Deborah Birx reportedly called fighting the pandemic and Scott Atlas 'together' the 'hardest thing I've had to do'
Dr. Deborah Birx, the former White House coronavirus task force coordinator, has been fairly candid about the challenges she faced while working in the Trump administration amid the COVID-19 pandemic. And in a new book about what he considers the federal government's failures to mitigate the spread of the virus, Andy Slavitt, who now serves as a senior adviser on the COVID-19 response to President Biden, reinforces her comments by shedding more light on her experience, CNN reports.
Per CNN, Slavitt details a conversation he had with Birx in August 2020. At the time, she was still technically in her White House role, but she had been cast out of former President Donald Trump's inner circle and no longer had much influence. In her place was Dr. Scott Atlas, a controversial, Trump-favored radiologist with no epidemiological background with anti-coronavirus restriction views. Birx told Slavitt she had "been completely silenced," admitting that "fighting the virus and Scott Atlas together is the hardest thing I've had to do." Read more at CNN.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
‘The worry is far from fanciful’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How are Americans bracing for the end of SNAP?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Millions depend on supplemental federal food funds that are set to expire this month, as the government shutdown begins to be acutely felt
-
Book review: ‘Joyride: A Memoir’Feature A journalist’s story of how she chased and accomplished her dreams
-
Covid-19 mRNA vaccines could help fight cancerUnder the radar They boost the immune system
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the riseThe Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
