Friday, October 15, 2021

Had a very nice zoom conversation with Raj Panjebi. He is the new director of the president's malaria initiative (PMI). He set up a zoom call with me, Lee Hall, and several of his staff. He wanted to strengthen the relationship between NIAID and PMI based on the historically great interactions that we've had over the years. He went out of his way to recognize that I played an important role in the creation of the PMI. I promised Raj that I would work closely with him and the PMI to maximize the interaction and collaboration among us. My staff wants me to lay low a little bit as we approach the Senate HELP hearing on November 4 since there certainly will be a lot of fireworks with Rand Paul and others. I am going to be on a few of the Sunday shows again this weekend and then after that I think I will be very selective in the TV shows that I go on . The reason for this is that no matter what I say the far right will absolutely distort it and make it into something political. It is striking that literally every single day I am criticized and attacked on social media, Fox News, and the tweeting of the far right including by people like senator Paul. The latest that trump is doing is putting signs up that fouchy stole Christmas. This is based on a question that Margaret Brennan asked me on Face the Nation a couple of weeks ago about whether I could predict what the outbreak would be as we get into the winter I merely said that we really can't predict it will depend on how many people get vaccinated. That got translated by the far right in that I was stealing Christmas from them. Truly unbelievable nonsense PRESS: Interview with NBC Health (print); Oct.17, 2021 Important couple of days over the last few days. the booster data from moderna and J & J were presented to the FDA . In addition, the mix and match data from NIAID were evaluated. It is going to be an interesting dilemma since the Moderna and Pfizer boosted J & J better than J&J boosted itself. It should be interesting to see how the recommendations come out. The same old crap is going on with the far right continuing to attack me . The latest is a book written by an Australian person who says I'm the father of gain of function research with quotes from the infamous Richard Ebright saying that I'm a liar and I have misled everybody about gain of function. What a bunch of nonsense! The far right continues to try and discredit me. On a very nice interview that I had with Chris Wallace (see below), Chris asked me what I thought was going on concerning my being a very polarizing figure . I answered that it is not surprising that I'm a polarizing figure since I speak the truth and people who are lying , who are propagating conspiracy theories , and who don't admit the facts even when they're staring them right in the face uh certainly people who will be polarized against me since I stand for something that makes them very uncomfortable and that something is the truth. Chris and I went to a wonderful brunch over Adrienne Arsh’s home. The brunch was in honor of Christine LaGarde. the typical Washington a list was there. It was a fun brunch since Adrienne is such a wonderful and generous person. I tend to shy away from these functions since everyone gathers around me wanting to take photos and telling me what a wonderful job I'm doing. Even though this is something that is not unpleasant, I still am uncomfortable when people call attention to me when I'm in a crowd. However they are all well meaning and I should feel gratified that they do pay attention to me. PRESS: Fox “News Sunday” with Chris Wallace; ABC “This Week” with Martha Raddetz; MSNBC with Alex Witt;