HHS Sec Tapped Labradoodle Breeder To Handle COVID

April 22, 2020 Coronavirus, Trump Administration

On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S. government was prepared.

As is now widely known, two agencies Azar oversaw as HHS secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, wouldn’t come up with viable tests for five and half weeks, even as other countries and the World Health Organization had already prepared their own.

Shortly after his televised comments, Azar tapped a trusted aide with minimal public health experience to lead the agency’s day-to-day response to COVID-19. The aide, Brian Harrison, had joined the department after running a dog-breeding business for six years. Five sources say some officials in the White House derisively called him “the dog breeder.”

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A @Reuters special report: HHS chief Alex Azar tapped ex-professional Labradoodle breeder to coordinate the coronavirus response https://t.co/i6fU90uRgY pic.twitter.com/ka4ft86FWl

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 22, 2020