U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a press conference with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (not pictured) at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S., August 28, 2025. REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Multiple health groups and medical associations called on U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down in a joint statement on Wednesday, saying he was disregarding decades of lifesaving science and reversing medical progress.

The statement, signed by more than 20 groups, comes after multiple former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under both Republican and Democratic presidents have said that Kennedy's decisions - culminating in last week's firing of the CDC's director - are putting Americans' health at risk.

"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," the statement released on Wednesday said.

"We are gravely concerned that American people will needlessly suffer and die as a result of policies that turn away from sound interventions," the statement added.

Signatories included the Infectious Diseases Society of America ; American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; American Public Health Association; and American Association of Immunologists.

Kennedy has made sweeping changes to vaccine policies, including withdrawing federal recommendations for COVID shots for pregnant women and healthy children in May. He fired all members of the CDC's expert vaccine advisory panel in June and replaced them with hand-picked advisers including fellow anti-vaccine activists.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Kennedy said his mission was "to restore the CDC's focus on infectious disease" and "rebuild trust through transparency and competence."

CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired last week, less than a month after being sworn in, and some senior officials resigned amid growing tensions over vaccine policies and public health directives.

More than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services Department employees also penned an open letter calling for the health secretary to either resign or be fired.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)