The health secretary, appearing before two separate congressional committees, was grilled about slashes to disease research, maternal health and the U.S. measles outbreak.
I don’t think that is the case for most countries.
BUT the secretary of health (or whatever they are called in other countries) must be well-informed enough to be a credible source 1. for general health advice about e.g. vaccines and 2. for acute information about current medical topics like the flu or similar illnesses.
That’s not “sidestepping”. That’s him straight up admitting he’s grossly unqualified for the role he’s been given.
Is the secretary for health usually a medical professional?
Started compiling a list, but it posted early, and I got lazy.
List of them here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Health_and_Human_Services
Looking at the first handful, most aren’t medical professionals.
You would still expect that they should be able leverage their resources to have a pre-built response to a question like that.
The last qualified one was Tom Price in 2017
Before that, Louis W. Sullivan in 1989
Both republican
Sorry how are you deciding who is qualified? Just being an M.D.? I agree that’s a good start, but MD does not a qualified HHS secretary make.
We are talking about being qualified to give medical advice
I don’t think that is the case for most countries.
BUT the secretary of health (or whatever they are called in other countries) must be well-informed enough to be a credible source 1. for general health advice about e.g. vaccines and 2. for acute information about current medical topics like the flu or similar illnesses.