Friday, October 22, 2021

Global - 242,000,000/4,900,000; USA - 45,100,000/730,000; Larry Tabak was treated very poorly by several Republican congressmen and senators that he briefed yesterday. They continue to distort the truth insisting that I and to some extent doctor Collins have lied about whether or not the NIH funded “gain of function” research. They do not understand nor do they seem to want to understand that we were operating under the framework of P3CO which clearly indicates that the experiments that were funded by the NIH in Wuhan fell under that auspices and were properly conducted according to the existing guidelines at the time. They want to hear none of that and continue to insist that we are denying that gain of function research was done and they put forth the preposterous suggestion if not the strong indication that the research that we funded created SARS-CoV-2. It looks like I'm going to have a tough time at the hearing on November the 4th since they are clearly politically motivated and are doing anything to discredit me and the NIH. I had an enjoyable and productive discussion with the Minister of Health and Social Services of Quebec (Christian Dube and his chief medical advisor Horacio Arruda). The minister was very interested in my advice about where I think we are going with the outbreak looking forward. He asked the question that many ask as to when I believe we may return to some form of normality including when we can get along without wearing masks. I gave him the advice I usually give to people emphasizing how importance the implementation a vaccine program will be in determining when a given country can get back tomorrow. PRESS: MSNBC “Morning Joe”; CNN “New Day” with John Berman;