After Shooting, CDC Staff Wants End to Vaccine Misinformation

The Georgia man who opened fire at CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday was obsessed with his belief that the COVID vaccine had caused his own health problems, law enforcement officials said. Police officer David Rose was killed in the attack on an institution that has been the focus of conspiracy theories and misinformation concerning the pandemic, the New York Times reports. The suspect, Patrick Joseph White, had sought mental health assistance in recent weeks, investigators said. White was shot to death during the attack, but police said they don't yet know whether he killed himself or was struck by officers' fire.

• Agency response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut down nationwide through Monday, instructing employees to work remotely, and advising them to remove CDC markers from their cars for safety. A union representing workers said the shooting "compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured," per the AP. The union insisted federal officials condemn vaccine misinformation, saying it's putting scientists at risk.
• Kennedy: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the staff on Saturday that "no one should face violence while working to protect the health of others." Fired But Fighting, a group of laid-off CDC employees, has said Kennedy is part of the problem, blaming "his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust."

• Employees talk: About 800 staff members met Saturday on Zoom to discuss their trauma and anger, describing the onslaught of 40 bullets smashing through their office windows in at least four buildings and whistling just over their cubicle walls. Officials who have been briefed by law enforcement told the meeting that the CDC was the target, per CNN. "This was not stray bullets," one said. Investigators said no threat to the agency had been made.
• Investigation: Police reported finding five firearms at the scene of the shooting. They said White's father had called authorities earlier Friday to report his son was suicidal.
• The vaccine blame: A neighbor who had spoken repeatedly with White about COVID vaccines told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was unsettled but didn't seem violent. "He very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people," Nancy Hoalst said. "He emphatically believed that." She added, "I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC."
• Dekalb County officer David Rose: The rookie just completed police training after serving in the Marines. "You couldn't have a better grandson," said Beverley Rose, his grandmother, who described him as humble respectable. "Now we have to go bury him," she told the Times. "He didn't even live his life."