HHS Secretary Azar Turned Over the Management of His Pandemic Task Force to Labradoodle Dog Breeder
April 23rd 2020
Alex Azar - Caricature (DonkeyHotey)
By Mark Sumner
See also: Reuters April 22 article, “Special Report: Former Labradoodle breeder was tapped to lead U.S. pandemic task force”
Donald Trump started off blaming his cataclysmal response to the COVID-19 pandemic on China. When that finger pointing proved insufficient to distract for tens of thousands dead, Trump added the World Health Organization to his list. But Wednesday brought some signals that Trump may have found scapegoats closer to home … and this time, there might actually be a sound reason.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar was a lead singer in the “we got this” chorus when coronavirus first entered public awareness back in January. Whether talking to Congress or the media, Azar was quick to dismiss the threat of novel coronavirus. America already had tests ready for the virus, Azar said, weeks before there were tests. America was prepared, Azar said, when it clearly was not. And to make America ready for threat and disruption of a global pandemic, Azar had the perfect guy … a former labradoodle breeder with no experience in public health.
Azar was apparently so cool with the leadership provided by his chief of staff, dog dude Brian Harrison, that he didn’t feel the need to engage with epidemiologists, or doctors, or any of the numerous agencies that should have been pulled into early planning. As The Wall Street Journal reports, that includes cutting out FEMA, because bringing in experts in planning for emergencies would only “complicate” the plans that he and Mr. Doodle were making for America.
Instead, Azar put Harrison—just back in D.C. from six years of running his family puppy mill—in charge of the entire nation’s entire coronavirus response. Despite having already told the media that the CDC had tests prepared on January 21, in truth there were no such tests. But Azar and Harrison set out to fix that. In the process, they apparently blocked any test put forward by companies who came to the FDA with functioning tests, none were given approval until February 29—a full month lost in the ability to distribute and conduct tests.
In the meantime, the CDC developed a test, issued the test, discovered problems with the test. The FDA visited the CDC and found that the lab which created the test was “a mess.” The CDC denied that the lab was a mess. The HHS launched an investigation of the CDC … and America has still not gotten up to speed with testing despite after being badly delayed at the start.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump was asked about how an inexperienced labradoodle breeder can be leading the national response to the biggest crisis in decades. Trump’s response was to deny knowing Harrison.
There’s no doubt that Harrison’s leadership has been incompetent. But then, Azar is incompetent. His “years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry” doesn’t come because he was a doctor or pharmacist. Azar is an attorney, who worked for Big Pharma as a lobbyist. Of course he told everyone who would listen that they could handle a killer disease without an issue—that’s what he had done for a living for years.
On Thursday morning, it’s clear that both Azar and his dog dude are on the outs. Not only had Trump given Harrison the sniff of denial, stories reporting Azar’s incompetence are suddenly everywhere. Notably, the WSJ’s report has it as Azar who is determined that the CDC develop its own test, and Azar covering up the fact that there were problems with testing—including in cabinet meetings.
But Azar’s incompetence, and how readily he appointed someone totally unprepared to a critical position, is only a mirror of the guy who put a Big Pharma lobbyist in charge of public health. The same guy who put a coal company lobbyist in charge of the environment. And an investment banker in charge of the Treasury. And Jared Kushner in charge of #$@$ing everything.
Harrison and Azar look to be the designated fall guys in this stage of the unfolding drama, and there’s no doubt they deserve to fall. But if there’s one thing that does trickle down from the top in the Trump White House, it’s incompetence.
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Posted with permission