The director of the American Public Health Association is calling for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “resign or be fired” from his position as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
“Americans deserve better than someone who is trying to impose his unscientific and judgemental views of public health and science,” said APHA director Dr. Georges Benjamin in a statement. “We deserve better than RFK Jr. He demonstrated his incompetence in only a few weeks.”
Benjamin cited the recent firing of 10,0000 employees from across HHS, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
In late March, Kennedy announced sweeping changes in the structure of HHS, including the development of a new agency called the Administration for a Healthy America to “more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention,” according to an HHS fact sheet on the move.
Kennedy himself admitted last week that the mass firings may have been a mistake.
Benjamin’s case against Kennedy also included the halting of research grants through the National Institutes of Health, which has affected health researchers at universities across the country. More than 1,500 scientists from various disciplines wrote an open letter in the New York Times last week saying that the Trump administration and leadership from Kennedy are jeopardizing the scientific and biomedical future prospects of the United States.
Kennedy said in an interview with CBS on Wednesday, his first since taking office, that he was not aware of cuts to certain key research grants studying chronic diseases, despite Kennedy’s call to eliminate the chronic disease epidemic.
Benjamin characterized Kennedy’s leadership as “the poor and thoughtless management that will only undermine the work of our nation’s top public health agencies to keep us all healthy.”
Calls for Kennedy’s firing come on the heels of reports that White House staff are frustrated with Kennedy’s team, particularly with HHS messaging on the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas and surrounding states.
Several Trump administration staff told to Axios Thursday morning that they have needed to establish a shadow HHS press office in the White House because Kennedy’s team has been unreachable by press.
RFK JR. UNAWARE OF CUTS TO INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND ADDICTION RESEARCH
Kennedy has made several major announcements on social media recently without issuing follow-up press releases with more information.
On Sunday, Kennedy, for the first time, said on X that the measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, vaccine was the “most effective” mechanism to prevent measles infection. He also said that he has redeployed CDC ground support teams in west Texas at the behest of Gov. Greg Abbott.