Tag Archives: Alex Azar

NBC News reports: Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary, resigned earlier this week, citing the violent Capitol riot inflamed by President Donald Trump in his resignation letter obtained by NBC News. Azar said his resignation would become effective on Jan. 20th — the same date he would have been leaving office once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. …

Mediaite reports: “Do you believe the president is able to discharge the duties of his office?” Stephanopoulos asked. Azar said the insurrection at the Capitol was an “assault on democracy,” but he sidestepped the core question with a call for a peaceful transfer of power. Stephanopoulos stayed on the topic by noting that Trump faces impeachment if not removed through …

1010 WINS reports: Dr. Anthony Fauci and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will receive their COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday. In a tweet, Azar said he, Fauci and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins would get vaccinated on Tuesday, without providing an exact time. Tomorrow I’ll receive my COVID-19 vaccine @NIH alongside @NIHDirector, @NIAIDNews Dr. …

Roll Call reports: “If President Trump had worn a mask then and urged everyone to wear a mask then back in April the way Joe Biden is right now, wouldn’t we be in much better shape?” Wallace asked. “Well, Chris, I welcome Vice President Biden to the club. Since the middle of April…” Azar started to say. Wallace interjected to …

Politico reports: Many disputes over prioritization will play out in the fine print of government plans. Is a hospital janitor more at risk than a suburban pediatrician? Is a truck driver’s super-spreading danger a greater priority than the risk faced by a 50-year old with diabetes? While federal and state officials agree that the nation’s 21 million health care workers …

The New York Times reports: Around mid-December, 6.4 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine will be shipped out across the United States in an initial push after it receives an expected emergency authorization, officials leading Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s push to fast-track a vaccine, said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. The first doses — which are expected …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump is lashing out at the Food and Drug Administration following a disclosure Monday that an experimental coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is more than 90 percent effective, convinced the timing — six days after Election Day — proves the “medical deep state” deliberately tried to sabotage his electoral prospects by delaying the results. …

Slate reports: In order to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, a federal health agency had an idea: Get Santa Claus involved. The Department of Health and Human Services had planned to devote $250 million for an advertising campaign, part of which involved Santa Claus performers promoting COVID-19 vaccination, reports the Wall Street Journal. In exchange, they would get access to …

This should totally firm up confidence in the COVID vaccine: Infuriated by the FDA’s defiance in a showdown over the Trump administration’s standards for authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, health secretary Alex Azar has spent recent weeks openly plotting the ouster of FDA chief Stephen Hahn. Azar has vented to allies within the Health and Human Services Department about his unhappiness …

ABC News reports: CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar are giving a COVID-19 briefing in Atlanta this afternoon. The two officials will be speaking at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters. Their press conference begins at 3:45 p.m. According to a release, they will “the ongoing COVID-19 response and Operation Warp Speed,” which is …

CNBC reports: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday the U.S. could have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every American as early as March, a more optimistic estimate than President Donald Trump has publicly said. The Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine program Operation Warp Speed expects to have up to 100 million doses by the end of the year, …

Politico reports: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led an escalating pressure campaign against his own FDA this spring and summer, urging the agency to abandon its responsibility for ensuring the safety and accuracy of a range of coronavirus tests as the pandemic raged.  Then in late August, Azar took matters into his own hands. Overriding objections from FDA …

CBS News reports: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday called on Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to resign, arguing he has failed to stand up to President Trump in the response to coronavirus. The call from Schumer comes amid a series of controversies at HHS. On Monday, the New York Times reported that a top …

The Washington Post reports: Biotechnical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced an agreement with the U.S. government Wednesday morning to distribute up to 600 million doses of a jointly produced vaccine for the novel coronavirus starting in December, through 2021. Through the deal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department will pay $1.95 billion for the …

The Washington Post reports: State health leaders, public health experts and hospital officials warn that an abrupt change in how the Trump administration requires them to report coronavirus data will increase the burden on facilities already strained by the pandemic and could impede the distribution of critical medicines. The opposition came after the Department of Health and Human Services notified …

The Guardian reports: The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world. Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for …

“I’ve not seen that video or that tweet, but obviously neither the president, his administration nor I would do anything to be supportive of white supremacy or anything that would support discrimination of any kind. I’ve been here getting ready to speak to you. “I’ve not seen that, and so I don’t want to comment further on that. But obviously …

Reuters reports: Authorities are not seeing spikes in coronavirus cases in places that are reopening but are seeing increases in some areas that remain closed, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar said on Sunday. “We are seeing that in places that are opening; we’re not seeing this spike in cases,” Azar said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We still …

Politico reports: The country’s top health official downplayed concerns over the public health conditions inside meatpacking plants, suggesting on a call with lawmakers that workers were more likely to catch coronavirus based on their social interactions and group living situations, three participants said. HHS Secretary Alex Azar told a bipartisan group that he believed infected employees were bringing the virus …

STAT News reports: Rick Bright, the ousted head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, has filed a formal whistleblower complaint alleging he was involuntarily transferred to a lower position at the National Institutes of Health because he raised concerns about the Trump administration’s Covid-19 response and about nepotism in the Department of Health and Human Services. Among the …