Tony's Diary Package — page 762

2 School of Public 'as influencing him and ence "I saw the Science interview, how could I say such a word 'big mistake' about others? That was journalist's wording. Hope you understand," Gao wrote to Fauci in a March 28 email. "Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth." "I understand completely. No problem," Fauci wrote back. "We will get through this together." 4. Fauci defended himself to colleagues. In April 2020, prominent oncologist Ezekiel Emanuel wrote to Fauci that he was "perplexed" by his "seeming strong endorsement" of remdesivir. Fauci had publicly praised the antiviral drug, which had appeared effective in treating coronavirus patients. "Was it just a bit forced?" Emanuel wrote. "My reading was the data was weak and in normal times for normal disease it is not enough to approve. And very unlikely to really impact COVID-19 disease pattern- -regardless of supply issues." Fauci resisted the characterization, replying that he didn't "'strongly' endorse it." "I specifically said it was not a knockout drug and was only a baby step in the direction of developing more and better drugs," Fauci wrote. "I said that it was important because it proved in a well-powered, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial that one can suppress the virus enough to see a clinical effect, as modest as the effect was. I do not think I forced anything." In an email the following day, Emanuel sent another email apologizing to Fauci and inviting him over for dinner "on the porch." In another email, Fauci pushed back against Gregg Gonsalves, a prominent Yale School of Public Health epidemiologist, after Gonsalves had appeared to insinuate that Trump was influencing him and other public health leaders. "Gregg: I am surprised you included me in your note," Fauci wrote. "I genuflect to no one but science and always, always speak my mind when it comes to public health. I have consistently corrected misstatements by others and will continue to do so." 5. Fauci corresponded with a wide array of people. He didn't just hear from administration and public health officials. The emails also show exchanges with members of Congress and regular citizens. Fauci certainly didn't answer every single email he received, but the tranche shows he made an effort to respond amid the many demands on his time. "The medical director of the National Football League Players Association asked Fauci for a confidential briefing on how to safely start the next NFL season," Damian and Yasmeen write.