A group of associations focused on medicine and public health has taken the extraordinary step of calling for the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The joint statement was released last Wednesday by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), cosigned by 20 additional groups, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the American Association of Immunologists, and more. Citing Secretary Kennedy’s dismissal of established science around food safety, vaccination, and chronic disease prevention, the statement voices concern that “American people will needlessly suffer and die” under his policies.

“After careful consideration, we insist on Kennedy’s resignation to restore the integrity, credibility, and science-driven mission of HHS and all its agencies,” the statement reads. “Our country needs leadership that will promote honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress, and decimate programs that keep us safe.”

Amanda Jezek, senior VP of public policy and government relations at IDSA, said the statement was developed only after extended difficulties by IDSA and the cosigning organizations to communicate with Kennedy.

We typically don’t take positions on federal appointees, pro or con.

Amanda Jezek, VP of Public Policy and Government Relations, IDSA

“We typically don’t take positions on federal appointees, pro or con,” Jezek said. “We work with everyone, and we pride ourselves on that—we worked with many officials in the first Trump administration ….  We requested multiple times to meet with [Secretary Kennedy] or his staff, and I think that, unfortunately, he just showed again and again an unwillingness to work with experts in the field.”

The need to make last week’s statement, Jezek said, was accelerated by last month’s firing of the head of the Centers for Disease Control, a subagency of HHS, which sparked the resignation of multiple high-level CDC employees, all of whom in their statements questioned Secretary Kennedy’s approach to medical science and public health. 

“[We had conversations with] government relations professionals, across CEO levels, and across members and board members, and physicians and other professionals, which I think is really valuable,” she said. “People in different roles and associations each bring a somewhat different perspective. And if people with all those different perspectives have all reached the same conclusion that this is the direction we have to go in, I think that that’s very compelling.”

The statement preceded an appearance last week by Secretary Kennedy before the Senate Finance Committee where he defended his stances on vaccines and public health. Earlier this week on X, he posted that “We need new blood at the CDC. We need people who are committed to public health, integrity, and gold-standard science.”

Jezek said IDSA and its partners will continue to press the matter.

“The impacts are still happening, and we need to continue educating members of Congress and educating the American people about the impacts of these actions,” she said. “I think we’re going to see this play out a lot more over the next several weeks, because we’re just at the beginning of September, respiratory virus season. It’s when people may go and find it’s a lot harder now to get a Covid vaccine, they might not be able to get one at all, depending on where they live and what health factors they may or may not have.”

[istock/MarioGuti]