by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

August 12, 2025

Public health workers and gun safety advocates gathered at a rally Tuesday night to commemorate last week’s deadly shooting near Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and demand policy changes to prevent future instances of gun violence.

At the entrance to the CDC, members of the community piled flowers, balloons and stuffed animals alongside signs thanking CDC workers and DeKalb County police Officer David Rose, who was killed in the shooting.

Down the street at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, leading voices in epidemiology, pediatric health and violence prevention took the stage in a packed auditorium to describe what they saw as a “culture of misinformation” that contributed to Friday’s attack. The rally was organized by Georgia Majority for Gun Safety and Georgia Clinicians for Gun Safety.

“Georgia is among the bottom third of state gun violence rates in a country that is doing poorly across developed nations,” said Heather Hallett, the founder and director of Georgia Majority for Gun Safety. “So we are really in a unique position in terms of the way gun violence impacts us.”

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said he was “deeply saddened” by the shooting, and visited the CDC campus Monday to meet with agency leadership and survey the damage.

“We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency,” he wrote in a post on X, adding “We honor their service. We stand with them. And we remain united in our mission to protect and improve the health of every American.”

But public health advocates — including former employees of the CDC — point to a rise in public mistrust of vaccines they say is fueled by Kennedy’s rhetoric and policy decisions on vaccines. Earlier this year, he dismissed all 17 members of a key vaccine panel at the CDC and replaced them with a slate of eight hand-picked appointees, many of whom are seen as vaccine skeptics. The panel later voted to ban thimerosal, a harmless preservative used in a small portion of flu vaccines, in what critics say is a nod to vaccine skeptics who have fixated on the chemical’s use. 

Last week, Kennedy also terminated 22 grants — including one at Emory University — as part of a “coordinated wind-down” of research studying mRNA vaccine technology. Vaccines using mRNA were first developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the technology won a Nobel Prize in 2023.

Dr. Ben Lopman, an epidemiologist and former CDC employee who studies vaccines, said at Tuesday’s rally that misinformation about vaccines “has reached the highest levels in our government and society” under the current administration.

“RFK Jr. was arguably the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activist before being elevated to HHS secretary,” Lopman said. “These wrong ideas are now embedded in everyday conversations, as well as official policy.”

Dr. Sofia Chaudhary, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and an assistant professor at Emory University, also drew a link between mistrust of public health workers and Friday’s attack on the CDC.

“This past Friday, more than 180 bullets were fired, but the attack on public health went beyond the gunfire,” Chaudhary said. “Misinformation is a serious and growing threat to public health that leads to erosion of trust, delays in care and vaccinations, and deepening of social division.”

Speakers at the rally also condemned inaction on gun safety legislation at Georgia’s state Capitol. During the 2025 legislative session, legislators introduced a number of bills aimed at improving gun safety, but did not  pass any of them before the session concluded. Lawmakers will return to Atlanta in January. 

“There are over a dozen bills held in limbo in committee at our state Capitol that use evidence-based solutions to address gun violence,” said Mike Greenwald, a doctor and co-chair of Georgia Clinicians for Gun Safety. 

Lawmakers “are aware of the evidence and the arguments,” he added. “What holds them back is likely a political calculus.”

Georgia Clinicians for Gun Safety and Georgia Majority for Gun Safety will be launching a new public information campaign on gun safety next month, Greenwald said.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.