Transcripts For CSPAN2 HHS Secretary Azar Testifies On COVID-19 Response 20240712

Appear remotely via webex. Since some members are appearing in person let me first remind eastern that pursuant to the latest guidance from the house attending physician, all individuals who are attending this hearing in person must wear a Face Covering. Members who are not wearing a Face Covering are not permit today remain in the hearing room and will not be recognized to speak. Let me ask make a few reminders of the hearings. For those members appearing in person you will be able to see members appearing remotely on the two monitors in front of you. On one monitor, you would see all members appearing remotely at once in what is known in w webex as mode. And on the other monitor seeing the person when theyre speaking, including members who are appearing remotely. For those members appearing remotely, you can also see each person speaking during the hearing as well as in person or remote if you have your webex set to active speaker mode. If you have any questions about this, please contact the staff immediately. Let me also remind everyone of the house procedures that apply to hybrid hearings. For members appearing in person, a timer is visible in the room directly in front of you. For those who may be remote, we have a timer that should be visible on your screen and when you are in the active speaker with the mode that youll have the timer pinned. For members who may be appearing remotely. Reminders, the house rules require that we see you, please have your cameras turned on at all times, not just when youre speaking. Members who are not recognized should remain muted to prevent background noise and feedback. I will recognize members verbally and members return the right to seek recognition verbally. In regular order, members who will be recognized in seniority order for questions. If youre remote and want to be recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several ways. You may use the chat function, the senate request, you may send an email to the majority staff or you may unmute your mic to seek recognition. Obviously we do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is that members use the chat function or email to facilitate the formal verbal recognition. Committed staff will ensure that i am aware of the request and i will recognize you. As members of the committee are likely aware, we expect votes to be called in the middle of this hearing. Out of respect for each memb members and the witnesss time and because of the Long Duration much each vote during this Public Health emergency, i do not plan to recess the hearing for members to vote. Committee members, including those recognized for questions while the vote is ongoing, will have sufficient time to step out of the hearing, cast their vote, and return to the hearing. You will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the livestream. Good morning, the committee will come to order. [gavel] without objection the chairperson is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Today the secretary subcommittee recognizes health and Human Services alex azar. The Trump Administrations Top Health Official. Secretary azar, this is the first time you have testified before Congress Since february. In the seven months since your last appearance, more than 207,000 americans have lost their lives due to the coronavirus and over seven million have been infected. And all of us woke up this morning to the news that the first family and at least one of their close Staff Members have been diagnosed with covid19, and we wish for all of them a speedy and complete recovery. As americans, we pride ourselves on being the most scientifically advanced nation in the world. With the best doctors and Public Health experts. We have led the world in countless medical breakthroughs from inventing a polio vaccine, to mapping the human genome, battling aids and ebola. That is why it has been so heartbreaking to watch the administration squander this legacy by refusing to lead, ignoring our scientists, and putting politics over the health of the American People. Let there be no doubt that the president s response to the Coronavirus Crisis has been a failure of historic proportions. Covid19 has claimed more american lives than the battles of world war i, the korean war, vietnam war, afghanistan war, and iraq war combined. While the president claims that hes saved millions of lives, more people have died from the virus in the United States than in any other country on earth. We have 4 of the worlds population, but 20 of the coronavirus deaths. More than 140 other countries have all had fewer deaths per capita from this virus than we have had in the United States. Behind me are the images of a few of the americans we have lost. At my far right is scar lot herbert, the daughter of two First Responders in of michigan. Schyller was a fiveyearold dreaming of being a pediatric dentist when she grew up. She died from the coronavirus in april. Next is cheryl fink, at 81 years old, cheryl was sharp as a tack, loved to visit with family and friends. She died in april after contracting the coronavirus. Cheryls daughter Alison Lolley told her mothers story to our committee in june. To my immediate left is jason hargrove. Many people like i saw jason as he drove his bus. He was a 50yearold bus driver in detroit. He caught the coronavirus after being coughed on by a passenger and many of us watched as he yelled out in disgust. He died in early april. Jasons best friend and colleague eric spoke to our committee in may about jason and the dangers faced by frontline workers around the country. The final photo is emmy bannister. She was a 28yearold third grade teacher in my home state of south carolina, in my hometown of columbia. She tested positive after returning to school for training early in september and died three days later. Last sunday, her mother Shirley Bannister also died from the coronavirus. Shirley tested positive for the coronavirus the day her daughter died. Shirley was a 57yearold constituent of mine and served as the chair of the Nursing Department at midlands technical college. Tragically its not hard to see why americans like skyler, cheryl, jason, demi and shirley were more likely to die than people in most other countries. Even though the president knew early in february that the coronavirus was here, deadly stuff, in march he said, and im quoting him again, i wanted to always play it down. Consider with this desire or consistent with this desire, the president has refused to step up and lead a National Response to stop the spread of this deadly virus. Rather than implement a National Testing strategy, the white house deferred to the states reportedly because they believe blaming democratic governors for coronavirus deaths would be, in the words of a Public Health expert, involved in the discussions and effective political strategy, end of quote. The result was widespread testing shortages and delays that let the virus spread widely throughout the country. The white house also refused to purchase and distribute masks and other protective equipment because trump is saying and im quoting him again, we are not a shipping clerk, end of quote. As a result, the National Stockpile overseen by you, mr. Secretary, quickly ran out. And states were forced to compete for supplies while First Responders and medical workers reused old masks and wore garbage bags to try to stay safe. As hhs secretary and the first chairman of the White House Coronavirus task force, mr. Secretary, you should have been at the helm of an ambitious National Response rather than follow the science that tried to hide or ignore the science whenever they contradicted the president s wish to downplay the crisis for perceived political advantage. This morning my staff released a report that i hold. This report identifies 47 separate times that political apointees interfered with career scientists who were trying to help americans stay safe during this pandemic. 47 documented times. When the president complained that c. D. C. Guidance on reopening schools was quote, im quoting him, very tough and expensive, they tough and expensive, how expensive was demetrius bannisters life when she went back into that classroom . After the president complained that testing was revealing too many new coronavirus cases, said im quoting him again slow down the testing. Hhs altered key testing guidance that claimed that people without symptoms did not need a test, even if they were exposed to the virus. That decision was reversed only after this select subcommittee and many others objected. And when the president complained that the im quoting here deep state at the fda was not moving fast enough to approve treatments before the november election, the fda authorized plasma therapy over the objection of top scientists. Mr. Secretary, with the president the president at the press conference and repeated false statistics about the therapys effectiveness. Now the administration appeared intent on politicizing a vaccine. With the president pressuring the fda to approve a vaccine before election day and casting doubt on the agencys efforts to assure that the vaccine would only be approved based on scien science. Now, i know there are about four companies that are that moved to a third phase of testing. But i would hope that whatever they come up with, and im sure there will be more than one vaccine, im hopeful there will be a safe and effective vacci vaccine, but even in the best Case Scenario as dr. Fauci said last week, most americans were not receiving vaccine until mid to late 2021. That means americans could be waiting up to another year to get vaccinated. I often share with the public that i was around during the polio vaccine. And i remember political decisions that were made for that vaccine. Im sure many remember the salt vaccine, and the sabin vaccine. The sauk vaccine required a shot in the arm. The sabin vaccine was a little drop of serum on a lump of sugar. [inaudibl [inaudible] inaudible we appear to have lost our live signal from this hearing with hhs secretary azar. Were working to fix the issue and we hope to resume our live coverage shortly. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] i want to express my prayers and support to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. We know, they tested positive. I know how tough and strong of a person President Trump is and how tireless he is, and i know hes going to continue working for the American People, but jennifer and i surely keep he and the first lady in our prayers for a quick and speedy recovery, as i join with the chairman in expressing those thoughts. Secretary azar, i truly want to thank you as well as the 80,000 men and women who work for your agency who have been working tirelessly so well for the American People, completely focused on learning more about this virus, which we learn more about every day, as well as working so feverishly now toward finding one or more vaccines and therapies, which, by the way, your agency has already identified and approved a number of therapies that are working well to save lives. Truly saving american lives as we speak. Its not going without notice the tireless work that your men and women and hhs and all of the Health Care Workers across this country are doing to save american lives. They are the front line heroes of this virus. Today the republicans on the subcommittee are releasing a report. Its President Trumps plan, a whole of america response. Yes, there is a plan. For those who choose not to read the plan, they might walk around saying theres not a plan. There are tens of thousands of pages of plans that continue to be updated by your agency and so many other federal agencies that are all directly involved in helping us get through this. The plans cover so many things from how to properly protect yourself and your family, how to safely reopen schools. Weve actually had hearings on a number of items of those plans. Weve talked about them, weve given the links to websites to people who deny that theres a plan, who hold their head in the sand and say theres no plan. Again, because you dont want to read a plan doesnt mean there isnt a plan. We detail so many aspects of the plan. I want to go through some of the trump Administrations National plans and some things that hes done which include thousands of pages of guidance backing these up. First, its a plan to procure personal protective equipment. So we know this has come up many times. On march 29th of 2020, President Trump launched project air bridge, and began to carefully and thoughtfully leverage the defense production act. The president many times has invoked the production act. To secure ppe and ventilators and other needed resources to combat this pandemic. As of september 20th, 2020, the Trump Administration coordinated the delivery or production of 243 million n95 masks, 1. 1 billion surgical and procedural masks. 45 and a half million eye and face shields. 429 million gowns and coveralls and over 27 and a half billion, billion gloves. Further, as of september 20th, or september 10th of 2020, the strategic National Stockpile is fully stocked with 135,784 ventilators. There was not one hospital in america that ran short of ventilators. There was not one american through this whole pandemic that was denied a ventilator who needed one. In fact, today most doctors will tell you, if someone comes in, the last thing they want to do is put them on a ventilator because that science has advanced. Doctors know a lot more about this virus today than they did just a few months ago and i credit our medical community for learning and sharing that information with others as we learn more every day to save american lives. That has been part of President Trumps plan. In addition, a plan to slow the spread. On march 16th, 2020, President Trump announced National Guidelines entitled, quote, 15 days to slow the spread. In fact, dr. Fauci testified right there where youre sitting, secretary azar, a few weeks ago before this committee. When i asked him, was that part of the president s plan, he said yes. I said did that plan save american lives . He said yes. President trump made those decisions. That was part of the president s plan. These guidelines outline how to help slow the virus spread and keep our most high risk populations safe. Again, as we learn more about this virus, we learn it doesnt affect everyone equally and so, as there are populations that we identify as higher at risk, there are more resources given. Part of the president s plan, by the way, as secretary azar is well aware, is to acquire and distribute testing machines to every nursing home in america. Admiral girard sat there a few weeks ago at the table to talk about that aspect of President Trumps plan and how its carried out today to protect the nations seniors, which we uncovered all 40 of deaths in americans came from 1 of the population, seniors and Nursing Homes. It was the work through some of this on this committee that we identified, yes, 45 governors actually followed the president s plan to cmf guidelines issued how Nursing Homes could properly take care of seniors in Nursing Homes. That was part of the president s plan unfortunately five governors might have read that plan, but they ignored that plan and completely threw it in the trash can and said were going to do our own thing. Sadly, it had deadly consequences. At least 25,000 seniors died who shouldnt have died in Nursing Homes because those five governors went against the president s plan, as we know in america, Nursing Homes of governed at the state level, not the federal level. The guidance came from the federal level, but these five governors chose to go the other way. Some of them are still trying to hide the facts. Many of us have asked on this committee to get those facts. Not all have, i wish the majority would join us in getting the facts for those families. Thousands of families who still want and deserve answers for why their loved ones died. Many of whom could not even go and visit their father, their aunt, their grandmother, who died in those Nursing Homes, who shouldnt have died if those five governors would have followed the guidelines. It shouldnt be a political issue, 45 governors got it right. Republicans and democrats. If five got it wrong, we should all be wanting to find out why they got it wrong and find out how many people actually were victimized by those decisions. The fact that months and months later we still dont know and that he data is being hidden, hidden by those five governors, is a disgrace. Everybody should be demanding those answers, but again, the president laid out that plan, 45 governors followed it. A plan to have increased testing. On may 24th of 2020, the Trump Administration released a report to Congress Called covid19, strategic testing plan, which built on the april 27th national blueprint. This report explains that, quote, state plans must establish a Robust Testing Program that ensures adequacy of covid19 testing, including tests for Contact Tracing, and surveillance of asymptomatic persons to determine community spread. Through these robust National Testing plans, President Trump built the worlds greatest testing apparatus from scratch. Again, we didnt even know this disease existed at the beginning of this year. China was lying to us. This Committee Still has yet to hear a single hold a single hearing on Holding China accountable on their role in creating and spreading this virus while they lied to the world, while they hoarded ppe from us and every other country. We ought to have that hearing. But through the robust testing plans, what the president did, to build this from scratch, allowed the u. S. To conduct over 100 million tests in only five months. 