Lies and bullshit have consequences.

A shooting at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention killed a police officer and rattled the community of public health workers, who said the attack was a manifestation of rampant misinformation surrounding vaccines.

A 30-year-old man who believed the Covid-19 vaccine had made him ill opened fire at C.D.C. buildings on Friday, according to the police. A young DeKalb County police officer was killed in the attack, and the gunman also died. On Saturday, investigators from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were working to piece together the details and the circumstances that precipitated the attack.

The shooting came after years of conspiracy theories about vaccines and escalating political hostility toward the C.D.C., which some federal officials have sought to blame for lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the coronavirus pandemic.

Because how dare the government act to control a lethal disease. Much better to let it spread and pick off all the people weak and feeble enough to catch it.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, lamented the attack in a statement on Saturday. “No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” he said.

Says the guy who has been fomenting hatred of the CDC in his role as hhs secretary.

Some scientists and public health experts said Friday’s attack was the latest in a pattern of threats and violence against health care workers. Inside the C.D.C., which is widely considered a global leader in public health, some employees expressed frustration and distress on a call on Saturday, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Times.

On the call, one C.D.C. employee asked the agency’s director, Susan Monarez, “Are you able to speak to the misinformation, the disinformation that caused this issue?”

The misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines have circulated despite research that has proved that Covid-19 vaccines are safe for most Americans. Side effects are rare, and the vaccinations are believed to have prevented millions of deaths and hospitalizations.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, some vaccine skeptics, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now the health and human services secretary, have sought to blame the C.D.C. for a botched response to the outbreak of the virus.

Before joining the Trump administration, Mr. Kennedy described the C.D.C. as a “cesspool of corruption” and accused the agency of covering up harmful side effects of vaccines, particularly in children. In 2021, he called Covid shots the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Last week, Mr. Kennedy canceled nearly $500 million in grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines, which many scientists see as the best way to protect people during a pandemic.

“Public health is being vilified by the current administration,” said Dr. Ina Park, a n expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the University of California, San Francisco.

This is hell, nor are we out of it.