Monday, October 26, 2020

Global – 43,000,000/1,200,000; USA – 8,600,000/224,600 Surging continues: POTUS insists on having large rallies 1 week before the election. Crowds are close together, many without masks. He is desperate and defiant. On Friday, October 23, the FDA’s FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) held a meeting chaired by Arnold Monto of Univ. of Michigan and also member Paul Offit (U Penn) to discuss the pros and cons of issuing an EUA after 50 events in a 150 event trial (such as with Moderna and Pfizer). Thankfully, they weighed heavily on keeping the trial going and not unblinding it after the first sign of efficacy, which would negate the further gathering of important data. This is exactly what we had hoped for. Much pressure from Trump and Meadows to get an answer quickly or at least promise that an answer will come quickly. With the VRBPAC recommendation, vaccine (if effective) would not begin to be distributed before January, and not November/December. Over the weekend Gil Omenn called me and said that he had a recent meeting with President Obama and the President did not want to contact me directly sine he felt that this might cause me difficulty with the Trump people. However, he wanted Gil to convey to me how proud he was of me for what I have been doing and standing for and he wanted to express to me how much he admired me. • Went to Clinical Center to visit a young woman (Leslie Adelman) who has Von Hipple-Lindau disease and had a hemangioblastoma in her cerebellum removed last week. Since she was in the hospital she asked her neurosurgeon Dr. Kareem Zaghloul if it were possible to meet me. I, of course, said yes and went to see her. Quite a time. Nurses and physicians all wanted pictures with me. Leslie was delighted. Made my day. Sign in Kensington: . Dr. Anthony Fauci PRESS: Yahoo Finance TV;