100 million tests and that testing number continues to grow every day. We continue to see more Companies Come up with testing equipment that has been approved by the fda, to test people for covid19 quicker, faster and more readily available. But over 100 million tests in over five months. A plan to safely reopen the economy. On april 16th of 2020, President Trump unveiled the guidelines for opening up america again. Yes, that is part of the plan. You could still go read it, you could have read it months ago. Its been widely available. Its a threephased approach to help state and local officials to reopen their economy safely under the direction of each states governor. Thats right, the president respects that each state is run by a governor dually elected, to the state that has legislatures, meeting in the best safety guidelines for each of their states as well. Guidelines come out to help every state do the things they need to do to take care of the people in those states and those guidelines get updated as we learn more. As the scientists learn more. The atlanta Federal Reserve is predicting Third Quarter growth is on track to increase by 32 annualized because under this plan, President Trump has focused on helping rebuild what was the strongest economy in the history of our country and in the history of the world. Before covid we saw one of the strongest and healthiest economies our nations ever experienced and it was working for every income level. In fact the lowest income level and data is out there clearly. The lowest income levels were the ones who were benefitting the most because under the Previous Administration we had lost our middle class, literally, thousands of Great American companies fled america, left america to go to other countries. Our tax structure was anticompetitive, its crushing our ability to manufacture, to make things in america again. And now, we saw those jobs being brought back, those manufacturing facilities being brought back and everybody was participating. Every income level was benefitting. And then covid hit. And so, as we battle the virus through the plan that the president s laid out. Working with the smartest people in the world, the best science in the world the secretary azar and his 80,000 plus employees who were working hard to make sure that we keep learning and keep getting this information out. The president also is focused on rebuilding that Strong Economy again and its starting. Were seeing every month, every a million jobs being created. People getting back in the work force. Using safety protocols knowing they can go get about their way of life again, differently, but start doing the things they need to do again. Taking their tests again, going and getting their mammogramses, and colonoscopies again which unfortunately we saw a dramatic drop during the shutin. People werent going to their doctor to get their other tests run. And we are concerned that thats going to cause problems down the road. We need to encourage people to get back out and go see their doctor again. Go get tested again, get your chemotherapy again if you were battling cancer, that will save american lives as well. The president , again, as part of his plan put out a detailed plan to safely reopen our schools. Weve had hearings on this. American academy of pediatrics and c. D. C. Laid out guidelines for safely opening schools. The scientists and physicians at the American Academy of pediatrics and the National Academies committees on guidelines for k through 12 on responding to covid19 recommend schools implement policies which enable students to learn in person. Weve seen the science on the detrimental impacts on kids that are not learning in school. Many School Systems have reopened because the guidelines are there for how to safely do it. Some have chosen not to follow those guidelines and holding those kids back because other kids are learning. Kids not mr. Chairman, follow regular order, some semblance of regular order, mr. Chairman. I think we both have given Opening Statements, mr. Chairman. I understand. I have given the liberties on Opening Statements and i would hope youll conclude soon. Clearly both of us have experienced the same openings. And finally, part of this plan, as we detail it, a plan to create a safe and effective vaccine, thats right, something we should all be applauding the fact that there are four American Companies internationally respected, are in final stages of fda approval for safe and effective vaccine, not something where corners are being cut. I know the secretary is going to talk about this more in detail, but its very important on it point that we make a note that these companies are all following the best guidelines, not just in america, but in the world. The fda guidelines, all the focus of the best medical research in the world is put now on finding a vaccine to protect americans and its a dangerous idea that somebody would try to undermine Public Confidence in any one of these vaccines if theyre approved by the fda. If they dont work, they will not be approved. If theyre approved, its because they went through the rigors of the Gold Standard of the fda testing on thousands and thousands of people who have signed up and i applaud again the 250,000 plus americans who have agreed to participate in these trials that helped us get to this point in revolutionary pace because of the president s plan, operation warp speed is part of that, which President Trump laid out. So, all of these, mr. Chairman, are part of a comprehensive plan that continues to grow as we learn more, as we find out more, as scientists discover more in advance in ways that weve maybe never seen in modern times and we need to continue that approach. We need to continue that advancement. I look forward to hearing your testimony, mr. Secretary. And mr. Chairman, i yield back amount of my time. I thank the Ranking Member for giving yielding back. Id like now to introduce our witness, today at the select committee is pleased to welcome alex m. Azar ii secretary of health and Human Services. Thank you, secretary azar for being here today. Will you please stand so i can swear you in . Please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing, but the truth so help you god . [respons [response] you may be seated. Let the record show that the witness answered in the affirmative. Your written statement will be part of the record. Secretary, youre recognized for your Opening Statement. Chairman clyburn and Ranking Member scalise, its an honor to appear before the house on the Coronavirus Crisis. I wish to express my gratitude on behalf of health and Human Services for the support provided throughout this unprecedented crisis. This morning, we wish the president and the first lady and every american fight covid19 a swift and complete recovery. We also mourn the losses of skyler, cheryl, demi, the other victims of covid19. Thanks to the heroism of so many frontline Health Care Workers, scientists and others, we are making progress. This progress is possible in large part because of the incredible men and women at hhs, the worlds finest scientists and Public Health experts. I want to say a personal thank you to each and every member of the hhs team who has contribute today this response. And i want to underscore my commitment to their work today. I started my first job at hhs nearly two decades ago since my first day on the job, i have recognized and promoted the value of science and evidence and the Civil Servants who are so dedicated to our mission. That does not mean especially in an unprecedented crisis that there are no debates or disagreements within an agency or an administration, but my highest priority will always be to ensure that our efforts are science and evidencedriven and consistent with the rule of law. Institutions like the c. D. C. , the fda, and the nih are household names and Gold Standards for good reason and i intend to keep it that way. No institution is infallible, but americans deserve to know that the actions and communications coming out of our agencies, whether fda approvals or c. D. C. , mmwrs or nih guidelines are grounded in science and evidence. Of course, that standard also applies to authorization or approval of a covid19 vaccine. I will be confident that my family and i should take the vaccine and you should be confident that you and your family should take it, too, because any vaccine will have met fda standards as judged by fda career scientists. We are as close as we are to distributing a safe and effective vaccine because of the dedication and humanitarian spirit of american scientists and because of work that began long before the whole world recognized what an unprecedented threat we faced. Back on january the 7th, long before china had admitted human to human transmission was occurring, they planned with moderna. After the information was shared by china researchers, nih began work on vaccine and began human trials on march 16th. February 3rd with just 11 cases in the United States, barta began obligating flexible funds to go to private partners to support vaccine and Therapeutic Development. The next day we made our first therapeutic funding to help regeneron which is now in phase three trials. On february 25th began remdesvir reporting positive results the end of april. May 3rd resecured approximately 150,000 donated treatment courses through the hardest hit areas of the countries and later secured more than 90 of gileads Global Production through september. Starting this week remdesvir is distributed on the commercial market because its no longer a scarce commodity. We belt on the efforts of operation warp speed, unprecedented with hhi, department of defense and industry to simultaneously undertake all tasks to deliver life saving products to the American People. Today we have four candidates in u. S. Phase three Clinical Trials, an industrial scaled manufacturing is underway on all six vaccines as to which we have contracted or invested. These are Extraordinary Results made possible by the men and women of hhs, by the support we have received from the congress, and by the bravery and sacrifices of the American People. Thr thank you and i look forward to your questions today, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. We will now procedure with questions for the witness. I recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Secretary, i really have only one question that i want to ask, and you may take the rest of my five minutes to answer if you wish. We have experienced more than 207,000 deaths and in a very memorable quote the president saying in talking about the death toll, and im quoting here, it is what it is. End of quote. And the president says that he puts america first. However, over 150 countries for which there is reliable, in this instance, data, reliable data, we rank 142nd. Of 150 countries we rank 142nd. That seems to me to be pretty close to last. Will you tell us why this administration is coming in closer to last . So, mr. Chairman, first id like to just address the question of the 206,000 americans who have perished. We regret any loss of life. Lets be very clear about that. We wish we didnt have this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, but people do die in pandemics, and our job, our mission, what gets me up every morning and motivates the 83,000 dedicated people of hhs is the chance every day to make advances that help save some of those lives. So people die, we try to minimize that, we try to mitigate human suffering, it is our mission, its the core of everything we do and we work to save those lives. If we hadnt taken some of the aggressive early steps we took for which we were criticized for being xenophobic, alarmist, like shutting down travel with china, shutting down the economy, we could have lost according to dr. Birx and dr. Fauci, 2 million americans. Every lost is tragic and we dont want to see a single loss of life, but our actions, warp speed, will save countless of millions of lives in the United States and abroad in the futures. When we think of about International Spare sons, its important to look at the data youre looking at. The best way epideemiologically, various ways of counting deaths and attributing deaths, excess mortality rate. How many people died last year, and expect this had year. If you look at excess mortality over 65 age people in the United States, those were 37 lower in the United States than in europe. Excess deaths from april to june across all ages in the u. S. Will be with substantial were substantially lower than the excess death rates in spain, the united kingdom, belgium, italy, and the netherlands, today, in fact, spain and france fuelly have higher case counts per capita than the United States. France, i think i figured out has about 126,000 cases per day at this moment when we have 42,000 approximately. We dont want any cases, but i dont hear people talking about Emmanuel Macron that way. This is a pandemic, disease spreads, its defen dent on us acting with responsibility. Three ws, wash your hands, watch your distance, wear Face Coverings and avoid settings where you cant do three things, thats the bridge if we do that, thats the bridge to the day in the weeks and months ahead where well have the fda Gold Standard vaccines, well have monoclonal antibodies to treat people in early stages of disease that makes me very optimistic for our future, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary. And now ill yield to the Ranking Member for five minutes. Five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i join you in mourning the loss of every life. I wish that china didnt lie to america and the rest of the world. We could have done so much more to stop the spled spread of disease in china and save lives in every country as you note. And other countries that as youve mentioned have higher death rates. If five governors would have followed the guidelines that the president put out we wouldnt even be on this list. Over 25,000 deaths that should have never occurred, we wouldnt be on this list. But we still would have had deaths because its a pandemic and we mourn those. But we also want to learn how to properly respond to it. And again, weve had hearings from some of the most respected doctors and scientists on this, dr. Fauci, again, sat where you were and he said decision after decision after decision, that President Trump actually made the right decision. The first big decision was, after we figured out china was lying, china corrupted the World Health Organization, who, by the way, everybody had listened to them and they were saying the disease doesnt spread from human to human. We know that was a lie. Maybe we should have a hearing on why who was corrupted by china to do that and cost lives. Once we figured it out, the president had a tough decision to make, do we ban flights from china . Now, as you pointed out, not everybody was in agreement on that. Dr. Fauci noted President Trump made the right decision in banning those flights from china and that decision saved american lives. While some called it xenophobic and wouldnt have done it, we would have had more deaths, same thing with europe, dr. Redfield talked about the decision to ban flights from europe. Wasnt an easy decision because, as you know, some people were saying, well, if we ban flights from europe weve got a lot of americans that go back and forth to europe and President Trump was presented the scientific data, and said, we will save american lives if we do it. Dr. Fauci noted, as dr. Redfield did, that decision saved american lives as well. