Sept. 24, 2014 - On the last Secretary's call, Burwell tasked me to get the HHS team

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1. 2014-09-20 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 20, 2014 - Went to reception tonight at the home of Hilary Rosen (Democratic pundit) at 4835 Hutchins Place, N.W. to welcome Megan Smith former VP at Google as the White House Chief Technology Officer. All the usual Washington glitterati were their (some examples: Judy Woodruff, Al Hunt, Andrea Mitchell, Bob Barnett, Tammy Haddad, Hunter and Kathleen Biden, etc. Megan is very impressive (MIT grad; Google exec) and we discussed the potential use of technology to address the Ebola epidemic - cell phone distribution, GPS tracking devices. Hopefully, she can help. Indeed, neither a yes or no from the WH and HHS regarding the requests for my appearances on TV over the weekend and so I did not appear. Instead, Face the Nation had Richard Schaffner from Vanderbilt and MNNBC had Laurie Garrett. This administration are a bunch of idiots.
2. 2014-09-21 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 21, 2014 - Had call at home from Leslie Dach wanting my opinion about a "dispute' between USAID and Tom Frieden about home care versus community based care of people with Ebola or suspected of Ebola in situations where the ETUs are full. I backed Tom who feels that doing it at home would be counter-productive. Leslie now relying on me as "the adult in the room" according to Peggy Hamburg.
3. 2014-09-22 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 22, 2014 - Tait Sye from HHS not giving me clearance to appear on CNN-Wolf Blitzer because "CDC will be putting out an MMWR today". What morons!! I just cannot believe this administration. I must write about this in my book. They so inappropriately try to control "messages" that they are laughable. POTUS decides to bomb ISIS in Syria. Ebola numbers expanding. Had another night time call with Tom Frieden trying to iron out the RCT issue. Also, Tom is very frustrated with Nicki Lurie, saying that having her around and involved in conversations is always counter-productive. Also, he is frustrated with Sec. Burwell, feeling that she seems only to want to "check the boxes" instead of getting involved in important decisions.
4. 2014-09-23 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 23, 2014 - Still working with Tom Frieden in trying to get agreement on whether to conduct an RCT of the vaccine. Tom remains concerned about a true control (placebo) arm and wants to do a Stepped-Wedge trial of sequentially vaccinated different cohorts without the simultaneous double blind control group. This evening went to the Annual Friends of cancer Research Awards Ceremony on the roof of the Hay-Adams Hotel. Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana received awards. Had good conversation with Gov. Patrick.
5. 2014-09-24 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci
   Sept. 24, 2014 - On the last Secretary's call, Burwell tasked me to get the HHS team together and fashion out a consensus about the way forward following ending of phase 1 vaccine trial at NIH. I had long conversation with Tom Frieden this AM and he is starting to come around. Seems he will be OK with an RCT simultaneously done with a Stepped-Wedge Trial. I arranged a conference call at 5:30 PM with me, Tom, Nicki Lurie, Peggy Hamburg, Lu Borio, and Anne Schuchat. We came to agreement that we will do the two trials (RCT + Stepped Wedge) simultaneously. CDC (Anne and Tom) feel that the RCT may be so difficult to implement that the Stepped-Wedge approach might give us some information, while the RCT could fail. Cliff and I feel just the opposite. However, in order to get things moving, we came to a compromise. I will report this to the HHS Secretary's call tomorrow. Continue to have press interest: Bloomberg News TV; WTOP Radio; pre-show interview with CBS 60 Minutes for future show.
6. 2014-09-25 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 25, 2014 - Did MSNBC this AM as a commentary immediately following the POTUS statement before the UN on Ebola. He gave his speech and then I was asked to comment. Of course, I supported what he said (since he said the right things - all nations must pitch in).
7. 2014-09-26 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 26, 2014 - Learned at 4:00 PM this afternoon that the NIH Clinical Center will be accepting for observation in our special studies unit an American physician who had a moderate risk exposure to Ebola in Sierra Leone (clean needle puncture through a contaminated glove). We scrambled around over the evening preparing press statements and plans. Patient will arrive on Sunday, Sept. 28.
8. 2014-09-27 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 27, 2014 - Did FOX News and CNN today (Saturday) on regular Ebola issues. Also, much press coming in since the press release went out today on the patient arriving from Sierra Leone. In this regard, I did CBS Radio News; NPR background; WUSA - Channel 9 TV; various print outlets. Likely much more tomorrow.
9. 2014-09-28 00:00 Anthony S. Fauci open
   Sept. 28, 2014 - Patient arrived this afternoon (~3:00 PM) from Sierra Leone. State Department arranged his transportation. He was given the VSV vaccine as a postexposure prophylaxis, which neither Cliff nor I would necessarily have done since it induces a fever and can complicate matters. Indeed, he developed a fever 24 hours after receiving the VSV vaccine. The Patient, Dr. Lewis Rubinson, is admitted to the Special Studies Unit of the Clinical Center on the 5th Floor. Very little of the circus that we saw when Dr. Brantley and Nancy Rightbol were admitted to Emory, i.e. no helicopters or TV trucks. I did do a few interviews (some pre-scheduled even before the patient was known to come to NIH. Did interviews for: MSNBC, NBC Network, NPR Radio; Fox5 TV, CBS Radio

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