Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., condemning last week's deadly shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, said the centers' scientists should never be targets of violence.
"They work in silence, saving us all and protecting our health," Kennedy told Scripps News on Monday. "They should not be the targets of this kind of violence from anybody."
The shooter, identified as Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, Georgia, blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, according to authorities.
Last Friday, White opened fire near the Atlanta headquarters, hitting several windows and killing one person, DeKalb County police officer David Rose. The shooter was later found dead in a nearby structure. Police said they have not determined if White killed himself or was shot by police.
Kennedy told Scripps, meanwhile, that his priority is "making sure our employees are safe" and "restoring public trust by telling the truth, even when we believe there is scientific uncertainty."
He further stressed that violence tied to health misinformation can be avoided by transparency.
"People can ask questions without being penalized," said Kennedy. "The way we make the public believe in us is by telling the truth — what we know and what we don't know."
Further, he criticized past government messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that officials "overstated certainty," which he believes "eroded trust."
Kennedy, also during the interview, defended the administration's decision to cancel millions of dollars in contracts for mRNA vaccine development for respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and the flu, and questioned the technology's safety.
"You can't control the amount of energy that everybody is getting," he said about the vaccines. "When you give a vaccine, you want to know exactly how much energy is because some people react very, very badly and can get very, very badly injured."
Kennedy added that mRNA technology "is still being researched for cancer treatments, where it may prove effective."
He also defended the Trump administration's policy of withholding funds from universities accused of legal violations related to antisemitism enforcement or permitting transgender women in women's sports.
"Universities that are now being defunded because they're breaking the law should stop breaking the law, and then they will get that funding," he said. He also called for funding to be "distributed more widely to avoid centralized control that could stifle scientific dissent."
The secretary, turning to public health and diet, spoke out about the push to stress nutrition.
"We are giving the poorest members of our society diabetes when they're young, and then we're paying for it later with Medicaid."
He identified sugar and ultraprocessed foods as major threats, and pledged that dietary guidelines will be "based on public health rather than commercial interests."
Acknowledging challenges in underserved areas, Kennedy said, "Cheap food is an illusion if it causes long-term health costs."
"A Big Mac costs, you know, I think $9 now," he added. "You can get high-quality food, as we change these rules to incentivize people to buy better food. You're going to see the markets respond, and you're going to see better food going into these food deserts."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.