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of american lives saved. Wished there were none, wish china didnt lie, but as we sit here today, dr. Azar, can you share, were you in some of those meetings where some of those tough decisions had to be made . If you were, was the president s Decision Making based on that scientific input that he was given to ultimately make those tough decisions that did save american lives . First, congressman scalise, if i correct, while a jd, not a doctor. Secretary azar, apologize. Listen, the president whatever you read in the media, i was with mimm in january, february, march in those moments of tough decisions in the early days and that every step took decisive swift action, without debate or hesitation, when we shut down when we first on january 17th started doing Health Screening of people from wuhan, they had 67 cases, i believe, in wuhan. This was a remarkable action. January 17th we started Health Screenings at our airport for people coming from wuhan, 67 cases. Well, china was still talking about no human to human transmission, no asymptomatic transmission. China was refusing to share the viral samples with us or provide any information or allow the c. D. C. Or who team to come into their country. When we shut down travel with china on january 31st, the president didnt hesitate. Not at all to shut that down. In spite of the economic dislocation that would happen with our trade with china. When he brought thousands of americans and others back to the United States, we imposed the First Federal quarantine in 50 years and the president didnt hesitate on that. When the diamond princess was docking in tokyo with all the infections on board and the japanese were going to allow those people to get off into the homeland of japan and get on commercial flights to america, we didnt hesitate to put a quarantine on them and putting them on a quarantine to them. And some thought shut down travel with europe. Thank goodness he did. And i do want to ask you about the vaccine because im very concerned about some of the people that are trying to plant seeds of doubt in a vaccine because, first of all, have any corners been cut on a vaccine . Absolutely not. Do you think it would cause even more deaths if people were led to be suspicion of a vaccine because of politics when in fact the vaccine, as we know from these Great American companies, is going through the Gold Standard process . It would be a terrible disservice to Public Health to try to create Vaccine Hesitancy around a coronavirus. People will die. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much. The chair now fields to mrs. Waters for five minutes. Thank you very much for this hearing, mr. Chairman. Its very important. Id like to ask secretary azar, will you describe the increase in Coronavirus Infections in this country right now, and name the states where the increases are taking place . So were facing increases at the moment primarily into the upper midwest and further west as we look at montana, wisconsin, i think north dakota, nebraska, thats where were seeing increases which are overcompensating or equalling out some of the decreases weve seen from the outbreak in the southwest and southeast. Give us some numbers. Tell us, tell us. Well be happy to get you those numbers. Give us the numbers. Well be happy to provide you with those and those are available at coronavirus. Gov, that data is right there. Id like to know, do you think that the president s rallies that he has gone to where people are not social distancing the six feet that our experts tell us they should be doing or Wearing Masks, does that contribute to the increase . So, we have consistent advice which is to practice three ws for all individuals, wash your hands, watch your distance, wear Face Coverings, and that applies to any setting and people need their individual circumstances. So what youre saying is that these rallies where the president is and the people are not Wearing Masks, and theyre not socially distancing themselves the six feet, certainly adds to the increase in the possibility of these infections, is that corrects . Our advice is always the same, the three ws, whether its in any type of activity to engage in those protective activities, but always and to evaluate your individual have you ever talked to the president about that and given him any advice . I dont have you ever interacted with the president about him being a possible role model in this country and being one that could either help us to decrease the deaths and infections by being a role model himself wearing the mask and having social distancing. Have you ever had that conversation with him. You even know where those increases are taking place and you come in today and testify with this testimony youre giving us and you expect us to be happy. We are very unhappy about whats going on and we feel sorry the president and his wife and others are not experiencing, you know, a positive test, et cetera. And how can you as the secretary with the responsibilities that you have come here and not be very, very open with us about what is happening in this country, the increases and the deaths and what we need to do and the role modeling we need to have wax how can you come in without being prepared to do that . Im happy to do that if you would actually ask questions that are listed on that point. I would gladly talk you about what the state of the disease is of the United States and the steps being taken. Talk to me about dpa and tell me why in fact, money has been diverted from dpa to build ships and military equipment instead of being directed towards ppe. On the secretary of health not the secretary secretary of. Weve exercise 70 distinct Domestic Defense production act actions. Weve been aggressive with it was on ppe, ventilators, on testing equipment with regard to vaccines and therapeutics. We have used it anytime we needed it across the entire supply chain. Mr. Chairman, . Im going to your back my time and i want to conclude by saying the secretary is not here with credible testimony today answering the questions that need to be asked. All that we hear is basically a defense basically of the president of the United States, and a lack of openness and information about what is happening in this country. The increase in the infections and the deaths and unwillingness that the secretary to be candid about what we need to do. I yield back the balance of my time. I i think the general lady fr yielding back the chair gentlelady the chair now recognizes mr. Luetkemeyer for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Secretary azar, ive got some questions for you here that i think will help respond to ms. Waters sort of outofthebox questions there. Question of one, did those initial shutdowns actually work . Did the shutdowns, initial shutdowns did they work to stop the spread of the virus and save lots . They did absolutely of dr. Fauci and dr. Birx said they sent upwards possibly as many as 2 million lives. Today what percentage of those who are getting tested are positive . 4. 4 positive directory. Is that down or is that up . That is done substantial. So ms. Waters wanted information so now we got that. What percentage of americans who test positive end up in the hospital . Of those who test positive those who end up in believe approximately, its a very small number. I know among more aged its about 10 . Is set up or down from where it was back in july . Hospitalization but insubstantial. We again answered ms. Waters question. To those who need hospitalization what percentage have unfortunately passed away . Of those who go into the hospital it depends on the age group that were talking about. For instance, if we stay at a hospital setting just 870 and above in april about 30 of those individuals who passed away who test positive down 5. 7 . Is that up or down . Downed about 80 . 80 . Again with answer most of information is on the website ms. Waters could go find. Coronavirus. Com. Transport. Its they to say those initial effort worked and continue guidelines out there in the things being done by the administration to guide a put out there for the governors in the mayors of the various cities is working in those areas where the element the guidelines correctly. Is absolutely thats why florida, texas, arizona, california have turned around actually. Thank you very much. Back in may you wrote an article and was posted in the Washington Post. We have to reopen for our health. You make the comet and this is something ive been talking about over and over again, you talk about balancing health versus health. The health risks of covid19 politics against the health and social economic costs cost of g main street open and across the United States which are closed for visit and you could also add on their opening schools. You make one percentage point increase and implement an great is increases so sides 1 , 3 increase increase in oprah deaths here the lack of mammograms 80 and colonoscopies is down 90 of testing. Normally with 1. 7 million new Cancer Patients diagnosed. Leasing 80 rate in cancer identified. Back in may theres an article that appeared in the hill and the make the comet at the go to that theres probably about 65,000 people per month died as result of of the lack of focus on these healthcare conditions that you identify in your article versus we had about 40,000 people dying per month so we have 50 higher death rate among the population for the lack of attention because of the total focus on covid, not that we shouldnt do that but my point is in a point of your article is we need to be looking at both sides of this. Its important because as we found ways to manage this, always the people that keep this in perspective. The perspective is yes covid a series but as you just testified 70 and over thats what we need to focus our attention. Those under 70 if they live a managed healthcare life can do this im afraid and function well. Its important i think that we understand how we can do this come how to manage this and your information is important to this especially as with open schools around the country. Many in my district at an Person Learning and so as a result theres been cases of problems that a pop up. Acus back to point out your information with regards to chilled, people under certain ages have minimal impact, impacts on a minimal basis. Its important we understand how this is all being driven and i wonder if you have a couple comments on that because i know this article is extensive and informational. Its what you said theres got to be balance. We need to protect the vulnerable from coronavirus but also to recognize mammography. And 87 , have dismissed and 83 , colonoscopies down 90 , cat scans down 39 billions have not cut their pediatric vaccinations because of the shutdown. Emergency rooms have seen drops dramatic drops in people come in with stroke and heart attack. The mental aspect is really serious. I wish you would comment on that as well. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, point of personal privilege. The gentlelady is recognized. Mr. Luetkemeyer attempted to answer the questions that i directed towards the secretary. I did not raise questions of mrt appreciate that his attempt to put words in the mouth of the secretary in order to protect him and use me as an excuse for having asked questions that certainly should have been understood by the. Ideally back. Id love to respond to that if you give me a second. I think its important to allow the second to edge equations which she refused to do and my testimony and my questions allowed the secretary to answer questions which she wouldnt allow him to do. If you want the colloquy on this. I would love a colloquy. We will do that at the end of the hearing, or after the hearing. Thank you very much. The chair now recognizes ms. Maloney for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i think the way disturbing you. I join my colleagues in wishing the president , the first lady thank a speedy recovery. The news we watched unfold this morning underscores the importance of testing a systematic individuals who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. We do not know who exposed the president to the virus or who he has or we may have exposed but its imperative that everyone who has come in contact with him get tested. And affect everyone should be tested in america. On august 24 new guidance appeared on the cdcs website stating most asymptomatic people should not be tested even if they have been exposed to the virus. So mr. Secretary, this guidance was directly contrary to the Scientific Consensus and it a sense come to light that this change was not made by cdc scientists but by the president political advisers who edited the guidance over cdcs objections here one federal official told the New York Times, quote, that was a doctor came from the top down from the hhs and the task force and it said quote, does not reflect what many people at the cdc feel should be the policy, end quote. So secretary azar, two to authorize the publication did you of this an inaccurate guidance on the cdc website progress i want to be clear because you made a statement regarding the guidance on augus. The cdc has never recommended against asymptomatic testing. What the guidance posted on august 24 said was testing for individuals with symptomatic illness, individuals with significant exposure including those who are asymptomatic vulnerable populations and healthcare a Center Workers here what happened was there was a statement in the guidance that said asymptomatic close contact do not necessarily need to be tested. The idea was they wanted to ensure people not be a negative test as a get out of jail card. That they were done because of course you have an incubation period make. They want to make sure you consult with a medical professional or Public Health person to guide you through the time of the potential incubation. That was so misinterpreted outside that the cdc then later revised that to clarify and say yes, test asymptomatic, close exposures. Well, i think from the very beginning scientists were saying that asymptomatic, you could get the virus from an asymptomatic person. You could get it from molecules in the air and that thats why were all supposed to wear masks to protect people from us, we may be asymptomatic. So to say that in the guidance at the time and according to the cdc officials that were included in various papers, they said that it was overruling them and their position. So who was responsible