Covid-19 vaccine distribution won’t be slowed by presidential transition delay, says HHS assistant secretary
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Covid-19 vaccine distribution won’t be slowed by the delay in the presidential transition process, Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said Wednesday.
“I do want to reassure the American people, though, that there’s going to be no delay in vaccine distribution,” Giroir told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “This is an incredibly well-oiled plan.”
Giroir said that the US will have at least 50 million vaccine doses distributed by the end of 2020.
“We don’t expect any loss of months, or weeks or even a day,” he added.
Giroir said that he doesn’t make the rules, but he does want to be transparent. HHS staff will not work with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team until the General Services Administration (GSA) makes a determination that Biden is the President-elect, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday.
“The deputy Surgeon General, Dr. Erica Schwartz, is the transition official for HHS,” Giroir said. “The rule is if someone from the Biden transition team contacts one of those on the presidential transition team, the official person for each agency, they are supposed to notify Dr. Schwartz — Admiral Schwartz — and she is supposed to tell the GSA.”