Diary Prequel Package — page 64

ROMs for developing voluntary Counseling and Testing. Peter said that it was doomed to failure. I relayed this to Gary and he was satisfied. Also, more delays in the announcement of the smallpox vaccine policy. It will not be this week and so I will be able to go to Albany to give a talk associated with my Albany Prize from last Spring. Dec. 4 - 10, 2002 - Incredible amount of action going on. Many calls and interactions with VP Cheney's staff (Carol Kuntz, Noreen Hynes, Seth Carus) regarding Project BioShield. The VP wants to come to NIH and have me show him around the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) in the context of the "Advanced Project Development" of Project Bioshield. Project Bioshield has caught on with the VP and his staff. Scooter Libby is becoming a strong ally and fan of mine. At the same time there is a lot of buzz as to when the President is going to announce his vaccine policy. Many leaks, interestingly most from the WH itself. We are busily preparing our Qs and As for the announcement. Elias Zerhouni feeling a bit out of the loop. I am trying to keep him informed, but the WH and DHHS wants to deal directly with me. Dec. 11, 2002 - A truly terrific day! Cheney came to VRC and I presented an updated version of Project Bioshield in the context of going from concept to product in the VRC. Present at meeting were: Cheney, Scooter Libby, Carol Kuntz, Noreen Hynes, Seth Carus, Elias Zerhouni, Tommy Thompson, Stewart Simonson, Phil Russell, Gary Nabel and his staff. Cheney and Libby were "wowed" by my presentation and by the VRC Cheney instructed his staff to do whatever is necessary to facilitate what I am doing including giving me special authorities. Immediately after the VP visit, I rushed down to the WH to present "Project BioShield" to Josh Bolten in the context of the VP wants me to sell the concept to Josh. Present at the meeting were Josh, Kristen Silverberg, Richard Falkenrath, Tommy Thompson, Scooter Libby, Stewart Simonson, et al. Josh questioned the need for the vaccine purchase fund component of Project BioShield (good questions). I defended it even though this really is not my bag (Bill Raub was the original designer of it). At the end of the meeting, Josh seemed supportive of the entire project. Clearly the VP is driving this process. Another amazing event. The vaccine policy roll-out is under very close hold at the WH. Today I received one of my many calls from George Stephanopoulos of ABC. George pointed out that the President gave an interview with Barbara Walters to view on Dec. 13 in which he said that he would allow vaccination of the entire population on a voluntary basis. George thought that this constitutes the long-awaited announcement of the policy. I told George that the Pres. was probably just speaking in broad generalities since I know that there will be a formal announcement with me involved at the WH. George seemed convinced; however, the ABC people pursued this and confronted the WH who inexplicably confirmed the story and said that the roll-out would be Friday (Dec. 13). I heard about this when I was in Josh Bolten's office presenting Project BioShield. My phone rang and CBS said that ABC had broken the story on the policy on the basis of the Barbara Walter interview. They wanted me on their show to discuss. I said that I knew nothing about this and therefore could not appear. I hung up and