Trump's vaccine 'architect' calls vaccine hesitancy a 'frustrating irony'

Alex Azar.
(Image credit: Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Health and Human Services Secretary under former President Donald Trump and "architect" of Operation Warp Speed Alex Azar reassured vaccine-hesitant Americans of the shot's efficacy and safety, while lamenting inoculation reluctance as a "frustrating irony."

"The reluctance and even refusal of many Americans — including many of my fellow conservatives and Republicans — to get a COVID-19 vaccine is a frustrating irony for those of us who worked to expedite these vaccines," wrote Azar. "While the vaccines have had doubts cast upon them by politicians throughout their production and rollout, ... They work incredibly well, and more than 160 million fully vaccinated Americans are proof."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.