RFK Jr slammed by Trump's own surgeon general for 'tepid' response to deadly CDC shooting
On Friday, a gunman who believed the COVID-19 vaccine made him sick went on a shooting spree outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
The shooting resulted in the deaths of one police officer, David Rose, and the shooter himself, leaving multiple buildings damaged from gunfire as students at the nearby Emory University took shelter.
During a Sunday interview with CBS' Margaret Brennan 'Face the Nation,' former surgeon general Dr. Jerome Adams said Kennedy's response was 'tepid' while criticizing the secretary for the delay in addressing the violence.
'How you respond to a crisis defines a leader, and quite frankly Secretary Kennedy has failed in his first major test in this regard,' Adams told Brennan.
'It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings, and that's not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric in the past has actually contributed to a lot of what's been going on.'
The CDC shooter blamed the vaccine for adding to his depression by making him suicidal.
Back in May, Kennedy announced that the CDC would no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women.
Following the shooting, Kennedy issued a response on Saturday giving extended to the family of the slain officer.
'No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' Kennedy wrote on X.'
'We honor their service. We stand with them. And we remain united in our mission to protect and improve the health of every American.'
Adams flamed Kennedy for previously referring to the CDC as a 'cesspool of corruption' before adding his criticisms of the agency may have influenced the shooter's actions
'He made this statement just last year,' Adams said. 'And he still has not unequivocally condemned the violence.'
'He said no one should be harmed while working to protect the public,' Adams added.
'There's an out there, Margaret. If you don't believe that people are working to protect the public, then that means it's OK to commit violence, at least in some people's eyes.'
Throughout the entire first Trump administration, Adams served as surgeon general where he oversaw the development of the mRNA vaccines during Operation Warp Speed.
Adams has praised the administration's development of the vaccine as one of Trump's greatest achievements, while expressing concern as the department begins cutting funds from mRNA research.
Only 24-hours before the shooting, Kennedy announced HHS would slash approximately half a billion dollars of funding for vaccine development programs for mRNA technology.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Department of Health and Humans services for comment regarding Adams' recent criticisms of Kennedy.
Kennedy said the department 'has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses.'
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