for making that change at that time . So guidance that comes out of cdc is cdcs guidance of dr. Redfield is the director of the cdc and as i said in my Opening Statement we heart is the best doctors, the site is that the government and her agency, dr. Fauci, as well as dr. Birx at the white house as a national coordinator. This debate, discussion any of these critical guidances that at the end of the day if guidance comes out from cdc its dr. Redfield supporting that an authorizing that or if its a empty everything, or nh trials indeed it is nih. Well, im glad on september 18 you reversed yourself and recommended that a systematic people to get tested if there exposed to the virus. We are currently seeing a spike in many cases in many states. Has hhs determine how many of these new infections may be the result of americans following your inaccurate guidance that they first read before it was corrected . That would have had nothing to do with the spread of disease. Disease. What were seeing is communitybased transmission in the upper midwest and northwest. We had an initial some cases coming from universities getting back together but that seems to have settled down now and what were facing is just plain Old Community spread of the sought in the southeast and southwest that come from individuals not practicing, wash your hands, watch your distance, where yor Face Coverings and they have said we can do that and especially indoor restaurants that are overcrowded or bars over crowd and especially emphasize to the home gatherings. You are not immune from catching the disease from extended family and multiple generational houses. Youve got to be careful. Reclaiming my time. In my opinion, changing what was on the cdc website is another example possibly of political interference with the committees recent analysis found that was directed by your department, the chairman mentioned 47 political interference with scientific actions. And another example is just weeks ago our report appeared on the cdc website concluding coronavirus is spread through airborne particles. This is a big deal and it could change the way americans protect themselves. Two days later the information disappeared and officials claim that an early draft was posted in error. So, mr. Secretary, who directed that this information be removed from cdcs website and why . I can remember when im reading ms. Maloney. Got me concerned about walking down the street and now ms. Maloney, your time has expired. Ms. Maloney, your time has expired. Well, maybe answer the question . The chair now recognizes ms. Walorski for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair. I would like to agree with my colleagues on sending prayers and best thoughts, quick recovery to the president and to President Trump and a first lady for a quick recovery. Secretary azar, thanks for being here. I wanted to somebody unprecedented efforts underway to develop and produce industry with the vaccine because at the end of the day thats our best shot. They get to some kind of normal in this country. All of america is praying that one or more of these promising candidates proved effective. Dr. Fauci. Before the subcommittee back in july and asked him about that topic because that is the topic that every american is talking about at the kitchen table. I want as do the same question i asked him. First between existing Government Programs that cover the cost of vaccines and the fact that many if not all the Companies Working on a vaccine have said that will provide at a notforprofit cost or lowcost or is a safety every american label to get a vaccine once it is approved pgh yes it would from is it is indicated operation workspaces enabling Clinical Trials of the most promising candidates to be run simultaneously which will help get a vaccine to market more quickly. Has this or any other aspect of operation warp speed eliminated any safety steps in the vaccine approval process . No. We are, in fact, living particularly because we can take the financial risk away from the Drug Companies both in development and manufacturing but the Clinical Trial standards remain the same. Just to be clear the government is not compromising any Safety Standards in order to speed up the vaccine approval process, greg . Correct. Its not subject to political interference, greg . As i said it will be determined by career officials at fda, doctor peter marx was a Center Director for the center for biologics. Thank you, dr. Fauci get similar assurances of a safe affordable and widely available vaccine. However this sexy will only be as effective as the American People faith in it. Secretary azar the other day former Vice President joe biden said that he is the democratic party. So in democratically joe biden and senator harris so doubt about the process, undermined the American People safe in the vaccine and repeatedly say they do not trust President Trumps administrations approval process. Duty statements help or harm efforts to defeat coronavirus and overcome this crisis . I dont want to speak about those individuals in the political context but as a general matter anybody who works to undermine confidence of the fdas approval process or make unfounded allegations somehow politics will work signs undermined Public Confidence individual vaccine. Those exceeds can save lives and their so vitally important especially for those who are disproportionately affected by covid. American natives, africanamerican community, latinx individuals. We had to get those individuals in our Clinical Trials and we have to ensure that they will have confidence in the vaccine if and when it is authorized or approved by the fda. Secretary Azar Joe Biden has also said he only trusts dr. Fauci on a vaccine. But as we discussed and as the record shows dr. Fauci is voiced his full support for operation warp speed and assured us any vexing that is approval be safe and effective. It joe biden says he trusts dr. Fauci and dr. Fauci says its a safe vaccine should joe biden and the democrats be sowing doubt among American People about the vaccine and the need to rebuild our economy safely get kids back in school and otherwise return to a normal way of life . I hope nobody would undermine the Public Health by undermining confidence in the safety and efficacy of the vaccine when it is approved by the fda. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes ms. Velazquez for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Good morning, mr. Secretary. As a new yorker and someone who contracted covid19, who went through, at the beginning of the crisis in new york, i would ask you if there is any value to wear masks . Absolutely. So how do you describe or assess, or what is your reaction to the fact that the first family that was saving at the political debate, president ial debate, were not Wearing Masks . Does doesnt make your job more difficult . Our recommendations are always to wash her hands, watch her distance, where a Face Covering we cant engage in social distance and avoid settings we cant do those three things. The first family and the protective aspect about the president is a different situation than the rest of us because of the protocols around him no no, no. Our recommendations reclaiming my time. It sends the wrong message to the American People that the first family, despite the fact that officials on the University Went to them and asked them to follow the rules that they were sitting there, were not Wearing Masks. Thats the point. So mr. Secretary, President Trump said at a rally to slow the testing down please. And it is also record as saying testing is overrated. It President Trump tell you to slow the testing down . On going to talk about the actions that we done. We just as week announced no. Ten you please i asked the question. Reclaiming my time. Im asking you if the president tells you to slow the testing of. I will not discuss my interactions conversation with the president. But its a matter of public policy. Its a matter of liking a National Strategy to combat the virus. The National Strategy is available for all the seattle coronavirus. Gov including the National Testing strategy including the report you received during congress about the National Testing strategy on a periodic basis. Thank you. Rather than implement a National Testing strategy, the administration has pushed down the responsibility down to the states, letting them scramble to develop doled out their own strategy and find own supplies. According to a report in vanity fair white house officials refused to adopt a National Testing plan this spring because they believed that outbreaks were primarily in democratic states, and it would be an effective political strategy to blame democratic governors. And we have seen time and time again from the other side blaming democratic governors. Sir, can you tell me, what is the situation in Nursing Homes in texas and some of the other states right now . We have been approving in terms of deaths at infection rates in our Nursing Homes and what weve done is published list of red and yellow Nursing Homes that are experiencing excess cases and with that enhanced testing requirements we now by force of law on Nursing Homes and including the financial penalties and conditions of participation if they dont maintain control of cases and also fidelitys. Isnt it true that nearly half of all nursing home cases come have occurred in state led by republican governors. Was i dont know. I dont think you dont know. The point is that this is not a blue or red issue. This is an american issue. And so i resent when the other side come here making statements time and again about democratic states. Its a situation that is happening in other states. Mr. Secretary, were you involved in discussion during the spring about whether to adopt an aggressive National Testing strategy or a statement study . We have an aggressive National Testing strategy that also has states involved in it. Secretary azar, early this summer cdc guidance clearly stated that fully reopening created the highest risk. I would come back with juices question in the second round. Thank you. I yield back. I think the gentlelady for yielding back. The chair now recognizes mr. Foster for five minutes. [inaudible] im sorry, mr. Foster. Mr. Green had left and so i see he is back. I now recognize dr. Green for five minutes. Thank you, chairman, Ranking Member and secretary azar. My democrat colleagues take numbers of the context to blame President Trump for every death of covid19. They cite their been over 7 million positive cases in the u. S. And what they fail to mention is the United States is one of the World Leaders in testing. We test work per capita in countries like the uk, australia, germany, south korea, italy and meet others. Thats according to factcheck. Org. According to Johns Hopkins our daily percentage of positive test is also very low at 4. 68 in comparison. India is at 7. 2 , france is over 14 . Mexico is over 54 . Last month the wall street journal node covid19 death rates in america had been on the decline. In april the United States peak 5. 46 deaths per million. Over the past month the United States has remained below three deaths per million. In spite of the vast mexico, uk, france and indonesia and others have either case the title the rates than the u. S. The left says just the opposite. The left manipulate numbers about Global Pandemic and make every death and every diagnosis the responsibility of the president. That is despicable. We continue to learn new information daily and constantly change previous about this new pathogen. Im following literature constantly and it is changing over time. The left mantra that is the same, theres no plan. Despite multiple plantlike Operation Air bridge and works great. To say theres no plan thats just deception. They may not like the plan but if you say theres no plan thats not true. The administrations Swift Response prevented the rest of this country from facing the fate while new york city and claim covid19 [inaudible] what they really fail to do is blame the ccc p. They are the ones one to writet the virus, watch the response. If china had acted two weeks earlier, 84 of deaths in the United States could have been prevented. Now that whole number of american deaths is over 200 to seven 277,000 if china have been transparent and weve been working earlier, 173,000 173,000 americans would be alive yet democrats like our Vice President , over Vice President biden calls President Trumps china travel ban xenophobic. Thats crazy. Even democratic governors refused to accept the fact, i understand the previous comment but Governor Cuomo refuse to close down your even after President Trump said we needed to. Recently even had the gall to cast doubt on the efficacy of the vaccine. He said the first question is, is a vaccine safe . Likely im not going to trust the federal government. He even added new york state will have its own review when the federal government has finished with their review. I i dont leave new york has tht capacity. Rather than trusting the nonpartisan expert at nih, cdc and fda hes putting politics before science. He said he will not recommend new yorkers get vaccinated until his Team Conducts a second review. Thats going to lead to people dying. Its despicable. The fact is he has lost all credibility. The Columbia University study also that if you can check them to return your 20,000 people be alive. Doctor friedman said, former commissioner new York City Health department, head of the cdc told the New York Times that new york city death toll could of been reduced by 5080 had social distance measures been a place a week or two earlier. Trump even had to threaten a quarantine of new come rumor that . I do and has that. Governor cuomo so badly botched the response. Additionally his idiotic order sent covid positive patients back to the Nursing Homes against cms guidance likely contributed to thousands of elderly deaths in new york state. My fellow gop colleagues and i requested that the subcommittee investigate that. Unfortunately no answer. They dont want to hold her fellow democrats accountable. They leave want to hold the Chinese Communist party accountable. They are more interested in spain President Trump in a desperate attempt to win back the white house. Thats despicable. Since the radical left has a brace communism we can no longer expect democrats to push back on china. They will continue to prioritize politics over people come over good oversight and the lives of the American People. I yield. I think the jump in for yielding back. The chair now recognizes the jump of and for giving back. The china recognize mr. Foster. