Emails Show Trump-Appointee Advocated For Herd Immunity: "We Want Them Infected"

BYCole Blake2.6K Views
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Donald Trump, Covid-19, Coronavirus
A former Trump appointed science adviser repeatedly advocated to use "herd immunity" as a strategy to fight the coronavirus.

Former Trump appointed science adviser Paul Alexander advocated for "herd immunity" as a method of combating the coronavirus pandemic, Politico discovered through newly published emails.

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“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high-risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Alexander told his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials, on July 4th.

"Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle-aged with no conditions, etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…" Alexander added, effectively advocating to allow the potential death of at-risk Americans. Immunologist Kristian Andersen has reported that the strategy would kill between 1 million and 2 million people in the U.S.

"[I]t may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected" in order to get "natural immunity…natural exposure," Alexander wrote on July 24 to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Caputo and eight other senior officials.

Other government officials have denied that herd immunity was a consideration for dealing with the virus: “Herd immunity is not the strategy of the U.S. government with regard to coronavirus," HHS Secretary Alex Azar testified before the House coronavirus subcommittee on Oct. 2.

Alexander's employment within the Department of Health and Human Services was terminated on Sept. 16.

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
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