Tag Archives: HHS

Politico: Top Aide To HHS Flack Michael Caputo Urged Herd Immunity Policy, Said “We Want Them Infected”

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 …

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HHS Data Shows 200 Hospitals Were Full Last Week

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 …

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Alex Azar: States Gets Final Say In Vaccine Prioritization

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 …

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Azar: 6.4M Doses Of Pfizer Vax To Go Out In First Push

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 …

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HHS Cancels $15M Celebrity COVID Ad Campaign

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 …

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Trump Admin Rejected Celebrities For PSA Campaign If They Had Backed LGBTQ Rights Or Marriage Equality

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 …

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HHS Planned Massive Celebrity-Filled PSA Campaign Titled “Helping The President Will Help The Country”

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 …

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“Mass Exodus” At HHS Expected Should Trump Lose

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 …

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Trump Admin Planned To Give Santa Performers Early Vax Access In Return For Taking Part In Ad Campaign

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 …

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LIVE VIDEO: CDC Head Gives First Briefing In Months

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 …

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HHS Projects Vaccine Doses For Everyone By March

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, …

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HHS Had CDC Change Warning On Risk To Children

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 — …

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Politico: $300M HHS Pandemic PR Blitz Is Falling Apart

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 …

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Dennis Quaid Blasts “Cancel Culture Media” On Reports Of COVID PR Campaign: “I Was Not Paid One Penny”

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 …

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Actor Dennis Quaid To Appear In $300M PR “Defeat Despair” Campaign, Money Siphoned From The CDC

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 …

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HHS Spox Diagnosed With Metastatic Neck Cancer, Is Now “Resting Under The Watchful Eye Of Jesus Christ”

The Buffalo News reports: Michael R. Caputo, the East Aurora political consultant at the center of controversy over the Trump administration’s Covid-19 messaging, has been diagnosed with cancer. Assemblyman David J. DiPietro, R-East Aurora, acting as Caputo’s spokesman, said Thursday that the HHS spokesman on leave from his assistant secretary post has “squamous cell carcinoma, a metastatic head and neck …

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HHS Spox “Stands By” His Attack On CDC Officials

“I’m not going to resign. The fact of the matter is, there are people out there, especially people who hate the president, who are trying to paint a picture that I am mentally ill because I did this Facebook Live. “I do those Facebook Live’s very often and take questions about COVID. I had just gotten a health scare, to …

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HHS Posted Testing Change Over CDC Objections

The New York Times reports: A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The …

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USPS Stiffed On $25M Cost Of Trump’s COVID Mailer

Because nothing matters anymore: As the coronavirus began spreading across the country in March, a white-and-blue postcard from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived in every mailbox in the United States. It communicated basic public health do’s and don’ts — wash your hands, avoid crowds, stay home if you feel sick—which were billed as “President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines …

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HHS Spox Takes Leave Of Absence After Bizarre Video

NBC News reports: The top spokesman for the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services is taking a leave of absence, the agency announced Wednesday, days after he promoted dangerous conspiracy theories during a Facebook Live video. In the video, Caputo, who is HHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, charged that scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

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