New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cast doubt on Vice President Mike Pence’s ability to lead the government’s fight against the new coronavirus.
Trump announced on Wednesday that Pence would be heading the executive branch’s response to the coronavirus, which causes a SARs-like disease recently named COVID-19. Following Trump’s news conference at the White House, Ocasio-Cortez condemned the president’s decision and questioned whether Pence believes in science.
“Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic,” the freshman congresswoman wrote in a tweet. “This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have.”
Ocasio-Cortez pointed to Pence’s record as governor of Indiana, claiming his response to the HIV epidemic was proof that he could not handle the responsibility of dealing with the coronavirus.
“As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history,” she wrote. “He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health.”
As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history.
He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health.
https://t.co/1jVY44p2HF— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 27, 2020
While serving as governor, Pence cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which offered HIV testing in addition to its more controversial procedures, such as abortions. He also disapproved of needle exchanges, which could reduce HIV transmission via intravenous needles. By 2015, nearly 200 people in the state had contracted HIV. Pence has since reversed his position on needle exchanges.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that Pence was “not a medical doctor,” but he will be surrounded by doctors and working as the White House’s point person for top officials at the Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they monitor the spread of the coronavirus.
In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Ronald Klain as the “Ebola czar” who was similarly responsible for the White House’s response to the illness. Klain, like Pence, was not a doctor, but was well connected within the administration after working as a Democratic strategist.
