Tony's Diary Package — page 655

'9,400,000/534, '9,400,000/535,200 1d PRESS: MSNBC "Morning Joe" with Joe Scarborough; ABC "GMA3" with Jen Ashton; Wall Street Journal - CEO Council with John Bussey; Podcast with The Economist; National Cathedral Function with Press March 17, 2021 - Global - 120,400,000/2,700,000; USA - 29,400,000/534,100 Testified before the House Energy and Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee chaired by Diana De Gette (D-CO) with ranking member Morgan Griffith (R- VA). Good hearing with the usual snarkiness from David McKinley (R-WV) and Gary Palmer (R-AL). Several question centered around the GOP angry because the Dems are not giving Trump enough credit for the vaccine. It is reflecting what Trump has been saying to the media. Pres. Joe Biden sent me a thank you letter: Letter from president Joe Biden PRESS: NBC Late Show with Seth Meyers; White House Press Conference March 18, 2021 - Global - 120,900,000/2,700,000; USA - 29,400,000/535,200 Testified before the Senate HELP Committee chaired by Sen. Patty Murray (D_WA) and ranking Minority Richard Burr (R-NC). I had my typical fight with Sen. Rand Paul who insisted that masks were pure theater. I blew him away. After the Hearing, I briefed the POTUS and VPOTUS on Building Vaccine Confidence. Present virtually - me, Andy Slavitt, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Courtney Rowe. In the Oval - Jeff, Natalie Quillian, Anita Dunn. Had call with Jeff, David K. Natalie, Anne Schuchat regarding alarming increase in NYC of B.1.526. Anne will call Zucker to suggest strongly to shut down bars and restaurants. We are afraid of a surge that we had expected since NYC tends to follow Europe, which is surging now following a plateau. SA giving vaccine to Canada and Mexico. For Mexico it is a quid pro quo to control immigration at the border. Also, AstraZeneca continues to mess up on their examination of data with the DSMB. They have shown extreme incompetence throughout this entire affair with mixing up clinical trial data in the UK to not having equity demographically in their USA trial