Tag: Brett Giroir

Trump’s testing czar is running a ‘coverup’ for president’s ‘abysmal failure’: CNN’s Sanjay Gupta

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CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is accusing President Donald Trump’s testing czar of running a “cover up” of the president’s incompetent response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

During an interview Friday, Gupta reacted to defensive statements made by Brett Giroir, the federal official tapped by Trump to oversee efforts to increase COVID-19 testing capacity, who has been insisting that there is nothing wrong with the United States’ ability to quickly test for the disease.

“I think on this he’s wrong, he is just wrong,” Gupta said. “I’m surprised by this. I think this is trying to cover up what is unquestionably an abysmal failure when it comes to testing in this country.” Continue reading.

Brett Giroir, Trump’s testing czar, was forced out of a job developing vaccine projects. Now he’s on the hot seat.

Washington Post logoBrett Giroir, the federal official overseeing coronavirus testing efforts, says that his experience working on vaccine development projects at Texas A&M University helped prepare him for this historic moment. He once said that his vaccine effort was so vital that “the fate of 50 million people will rely on us getting this done.”

But after eight years of work on several vaccine projects, Giroir was told in 2015 he had 30 minutes to resign or he would be fired. His annual performance evaluation at Texas A&M, the local newspaper reported, said he was “more interested in promoting yourself” than the health science center where he worked. He got low marks on being a “team player.”

Now President Trump has given Giroir the crucial task of ending the massive shortfall of tests for the novel coronavirus. Some governors have blasted the lack of federal help on testing, which they say is necessary to enact Trump’s plan for reopening the economy. Continue reading.