Trump administration appointee at HHS pushed a strategy of young, healthy people getting infected with COVID-19 to 'develop immunity and help stop the spread'

• Paul Alexander, a former top science advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services, pushed for a strategy of infecting as many young people as possible to reach "herd immunity" against COVID-19.
• A number of Alexander's emails outlining the idea were recently obtained by the House of Representatives and first reported by Politico. Alexander left the agency in September.
• "Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected," Alexander wrote in a July 4 email.
• "We essentially took off the battlefield the most potent weapon we had...younger healthy people, children, teens, young people who we needed to fastly infect themselves."
• As Insider's Aylin Woodward and Hilary Breuck have reported, pursuing herd immunity through mass infections would result in thousands more additional deaths and people with long-term complications.

A former top science advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services aggressively pushed for young and healthy people to intentionally infect themselves with COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity for months, according to emails obtained by the House of Representatives and first reported on by Politico.

Paul Alexander, a former senior science advisor at HHS who worked under former assistant secretary for health and public affairs Michael Caputo, left the agency in mid-September.

"My view, we open up fully, as described below, protect the vulnerable, make sensible decisions, and allow the nation to develop antibodies. Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…and recovered...with antibodies," he wrote in a July 4 email obtained by the House Oversight's Committee's Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus.

In a late July email exchange with Caputo and other officials, Alexander sent along a number of articles and studies advocating for herd immunity. He wondered in the email whether New York City had reached herd immunity and wrote that "it may be that the herd immunity number is low..and it may be that it will be best if we open and up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected as we acutely lock down the elderly and at risk folk."

A few days later, on July 27, Alexander emailed Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to express his displeasure with colleges and universities going completely remote or severely restricting in-person activities to slow the spread of the virus.

"We never lock down a well 'healthy' society, no instance of this ever..we essentially took off the battlefield the most potent weapon we had...younger healthy people, children, teens, young people who we needed to fastly infect themselves, spread it around, develop immunity, and help stop the spread," he wrote.

A number of people both inside and outside of the Trump administration have advocated for a herd immunity strategy as opposed to other mitigatory measures, like social distancing, staying home, and avoiding large gatherings. As Insider's Aylin Woodward and Hilary Brueck reported in November, herd immunity can either be achieved by vaccinating a "sizable majority" of the population or infecting a sizeable majority of the population.

One vaccine, created by Pfizer and BioNTech, received emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on December 11, and doses are beginning to be disturbed to healthcare workers across the country. Another vaccine developed by Moderna has shown over 94% efficacy in clinical trials and has also been endorsed for emergency-use authorization by FDA staff.

Since both vaccines require two shots to be effective, it will likely take many months for the United States to get to herd immunity through immunization.

The other method to reach herd immunity in the United States by infecting millions of people, which would result in thousands of additional deaths and long-term health complications for many more that could continue to burden the healthcare system for years.

It's nearly impossible to implement a strategy of completely protecting some groups while mass-infecting others given the nature of the virus, which is spread by those with no symptoms and has spared no demographic group.

While COVID-19 has mainly killed older Americans over the age of 65, otherwise healthy young adults and teenagers have also died, gotten severely ill, or suffered long-term health consequences from the virus.

An HHS spokesperson told Politico that Alexander's views "absolutely did not" shape the Department's strategy.

Politico also reported in September that Alexander repeatedly tried to influence what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said in public and to the media in order to better align with the administration's messaging, often at the expense of scientific accuracy and best public health practices.

"I continue to have an issue with kids getting tested and repeatedly and even university students in a widespread manner…and I disagree with Dr. Fauci on this. Vehemently," Alexander wrote in an August email, according to Politico.

And in the July 4 email where he said that "we want them infected," Alexander wrote, "Stop Fauci from talking..he is confusing people..he flip flops too much..and the result is now he is not credible."