A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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July 30, 2009 - Appeared on MSNBC today with Dr. Nancy Synderman and a vaccine nihilist named Diane Miller. She was a nerd who said we should not vaccinate anyone with flu vaccines since they do not work and they are dangerous. Nancy and I annihilated her.
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July 31, 2009 - Got called by Mike Gerson who is getting very interested in needle exchange programs and will do a piece on it in The Washington Post.. He called from the mobile unit that goes around DC doing needle exchange. He was very excited in a positive way telling me that he is now converted to a "true believer' in favor of needle exchange. He wanted to know from me what the scientific data are. I told him the story of the Shalala Committee that I was on with Harold Varmus, David Satcher, Alan Leschner, etc. where Donna asked us to do a "meta-analysis"-type look at the literature on needle exchange and ask 2 questions: 1) does needle exchange promote drug abuse and 2) does needle exchange decrease incidence of HIV infection among drug users. We found clearly that it did not promote drug use and did decrease HIV infection. We presented the data to Donna who strongly recommended a federally funded needle exchange program and called the WH to indicate this. To all of our dismay, the WH rejected this for political reasons. Drug Tsar McCaffrey did not want it; neither did prominent black Congressmen like Charlie Rangel (Charlie thought that it might be interpreted as a signal that we had given up on the black community). In any event, Mike was thrilled that the science backed up his impression. As a background, the Congress just recently lifted the ban on federally funded needle exchange, only with the proviso that such programs cannot be implemented within 1000 feet of school, park, recreational facility, etc. This is silly since it blocks out most of the entire city in most places.
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August 1 - 10, 2009 Much press regarding the beginning of the vaccine trials for H1N1. I was on ABC, MSNBC, multiple radio shows, Diane Rehm Show, etc. discussing the H1N1 issues.
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August 5, 2009 - Mike Gerson wrote an editorial in the Washington Post describing his impression about the importance of needle exchange programs. He quoted his conversations with me. Also, Chris and I had dinner over Mark Dybul's and Jason Claire's home on Wallace Place is NW DC. Josh Bolten was there with his partner Dede and her daughter Rachel. Josh had just spent a couple of months in Africa (The Gambia) with the Maryknoll priests. We reminisced about the White House days and PEPFAR.
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2009-08-06 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
August 6, 2009 - Appeared on Diane Rehm show with Bruce Gellin discussing H1N1
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August 7, 2009 - First patients injected with H1N1 vaccine in NIAID sponsored VTEU clinical trials. Much media attention.
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August 8, 2009 - Appeared on Good Morning America to describe the H1N1 clinical trials.
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August 9 - 24, 2009 - Our clinical trials with the VETUs on the H1N1 vaccine in adults, elderly for dose (15 versus 30 ug) and number of doses (1 vs 2, 21 days apart) began on Aug. 7 just as I had predicted. Clinical trials in children started about 11 days later. We wanted to get some quick and dirty safety data on normal adults before going into children. Will start trials in pregnant women in early-mid September. I pushed hard for trials in pregnant women since they are included in the 5 target groups for HIN1 vaccination in the Fall. We expect first dose data from normal adults in mid-Sept. and second dose data by early to mid-October. This will be just in time since the first major bolus of vaccines will be ready for administration by Oct. 15. Of note, we had expected about 140 to 160 doses by Oct. 15, but the virus is growing slowly pushing back the schedule. Also, one of our suppliers is CSL, which is an Australian company. Since Australia in right now in the middle of their Winter Flu season, they are getting hit hard by HIN] and so the vaccine meant for us is being channeled to the Aussies (appropriately so). Mush press regarding the beginning and progress of the trials. Iam on TV and/or radio and quoted in print media virtually every day. Southern Hemisphere getting hit with many cases and we expect the same in the Fall. Real unknown is whether there will be a greater proportion of serious disease (particularly in the young0 or whether there just will be more cases and so the total number of serious cases will be more without an increase in the proportion. I am on conference call with the Pandemic Flu Task Force (of which I am a member) every day.
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Aug. 26, 2009 -- Sad day today. I was scheduled to appear on CNN's "American Morning" at 6:30 AM broadcast from the NIH TV studio. Was awakened by a call from the CNN producer in NYC at 4:50 AM telling me that the segment has been cancelled Aug 27 -- Sept. 9, 2009 -- Still the same nonsense going on with Jenny backus trying to completely control the HIN1 message and not letting me out to the press despite their insistence on having me on shows and in print. Also, she continues to want to know "what I am going to say" when she does approve me. She is really very bad news. Sept.. 10 - 12, 2009 -- Great news all around regarding HIN1 vaccines. NEJM came out online on evening of Aug. 9 with papers from CSL and Novartis on requirement for only 1 dose of 15 ugs unadjuvanted vaccine (CSL) or 1 dose of 7.5 adjuvanted vaccine (Novartis) for robust responses. NIAID data now showing with SP and CSL product that 15ugs of unadjuvanted product gives robust responses at 8-10 following a single dose in adults (18 to 64) and elderly (+65). This is fantastic and surprising. This strongly indicates that although there is no "measurable" cross-reactivity in serum from most people, particularly the young who have none, this still looks very much like a secondary response to a boost. Therefore, these subjects must have been exposed in the past to virus or vaccine that has primed them for the novel HIN1. So much for measurable antibody being a correlate and/or predictor of immunity/protection. ut In any event, now finally Jenny Backus is "putting me out there" with my leading the HHS press conference on August 11 to make the announcement with the Secretary and doing all of the press, i.e. Newshour, CNN Situation Room, front page NY Times, multiple NPR interviews ("All Things Considered" , etc) Washington Post, all print from everywhere, NBC Today Show, CBS Evening and Morning News, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, etc. Still and amazingly, she did not allow me to comment on the NIH data on the evening of Sept. 9th when the NEJM data from the companies came out since we were scheduled for a Secretarial Press briefing at 1:00 PM Friday. When the press called me on the night of Sept.. 9 and heard that I could comment on the NEJM papers, but not our data, they went nuts saying that the HHS were crazy and that the story is tonight for tomorrow and not tomorrow for the next day. The Editors needed to know whether the NIH data corroborated the company data; otherwise they were reluctant to play it up. Finally, I e-mailed Jenny, Laura Petrou, and Niki Lurie telling how crazy this was. Jenny finally relented and let me call back the print people to tell them only that "our data corroborate the companies' data", without giving details. Jenny is stupid and nuts. She refused to allow me to go on TV until tomorrow afternoon. Wolf Blitzer would have none of this and on his Situation Room evening show on Aug. 9, he called me directly in my office and put me on TV as a phone-in voice interview. I did not know that he was going to do this until a minute before he did. Jenny was pissed. Yet, the next afternoon and evening and on Sept. 12, Jenny let me do everything. There was, however, a big blowup with crazy Jenny who attacked Patty Conrad and others at NIH since she claimed that we were blaming her for not letting Fauci go on the air (Duh!!!! That is the truth; that is what she is doing). She wrote a vicious e-mail saying that she was very angry because we were "throwing her under the bus" with the press since then they will think that she is muzzling me.....which she is. She really is a crazy lady. Also, we got great news on Sept. 11 that the Thai canarypox (ALVAC) + AIDSVAX (gp120) HIV vaccine trial showed a 31% efficacy that was clearly statistically significant.