A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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June 2, 2022 Global USA Monkeypox continues to spread now involving over 23 countries with 800 cases. There are 19 documented cases in the USA but this is likely a very significant undercount at this point. PRESS: South Florida PBS interview for Town Hall with Michael Zinner; USA Today interview on HEROS study (food allergy and COVID)
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June 3-6, 2022 -Global - 528,816,317/6,294,949; USA - 84,424,159//1,003,308 I had an idyllic weekend at Jeff Zients's palatial estate in Annapolis. Chris and I (together with Brett and Tony....) had a spectacular weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect at 85 degrees with a cool breeze and not a single cloud in the sky for the entire 2 1/2 days that we were there. We did everything: swim, boat, fish, basketball, tennis and most importantly - birdwatching. There were osprey all over the place with a nest in a tree in his back yard. There were 390lafa copious varieties of birds that we saw and heard. Gave me the opportunity to return, however briefly, to some form of "normality". it was entirely refreshing. I received an important call during my stay in Annapolis. Secretary Becerra wanted to speak to me to get my advice about whether we were doing all we can as a department to address the emerging monkeypox challenge. He was calling upon my experience in previous outbreaks to make sure that HHS (particularly CDC) was doing everything that they could. This was triggered by the fact that Ron Klain is very concerned about whether the CDC is up to the job and would not drop the ball again with regard to things like making a number of tests available. The secretary asked me what I thought the potential vulnerabilities were and I emphasized the fact that we cannot accept the CDC saying that they are the only ones that can do a test for monkeypox. We've got to convert this to a commercialization as quickly as we possibly can so that we don't have the same problem with not enough tests to understand whether or not we are dealing only with the tip of an iceberg. I offered up the cohorts of stored server that we (NIAID) have from the days of HIV/AIDS to see if there was smoldering below the radar screen infection with monkey pox among the gay population for some time before we even recognized it. Right now, as the results are coming in, it is clear that overwhelmingly the cases in the non-endemic areas of the United States, Europe, and other continents are predominantly among gay men. It is striking that the secretary "hinted" that Ron Klain is on the verge doing something dramatic with the CDC, such as removing Rochelle, which I believe would be a mistake since it is not her fault; it is the institutional rigidity of the CDC that has been the problem for decades. I explained this to the secretary and told him that it was not Rochelle that was the issue it was the structure beneath it. I got the impression that he completely understood this and was asking for my help and making sure things get done correctly.
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June 6, 2022 - Angela Rasmussen did an excellent job of blasting Jeffrey Sachs (and also co-author Richard Ebright) for their article claiming that COVID was due to a lab leak. See link and some selected excerpts from Angie's tweets: Link - https://bit.ly/390lafa Not overlooked, but ignored because I don't wish to further amplify it. But here's a quick summary: Like many of his fellow economists with Ivy League credentials but no specific expertise in biology, he suffers from the delusion that he knows what the fuck he's talking about. Jeff Sachs is the chair of @TheLancet COVID-19 Commission. This isn't an official government board with any real mandate. It's just a prestigious medical journal deciding to make up a task force of prestigious people to write more prestigious content for said prestigious journal. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission will issue a bunch of reports that are glorified opinion pieces stating the obvious: we weren't prepared for the pandemic, there are massive inequities, it had huge global impact, need more vaccines/infrastructure, etc. This includes Richard Ebright, the human manifestation of Pepe the Frog, who spends his days squatting on his Twitter lily pad croaking at everyone who disagrees w/ his uninformed views on biosafety, virology, & evolution that they are shills, stooges, & thralls of the CCP. Feel free to lecture me about professionalism here & get blocked w/ a quickness. I gave a talk on Twitter disinfo & had an entire slide cataloguing every time he called someone (inc me) a stooge in the prior 2 weeks. He's an abusive bigot & I don't owe him professional courtesy. Cases starting to come down in Northeast, but still cases going up in undervaccimated areas, mostly in the South Monkeypox problem growing: Global.health tracker -- 921 confirmed MPX cases, 70 suspected (non endemic countries) https://bit.ly/392v2F1
