Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Global – 246,594,191/4,998,784; USA – 46,024,349/745,274 The decline in cases in the United states is unfortunately beginning to plateau. We have started to see the inklings of this as the steepness of the deflection has diminished and we are getting stuck for several days now at around 70,000 cases per day. We will have to watch this closely. In addition, cases in the European Union particularly in Eastern Europe are starting to surge. This is all bad news as we enter into the cold season of the fall and winter. Francis Collins and I had a conference call with chairperson Patty Murray of the HELP committee. She was very sympathetic about the fact that the Republicans would have come at me pretty hard and she wanted me to explain to her about gain of function research so that she could get a better understanding of things and she promised that she would give me the opportunity to respond if people like Rand Paul do not give me the possibility of the chance of responding ACIP meets today to discuss Pfizer vaccine for 5 to 11 yo. Voted unanimously to recommend vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey was involved in a very close race for re election. The next day (tomorrow) I texted him and congratulated him on his close win. He texted me back thanking me for my friendship and sending his best regards to Christine. He is really a good guy.