Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Global – 198,000,000/4,200,000; USA – 35,200,000/612,000 We continue to average about 70,000 cases per day An ironic situation is going on in Florida where Governor DeSantis has a state that has the most infections per day in the country and is still insisting that mask mandates are not allowed at the local level by the schools or by anyone else. In addition, he continues to raise money by slamming me with T shirts as well as by his slogan “don't Fauci my Florida”. Besides being a total jerk, he is causing people to die in his home state. Did Governor’s call today – Chaired by Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) White House has asked me to interview candidates for the position of FDA commissioner. And so today I am interviewing Sudip Parikh whom I knew when he was the staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee. I was impressed with his interview since he is a very smart and energetic person. I also interviewed James Hildreth who is currently president and CEO of Meharry medical school. I have known Jim for a long time and he is highly qualified. Gov. Cuomo is in serious trouble politically. A report came out today detailing 11 instances of sexual harassment. President Biden as well as Nancy Pelosi has called for his resignation . If he does not resign, he will likely be impeached. Richard Ebright (Rutgers) has proven again that he is truly an asshole. Francis Collins was on CNN this morning and misspoke saying that adults who have children at home should wear a mask at home , which is clearly not correct. However , Frances very quickly corrected his statement by putting out a tweet , apologizing , and saying that he was incorrect. Yet immediately after that doctor Richard Ebright followed this up with a very nasty tweet . See below: This evening I was asked by Erin Burnett on CNN to clarify the situation once and for all. I stated that Francis misspoke but to his great credit he immediately apologized and corrected the mistake. I e-mailed Susan Rice tonight asking her to call me, and she returned call at around 9:00 PM. I wanted to explain more fully to her the misperception about the “likelihood” that a vaccinated person would get infected. In a discussion we had yesterday where I briefed some of the economic leaders including Janet Yellin and Susan Rice, the question came up as to what it means when there is a 79% efficacy of a vaccine against the delta variant. Many people interpret this to mean that there is then a 21% chance that a vaccinated person will get infected . This is obviously incorrect since you must compare it to the unvaccinated people. Since not all the unvaccinated people get infected by any means, then the 79% protection compared to the unvaccinated people means that a very, very small proportion of vaccinated people will get infected. Susan was very grateful for the phone call and said as he has often dos when she sees me that she “loves” me. We have become good friends over the years dating back to the Obama administration, and I really like her. PRESS: Axios interview with Eileen O’Reilly; Podcast with Creative Artists Agency – agent for many entertainment and sports figures; Podcast with CSIS – Steve Morrison; CBS Evening News with Nikki Battiste; CNN with Erin Burnett; Did a Webinar with Virginia Governor Northam;