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June 7, 2022 Global - 5630,266,292/6,299,364; USA - 84,762,952/1,004,260 Note for the memoir regarding my PTSD around memories of my HIV/AIDS experience: I did an interview today (see below) with The Independent", a UK News outlet on the issue of what I described in the NAT GEO book "Expect the Unexpected" talking about my PTSD around HIV/AIDS. The reporter asked me to describe how the PTSD expressed itself in me and what triggered it. In my description of it to the reporter, it became clear to me that it is something that I should include and expand a bit in my memoir. Last night, Stephen Hoge of Moderna explained their booster data using hybrid boosts to a group of us from HHS. The bottom line is that boosting with an omicron together with wildtype bivalent, The response protected against omicron - B.1, but not against BA.4 and BA.5. This has important implications in what decision the FDA and CDC make about what the 4th dose boost should consist of. Should it be an omicron boost or should we steer it towards BA4 and BA5 which does not seem to be protected against by maybe one boost. Met withVidar Helgesen CEO of the Nobel Foundation; Anna Sjostrom Douagi of the Foundation and Dr. Franklin Carrero-Martinez of NAS. They want me to be a lead speaker at the Nobel/NAS Symposium in May, 2023 on "trust and information", a theme right in tune with my commencement addresses on "the normalization of untruths" Interview with Theodora \UCI ee F PrriNeki iIww Total Most recent 7-day daily Week-on-week to date day* average change Cases 84,913,618 149,185 104,512 +0.7% osp. admits 4,770,374 3,638 4,057 +6.3% Deaths 1,004,732 +5.8% reported** 893,514,453 omitted due to 484,117** -33.4%** +0.8 pct. pts. PRESS: Interview with "The Independent" (UK) by Io Dodds; Interview with Theodora Tsoli for "The Bima" - Greek Newspaper;
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2022-06-08 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
June 8, 2022 Global USA Io Dodds piece came out. Excellent historical piece: Exclusive: Anthony Fauci on the AIDS crisis, monkeypox, trans rights and his retirement In an exclusive interview with Io Dodds, Dr Anthony Fauci looks back on his decades-long career in public health Met with a delegation from the UAE on the 6th Floor of Building 31. Leading the delegation was Sheikh Abdulla Al Hamed, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Health. They are here to try and generate collaborative efforts between their group and our VRC and other elements of our program, particularly Danny Douek and Adrian McDermott In the context of the PREMISE program that was started at the VRC. This would be the first time that we are having any substantial interaction with the UAE. Cases not going down very much over past week although certain regions are plateauing: PRESS: Bloomberg TV Quick Take - "Emma Barnett Meets"; Interview with Robert Gaynes for his book second edition of "Germ Theory" New confirmed cases of Covid-19 in US Seven-day rolling average of mew cases: Omicron BA.1 700,000 400,000 200,000 400.000 300,000 Omicron Ancestral > D614G Subvariants BA.2; BAZ.12.1; BA4, BAS 200,000 100,000 US o Mar 1 May Jul Sep Now hari Mar May Jul Sep Mow Jan Mar May Source: Financial Times analps of data from Johns Hopkins CSSE, World Health Organization, UE Government comonaveus dashboard, Government of Peru, Public Health FINAN LDLAL PLA France, lag Health Manian, Slownian Mieeviry of Health, Feith inatieure for Health ond Wellarg and th Swede Public Heath Agency ote opedated duce 8 2022 3.199m BST, imeractive verice: ficomcovid1 >
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June 9, 2022 Global USA The big discussion items over the past 24 hours have been the growing number of cases of monkeypox which at last count is over 1400 globally and over 70 in the United States. In addition, there was concern about what kind of decision will be made regarding the 4th shot boost with the mRNA vaccines. Although the Moderna data indicate that the bivalent vaccine of wildtype plus omicron gives quite good response to omicron, their data show only a modest protective effect with a three to fourfold decrease in efficacy against BA4 and BA.5. The data from Pfizer are even more dramatic in showing the lack of a good response against BA4 and BA5 when you vaccinate with a bivalent consisting of wildtype and omicron. The real issue is going to be that by the time the Fall comes it is very likely that neither omicron (BA.1) nor BA.4/BA.5 will be dominant since even though BA4 and BA5 are starting to take over dominance, they will likely peak and come down by the time the Fall comes and so we will be making a booster for a virus that very likely does not exist in society at the time that you are using the vaccine. Clearly, this is a major dilemma that we are all facing with the virus that moves so quickly. Good history of the evolving of variants: PRESS: NBC Medical Unit Interview with Akshay Syal;
