Diary Prequel Package — page 372

hether I have been discussing this by e-mail with Paul Farmer who is currently in Monrovia, Liberia. Paul is very sensitive to the fact that we need to do research to determine the efficacy of the vaccine and feels that we can pull this off in Liberia with a properly run trial. In this regard, the Minister of Health of Liberia has actually requested collaboration with the NIH in doing research on therapeutics and vaccines. It is going to be a difficult struggle to reconcile the emotional need of many people (in some respects including Tom Frieden) to distribute vaccine at the same time that we are not sure if it actually works or even paradoxically causes harm. I will continue to pursue discussions of clinical trial designs that might be able to get us where we need to be, i.e. proving efficacy at the same time as making vaccine available as quickly as possible. 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. 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. 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. 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