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I believe Public Confidence will be crucial in the development and deployment of covid19 vaccines and therapeutics. And that this will require robust and bipartisan oversight by congress. So when july chairman cliburn, congressman dr. Green and i sent a bipartisan letter to the comptroller general asking for the Government Accountability office, gao, to conduct realtime oversight into operation warp speed. For the purpose of this gop is not to secondguess the work of our nations respected scientist but rather to ensure that crucial vaccine and Therapeutic Research proceeds as efficiently and as effectively as possible. And the congress and the public has confidence in the process. Part of the response to this has been excellent. For example, immediately after this dr. Green, conservative republican who i agree with on approximately nothing, he and i are getting a classified briefing on the class classified inet aspects of operation warp speed. Unfortunately i also understand that hhs has been slow to provide full access to gao to conduct this review including even basic documents on decisionmaking processes, procurement contracting and so on. In my time as a site is ipad experience having a project, billiondollar projects under realtime oversight by the gao and it seems like a nuisance at the moment but really can improve the quality of the project. Gao is very sensitive to its role as a nonpartisan and a professional interface to congress and gaos operation under the bipartisan direction of mr. Green and myself really represent your best shot at having highquality scientific oversight by congress into this. Mr. Secretary, will the Department Come to providing full and prompt access by the gao to this important oversight material . We have received your letter and working on a response. We are responsive and cooperative with our auditors from gao. We have 32 open gao covid audits just on that subject alone and were working with gao to assist them in fulfilling the responsibilities without negatively affecting the departments i saving mission during this historic pandemic and we remain committed to working with and accommodate gao and its covid19 related work. It would be nice to see some improvement in the speed of response. You are also absolutely correct in identifying the danger of faxing hesitancy due to political interference. Do you believe this problem was improved or made worse by the political interference in the approval of hydroxychloroquine those identified in red brights testimony to congress . I not going to discuss speedy was it approved what i will tell you is the emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine, theres so much misunderstanding about that. What happened was we received a donation of i think 3 million tablets from bayer of product manufactured in pakistan there was not an fda print the ribbon long congressional hearings so please if i could reclaim my typing do you believe the public misstatements by President Trump and the fda director on convalescent plasma made the problem of faxing hesitancy better or worse . I know that the commissioner was very sorry for the statistical mistake that he made and he is a good scientist acknowledged his mistake and apologized. Have you apologize for the mistake . Has President Trump his boss and your boss speedy could you tell me which mistake i made . My remarks were peter marks, career scientist who approved everything and i was very clear about the 35 relative Risk Reduction mortality i know how to talk about i understand that but i think its appropriate when a significant mistake that is made by some why did i miss state . Someone who works for you makes a significant public miss david i think you duty speedy on the stage i did not notice commissioner hans misstatement. I can assure it was a honest misstatement by her. That did not approve the problem of hesitancy. Faxing hesitancy Going Forward when you see that. Now on august 22 President Trump insinuated the government scientists who work for your trying to delay the approval of faxing saying in his tweet the deep state or whatever over at the fda is making it very difficult for Drug Companies to get people in order to test the sex scenes and therapeutics. Obviously they are trying, theyre hoping to delay the answer until november 3. So my question to you, to the scientists that work for you over at hhs represent a deep state dedicated to politically sabotaging the president . Are people at hhs are dedicated to the American People. People. I dont use terms like deep state. Do you understand how demoralizing it is when the president makes statements like this about the site is and then you do not stand up and confront the president for his demeaning of their motives . Its important we have confidence in the work of fda. I support our site district i support our career officials and our agencies. Thank you your time is up, yield back. That chair recognizes mr. Jordan for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In keeping with us this morning and for your good work at hhs. We appreciate that. Can state save the open up their economy . Yes, states can and should reopen the economy. There are ways to do that very safely. We have heard talk earlier from some of my colleagues about new york state. Im interested in a comparison. Which state has a greater population, florida or new york . In terms of population i believe new york is 20 million, about 20 billion and float is about 22 million so roughly the same. Roughly the same but, of course, lord has 2 million more people. Do you know which state has more seniors, more seniors in their respective state. As i would have to believe florida does. I dont have the exact date but i but i would assume florida does. You would be right. You know which state has more seniors in Nursing Homes, florida or new york . For the same reason i i woud believe it would be florida. Shirt is there which state that more hospitalizations for covid19, do you know . So in terms of, and i wanted to work something. I did have a note here on float has 70,000 nursing residence, new york has 100,000 nursing home residence. I did want to be precise. I dont have the number on hospitalization, florida had 24,656 hospitalizations. New york the city plus estate 73,238. Three times as many a proximally, is that right . Yes. And then which state, look, this a terrible the matter where it happens and we wish we had zero deaths and covid19 which state has more of the residents, their citizens pass away from covid19, new york or florida, do you know . New york had over twice the number of deaths, 32,008 under 64 versus one with 13,320. Might that be because the leadership in new york didnt follow the guidelines that came from the Trump Administration, specifically as my colleague from tennessee pointed out, didnt follow the guidelines for 46 Straight Days when they put covid positive patients back into Nursing Homes, might that have something to do with that terrible number . It very well might a nursing home desk in new york at 4600 and float had 3200 or zoom guess. I gets its first in the difference entry the what Governor Desantis did creating covid only Nursing Homes and covid only wings, and then see what new york did what they scattered covid positive patients out of hospital and basically sprinkled them across Nursing Homes contrary to guidance and then tried to blame us for having said that should happen what our guidance was directly contrary thing you should do covid only wings and protect the vulnerable. So florida follow the guidelines and guess which state is opened up today, as ricotta much more open, guess which date is more open, secretary azar. I believe florida has more open in terms of its removing restrictions. Yeah, and it shouldnt surprise anyone when you are able to follow the guidelines and do things in a safe and proper way you could open up your state and guess which state has a most unemployment, florida or new york . Florida i believe has lower unemployment. Yeah, like half. They got twice the unemployment level in new york that florida has. This is may be the final thing, if we have state follow the guidelines, states open of safely, imagine what our economy to be doing now. I think with the Great American comeback is underway but its underway and youre seeing these good where seeing as the economy starts to reopen in spite of the fact that new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, michigan, illinois and california are still largely locked down. These are six of the 12 largest states population was in a country still larger lockdown and yet in spite of that you have the economy moving in the right direction. Imagine if they had follow the guidelines and be the position where they could open up like florida, how much better on the couch would be, how much bettr off our families would be. We can open this countries economy up and we get the issues we spoke of earlier, health versus health by being open up and doing the safeway practicing good behaviors we solve, consult all the other Health Issues that counterbalanced against the impact of covid. Well said. Again thank you for being here today and thank you for your service to the country. Mr. Chairman, ideal expert try to cut i correct axially gave a wrong number only in reference to france rice at 126,000 per day. I thousand per day. I axially come i believe per capita rate is three times the u. S. Per capita daily rate and a axially multiplied that to the u. S. Population so i would just like to correct it. I didnt mean to mistake that but the point was france daily cases on a per capita basis are higher than the United States cases but the 126,000 126,000 s incorrect. I apologize for that, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. The chair recognizes mr. Raskin for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id like to add my thoughts for switch and complete recovery to the president , the first lady and the other 43,752 people who contracted covid19 yesterday and my thoughts are with the families of the 857 americans who died yesterday. Mr. Secretary, we now are over the 206,000 mark for americans who have died from this terrible disease. Thats more than come more americans that were lost in world war i, 53,000, korea 33,000, vietnam 66,000 in afghanistan and iraq combined more than 7 million infected. We are the World Leaders and absolute case count, and absolute death count in the world leader unfortunately in covid denialism and conspiracy theory. We have heard from our colleagues today that there is a plan or multiple plans some said. Secretary azar, has your plan been a success or failure so far . Congressman, its not useful productive or appropriate to talk about the success when dealing with speedy how can we decide whether to go for it with his plan or to adjust the plan . We had saved we think millions of lives and aggressively actually took while we mourn the loss of 206,000 these aggressive actions have delivered excess mortality rates excuse me, im going to reclaim my tie. Do you agree with the president theres nothing with the administration couldve done to prevent these deaths . I can only tell you i wake up everyday and may hold key wakes up every day from the beginning of this doing everything we can speedy but lets take one simple action that couldve saved tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of future lies. Encouraging every american to wear a mask. The director of the cdc said this is the most important, powerful Public Health a tool t we have encouraging everyone to wear a mask at the president attacked dr. Redfield for that. President trump said theres a lot of trouble with masks and maybe they are not so good. He has mocked people who wear masks. In fact, he bought Vice President biden for wearing domestic use it every time you see them is got a mask. He shows up with the biggest mask you ever saw. Do you agree with the president that there are a lot of problems with masks or do you agree with the cdc director that this is a powerful and necessary Public Health tool . I have been very clear ever since our scientists begin recommending mask wearing especially in april in the reopening guidance that the president published that mask wearing is an important Public Health tool. Okay. As you look behind me institute for Health Metrics University Washington has catalytic if 95 of americans wear masks we will save roughly 96,000 american lives at the end of this year compared to the current path we are on where there continue to be sinister disinformation and propaganda against masks. The administration has turned masks into a partisan symbol discouraging americans from wearing them. We spent seven meetings on this committee designed to combat the coronavirus epidemic fighting the weather members should wear masks when theyre the not spen the committee, this committee if you recall back to the early days. This might dislike subcommittee released a report detailing detailing dozens of times when there was political interference with the pandemic response. One time in all the plant of the u. S. Postal service mail a mask to every American Household but the white house stopped it and use the masks for other purposes. The Administration Official told the Washington Post the plant since every american a was blocked due to quote concern from some of the White House Domestic Policy Council and office of the Vice President that households receiving mask might create panic. Mr. Secretary, were you aware that the white house intervened to stop the mass does every american . Thanks to the great work of preparedness and response in favor he worked with haynes in fruit of the loom to get this retooling of cloth manufacturing for usual mass can be able to get over 600 million of these. Initial plan was to send the mother postal service, package of five giving houseful. Was pushed back saying why do we send them were needed most were have outbreaks and thats what end up happy. They went out targeted speedy do you favor of sending masks to every American Household no . I dont know that is needed. Weve all figured out and make mask. We have surged i think 69 masks to school so bit smaller size ones we develop and sent out to schools especially for our younger kids to make underserved have access to the. By time has expired but it do want to ask you about the concept of herd immunity and also i will be doing in the next round. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes mr. Kim for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Secretary for, and talking with us today. Want to go to my district and talking to constituents, some of the toughest conversations ive had with people that have lost their Health Insurance since the start of the pandemic. You are our nations Top Health Official and wanted to ask you how Many Americans have lost Health Insurance since the start of the pandemic . I know its 7 billion but it want to get back to writing because i dont have it at my fingertips. Want to make sure you i could information. I would appreciate that. I would like to hear what your assessment is on that. Eifert numbers that are staggering anywhere from 5 million so far up to 11, 12 million by the end of the year. I urge you to get the recently with that because i feel like that is a major part of your job. Would you consider that having more and more americans be able to ask of healthcare is a critical part of your job . We want to make sure people have access to Affordable Healthcare and if you like Affordable Access to Health Insurance and thats what obamacare of course as a special enrollment if anyone loses their employersponsored insurance they can immediately role in individual market in an obamacare plan at that time witches were opening up obamacare, aca right now for those and maybe didnt lose it based off of employment by people who didnt have ten samantha didnt have insurance prior to this pandemic, would you consider opening up for them . No, we dont because we think right now for the provider refund will be done is providing insurance, weve paid first dollar comes from people who are uninsured which is even better for covid. This means you dont have a deductible, you have coping and it would have premiums picky jeff covid and seek treatment we pay first dollar coverage for that and weve been processing claims for the uninsured individuals to ensure they get the covid treatment. When it comes to those that have lost Health Insurance, what would you say to those constituents of mine, what specifically have you worked on help them get their Health Insurance back . If youve lost your interest because you lost your job you have a special Enrollment Period and you may enroll in obamacare plan. Look, what im worried about is both in terms of having a Staggering Number of millions of americans have lost health care but also we now face this great threat and trendsetting millions more and a one to ask you, were in the middle of this pandemic. What do you think that now is a good time for people, millions of americans lose their Health Return middle of a pandemic, is that a good or bad i guess . You are getting to the texas litigation at the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care act. If the court were to rule against the