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Jun 9, 2022
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June 10, 2022 Last night I received another humbling honor associated with the honorary doctorate in science that I received from Rockefeller University in New York City. I could not attend in person because of scheduling conflict and so I taped my acceptance speech. However, last night there was a black tie affair in which individuals presented the life work of the degree recipients. Jeffrey Ravetz did an amazing job in presenting my story going back to my early days in Brooklyn. At the end of his presentation Rockefeller President Rick Lifton was very generous in his praise for me and pointed out that the audience at the celebratory dinner was giving me a standing ovation, which I could not see since I was connected to the affair by Zoom. It has been an extraordinary spring with all of these wonderful honors that I have received. This will have been my 58th honorary doctorate. Major issue that I am involved with regarding the choice of the 4th dose boost in the Fall. Everyone is trying to decide what 4th dose boosts will be given to the entire population in the Fall. A recent study by Moderna showed that there was a modest advantage of the bivalent omicron plus ancestral strain vaccine boost over ancestral strain alone when one measures antibodies against omicron. They are pushing this now to be the candidate for the 4th dose boost in the Fall. However, there is no Omicron (BA.1) around right now and even though BA.4 and BA.5 are emerging, by the time we get to the Fall we will have already peaked and declined with BA.4/5 and so we will have a vaccine that is directed against a variant that very likely will not be present in the fall and winter. We have hundreds of millions of doses of ancestral strain vaccine and in order to get a new bivalent boost available we would have to make a decision in July or August to get it ready for October or November or later, which actually might be too late. If we do not use those hundreds of millions of doses of ancestral strain they will go to waste and have to be thrown away. And so as far as I'm concerned the ancestral strain boost may not raise the titers against different variants to a very high level, but it does keep them within a protective range so I would make an argument then rather than waste millions of doses and invest in a candidate that might not do anymore of protection against a given variant in the fall and winter, we should go ahead and utilize the ancestral strain vaccines that we have which might do just as good a job against any future variants. I will try to make that case as we talk about future plans for boosters. PRESS: Zoom wih Clara Lussich of El Pais (Uruguay); Radio interview with Marc Siegel Sirius Doctor Radio;
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June 11, 2022 - Global USA Had a glorious and historic day at Holy Cross today. The college named their integrated science complex - "Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex" in my honor. The outpouring of love, affection, and admiration on the part of the students and the faculty at Holy Cross was very moving. I gave a Q and A session with about 30 students, which was really >1400 cases in non-endemic areas with the terrific.it is a beautiful renovated building of laboratories and classrooms. My visit to the college was on the occasion of my 60th reunion. I ran into some old friends that I have not seen in decades including Jim Mulvihill, Jack Fellin and Mike Leding. President Rougeau gave a wonderful introduction of me, and one of the thrills of the day was to see that Bob Cousy drove himself to the campus just to be there and honor me. I had a great conversation with "Cous" who is 93 years old. All in all, it was a wonderful day. I did a terrific fireside chat with David Rubenstein at the meeting of the Trilateral Commission at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington DC. David was his usual humorous self and we had a typical interview that we have had several times in the past. He asked the usual questions about his own health am I kidded him about the fact that he is a hypochondriac. Prominent people at the meeting were David Petraeus, Meghan O'Sullivan, Jake Sullivan, Fareed Zakaria, among many others. PRESS: I gave an extended and exhausting all day interview with a half day photo shoot to Anna Peele, who is a freelance reporter doing a front page extensive Washington Post magazine article on me to be published in the next few weeks. June 13 - Global USA Net cases and hospitalizations coming down, but very slowly. Some counties/states coming way down while others rising or plateauing. BA4/5 becoming more dominant. Sec. Becerra got infected for the 2nd time in 4 weeks. Monkeypox getting considerably more attention. >1400 cases in non-endemic areas with ~50 cases in USA Wonderful memorial for Rob Stein at the Evermay Estate in Georgetown. I