Sunday, September 19, 2021

Was on three Sunday shows today talking about the FDA decision (see below). As expected all of the questions related to what was perceived as confusion between what the Medical Group and the president said versus what the actual outcome of the meeting of the VRPAC was. I explained in all of the shows that we had always said that what we were talking about and what the president was talking about was a plan to be able to roll out boosters starting the week of September the 20th. We would be prepared to do it for everyone who is eligible. The fact that the recommendation from VRPAC only included people over 65 years old and those from 18 to 64 who either had an underlying condition that would give them a higher likelihood of severe outcome or individuals who because of their institutional or occupational status puts them at an increased risk of infection . As mentioned above this constitutes about 80% of the population . I emphasized in my interviews that this was not the end of the story and that over the next several weeks two months we might see an expansion of the recommendation. Jake Tapper did ask me weather I had received a booster always planning to receive a booster. Since I did not want to give away my medical history I was very vague in my answer saying only that I definitely will receive a booster but he equivocated about whether or not I had received a booster. Although I was discreet and politic in the interviews, I still believe that the VRPAC got it wrong since they do not understand that the end game is not just to prevent hospitalizations. However, I will not push this , but I will let it play out. Israel data keep coming in: PRESS: NBC “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd; ABC “This Week” with Martha Raddatz; CNN “SOTU” with Jake Tapper.