Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Briefed the President about the potential for an H5N1 pandemic influenza. At briefing were the POTUS, the VP, Karl Rove, Josh Bolten, Kristen Silverberg, Dan Bartlett, Scott McClellan, Fran Townsend, Michel Gerson, Claude Allen, Julie Gerberding, Sec. Leavitt, Scooter Libby, Philo Hall, Rajeev, etc. The POTUS was very pleased with the briefing and asked the right questions. He was favorably disposed to our suggestion of considering having the USA public have kits of antimicrobials (Tamiflu, CIPRO, etc) in their homes in case of an emergency in order to get around the problem of distribution of drug to tens of millions of people in an emergency. We are going to pursue this approach with Symposia to get the flavor of what the community thinks of it and then we will pursue it.