Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Global USA Had 100,000 cases yesterday!! 104,000 cases today I received the call today from former Vice President Dick Cheney - This is medically confidential and not for publication in my memoir. The VP was asked to give the eulogy for former Secretary of Defense and dear friend Donald Rumsfeld. Cheney had a heart transplant several years ago and is on immunosuppressive regimen. It is likely that his immune response two the vaccine is suboptimal. He called his cardiologist , Jonathan Reiner, at GW and asked his advice about coming to Washington to give a eulogy for Rumsfeld given the current situation with the delta variant. Reiner recommended that he called me. I made it very clear to Cheney that I strongly recommended he get the third boost of the mRNA since he is highly susceptible to getting infected if he comes into contact with an infected person. We spend some time discussing the courage of his daughter Liz Cheney and sticking up against the far right Republicans who want to whitewash the January 6th insurrection. I told him that she was a chip off the old block and I really appreciated the fact that she has been sticking up for me. Cheney said he admired very much my courage and fortitude and standing up for what was right and he is proud to tell friends that he knows me and used to work closely with me. I told him that the feeling was mutual when I talk about him to my friends. Call with Eric Goosby - Eric is concerned that we are not utilizing the infrastructure of PEPFAR to solve the distribution problem of vaccines in sub saharan Africa. Eric points out that the obstruction here interestingly is Gayle Smith who is now the special director in the Department of State for global affairs. Eric points out that it is the same competition intention between USAID and other global entities of the federal government. Gayle and USAID want to be the focal point of the failing distribution of vaccines in Africa, while PEPFAR already has an extraordinarily effective infrastructure that was built for HIV. Eric is frustrated that we are not using that infrastructure. Did Zoom with Senator Dick Durbin who wanted a briefing on breakthroughs and boosters PRESS: Katie Couric podcast; Wall Street Journal podcast with Ryan Knudson; Australian broadcasting TV “7/30”