A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
-
July 14-22, 2005 - Looks like the Reauthorization Bill is getting some opposition from constituents; however, Barton is trying to ramrod it through. Zerhouni testified at House Hearing. It is still unclear how specifically he orchestrated this. My sense is that Zerhouni inadvertently created this monster in that he declared the NIH "broken" when he came in as Director. All he wanted was a little more power and some money to "be somebody". However, Barton seized on this to "be somebody" by radically changing the NIH. Zerhouni may now be left with unintended consequences of his early attempts at getting a bit more power.
-
July 25 - 29, 2005 - One of the most extraordinary weeks that I have experiences (see below)
-
July 25, 2005 - Briefed Secretary Leavitt on briefing that I will give tomorrow to VP Cheney on Biodefense countermeasure development. Leavitt will accompany me to the White House. Real good team at the DHHS with Leavitt and Chief-of-Staff Rich McKeown. They are very good people. NPR played the piece on "This I Believe" that I had pre-taped for them. I have received many verbal and e-mail comments from far and wide about how moved people were by the piece.
-
July 26, 2005 - Briefed VP Cheney on Biodefense Countermeasure update for 1 hour. I was the primary and only briefer. Present were Sec. Leavitt, Scooter Libby, Carol Kuntz, Bruce Miller (Carol's Deputy), Stewart Simonson. We discussed progress since my last briefing of the VP as well as some of the problems that we are facing with BioShield 1. The Bill does not go as far as we had originally planned and the big companies are still not incentivized enough. We are left dealing with smaller companies like VaxGen, Acambis, and others when we really want to engage the Merck's and Glaxo-Smith Kline's. The VP loved the briefing and resonated very well with me and the group. While waiting in the upper West Wing Lobby to go into see the VP, I ran into Sens. Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Kennedy and I have evolved into a very warm and comfortable relationship over the years. This is only the 3rd time that I had met McCain, but I never really had a chance to talk to him before. Had nice conversation about the books that they are writing. Ted is writing a book about his dog.
-
2005-07-27 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
July 27, 2005 - Busy, Busy day. Briefed VP Cheney again for 1 hour, this time with Sec Leavitt on Pandemic Influenza. Also, present were Carol Kuntz, Julie Gerberding, Scooter Libby, Bruce Miller, Rajeev Venkayya, and some others. This is a prep for Sec. Leavitt's upcoming briefing of the POTUS on July 29. I will accompany him there also. Carol was not too pleased with the briefing. She confided in me that HHS does not seem to be as prepared and definitive as she wants (excluding me, she said). We (HHS team) worked on the briefing afterwards to make it better. Also, appeared on Diane Rehm Show (Susan Page substituting for Diane) to discuss Pandemic Flu.
-
July 28, 2005 - Even busier day today. Spent 3 hours in White House Situation Room with Julie Gerberding, Carol Kuntz, Kristen Silverberg, Bruce Gellin, Michael Jackson (Deputy at DHS), Alex Azar, Tom Reilly (OMB), Joel Kaplan (OMB), Tevi Troy (NSC), Ken....., and others to sharpen and focus the presentation of Sec. Leavitt for the POTUS for the following day. Then Julie and I testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack. Chaired by John Linder, minority - Jim Langevin. Also present were Chris Shays, Jane Harmon, Ed Markey, Normal Dicks, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Donna Christensen, Bennie Thompson, Ron Simmons, Bobby Jindal, Michael McCall, Jim Gibbons. Good Hearing for me, but only fair for John Vitko (DHS). Also testifying were Julie Gerberding and Gen. Eric Schoomaker. One of several Hearings on BioD. Norton gave Julie some flack (she always gets on Julie). After the Hearing we (Julie and I) went back to HHS and spent the next 2 hours again briefing Sec. Leavitt for the POTUS briefing. At the briefing were Leavitt, Rick McKeown, Alex Azar, Natalie Kochnour, Bill Raub, Bruce Gellin, Stewart Simonson. We are getting close to having it right.
-
July 29, 2005 - Another amazing day. Spent a couple of hours together with Julie Gerberding and Bruce Gellin at DHHS again pre-briefing Sec. Leavitt for the visit with the POTUS. Then went to White House and briefed the POTUS for 1 hour on Pandemic Flu in the Roosevelt Room. The POTUS was very engaged and went back and forth in an animated and interested way with Julie and me and the Secretary. He vowed to do whatever is necessary to stop the onset of a Pandemic Influenza. He turned to Josh Bolten (OMB Director) and indicated that no expense should be spared. He essentially gave us a mandate to take care of this problem in no uncertain terms. Present at the briefing were: VP Cheney, Karl Rove, John Bolten, Andy Card, Harriet Meiers, Fran Townsend, Kristen Silverberg, Dan Bartlett, Scott McClellan, Mike Chertoff, Tevi Troy, Julie Gerberding, Sec Leavitt, and others. In the late afternoon, I showed around the NIH Michael Gerson who was with Miss America Nicole Johnson Baker and her husband Scott Baker. He was visiting the NIH to look around and get a feel for the place. We presented an HIV-infected IL-2 patient (Terry Brown) and discussed our IL-2 work. Then we went across the street and discussed malaria with Tom Wellums. Mike Gerson is very interested in domestic AIDS. He will get back to me to work on this since he wants to put an initiative of this sort into the 2006 State of the Union Address. Very successful meeting.
-
August 7, 2005 - Major Sunday news day with front page article in NY Times predominantly quoting me) regarding the successful preliminary data from the NIAIDfunded H5N1 vaccine trial that showed safety and an immune response that would be predictive of protection. This is obviously very good news in our comprehensive plan for pandemic influenza preparedness. This article in the Times kicked off a very positive media frenzy with front page articles in virtually every newspaper (it was on the Times web page the night before and so other papers picked it up) including Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal (Web), AP, Reuters, etc, etc. I appeared on ABC Nightly News on Sunday night, NPR's All Things Considered" on Sunday, CNN American Morning on Monday AM. Very positive "ink" weekend".
-
August 17, 2005 - Briefed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Dept. on the threat of Pandemic influenza. Also present were Sec/ Mike Leavitt, Rich McKeown, Bill Steiger, Julie Gerberding, Bruce Gellin, Bill Raub, Dan Singer, and a few Assist. Secs in DoS. We gave Dr. Rice a primer on Pandemic flu and also discussed the international implications, particularly related to the recent findings that migratory birds have brought H5N1 to chicken flocks in Siberia, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan and flyways will likely bring it to India and Europe. She was very gracious and was glad to see me again since I had briefed her a few times on HIV/AIDS and biodefense when she was at NSC