases Society 

National Alliance for HIV Education and Workforce Development 

National Working Positive Coalition 

NTM Info & Research 

Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society 

Peggy Lillis Foundation  

San Francisco AIDS Foundation 

Save HIV Funding Campaign  

SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change 

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 

Society for Public Health Education  

Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) 

Stop TB USA 

The Reunion Project  

The Well Project 

Treatment Action Group 

Waves Ahead Corp