FILE PHOTO: Community members come out to pay their respects for David Rose, an officer killed on August 8th, in Atlanta, Georgia, while stopping a gunman, at the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo

By Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) -More than 750 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services staff have urged Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to guarantee federal health workers' safety after a shooting this month at CDC buildings in Atlanta, according to a letter released on Wednesday.

The signatories, including former leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention such as Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director, urged HHS to tighten emergency procedures and alerts by September 2.

They also asked the CDC to do something about the online targeting of federal workers that list agency staff and their personal information.

"The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people - your friends, your families, and yourselves," the letter said, noting that people had signed in a personal capacity.

They included nearly 400 current employees, many of whom signed anonymously for fear of retaliation, CDC physician Anna Yousaf told Reuters, speaking in a personal capacity.

A spokesperson for the HHS said CDC employees' safety and well-being are a top priority for Kennedy, who visited CDC headquarters in Atlanta shortly after the shooting.

Investigators said last week a man fired nearly 200 rounds at six CDC buildings on August 8, killing police officer David Rose before taking his own life. Writings found in the gunman's home expressed discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine, they said.

The CDC tightened security following the attack, having most employees work from home this week and removing vehicle decals showing where they work.

Wednesday's letter, also signed by staff at the National Institutes of Health and other HHS agencies, urged Kennedy to publicly disavow false or misleading claims about vaccines and infectious disease and to affirm the CDC's nonpartisan, evidence-based scientific integrity.

It accused Kennedy of undermining public health by attacking CDC staff's credibility, firing key personnel and misusing data to falsely link childhood vaccines to autism.

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has moved swiftly to reshape vaccine, food, and medicine policy as HHS secretary, most notably by firing all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel last June.

The letter from department staff also was sent to Congress and the White House, an accompanying press release said.

(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Sonali Paul and Paul Simao)