gave one of the Eulogies. Remarkable man in life and as he was dying. He was beloved by many and a very dear friend to me and my entire family June 14 - Global - 533,816,957/6,309,633; USA - 85,520,045/1,006,8890 BA4/5 creeping up in dominance: % Viral Lineages Among Infections 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% li: 4/9/22 4/16/22 4/23/22 4/30/22 §/7/22 Collection date, week ending 5/14/22 §/21/22 §/28/22 6/4/22 6/11/22 > USA WHO label Lineage# USClass %Total 95%PI Omicron BA.2.12.1 VOC 64.2% 59.9-68.3% = ne BA.2 VOC 14.2% 12.7-15.9% I I BAS VOC 13.3% 10.0-17.4% BA4 VOC 8.3% 6.3-10.7% BA.1.1 VOC 0.0% 0.0-0.0% B.1.1.529 voc 0.0% 0.0-0.0% Delta B.1.617.2 VBM 0.0% 0.0-0.0% Other Other* 0.0% 0.0-0.1% * Enumerated lineages are US VOC and lineages circulating above 1% nationally in at least one week period. "Other" rep its the aggregation of lineages which are circulating <1% nationally during all weeks displayed. ** These data include Nowcast estimates, which are modeled projections that may differ from weighted estimates generated at later dates # =AY.1-AY.133 and their sublineages are aggregated with B.1.617.2. BA.1, BA.3 and their sublineages (except BA.1.1 and its sublineages) are aggregated with B.1.1.529. For regional data, BA.1.1 and its sublineages are also aggregated with B.1,1.529, as they currently cannot be reliably called in each region. Except BA.2.12.1 and its sublineages, BA.2 sublineages are aggregated with BA.2. BA.5.1 is aggregated with BA.5. I had another very productive discussion, which I have had on a regular basis, with the UK chief medical officer Chris Whitty. We discussed the evolving situation in the UK and compared it to that in the United States. He mentioned to me that they were starting to see a surge of cases of BA5 which he feels will ultimately become dominant. In addition, unfortunately hospitalizations are starting to tick up and he believes that they are likely going to see a bit more of a wave in the coming weeks. This is very disconcerting since we were hoping that there would be a sharp downturn in omicron sublineage viruses in the UK which usually foreshadows what is going to happen in the United states. Egregious example of "PORK" on the part of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee concerning the earmarking of funding for the BSLs The House and Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittees included report language in the FY 2021 that directed NIAID to_divide evenly $40M among the twelve RBLs to support specific research activities, operations and facilities upgrades, and training new BSL-3 researchers. This language was included despite NIAID technical assistance regarding the challenges of this directive. In the FY 2022 appropriations bill, the House and Senate Labor-HHS Subcommittees included report language that that directed NIAID to divide evenly $52M among the twelve RBLs to support specific research activities, operations and facilities upgrades, and training new BSL-3 researchers. Again, this language was included despite NIAID technical assistance regarding its challenges. NIAID has reviewed draft report language that indicates that the Subcommittees intend to include a similar directive in FY2023. NIAID staff met with House and Senate Subcommittee staff (majority and minority) on June 14, 2022, to provide an update on the distribution of the $52M for FY2022 as well as to discuss the draft report language for FY2023. NIAID expressed a number of concerns with the continued directive to evenly divide such a large amount of funding in a way that limits competition and does Pp ° National Institute of N I IH Allergy and Infectious Diseases NIAID Director Fauci Tests Positive for COVID-19 June 15, 2022 STATEMENT Today, Anthony 3. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden, tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid antigen test. He is Tully vaccinated and has been boosted twice. He is currently experiencing mild symptoms. Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home. He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials. Dr. Fauci will follow the COVID-19 guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical advice from his physician and return to the NIH when he tests negative. NIAID conducts and supportsresearch--at NIH, throughoutthe United States, and worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immunemediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. Newsreleases, fact sheets and other NIAIDrelated materials are available on the NIAID website. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers andis a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational meéedicalresearch, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and curesfor both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit wwrw.nih.qov. not support the best science. Despite these concerns, the Subcommittee staff indicated that this directed funding would be likely to continue in FY2023and for the foreseeable future