In the middle of a deadly pandemic, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department will actively refuse to work with the incoming Biden administration for as long as Donald Trump can hold off the formal transfer of power, HHS Secretary Alex Azar confirmed Wednesday.
“We've made it very clear that when GSA makes a determination, we will ensure complete, cooperative professional transitions and planning," Azar told reporters. “We follow the guidance. We're about getting vaccines and therapeutics invented and get the clinical trial data and saving lives here. That's where our focus is as we go forward with our efforts.”
Azar is waiting for General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy to issue a formal ascertainment that President-elect Joe Biden has won, while Murphy is apparently waiting for Trump to run out the clock on his legal challenges, even as Trump has lost dozens of such legal challenges with no sign of an imminent turnaround.
In the mean time, HHS staff are directed not to talk to the Biden transition team, even though this could cause interruptions in vaccine distribution and other efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic when Biden takes office on Jan. 20, 2021.
Biden warned of exactly that on Wednesday, saying: “Soon, we're going to be behind by weeks and months being able to put together the whole initiative relating to the biggest promise we have with two drug companies coming along and finding 95% effectiveness, efficiency in the vaccines, which is enormous promise.”
Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at HHS, claimed Wednesday that hey, they’re just following the rules and it’s not going to cause any delays. But on the first point, this delay is unprecedented in recent elections with the sole exception of 2000, which was much closer and involved serious litigation, not the series of frivolous lies Team Trump has brought to various courts. And on the second point, Dr. Anthony Fauci disagrees, saying repeatedly that it’s important to get the transition going so that efforts aren’t interrupted in January.
Donald Trump’s temper tantrum over losing an election is going to lead to people losing their lives, and Alex Azar, Brett Giroir, and Emily Murphy are all complicit.