750 HHS staff send letter to Congress and RFK Jr. asking him to stop spreading misinformation

More than 750 employees across the Department of Health and Human Services sent a signed letter to members of Congress and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday morning, calling on the secretary to stop spreading misinformation.

NOTE: The video is from a previous report.

The letter states the deadly shooting that occurred at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 8 was "not random" and was driven by "politicized rhetoric."

Authorities said the 30-year-old gunman -- who killed a police officer in the attack -- had been harboring yearslong grievances with the COVID-19 vaccine. He believed he suffered negative health effects after he got the vaccine, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found written documents at his home indicating that he wanted to make his discontent known.

The signatories are accusing Kennedy of endangering the lives of HHS employees by spreading misinformation.

Kennedy, who oversees the CDC, has peddled vaccine skepticism throughout his career. Before becoming health secretary, Kennedy falsely called the COVID-19 vaccine the "deadliest vaccine ever made."

HHS did not return ABC News' request for comment.

"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information," the letter states.

The employees pointed to various examples, such as Kennedy referring to the CDC as a "cesspool of corruption" in a post on X and falsely claiming mRNA vaccines "failed to protect effectively" against COVID and flu.

The letter said such "dangerous and deceitful statements and actions" contributed to the harassment and violence experienced by CDC employees.

Dr. Shiv Prasad, a scientific review officer at the National Institutes of Health who signed the letter, said he felt compelled to do so for many reasons.

"Like my colleagues at the CDC, I am concerned about several things," Prasad, speaking in his personal capacity and not on behalf of NIH or HHS, told ABC News. "One is the misinformation that's being spread, especially concerning vaccines and COVID-19 and it has a way of vilifying federal workers who are working every day to ensure the health of Americans."

He went on, "I'm concerned about the safety of HHS workers ... I think we are all potential targets now."

The letter called on Kennedy to take a number of actions by Sept. 2, including not spreading inaccurate health information, affirming the scientific integrity of the CDC and guaranteeing the safety of the HHS workforce.

Prasad added that he would also like to see action from Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of NIH. Bhattacharya recently supported Kennedy's decision to cancel $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine development, saying the decision was made because "the mRNA platform is no longer viable."

Prasad said he and his colleagues would like Bhattacharya "to consider the effect of his words, potential effect on NIH staff, because he has made some comments in the past about the origins of COVID-19 and certainly recently with the NIH moving away from mRNA vaccine technology."

"These things are not accepted by the field and, again it's misinformation, and it could lead to it could put us at risk," he continued.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.