Levine, a gender nonconforming male who identifies as transgender, is a pediatrician, and was the secretary of health for Pennsylvania, was asked in the Senate if she thought the medical transition of children was acceptable practice. She refused to answer.
Tucker Carlson spoke out against President Biden's nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine for assistant secretary of health. Levine, a gender nonconforming male who identifies as transgender, is a pediatrician, and was the secretary of health for Pennsylvania, was asked in the Senate if she thought the medical transition of children was acceptable practice. She refused to answer.
Tammy Bruce spoke about the identitarian nature of Biden's nominees, saying that this administration is more concerned about a nominees sex, gender identity, and race than they are about the person's actual qualifications. In Levine's case, this could be very dangerous indeed.
The Keystone State was also subject to the Justice Department's probe. In August, the Department of Justice sought data related to state orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents, WJAC-TV reported.
A group of Republican congressmen have since urged the state's Attorney General Josh Shapiro to scrutinize the Wolf administration's decision to admit infected individuals into senior care facilities. Rep. John Joyce (R-PA) declared via press release that "we still do not understand the full consequences of this tragic policy."
In Pennsylvania, more than half of all COVID-19 deaths in the state occurred in nursing homes, including one of the worst outbreaks in the nation in Beaver County at the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.
Levine had removed her own 95-year-old mother from an unnamed personal care home amid the coronavirus outbreak in May. "My mother requested and my sister and I as her children comply to move her to another location," Levine told ABC27.
The facility in question falls under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Human Services, not her own agency. Levine's removal of her mother from the personal care home garnered backlash that she has done what many families are unable to do for financial or logistical reasons. Most public health officials advise against removing family members from elder care facilities because many residents require intensive care that may not be feasible outside those settings.
While Wolf's administration faces renewed criticism, constituents also question Pennsylvania's lagging COVID-19 vaccine rollout performance.
The state has fallen behind in administering the vaccine, although it has quickened the pace of vaccinations this month, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. As of Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania has administered almost 2.4 million doses, almost 73 percent of the 3.2 million doses delivered by the federal government. The number is up from the 57 percent administration rate from the start of the month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.
Biden's pick planned to tell lawmakers that her long and varied career in Pennsylvania—from scholar to the state's chief communicator during the COVID-19 pandemic—qualifies her to run key federal health programs.
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