卫生和公众服务部正在考虑推出一个新的主要公共健康据一位机构官员称，针对新冠肺炎的活动可能包括花费约2.5亿美元聘请通信和公共关系专家，以及潜在的好莱坞演员、体育人物和音乐艺术家。
卡罗琳·卡斯特/美联社，档案
2020年3月9日，华盛顿白宫简报室，唐纳德·特朗普总统在白宫冠状病毒工作队成员的簇拥下发表讲话。与会者包括国家过敏和传染病研究所所长安东尼·福西博士和传染病与健康和人类服务部部长亚历克斯·阿扎尔。
这一推动来自总统唐纳德·特朗普面临质疑选民认为联邦政府在解决健康危机方面做得足够了。
这位不愿透露姓名的官员说，这一想法是在安东尼·福奇博士今年早些时候与大约30位名人私下通了一个电话之后产生的。因为他没有被授权公开谈论细节。在长达一个多小时的通话中，这些名人可以问福西任何他们想问的问题。
这位官员说，这个电话向政府官员暗示，美国人民有和名人一样的问题，该机构决定可能需要一个广告活动，让公众人物为一系列一分钟的公共卫生广告向冠状病毒特别工作组的顶级医生和科学家提问。
但批评人士质疑，在美国首例病例被发现六个月后，公关宣传是否旨在提高特朗普总统的连任机会，而不是向公众通报健康危机。政治，哪一个先据报告的关于潜在的2 . 5亿美元的提案，获得了政府给通信公司的一封信，信中称合同的目标是“战胜绝望，激发对冠状病毒大流行的希望”。
众议院多数党党鞭吉姆克莱伯恩(Jim Clyburn)周二对记者表示:“这听起来像是又有2.5亿纳税人的钱被用于政治目的。”
HHS新闻秘书迈克尔·卡普托向美国广播公司证实，该机构已经向公共关系公司寻求2.5亿美元的援助。他拒绝提供该合同在联邦采购过程中所处位置的细节。
卡罗琳·布雷曼/CQ通过美联社图片点名，文件
2020年7月13日，华盛顿，美国卫生与公众服务部大楼。
但是卡普托说目标不是赢得选民。
他告诉美国广播公司新闻:“这个项目是关于公共卫生，而不是政治，美国不应该少。”“我相信，真正关心公共卫生的政治家们很快就会看到结果，并赞赏所做的努力。”
倾向保守的美国企业研究所的医疗保健政策专家和常驻研究员汤姆·米勒说，在大选前夕花费2.5亿美元用于公共卫生运动会引起严重的后果。
米勒说，他想知道为什么政府几个月前没有利用内部专家来整合一个有凝聚力的公共卫生信息。
“这并不是说不应该这样做，”他说，潜在的2.5亿美元的合同。“这是为了公众的利益和公众的健康需要。这不应该帮助总统连任。”
HHS官员——包括卫生局局长-之前曾谈到一项公共卫生宣传活动，在与公众人物的对话中，突出了冠状病毒工作队的医生和科学家。
去年4月，国会山的立法者要求政府考虑广播电视公司传递新冠肺炎信息的重要性，尤其是在农村地区。这封两党联立的信呼吁政府“确保电视台能够在这段时间内继续运营是至关重要的。”
卡普托在7月10日的回应中表示，他同意奥巴马政府“必须采取更多措施”在大流行中传达公共卫生信息。他写道:“我们正在开展一场大规模的购买公共服务公告运动，以便随着大流行的发展和我们国家的安全开放，让美国人随时了解情况。”
Trump admin. considers enlisting celebs as part of $250M COVID-19 public health ad campaign
The Department of Health and Human Services is considering launching a major new publichealthcampaign on COVID-19 that could include spending some $250 million on communications and public relations experts and potentially rope in Hollywood actors, sports figures and music artists, according to an agency official.
President Donald Trump speaks surrounded by members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the briefing room at the White House in Washington, March, 9, 2020. Attendees include Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Alex Azar, secretary of Infectious Diseases and Health and Human Services.
The push comes as PresidentDonald Trumpfaces skepticismamong voters that the federal government is doing enough to address the health crisis.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly on the details, said the idea followed a private Zoom call Dr. Anthony Fauci had earlier this year with some 30 celebrities. The celebrities were allowed to ask Fauci anything they wanted on the call, which lasted more than an hour.
The call suggested to administration officials that the American people have the same questions the celebrities have, the official said, and the agency decided it might need an ad campaign to have public figures ask top Coronavirus Task Force doctors and scientists questions for a series of one-minute public health ads.
But critics questioned whether the public relations push was aimed at boosting President Trump's reelection chances rather than informing the public on the health crisis six months after the first U.S. case was detected. Politico, which firstreportedon the potential $250 million proposal, obtained a letter from the administration to communications firms that stated the goal of the contract would be to "defeat despair and inspire hope” about the coronavirus pandemic.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told reporters on Tuesday: "That sounds like another 250 million in taxpayer money to be used politically."
HHS press secretary Michael Caputo confirmed to ABC News that the agency has reached out to public relations firms on a potential $250 million effort. He declined to provide details on where the contract stands in the federal procurement process.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building is pictured in Washington, July 13, 2020.
But Caputo said the goal wouldn't be winning over voters.
“This project is about public health, not politics, and America deserves no less," he told ABC News. "I’m confident the politicians who actually care about public health will soon see the results and appreciate the effort.”
Tom Miller, a healthcare policy expert and resident fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said spending a quarter of a billion dollars on a public health campaign immediately ahead of an election raises serious flags.
Miller said he wonders why the administration didn’t work months ago to pull together a cohesive public health message using in-house experts.
“It’s not that this shouldn’t be done,” he said of the potential $250 million contract. “It’s that it should be done in the interest of the public and public health needs. It should not be done to help the reelection of a president.”
HHS officials - includingthe surgeon general- have talked previously about a public health information campaign featuring the doctors and scientists of the Coronavirus Task Force in conversations with public figures.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill last April asked the administration to consider the importance of radio and television broadcasters to deliver information on COVID-19, particularly in rural areas. The bipartisan letter called on the administration in "making sure that stations are able to continue operating during this time is critical."
In a July 10 response, Caputo said he agreed that the administration "must do more" to communicate the public health message in a pandemic: "We are building a large campaign of purchased public service announcements to keep Americans informed as the pandemic evolves and our country safely opens," he wrote.
