Saturday, July 9, 2022

People are acting like and hoping that COVID is over, but it is not. There are still >100,000 cases/day which is likely a gross undercount since many cases (perhaps x5) are not reported and deaths are stuck at ~300 with hospitalizations increasing: I had a conversation with Rochelle and Vivek about this today (Saturday) indicating that I believe we are not doing enough in a proactive way of getting out there with the press and in other venues talking up how we need to increase mitigations such as reminding people about the importance of wearing masks as well as pushing to get people vaccinated and boosted. Also, as I have said in the recent discussion with Dan Diamond of the post in which he tweeted I would discussion that we need to be more liberal in getting people a fourth shot who are less than 50 years old but might have some underlying conditions without necessarily being immune compromised. Bottom line is that I am pushing that we be more aggressive. I am disappointed that I have not been out in the classic media of TV and radio either because the media are not interested or because the White House is not sending them my way. The same holds true for Rochelle and Vivek. They are not being out there as much as I believe we all should be. Dan Diamond tweet: Officials have been debating, for months, whether to recommend a 2nd booster, especially because so many Americans haven’t gotten their 1st. But TONY FAUCI told The Post he’s “leaning toward flexibility” for more younger Americans to get another booster shot. MPX still increasing in USA and around the world. In USA 790 reported cases. Likely and undercount. Global.health 9060 confirmed MPX cases in 71 non-endemic countries, 40 suspected Politico – Story about BARDA contract to company Phlow to make continuous generics. They did not fulfill their contractual responsibility. Trump-era federal Covid contract recipient has yet to meet major deadlines Two years in, Phlow Corp. has not delivered on high-tech methods to domestically manufacture cheap generic drugs. Peter Navarro was likely influential in picking the company that was not even a company yet when BARDA gave them hundreds of millions of dollars: “Evidence uncovered by the Select Subcommittee raises questions about whether White House officials, including Mr. Navarro, exercised inappropriate influence over contract awards for [personal protective equipment] and medical supplies that should have been handled by career procurement staff,” the letter continued.