‘Open Up and Flood the Zone’: Trump HHS Appointee Pushed for Herd Immunity

A former Trump appointee in the Department of Health and Human Services lobbied public health officials to adopt a herd immunity strategy in fighting COVID-19, according to emails published by Politico on Wednesday. “Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk,” former science adviser Paul Alexander wrote. “So we use them to develop herd… we want them infected.” Alexander left the department in September. The “herd immunity” strategy is squarely outside of the scientific mainstream, with Dr. Anthony Fauci calling it “frankly ridiculous” in October. That month, The Daily Beast reported that President Trump had embraced the strategy, under the guidance of White House science adviser Scott Atlas, who has no experience in epidemiology and resigned in November. “[I]t may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected,” Alexander wrote in an email to FDA and HHS officials.