Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down

WASHINGTON – Multiple health groups and medical associations called on US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to step down in a joint statement on Sept 3, saying he was disregarding decades of life-saving science and reversing medical progress.

The statement, signed by more than 20 groups, comes after multiple former directors of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under both Republican and Democratic presidents said Mr 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 life-saving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programmes that keep us safe,” the statement released on Sept 3 said.

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

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

Mr Kennedy has made sweeping changes to vaccine policies, including

withdrawing federal recommendations for Covid-19 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 Sept 3, Mr 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 Mr Kennedy to either resign or be fired. REUTERS