US health secretary Azar resigns, cites Capitol attack as the reason

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has resigned, citing last week’s attack on the Capitol.

In a letter confirming he would step down when Democrat Joe Biden takes office on January 20, Alex Azar called the violence "an assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power," urging Trump to condemn all violence and help ensure a smooth handover.

He also said the United States does not have a reserve stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines, but it is confident that there will enough produced to provide a second dose for people.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

In the letter, Azar cited what he called the administration's successes, including the rapid development of coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics, which he said saved "hundreds of thousands or even millions of American lives."

"The attacks on the Capitol were an assault on our democracy and on the tradition of peaceful transitions of power," Azar wrote.

"We now have enough confidence that our ongoing production will be quality and available to provide the second dose for people. So we're not sitting on a reserve anymore. We've made that available to the states to order," Azar said.

The Trump administration had earlier communicated to states that there was a reserve stockpile of second doses of the vaccines.

Azar had said on Tuesday that the administration would release millions of doses it had been holding in reserve for booster shots in order to help spur a sluggish rollout of first doses to those most in need of the vaccine.