statute in large part or in its entirety, were going to work with congress and were certainly going to replace it. The president has never supported repeal only. He wants repealing and replacing so we will work with congress and give people access to affordable Health Insurance and Affordable Healthcare if the court were to do that. We are very far away from final Court Resolution and if anyone tells you they and how the Supreme Court will rule, they dont know what theyre talking about. I guess i want to ask you directly yourself, i appreciate a yes or no answer, do you think the aca that it should be repealed if the Supreme Court were to move forward on that decision . It would be a question of the Supreme Court make the decision. My views are not relevant. If the Supreme Court finds that the individual mandate have taxed which the present work with comes to get rid of by removing that it creates a position with the rest of the statute is unconstitutional and cant be severed. Then we will work with congress to replace it with access to real healthcare. Weve got to stop, i know we have a difference of opinion on this but this notion the aca is a land of milk and honey were for somebody who makes 70,000 a year in year industry is paying, 55 a couple spending 30,000 on the primas come having a 12,000 deductible. Thats not access to Affordable Health care and want to work with congress to get them access to affordable speedy i agree in wanting to improve our health care and hope that is something all of us care about but if you say the president is committed to not repealing the aca instead of, instead reforming or replacing it, why didnt is the administration moving forward with this effort in front of the Supreme Court that would do the exact of that, repeal without litigation position that the attorney general has advocated in the Supreme Court is a statutory construction constitutional position. The policy position which i can speak to is we want people to have a good system with Affordable Access to Health Insurance and Affordable Healthcare and we will work with congress to the court creates a situation where we need replacing. Where you consulted by the president or anyone else, cabinet or Justice Department before the Justice Department of this administration move forward with this effort with the Supreme Court . Im not going to discuss my consultations with the president or cabinet level consultations. I cant do that as you know. I yield back. I thank the gentleman for yield. I think that completes the first round of questions. A vote is on but i think we will monitor that so that we can okay, very good. We will now go to a second round, and i will yield myself five minutes. Mr. Secretary, the website of the department of health and Human Services states, its mission, and im quoting, is to enhance the health and wellbeing of all of americans by providing Effective Health and Human Services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences, underlying medicine, Public Health, and social services, end of quote. I wholeheartedly endorse this mission. Hhs must use sound science and sound science alone to enhance Americas Health and wellbeing. Do you, mr. Secretary, believe that you and other political appointees in this administration have fulfilled this mission during this pandemic . I do believe so, yes. I believe ive stood up for science data evidence. We have made these doctors have become household names com, faucher, redfield, hahn, brooks, may direct access to the American People in ways that is never been done before to ensure they hear right out of the scientist mouse the best information that they have. Weve made sure those people have direct access to the president and he speaking with them and hearing from a multitude of the best science voices. I dont like to meet with the president without one of those top scientists being there or all of him being there. I always encourage science datadriven deliberations. That doesnt mean our scientists and doctors cant have debate. There is debate in science. Thats a core part of the period process, one of the hallmarks and i encourage and sponsor that. Very good. You think youre doing okay. Regrettably, the sitebased mission of the department betrayed by senior Political Parties like assistant secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo to report to you directly, and his former advisor dr. Paul i googled xander dr. Paul alexander. Look at this poster here. We have received emails that clearly show that mr. Caputo and dr. Alexander overruled cdc scientists who try to inform the public of the risks of the coronavirus. On june 6, sorry, june 30, after the cdc Principal Deputy director said people should wear masks, dr. Alexander wrote, and im quoting here, her aim is to embarrass the president here. He called this career scientist duplicitous. On august 8th. After the cdc reported that children could spread coronavirus, dr. Alexander wrote, and im quoting here, this is this is designed to hurt this president for their reasons which im not interested in. In that same email dr. Alexander told cdc director, nothing is to go out in less i read and agree with the findings how they cdc, wrote it and i tweak it to ensure it is fair and balanced and complete. These emails show clear political interference in the cdcs efforts to carry out the departments sciencebased mission. Mr. Secretary, will you renounce this kind of political interference and commit that it will not happen again . Mr. Chairman, as i said i support debate, i support discussion, i support challenging each other. I do not support those statements. Dr. Alexander is no longer employed at this department. I wont get into Personnel Matters, if theres a a way to discussion and debate that is proper, respectful, appropriate. Let me be clear about that second quotation. I do not know if any circumstance where anybody other than dr. Redfield and dr. Birx would have authority over determining the final publication of an inn in wr which is at issue dr. Alexander to my knowledge never have that authority. I would not have supported that. But it did not find that tone and tenor of discussion to be acceptable in my department. Thank you. You may recall that when the statement scheme i wrote you a letter asking that these people appear before our select subcommittee. Mr. Secretary, not a single staff was made available to appear before this subcommittee, not a single one. I would hope that you will agree and begin to introduce documents and allow these witnesses to come forward next week. Ill be glad to come back here and im sure my Ranking Member will participate. Will you do that . So our staffs are working to secure the agreement on the procedures to make that happen. We want to make that happen comes to working on the final arrangements on that. Thank you. I take that as a yes. Well, they need to get to agreement on a program proceeded to protect individual. Some of these are career cdc officials and as you know mr. Caputo is on medical leave now with a very serious medical condition. Dr. Alexander no longer works at the department or the u. S. Government what we are working with your staff to get to agreement on how this can be facilitated. And we will be pleased to have a virtual testimony from them if they will agree to it here so that we dont have to come back, we are doing that because of you and me. We could do it virtually, okay . I think our staffs are in the final stages of getting things arranged. I yield to the Ranking Member for five minutes. 5 minutes and 30 seconds. I appreciate the second round. Thank you for continuing to answer these questions. When we talk about vaccine advancement and other therapies you talked about remdesafir, hydroxy chloroquine, a doctor is the one who knows what is best, hopefully we will make as many options available that are safe for doctors to help patients. Are you seeing an improvement in the ability to effectively treat people who are covid19 positive compared to where we were a few months ago when this disease came from china . The advances in our ability to care for people and help them recover who suffer serious consequences have been nothing short of revolutionary. To take one data point, in april an individual age 70 or above who contracted covid19 had a 30 chance of dying. To date is 5. 7 thanks to the president s efforts to get remdesafir approved, steroids for one injury, convalescent plasma in 80,000 patients. As we learned how to use ventilators better, when to use them, how to use quality of care, my department played a vital role in educating across the country as theyve seen surgeons of declines of cages to enhance knowledge amongst providers. We in Congress Passed some of the money to give the department the ability to respond even more effectively to come up with files of vaccine as these companies are in final stages of testing we are not waiting for approval to start manufacturing the vaccine. In the old days, if it clears the final stage they will start producing it and it would be months later. If they are not approved, they go in the trashcan but if approved it saves vital months. Is that part of Donald Trumps plan or is that how it has always been done . This is unprecedented. We are at the same time we are advancing safety delicacy we are making as we speak millions of doses of vaccine at an industrial scale across six manufacturers something no drug company ever would have been able to do without the support of the us government. That was innovation donald trump created. Have you seen a vaccine potentially created within a year of the virus being known to mankind . Never, never. I worked very hard on the people of vaccine, worked on eradicating ebola and thanks to america we had a merck vaccine and various antibodies but those took years. We are talking months. Some people want to just politicize everything, if the vaccine is not a week after the virus is known and it is all the president s fault, we are on the verge of four potential vaccines less than a year later with millions of files being massproduced. The defense production acts which the president has used as well. Let me ask about new york as you see people trying to plant seeds of doubt in a vaccine which would be deadly if they did it, new york saying they will not allow citizens to have access to the vaccine until have some other approval process continue seen their approval process, how long it would take, how many months people in new york would be denied a vaccine . I have been unbelievably distressed, it undermines Public Health, confidence in vaccines not just for covid19 but for kids getting their mmr vaccines. New york is a hotbed of the antivaccination. Is a Testing Process do you know of new york even has a Testing Process . We have a single federal how many months would citizens of new york be denied he ability to save their lives if Governor Cuomo gets his way, it is a ludicrous statement, these are statements that undermine Public Confidence. I know you said you agree with that as well. China, this is not an area where the committee has gone and we need to go there further but i was in some of those meetings in the white house months ago when we knew nothing about this virus, Chinese Health officials wanted to let us in. Our Top Health Officials wanted to go in. Wasnt at the Chinese Communist party that stopped us from going in and corrupted the World Health Organization from being honest about the transmission . The chinese, is party delayed by a month and a half the teams getting into china. I offer on january 6th how many lives can we have saved had the chinese, is pretty from what we would have learned we ended up learning information about how to care for patients but that was a month and a half delayed. Thank you, i yield back, mister chairman. Thank you mister Ranking Member. The chair recognizes Mister Vasquez for five minutes. Thank you, mister chairman. Secretary azar, early this summit cdc guidance on schools clearly stated that fully reopening created the highest risk. In july the ccc released new guidance substantially edited by white house officials that downplayed the risks of reopening schools. Secretary azar, were you involved in instructing the cdc to issue new guidance . Im not aware of an instruction to issue. They update their guidance and as a collaborative interagency process. I assume under president obama with the Ebola Response it is quite normal that you have white house coordinated guidance with due process. You believe and it is your opinion that it is not appropriate for political advisers to write Public Health guidance . It is appropriate for all individuals who have competence and expertise to contribute, doctor redfield is politically appointed, runs the cdc. Political advice like Jared Kushner . Who . Jared kushner. Im not aware of his involvement, but i dont know that i am aware of that. It is perfectly normal for there to be all guidance is required to go through white house process, a president ial executive order, significance guidance has to go through white house review and i want to be clear at the end of the day the cdc director must agree with it or it does not go out. Any changes or suggestions. The cdc reports that over 40 of all covid19 cases between the ages of 5 and 17 are latinos. Isnt it true there is evidence that Young Children can transmit the virus . Yes, children can transmit. Thank you and you agree the transmission of covid19 is higher in poorly ventilated areas . Congresswoman, on that issue i want to be careful, i want to the for 2 experts at cdc. I believe that to be the case but i would want to refer you to cdc guidance rather than speculating. Are you aware the recent gao report found 36,000 schools nationwide need ventilation upgrades . Congresss statute you pass 13 billion of funding for schools. I do believe there are issues like ventilation systems that can be good upgrades to freshen the air and keep going and keep adequate humidity levels which can be important. Do you think it is right, we need to give peace of mind to the parents in this country that it is safe to send kids especially in low income communities, we have schools and infrastructure is old and hasnt been upgraded, do you think it is right to say we should fully reopen the schools . We believe we can reopen fully. There are steps you can take, creating social distance come moving teachers classroom to classroom, delivering meals to the kids, social distance in the classroom, Face Covering wearing and the individual making decisions that is right for the parent and guardian and what vulnerabilities they or other household members have, it is vital they be in the drivers seat. Do you think we have enough money nationwide to be able to upgrade those schools . I havent looked at that issue of funding. There 13 billion of the primitive Education Funding i dont believe has been fully allocated on the downside of the school district. It hasnt been fully allocated but my question to you is given the gao report and the outcome nationwide, that needs ventilation upgrades, you are the secretary of health, our kids back to school, do you feel confident that having 36,000 schools nationwide in need of ventilation upgrades, that has been allocated. There are several assumptions, the key point, the presumption is considered be back in a physical environment, it is distracting to childrens physical, emotional, mental health, it can be done safely but we have to make sure it is safe in any particular school or situation and an adequate plan to make it happen. The fact of the matter is there are 36,000 according to the gao report in need of upgrades and therefore to make such a statement of sending kids back to school doesnt provide the peace of mind to the parents of this country. Reports indicate the white house pushed for testing guidelines to recommend people without covid19 symptoms abstain from testing but 16 of kids with covid19 are asymptomatic so what testing guidelines are you