Article Summary:
Steven J. Hatfill, a virologist and former White House adviser, has joined the second Trump administration in a senior role at the Department of Health and Human Services. Hatfill will serve as a special adviser in the director’s office at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, an agency responsible for preparing the U.S. for disasters.
Hatfill was previously investigated as a “person of interest” in the 2001 anthrax attacks, but was later exonerated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he collaborated with trade adviser Peter Navarro to promote hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting its efficacy.
In his new role, Hatfill says he will “help get us ready for the next pandemic” and work with scientists to gather “complete awareness of the scientific literature” on global diseases. However, public health experts, including former Biden administration appointee Tom Inglesby, have expressed concerns about Hatfill’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine, which they say has been shown to be ineffective and potentially harmful.
The debate over hydroxychloroquine was a polarizing episode in the pandemic, with Hatfill and Navarro clashing with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other health officials who cited a lack of evidence for the drug’s efficacy. Hatfill continues to stand by his claims that hydroxychloroquine is safe and effective, despite the FDA’s withdrawal of its emergency use authorization.
The future of the preparedness agency where Hatfill will work is also uncertain, as the Trump administration’s latest budget proposal suggests it may be folded into the CDC.
Article Excerpt:
An Army biodefense researcher, Hatfill was investigated for years by the Justice Department as a “person of interest” in the 2001 mailing of letters that contained anthrax spores, which killed five people and sickened 17. Hatfill was formally exonerated in 2008, the same year the government paid him $4.6 million to settle his lawsuit in the case.
Hatfill has worked with trade adviser Peter Navarro, who held the same role in Trump’s first term. Navarro joined forces with Hatfill and the president to promote hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, as treatments for the disease caused by the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, when the country was desperate for potential cures.