CDC workers expected to return to campus in September
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters are being asked to return to campus next month.
Employees received an email that it was expected they’d all be back on campus by Monday, Sep. 15.
The order comes as the CDC tries to sort through not just recent cuts and the emotional aftermath of the deadly shooting, but also a wave of resignations. Former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted from her position this week after less than a month on the job, prompting upset employees to walk out, too.
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On Thursday, hundreds of employees lined up on the sidewalk across the street from the CDC headquarters to cheer for three high-ranking doctors who resigned — Deb Houry, Demetre Daskalakis and Dan Jernigan.
“I hope we get our staff back,” Houry, the former deputy director for program and science, told Atlanta News First. “I hope Congress pays attention and funds us, and I hope we’re allowed to do our science without interference.”
Jim O’Neill, the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, has been named interim director.
In an email to CDC employees on Friday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to subdue growing frustrations.
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“Reform does not diminish your work; it strengthens it,” he wrote. “The CDC must once again be the world’s leader in communicable disease prevention. Together, we will restore trust. Together, we will rebuild this institution into what it was always meant to be: a guardian of America’s health and security.”
On Aug. 8, the nation was rocked when a shooter who believed the COVID-19 vaccine was making him depressed and suicidal opened fire on the Atlanta headquarters. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was killed in the attack, while the suspect shot and killed himself.
The shooter fired almost 500 shots into the campus, affecting six buildings and breaking about 150 windows, officials said.
This is a developing story. Check back with Atlanta News First as we learn more.
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