A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a "herd immunity" approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, and six other senior officials. politi.co/3gPXWaY 
"[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" in order to get "natural immunity…natural exposure," Alexander wrote on July 24 to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and other senior officials. politi.co/3gPXWaY
“We essentially took off the battlefield the most potent weapon we had...younger healthy people, children, teens, young people who we needed to fastly [sic] infect themselves, spread it around, develop immunity, and help stop the spread,” he told CDC Director Robert Redfield.
"If it is causing more cases in young, my word is who cares…as long as we make sensible decisions, and protect the elderely [sic] and nursing homes, we must go on with life….who cares if we test more and get more positive tests," Alexander asked health communications officials
The health department has worked to distance itself from Alexander since his mid-September departure. Several Trump appointees said that Alexander was often isolated during his roughly six-month stint advising department officials. politi.co/3gPXWaY
But Kyle McGowan, the former CDC chief of staff, said that Alexander was effective at delaying the famed Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports and watering down guidance that came from his agency politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
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