recommending for schools, especially knowing the Significant Impact covid19 is having on children of color . We recommend the testing of a symptomatic close contacts so in a disease tracking situation weve worked on testing 100 million of those tests we asked the governors to prioritize with a k12 kids to do Contact Tracing as well as assisting surveillance. In addition to close contacts we want to ensure we have adequate Surveillance Systems to identify emerging disease outbreaks. I yield back. Secretary azar, i live in a very rural area, throughout this pandemic a lot of the Healthcare Services have dealt with the telehealth way of going about it and this is extremely important going into the future that we allow this to continue, to accommodate. I would like to give you a minute to talk about the rules, regulations, problems, suggestions for congress on how to make this a Better Service between Healthcare Professionals and constituents and customers for the betterment of their healthcare. Would you like to comment . Absolutely, thanks to the Emergency Powers of the president we have been able for the First Time Ever to unleash the power of telehealth. We brought healthcare into the 21st century for the first time and when you visit hospitals, doctors and Community Health centers you see it is the patient centric change bringing overall healthcare costs down creating a better experience, we treat the underserved and delivering 90 of their care by telehealth and having drivethrough lab testing and sample taken, vaccinations etc. Assumptions are telehealth would be additive and add cost of the healthcare system, we are seeing it improve quality and decrease costs. We need congress to act on this because we cant enshrine in regulation everything we are able to do. We do much more under statutes, cant do that in urban. Under the statute, you shop at a doctors office, you cant do it from home. You need to have a preexisting relationship with the doctor or hospital. We waved all these things thanks to donald trump under the Emergency Powers, congress will have to act to make is flexible but is permanent so we Hope Congress i dont think you can walk us backwards nor should you. What we need to do as we wind down, we need to get together and figure out the rules, regulations, how to implement this and be helpful to healthcare officials and improvement of health so thank you for that. It was wednesday september 30th, there is an article with regards to regenerate and, and the medication they are coming up with looks like they are on the way by the end of the year, to be helpful to produce antibodies, would you be willing to talk about that today, i realize we are not there yet but this sounds good. An article in the paper, to let people know there are beside vaccines there are therapeutics in the pipeline that could be beneficial, being tested and worked on. You saw the initial phase i dose range clinical data, these are money criminal antibodies. We authorized convalescent plasma which is from a plasma patient, we can synthetically make those antibodies at ranges of thousand times more competent than what we can get from an individuals plasma and produced in mass quantities. Hundreds of thousands of doses, we have eli lilly, astrazeneca, monochrome all antibody programs and promising early data that has been made public. We could be literally many weeks to a month or two away from having data to support emergency authorizations if the data proves they are safe as well as effective. You mentioned emergency authorization. I think doctor fsuci mentioned this. What is emergency authorization . When we think about therapeutics, for emergency use on more limited data set as we continue to do trials. Somebody is healthy and your putting a vaccine to them the fda requires 30,000 person Clinical Trials, 15,000 foreseeable, 15,000 active, demonstrating significant results. Or full licensure of the vaccine. The only changes, we have ongoing safety Data Collection and ongoing validation needed for inspection of the manufacturing facility but the actual data package is the same. He made the comment that emergency authorization was necessary when you see the data is so overwhelming it would be unethical and immoral to withhold those vaccines or drugs from people because it could be saving lives especially when you have safety. Convalescent plasma, you see clear trends of efficacy, should you allow people to try that . My time is up. I yield back. I now yield to myself for five minutes for questioning. Mister secretary, i was reviewing comments made by the president at a labor Day Press Conference or he gave this rosy prediction, he said a vaccine would be available very soon. You could have a very big surprise coming up, you will be very happy, the people will be happy, the world will be happy, people of the world, everybody is going to be happy. You know what im talking about before that very special date. Then we have Companies Involved in the development of moderna who said they would not be able to seek emergency authorization, when you need the roads and predictions, contradictions, for the development. What do you think that happens to the credibility of fda. The president is trying to be helpful but i want to be clear this will be determined by data and independent processes. We dont see data on Clinical Trial and in a Clinical Trial achieved statistical end points. Reclaiming my time. The rosy predictions as being hopeful. There is a difference. Between being hopeful and misleading the people of the country. Do you believe it is helpful to you when the president is out making these predictions . The result is driven by data, if the company produces data that is independent, in the beginning of october determines a vaccine is safe and effective, through an Advisory Board process. Reclaiming my time. Do you believe moderna, and before the latter part of moderna. On the guidance they received. Do you believe him. They need to have 60 days from the median patient completion in the Clinical Trial. Let me frame this question, do you believe there is a contradiction, and what moderna and others are saying, about the readiness when a vaccine would be ready . You see doubt, and and is helpful and builds confidence. And has no credibility and contradicted by those who are responsible. Is that a problem. In terms of inspiring hope, reclaiming my time. This is more than what you are describing as hope. This is the president of the United States of america, the leader of the greatest nation in the world. And should be, in addition to being a role model, we should rely on what he said. We should have the confidence, when you sit here, no matter how you try to phrase it, the president of the United States has not been the kind of role model, and etc. Etc. And you dont have conversations with the president about whether he is holding mass rallies where people, it would be helpful to know that at least you have the strength and the ability to talk with the president of the United States and speak the truth about what hes doing or not doing. Im absolutely surprised at the lack of strength of many of the people in this administration, but for you it is a responsibility that you have. I expect you would stand up to the president any time of day and say please, you could be helpful if you support Wearing Masks everywhere you go, if it was a National Plan said everybody is Wearing Masks, everybody must be socially distant. I am not going to have a rally where people are jammed in and packed in. Why cant you say that to the president . Im not going to discuss my conversations with you with the president but i would ask, youre a very influential member, if you could please inspire vaccine confidence, it is critical. Reclaiming my time. I know they will say i wont let you answer the question but you are going to tell me to inspire confidence and you cannot tell me whether you would tell the president to do that . I have made clear the independent process for vaccine approval if you let me speak, i could have walked you through four independent steps on vaccine data and approval and consideration that would give people confidence any vaccine will be safe and effective. I will take it, my family will take it. Thank you, reclaiming my time. I would ask you to think about it when you leave here and think about it before you go to bed at night and when you look yourself in the mirror the next day i want you to think about whether you have the strength and ability, to say the president what he solicit not be doing and i think he should respect your advice and the advice of the experts. With that i will yield to ms. Maloney the next five minutes. The select subcommittee put out a memo in which they identified this report, 47 incidents in which political officials intervened in the nations pandemic response. Ready for was awarded two contracts to Public Relations firms to was coronavirus Advertising Campaign intended according to the contract, quote, to defeat despair and inspire hope, exactly what congresswoman waters speak about. The reason so many people feel despair, 200,000 people are dead, the next administrations response to the crisis has been worse than almost any other country. It would have been much more effective if donald trump had listened to the experts, believed in science or come up with a real plan to combat the crisis. Instead this will administration was spending a quarter of 1 million in taxpayer funds to make videos with senior of and celebrities at a massive ad blitz right before the election. Hhs diver did money from cdc and fda even as both agencies are fighting, fighting this pandemic. This campaign was spearheaded by Michael Caputo. He demanded of me by the president of the United States personally. Is that true . I want to provide an update on this topic because the value of Public Health communications efforts, i have ordered a Strategic Review reclaiming my time. I want to hear your response and update on it. At this ad campaign im going to answer your question. Whose idea was it . Was it your idea . I have ordered a Strategic Review of this Public Education campaign that would be led by top Public Health and comedic asians experts to determine whether there are Public Health purposes. I have taken steps to ensure any products coming out of this campaign will be reviewed and approved by korea Public Health officials including the cdc. There are three key elements, the Surgeon General has done ads to encourage people to practice the three ws to donate convalescence Plasma Energy Minority Group involvement in vaccine Clinical Trials. And to inspire flu vaccine as we enter the flu season and the third phase would be covid19 vaccination. This is something Public Health officials part of it is procurement. One of them was awarded to a Company Called atlas research, and a subcontractor called ddt which happens to be run by mister caputos foreign business partner. Ddt had 0 Public Health experience and has been, quote, overwhelmed by the project. Mister secretary, do you agree that it is inappropriate for any political appointees to push for their own Business Partners to get lucrative government contracts when they have 0 experience in the area the contract covers, many people in your department appear to have serious concerns with these actions, politico, quote, one current official said this, quote, this is a boondoggle. We are in the middle of a pandemic. We could use a quarter of 1 billion, promoting with celebrities, do you agree with that statement . I disagree with your last statement, the Cost Campaign about the data cost 250 million, the report will correct outreach cost 280 million. It is Important Health messaging around Good Community around flu vaccination. And career officials. Reclaiming my time, there are certain reasons reaching out to the public and those you express on flu and other items and 3 ws but this was about feeling good and being positive and nothing to do with health from press reports. And why are we having this blitz before the election . The gentle ladys time has expired. I yield back. I now yield for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. If china had fewer americans who died we would have a disaster. Of china didnt lie about human transmission where fewer americans have died. Is correct. Of china didnt court people you would fewer americans have died . Absolutely. Of china corrupt the World Health Organization with your americans and i . It. China had not been american scientist into the country would fewer americans and i . Correct. Would fewer americans have died with ppe . I yield back. I yield five minutes to mister foster. Thank you, madam chair. The last questions applied to korea . Looks at the contrast, they get harder and earlier, they have a negligible number of events, apply equally well. I will be glad to discuss the difference between us and south korea. The largest single factor, leaders listen to the scientists, a point of clarification, the fda commissioner issued new guidance settling the criteria for emergency use authorization for coronavirus vaccines, i apply that decision in the transparency but donald trump called this guidance, quote, political, we may or may not approve it. My question is what is the signature chain on the document . The fda commissioner . Do you have final approval or does the president have final say and final edit . You made a mistake in your statement. The fda issued vaccine guidance that went through the interagency process coming out of fda, 30,000 Clinical Trials, the fda sends letters stating what they would ask for. Final say on specifications. If the president or hhs career people. This is what the commissioner is proposing, public emergency use authorization on a vaccine with letters already sense to the manufacturers. So your answer is donald trump has the final say on these documents and he was correct when he said it has to be approved by the white house, we may or may not approve it . This is a mountain out of a mole will because the fda already told manufacturers what they are going to look for and that is what it is. Did you see debate tuesday . Parts of it. The record has been distributed to members, an open letter for the chairman and ceo of pfizer, one of the vaccine participants, since to his us colleagues. I would like to read the first paragraph of that letter. Tuning into the president ial debate. Deadly disease was discussed in political terms rather than scientific terms. People who are understandably confused dont know who or what to believe. Global health has too much, it is so important to me. What they are using at pfizer today, goes on to explain, refused to accept money or guidance. I the disturbance and confidence that would result. Enter that into the record. I want to talk about the timeline you talk about in your testimony. If you succeed, warp factor x, you go backwards in time which allows you to rewrite history which seems a fair part of what you are trying to accomplish here. Many of the milestones you list occurred before operation warp speed was announced and was the result of the efforts of scientist career professionals rather than anything in operation warp speed, the Therapeutic Development link in testimony you are led to press release and discussion by rick bright, and political interference. So giving credit to the leadership of donald trump is a little bit problematic here. I would like to enter into the record three reports on the budget cuts. As soon as donald trump entered office he proposed a 22 budget cut to the hhs and he then double digit budget cuts even after donald trump knew that the coronavirus, had been briefed on how deadly it was in february of 2020 he proposed a 7 cut to the nih. How do you give credit to donald trump for any of this, the achievement of his scientists when he cut their budget year after year after year . Donald trump is the one who back to his historic effort. You denigrate operation warp speed and the effort that