Letter to the Honorable Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services - Clyburn, Raskin Demand Secretary Azar Clarify Testimony on Herd Immunity

Letter

Dear Secretary Azar:
We are concerned that you may have provided misleading testimony during the Select
Subcommittee's October 2, 2020, hearing with respect to whether the Trump Administration is
pursuing a herd immunity strategy to combat the coronavirus. In your testimony, you denied that
the Trump Administration is pursuing such a "strategy," but just three days later you met with
four outspoken proponents of this approach. You wrote that they provided a "strong
reinforcement of the Trump Administration's strategy." Afterward, the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) "refused to comment" on "whether the Trump administration is
shifting to a herd immunity strategy."
1 We write to seek clarity about whether the
Administration is responding to the coronavirus pandemic with a herd immunity strategy, which
public health experts have warned could lead to the death of more than two million Americans.
Achieving herd immunity prior to distribution of a vaccine would entail allowing the
coronavirus to spread freely until a sufficient percentage of the population has contracted the
disease to reduce the possibility of further spread.2
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said such a strategy is
"a bad idea," explaining that "if everyone got infected, the death toll would be enormous and
totally unacceptable."3
Scientists estimate that approximately 70 percent of Americans--more
than 200 million people--would need to be infected by the coronavirus to reach the herd
immunity threshold absent a vaccine.4
Such widespread transmission could lead to the deaths of between half a million and more than two million Americans.5
Millions more would battle
prolonged illnesses and profound disabilities as a result of infection with the coronavirus.6
Despite the horrific consequences of such a policy, President Trump has expressed
support for pursuing herd immunity, stating, "you'll develop herd--like a herd mentality" and
saying, "it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen."
7
Similarly, White House
Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Scott Atlas and former HHS senior advisor Dr. Paul
Alexander have both expressed support for this dangerous strategy.
8

During your October 2 testimony, Rep. Jamie Raskin asked you whether you support the
herd immunity strategy advocated by President Trump. You replied: "Herd immunity is not the
strategy of the U.S. government with regard to coronavirus" and, "Our mission is to reduce
fatalities, protect the vulnerable, keep coronavirus cases down to the lowest level possible."9

Despite your disavowal of pursuing a herd immunity strategy, you made unsupported
claims at the hearing that have been previously advanced by proponents of such an approach,
including suggesting, "We may get herd slowing of transmission, as we perhaps have seen in the
New York area and other concentrated areas."
10 Numerous scientists have refuted that New
York City or other metropolitan areas have reached anywhere close to the number of cases
necessary to achieve herd immunity.
11 Just last month, Dr. Fauci stated in testimony before the Senate that "about 22 percent" of New York City's residents have likely been exposed to the
coronavirus, far short of the threshold needed to reach herd immunity.12
Your actions and words this week cast doubt on your testimony denying that the United
States has adopted a herd immunity strategy. On October 5, you met with Dr. Atlas and three
other individuals, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and Dr. Sunetra Gupta, who you
described as "distinguished infectious disease experts."13
All four of these individuals are
outspoken proponents of advancing a herd immunity strategy in response to the coronavirus
pandemic--an extreme view that has been widely rejected by the vast majority of public health
experts. For example:
* Dr. Atlas has repeatedly called for the United States to pursue a herd immunity
strategy. In July 2020, he stated: "When younger, healthier people get
infected, that's a good thing, because that's exactly the way that population
immunity develops."14
He told Fox News that preventing young people from
getting infected is merely "prolonging the problem because you're preventing
population immunity." Dr. Atlas reportedly has espoused similar bogus claims
during internal White House meetings.
15
* Dr. Kulldorff has suggested that the Swedish model of resisting lockdown
measures has been successful--even though Sweden has a per capita death toll
from the coronavirus that is nearly 12 times higher than neighboring Norway and
five times higher than Germany and Denmark, each of which closed businesses
and schools and implemented other public health restrictions.16
Dr. Kulldorff
proposed that the United States should pursue a similar strategy, stating,
"exposures in young, healthy people contribute to the herd immunity that will
ultimately benefit all," and claimed, "An age-targeted strategy protects all older
high-risk individuals until herd immunity is reached, whether rich or poor, while
keeping schools open for our children and letting young low-risk adults live their
lives and support their families." Dr. Bhattacharya has also supported lifting lockdown measures--which he has
called "an utter disaster for public health"--and instead adopting the Swedish
model. He explained "I think Sweden's policy was the right one" and, "if my
hypothesis is right, they're going to come out better in the long run in lives than
their neighbors which adopted these draconian public lockdown policies."18

* Dr. Gupta has repeatedly promoted herd immunity strategies, stating that "there's
a high benefit to the community by helping to create herd immunity" and that "the
death rate in people under 65 is not something you would lock down the economy
for." She has claimed: "Three months, maybe six is sufficient time for enough
immunity to accumulate … that the vulnerable could resume normal lives."19

Following the October 5 meeting, you tweeted, "we heard strong reinforcement of the
Trump Administration's strategy of aggressively protecting the vulnerable while opening schools
and the workplace."
20
This tweet appears consistent with the herd immunity strategy promoted
by Dr. Atlas, Dr. Kulldorff, Dr. Bhattacharya, and Dr. Gupta, who support rapidly reopening
schools and businesses because they believe it will accelerate the spread of the coronavirus to
many Americans. After the meeting, Politico reported:
HHS refused to comment on the scientists' meeting with Azar and Atlas' role in
it, or whether the Trump administration is shifting to a herd immunity strategy.21
Your decision to meet with prominent proponents of a herd immunity strategy and to
refuse to publicly reject their dangerous advice and reaffirm your testimony at the Select
Subcommittee hearing raises troubling questions regarding whether the Trump Administration
has given up on containing the coronavirus and instead plans to allow it to spread unchecked
across the country. Indeed, the White House Coronavirus Task Force has already weakened its previous recommendations to states to require face masks, close bars and gyms, and take other
steps proven effective at slowing the spread of the virus.22
More than 212,000 Americans have already died from the coronavirus,
23 and nearly
200,000 more may die before the end of this year.24
The Trump Administration must firmly
reject the strategy of herd immunity and finally develop a strong national plan to contain the
virus.
For all these reasons, we would like to offer you the opportunity to either reaffirm your
October 2 testimony and disavow the herd immunity strategy advocated by President Trump and
the individuals you met on October 5, or amend your testimony and explain why you provided
misleading information to the Select Subcommittee. In addition, please respond to the following
requests by October 16, 2020:
1. Please describe in detail the subject matters discussed during your October 5,
2020, meeting with Dr. Scott Atlas, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya,
and Dr. Sunetra Gupta, including whether any of these individuals recommended
pursuing a herd immunity strategy in the United States or allowing the virus to
spread among any portion of the U.S. population.

2. Please provide all documents and communications with Dr. Atlas, Dr. Kulldorff,
Dr. Bhattacharya, or Dr. Gupta related to herd immunity or the Administration's
strategy for responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
3. Please describe whether the Trump Administration has taken, plans to take, or is
considering taking any steps to pursue a herd immunity strategy or allow the virus
to spread among any portion of the U.S. population prior to the development of a
vaccine and distribution of that vaccine to all Americans.
These requests are consistent with House Resolution 935, which established the Select
Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis "to conduct a full and complete investigation" of
"issues related to the coronavirus crisis," including the "preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis" and "executive branch policies, deliberations, decisions, activities, and
internal and external communications related to the coronavirus crisis."

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