CDC union says vaccine misinformation put staff at risk after Atlanta shooting

A union representing US Centers for Disease Control employees has demanded that the federal government condemn vaccine misinformation after a man who evidently blamed the Covid-19 vaccination for making him depressed and suicidal aimed gunfire Friday at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.

The 30-year-old shooting suspect, who killed a police officer and died during the attack, had also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters – but he was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press on Saturday.

The CDC workers’ union said the deadly violence on Friday was not random and “compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured”. It said vaccine misinformation had put scientists at risk.

The American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2883, added that the CDC and leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHH) – headed by Trump administration appointee and avowed vaccine safety skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr – must provide a “clear and unequivocal stance in condemning vaccine disinformation”.

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