is happening there. These are career people from the Defense Department driving this. The white House Oversight that i give no credit to. Thank you. The gentlemans time has expired. You are recognized for five minutes. When younger healthier people get infected that is a good thing because that is the way population immunity develops. I dont want anyone to get it. You disagree with that . Im not a physician or an epidemiologist. You are the secretary of hhs. My mission is to keep you from getting infected with coronavirus. Reclaiming my time. This quote from scotts, top member of the Coronavirus Task force has been promoting the ideology of heard immunity which seems to have affected the president who said on september 15th that the coronavirus is disappear even without affecting because people develop, quote, a herd mentality which is a telling freudian slip but in any event he seems to have adopted it. Heres Paul Alexander who i think works for you, Senior Advisor to hhs who wrote the following. Having a virus spread among the young and healthy is one of the methods to drive heard immunity. This is not the intended strategy but almost be on deck now and it is contributing positively at some level. Do you agree with what your employee politics and wrote to Michael Caputo about heard immunity being a positive factor in your plan for combating the disease . You may have missed this, does not work at hhs anymore. Did you fire him for that statement . I wont discuss Personnel Matters but he does not work at this department at this point. I dont know why you to be elusive about it. This is a dangerous concept. Heard immunity if this is gaining traction with the white house and with the president will end up costing hundreds of thousands if not millions of american lives, the idea is you let the disease wash over the population and end up with 60 or 70 immunity among the people but right now it is below 10 meaning 90 of people dont have it so we would have to infect tens of millions more people to create this heard immunity. I wonder if you can break through the herd mentality of the thinking with the top circles of the white house to oppose heard immunity publicly, articulately and forcefully. Heard immunity, we may get a, when you get slowing of transmission as we have seen in the new york area and other concentrated area. Our mission is to reduce fatalities, protect the vulnerable, keep coronavirus cases at the level. How about beat the disease, vanquish the disease. That is literally what i was saying. Heard immunity has been tried in sweden and failed, the death toll is 10 times inland and other scandinavian countries. Is killing people. That is a policy of mass human sacrifice. I hope have other people pop up throughout the administration arguing for heard immunity, the idea that the spread of the disease is a positive thing that you, as secretary of hhs will be a forceful voice combating that sinister view. Can you give us any further updates whether anyone else at the white house tested positive, and what precautions are taken to Contact Tracing to get in touch with those who the president interacted with . I am preparing to be here and sitting in front of you the entire time. Theres been a lot of talk about china, donald trump praised president xi and the Chinese Communist party on 37 occasions and submitted them to the record, distributed them and i can do it again. I would love nothing more than to have a hearing about the president s complicity about lies about the disease and for the life of me i cant understand why my colleagues bring it up and not contributing to bias. And and in writing or conversation, told the president to stop praising president xi and the Chinese Communist party for its performance on covid19. We have records of doing that in february, march and april. It is a difficult matter. Did they play him for a sucker . I had to force them i yield back. I think the gentleman for yielding back. The chair recognizes you for five minutes. Thank you, i went to pick up where we left off. We will see what happens, facing off of that, and effort to create a plan to replace the aca if the Supreme Court struck it down. Is that what you were saying . There are many scenarios, first, to protect people with preexisting conditions, the president will not sign a piece of legislation that doesnt do that but there are many ways to protect people with preexisting conditions and also ways to set up affordable mechanisms. When i ask you if theres a plan to replace in regard to whether the Supreme Court moved forward. Is that correct . A range of approaches, dealing with nancy pelosi is different from others and to replace obamacare. Two weeks ago i heard a clip, and, it is a much better plan. And it will be something worth looking through. We use the word plan differently, and 31 million americans, the Supreme Court strikes down all or large part of it. The president focused on delivering better care, lower cost and more choices for 331 million americans, not just those who are trapped or excluded from obamacare. Referring to the executive order. And lowering drug phrases, i find the first ever for importation of drugs, under the president s direction, Interoperable Health it enabling you to shop among providers without being locked into one system, protecting Kidney Disease for the First Time Since president nixon, ending the hiv epidemic in the United States, improving healthcare for 331 million americans. The American Enterprise institute, looking at the executive order, all it really is is a statement that he wants one or more departments to come up with a plan and doesnt given a guidance with the vaguest outline of what the plan should be . We will move on from here. This is any normally different situation when millions of americans lost healthcare, potentially millions more who lose their healthcare. We will see what happens at that time and that is not reassuring to people in my district who are concerned about what happens next. A lot of talk about vaccine but one thing i want to get to his distribution of the vaccine. The frontline documents, i saw different efforts and one thing that was concerning to me is 64 different jurisdictions around the country, youre asking them to come back to you with their plan in different states, how is that not basically that indicates to me we dont have a singular strategy. How is this not a testing debacle all over again . Working in partnership with the states, we have a centralized Distribution System which does the vaccine for Childrens Program out of the cdc, 8090 million vaccine the year with Cold Chain Storage set up partnering with a burden to reach to our pharmacies and Community Health centers for actual vaccination programs. We need the states to partner with us because they know where the vaccine should go locally to hit target population so if they were dealing with nursing home and Vulnerable People for states, how they want to administer, do they want to use cvs, rite aid, Public Health departments . That is why we are partnering with them. I want to Work Together on this. The last thing, you are not a doctor and you said we will be grounded in science and evidence and the approval of the vaccine. I want to see confidence in the American People and vaccines. That is why you will not play a role in the approval or providing influence and recommendation to the fda commissioner, i want to hear that. When we talk about political interference. We harness the best minds, scientific data. I bring 20 years of experience. I was one of the architects of pandemic flu planning in the Bush Administration that helped create our novel flu vaccine that vaccine capacity in the United States. We have many people with expertise and knowledge to the table. Those people contribute and challenge and ensure good decisions but at the end of the day the fda career scientist doctor peter marks thank you very much. We have concluded the second round. The Ranking Member, the closing comments. Thank you, mister chairman, for coming, we can try to get facts on where we are and what is happening with response to covid19, the economic and educational recovery, one of the things we wanted to do is get out as many facts as possible. There has been a plan that started early in this pandemic and continues to grow and change as we learn more about the disease, things we are doing that we need to do to give guidance to states to safely reopen part of their economy but we put this report together, the guide map for those denying there is a plan, it is out here, on the internet, you can see it, tens of thousands of pages but we make it easier for those having trouble understanding that plan but the basics of this plan, china lied and caused a Global Pandemic. The secretary talked about these challenges as china was withholding information. That cost chinas lives, tens of thousands of lives. This committee out to look and hold them accountable. Number 2 donald trump responded immediately, first decision every scientist the testified before the committee, the right decision was to ban flights from china, Donald Trumps decision changed american lives, some people criticized that decision, no doubt there mysteriously doesnt exist. There would have been more deaths if they had gotten a way. That you all testified was not only the right decision to save thousands of american lives, donald trump, sciencebased decisions that did save hundreds of thousands of lives, not just china, europe, 15 days to slow the spread, 30 more days, and take your people in Nursing Homes, 45 governors sold their guidelines and 25,000 minimum who shouldnt have died. And they hide the facts, if everyone doesnt join us, those who actually wants to get those answers. Number 4, donald trump is developing a safe effective vaccine, it is faster than ever before. Teams that are partnered up to get to the final stage, to beat the rigors of secretary azar testified of the Gold Standard of the world, the fda approval process. It is manufacturing the file the vaccine not waiting until the end but manufacturing while it is tested on tens of thousands of americans to see if it is a safe and effective drug and if it is it will be ready and available the next day. Anyone who undermines Public Confidence in that vaccine will be costing american lives. Any governor who tries to deny their own constituents a state that vaccine would be costing lives. How barbaric would that be for a governor to say they wont let the citizen a state having fda approved drug to save lives . I dont even think that is legal but we will press on and i know donald trump continues to press on and i appreciate again the work of the 80,000 men and women in your agency who are working on that, not just working on a vaccine but delivering billions of ppe, china ordered the ppe, most of it was made there but we need to make it here now. We ought to be doing more to push to help make that ppe in america so we are not reliant on china when we are doing more of that now. Billions are now being sent out through the president s initiative, building the largest testing system in the world, more capabilities, Nursing Homes getting tests, testing capabilities continue to go forward and finally donald trump prioritized while some of those governors continued to put their seniors at risk, this president has taken action to save american lives, we wish there were no lives lost, and you look at this list, those 5 governors never would have complied but that is not where we are. China and russia arent on this list, they wont share with the world their data, they might be at the top but we will work to save american lives, i thank you for the work you and your team are doing on behalf of the American People to get our economy back open as we see this evil virus. I yield back. Thank you very much. Without objection i would like to listen to the record, published by the journal of american medical association, mortality admissions and patient census Skilled Nursing facilities, and and mirrored the outbreaks in their communities. New york, had a worse outbreak in florida especially at the beginning of the pandemic. The plea republican colleagues made are responsible when theres a normal outbreak, has just grown. The problem of outbreaks, investment homes, is a National Problem and as this study shows, the outbreaks in communities, florida has 20,265 cases of coronavirus in Nursing Homes, the fifth highest in the entire country. The state has had 5266 deaths in Nursing Homes which is the sixth highest in the entire country. Before we close, i would like to enter into the record letters the committee has received from the National Association of county and city Health Officials was the Infectious Disease society of america and hiv medicine association, should be entered into the record. Thank you, mister Ranking Member. In closing, i want to thank you, mister secretary, for being here today. Pretty clear the Trump Administrations approach to this virus has not worked. That is why more people in america have died from the coronavirus than any other country, and why the virus is surging in many states. I do not believe it is too late to turn things around, if the administration will finally lead with science instead of politics. That means committed to end the political allowing our scientists to do their jobs. And in the constant stream of disinformation coming from the white house. To control this virus we also need the administration to finally put in place a coordinated National Strategy to respond to the pandemic, a strategy i have been calling for since this subcommittees very first briefing in may. This National Plan must include a strategy to increase testing and chronic shortages in swabs and other supplies, and more effectively, efficiently and equitably target the tests we have. The federal government must also use its resources to procure and distribute masks. And i would much rather see, and i would be helpful, that the white house which said, go back to the plan and send a mask to everybody, and i would be pleased for the president to insert a letter with his signature on it. I would much rather see that than this box lunches that he is now requiring that his name be, a letter signed by him being everyone of those boxes. Lets have a letter signed by him in a box with a mask going into every home. That to me would be contributing to the preservation of life. A National Plan to me must include clear and consistent Public Health measures across all 50 states, included uniform use of masks in public places, and strict limits on large gatherings, especially in areas with higher rates of community transmission. Mr. Secretary, it is too late to save the 207,000 americans who have already died from this virus, let alone, so let us Work Together to make sure we dont lose another 207,000 lives. Without objection all members will have five legislative days within which to submit additional written questions for the witness to the chair. Which will be forwarded to the witness for their response. I ask the witness to please respond as promptly as possible. Without with that, the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] that wraps up this Coronavirus Committee hearing with Health Secretary alex as are here several representatives talked about President Trumps announcement that he and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for covid. This comes after a Senior Advisor hope hicks was diagnosed with coronavirus after a Campaign Rally in minnesota. The white house reporting President Trump is expensing quote mild symptoms. The first couple have begun a 14 day quarantine your Vice President pence was tested immediately after the news broke and his Office Reports that he is not infected. In addition the Associated Press reported several other members of the president s cabinet are undergoing testing now. White house chief of staff mark meadows commented on the president s condition this morning. Heres what he had to say