Tag Archives: HHS

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration announced Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that sought to narrow the scope of legal rights in sensitive situations involving medical care. The action by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in …

CNN reports: The Senate narrowly confirmed Xavier Becerra to be the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday, giving the former California attorney general a crucial role in fighting the pandemic. Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, is the first Latino HHS secretary. The vote was 50 to 49. During the confirmation process, Becerra stressed his upbringing, his father’s recent …

ABC News reports: The Senate is poised to confirm Xavier Becerra as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday despite nearly unanimous opposition from Republicans, who have tried to brand him as a radical and unqualified. Becerra, currently the attorney general of California, would be the first Latino to lead the department. If he is confirmed, Becerra …

The Hill reports: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday said he will vote to confirm Xavier Becerra as secretary of Health and Human Services. Manchin’s support will likely give Democrats the necessary votes for confirmation, after the Senate Finance Committee deadlocked on advancing President Biden’s nominee to lead the health agency. It is unclear if any GOP senators will vote …

The Wall Street Journal reports: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is expected to face a tough confirmation hearing Tuesday as Republicans are set to argue that President Biden’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary is overly liberal and lacks public-health experience. Mr. Becerra’s hearing Tuesday with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will be followed by a …

Politico reports: A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to internal emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee and shared with POLITICO. “There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing …

CNN reports: More Americans who don’t even have coronavirus are suffering from soaring Covid-19 hospitalizations. Newly released data from the US Department of Health and Human Services show at least 200 hospitals were at full capacity last week. And in one third of all hospitals, more than 90% of all ICU beds were occupied. Coronavirus patients occupied 46% of all …

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 …

Politico reports: The Health and Human Services department has scrapped a planned ad campaign featuring celebrities discussing Covid-19, a senior HHS official told a congressional oversight panel in a letter shared with POLITICO. The abandoned $15 million contract with Atlas Research, part of a larger $300 million taxpayer-funded campaign aimed at “defeating despair” over the pandemic, was conceived by a …

The Washington Post reports: The documents show that Trump political appointees and the contractors they hired also vetted celebrities for the public health campaign based on whether they had ever criticized the president, or supported former president Barack Obama, gay rights or same-sex marriage. Of at least 274 celebrities under consideration, only 10 appear to have been approved, according to …

Politico reports: The Trump appointee who steered a $300 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign to “defeat despair” about the coronavirus privately pitched a different theme last month: “Helping the President will Help the Country.” That proposal, which came in a meeting between Trump administration officials and campaign contractors, is among documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee that further illustrate how …

Politico reports: At least 27 political appointees have exited the embattled Health and Human Services department since the start of the Covid-19 crisis in February, according to a POLITICO review, and senior leaders are bracing for dozens more officials to depart swiftly if President Donald Trump loses re-election. Such a wave of departures would leave only a shell staff shepherding …

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 …

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: In early September, as many school districts were still deciding whether to hold in-person classes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered the title of a scientific report on the coronavirus and removed words like “pediatric” from its text, days after a Trump administration appointee requested similar changes, according to emails obtained by POLITICO. That request — …

Politico reports: They made a list of more than 30 celebrities including Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift and Billy Joel to appear in their ad campaign to “inspire hope” about coronavirus, but they ended up with only Dennis Quaid, CeCe Winans and Hasidic singer Shulem Lemmer. The health department’s $300 million-plus, taxpayer-funded vehicle to boost confidence in President Donald Trump’s response …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Dennis Quaid and gospel singer CeCe Winans have each taken to social media to clarify the non-political intent of participating in interviews related to COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic. According to a report from Politico on Friday, an ad was ordered by President Trump and conceived partly by former Department of Health and Human Services official …

Politico reports: The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to “defeat despair” about the coronavirus, a $300 million-plus effort that was shaped by a political appointee close to President Donald Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official, using taxpayer funds. The ad blitz, described in some budget documents as the “Covid-19 …