We, the signatories, thank and applaud Dr. Don Weiss for taking a public stand to protect the public’s health and demand his immediate reinstatement to the Bureau of Communicable Disease where he can continue to use his expertise in defending New York City against infectious disease threats. 

On July 18, 2022, the New York Times published an article in which Dr. Don Weiss, Director of Surveillance for the Bureau of Communicable Disease (BCD) for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), in a courageous and rare fashion for a public figure, sought to correct the agency’s mishandling of public messaging during the Monkeypox virus (MPV) outbreak.  

In the article, Dr. Weiss objected to a July 15th DOHMH press release and website messaging that suggested that men-who-have-sex-with-men could safely engage in sexual activity if they covered their sores and avoided kissing, a recommendation completely lacking scientific justification. The advice was reckless and dangerous and would predictably result in a continuance and expansion of the MPV outbreak. 

On July 22, 2022, in a clear retaliatory move, the DOHMH demoted Dr. Weiss from his position and transferred him to a remote location in the Bureau of Maternal Infant and Reproductive Health.

Dr. Weiss, who has held his position for 22 years, is the most senior, experienced, medical epidemiologist at the DOHMH and has presided over every major communicable disease health crisis in New York City since 2000.  Using scientific principles and epidemiologic data, he has worked long hours to oversee, investigate, and advise the medical community on outbreaks including: anthrax letter attacks, lipotourism infections with mycobacteria, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, meningococcal disease, pandemic H1N1 influenza, Legionnaire’s disease, Ebola virus, Zika virus, COVID-19 and now MPV.

Of note, the World Health Organization now agrees with Dr. Weiss and has published guidelines that suggest that limiting sexual partners is a part of MPV control strategy.  New York State and New York City have declared the MPV outbreak a public health emergency.  The DOHMH has since added a correct messaging on their website, however, Dr. Weiss remains demoted.

We, the petitioners, are motivated by interest in public health and safety.  Not only is Dr. Weiss’s demotion a gross injustice to Dr. Weiss himself, but it is moreover a threat to public health and to adequate expert response to future infectious disease outbreaks.  The Mayor’s administration must restore the credibility of the DOHMH by immediately reinstating Dr. Weiss.

Signatories, we urgently appeal to you to email: 

NYC Mayor Eric Adams https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page

DOHMH Commissioner of Health https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/home/mail/html/maildoh.html

Please also leave messages for both by calling 311 or by texting 311-692.

Dr. Weiss’s website:  https://doctor-with-a-badge.webnode.page/