Azar drew Trump’s ire again last week over his removal of a top vaccine official
By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Josh Dawsey April 26, 2020 at 11:08 a.m. EDT
White House officials are discussing whether to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar as frustrations have grown over his handling of the coronavirus crisis earlier this year, as well as over his removal last week of a top vaccine official in his agency, which created an uproar.
Several top White House aides are discussing Azar’s removal and have mused over possible successors, but President Trump has not weighed in, said five people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. It remains unclear whether the president will want to replace his top health official amid a pandemic, because it could signal more chaos and turmoil in the administration’s response, which has come under repeated fire. More than 53,000 Americans have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 900,000 U.S. cases have been reported as of Sunday.
During the past several weeks, Azar has rarely appeared at the daily White House coronavirus news briefings and has been largely sidelined from the response. He oversaw that effort until Feb. 26, when he was replaced by Vice President Pence amid anger over the continued lack of coronavirus testing and conflicting messages from health officials about the threat of the virus. His agency, however, is still responsible for crucial aspects of the pandemic response, such as leading the search for treatments and vaccines, and distributing $100 billion worth of relief to hospitals that was allocated by Congress.AD
One senior administration official with knowledge of the discussions said Trump has no deep affection for Azar but is unlikely to change secretaries as the coronavirus continues to rage. There is also concern about having a nomination fight in an election year on an issue — health care — that many Trump advisers see as a political weakness. Spokesmen for the White House and HHS denied Azar’s job was in jeopardy.
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