What's more likely: that Azar is the weak link? Or that Trump is?
One of them is a seasoned health professional who worked on pandemic scares during the Bush administration.
The other doesn't quite understand what a vaccine is.
The other doesn't quite understand what a vaccine is.
I'm no fan of Azar on policy matters, but I don't think he's incompetent. And he's had to manage this while sailing into the huge headwinds generated by his boss.
Knocking Azar failing to plan for a worst-case scenario ignores the fact that Trump made abundantly clear he didn't to contemplate that scenario. And when Azar sought the resources to do that, he got shut down by the White House (per WaPo on Sunday). 
At the end of the day, when the President decrees as a first principle that everything he's doing is a great success, it makes it extraordinarily hard for his subordinates to course-correct.
*didn't WANT to contemplate....
