The next is a transcript of an interview with Dr. Deborah Birx, White Home Coronavirus Response Coordinator within the first Trump administration, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Nov. 17, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Deborah Birx served because the White Home Coronavirus Response Coordinator in Donald Trump’s first time period. She additionally had an extended profession in public well being within the military, engaged on AIDS in Africa, on the State Division, in addition to time on the CDC. Good morning. Welcome again.
FORMER WHITE HOUSE COVID RESPONSE COORDINATOR DR. DEBORAH BIRX: Good morning, Margaret. Glad to be with you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Dr. Birx, I wish to ask you about your views on public well being, which we’re taking a look at due to this nomination, probably of Robert F Kennedy Jr. HHS has a large portfolio right here, vaccines, medication, oversees Medicare, regulates meals, magnificence merchandise, child method, reproductive well being care. What would the influence be of getting somebody with out authorities expertise in that prime job?
DR. BIRX: Nicely, I feel an important factor is what crew he would deliver with him, since you’re speaking about actually a big cap company with a extremely numerous group, which it’s a must to actually deliver collectively and, frankly, get rid of among the duplication set between these businesses to actually develop into more economical, and so actually having a administration particular person at his facet, a chief of employees, maybe that has actually come out of trade that might know how one can deliver and look and convey these people collectively which can be operating the opposite businesses, as a result of it is a very comp- HHS might be one in every of our most intricate departments.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So that you’re saying folks with expertise round him, we have to take a look at these decrease stage appointees Mr. Trump would possibly make. Nicely, what’s so fascinating with RFK Jr. is how he has, in some methods, tapped into this well being motion in America. He is speaking about extra regulation, not much less on the subject of American meals, here is a few of what he mentioned:
ROBERT F KENNEDY JR.: I am simply going to inform the- the cereal firms to take all of the dyes out of their meals. I am going to get processed meals out of faculty lunch instantly. 10 % of meals stamps go to sugar drinks to, you recognize, sodas. We’re creating diabetes drawback, and our youngsters are giving them meals that is poison, and I’ll cease that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: These sound like good targets. Are you able to truly tackle massive agriculture and get that via?
DR. BIRX: I feel as a result of lots of the people who find themselves struggling probably the most from these components are literally folks in our rural areas. 16 % of the People dwell in a rural space, however they’re offering all of our oil and fuel, all of our fiber, all of our cotton and all of our meals. And the extent of diabetes in these communities due to their entry to sure meals is awfully excessive. I simply got here out of the sphere, 58 % of the adults within the city that I used to be simply in had already diabetes or prediabetes, primarily based on a family survey the place we went home to deal with. That is the fact of America and so what I am hoping is he brings his transparency for all People and we actually begin to sort out these points one-by-one-by-one. I feel all people throughout America desires to have wholesome children that they know will develop up and never find yourself with the problems of diabetes or coronary heart illness.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It was very exhausting for Michelle Obama, when she was first woman to get any of that accomplished, and it is perhaps exhausting for lawmakers who come from a few of these agricultural states to vote in opposition to their very own pursuits when it comes to the farm subsidies and the like.
DR. BIRX: Nicely, we’re not speaking about eliminating good meals. We’re speaking about utilizing all of their elements in a approach that is healthier for People and I feel that is what persons are calling for now. Europe did it years in the past, and I feel we’re able to doing that. We’re actually sensible, excessive ranges of expertise, we will make meals tasty with out lots of these components, as a result of we will see that different teams are doing it in a small approach. So we’re not speaking about eliminating the necessity for wheats and grains. We’re speaking about placing these collectively in a wholesome approach.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I wish to ask you as effectively about a few of his- the issues he mentioned about vaccines. As you recognize, the vaccine- vaccination charges are declining in America. He mentioned issues like restoring transparency round them. It is probably not clear what meaning. Why do you assume there is a decline in vaccination?
DR. BIRX: I feel there’s two items to it. I feel once we speak about issues in public well being, we do not acknowledge the considerations as a result of when my youngsters went to highschool, there was possibly one in 1000 children with autism, identified with autism. Now it is three per 100. So each mother is seeing a classroom of kindergarteners the place one of many youngsters has autism. That is scary to mothers and dads, they wish to know why. So it is not adequate for us to simply say vaccines do not trigger autism. It is us discovering what’s the reason behind autism and reverse it–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nicely, I feel lots of people would completely agree that it’s ridiculous that there is not lots of analysis and established causation for autism, however what he has mentioned up to now is that autism is brought on by vaccines and there isn’t any scientific foundation for that conclusion as I perceive it.
DR. BIRX: That is right. And in order that’s why, when he talks about transparency, I am truly excited that in a Senate listening to he would deliver ahead his knowledge and the questions that come from the senators would deliver forth their knowledge. What I do know for positive is he is a really sensible man who can deliver his knowledge and his proof base ahead, and we will have a dialogue that many People consider already is an issue. So till we will have that transparency and that open dialogue from either side, I do know the members have unimaginable staffers who will deliver nice questions from their constituents, and that listening to could be a approach for People to actually see the info that you just’re speaking about, that we won’t see that causation proper now, however what’s inflicting it? And so that you’re completely proper, addressing what the trigger is shall be crucial and I feel what has confused folks is we weren’t clear about what COVID vaccines do and do not. And so now persons are questioning, effectively, what do my childhood vaccines do and do not, they usually do not perceive that among the vaccines that their youngsters are getting defend them from each illness and create herd immunity, and a few of them that they get are only for their baby, like H Flu and pneumovax to guard their baby from getting very critical sickness, and we’re simply not explaining all of this appropriately.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nicely, and that is why the messenger issues–
DR. BIRX: Sure, it does.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –a lot on this, which is why his previous statements are being scrutinized. You labored on AIDS for a superb a part of your profession. He has mentioned that he does not take a place on the connection between HIV and AIDS, however then he laid out different theories in his guide, and mentioned Dr. Fauci by no means produced a research to show his speculation utilizing “accepted scientific proof.” Do you agree with that assertion, and HIV and AIDS?
DR. BIRX: Nicely, having spent a profession in understanding how HIV and AIDS progresses, HIV virus is the reason for AIDS, there’s an entire set of issues that occur, and I feel what HIV taught me is you might have to- it is asymptomatic for 10 years, and we’re lastly recognizing how necessary asymptomatic illness development and illness transmission is. That is what HIV taught us. However what different HIV taught us was your complete human immune system. So by investing in HIV analysis, we discovered about CAR T-cells that we use right now in most cancers. So lots of these analysis and investments repay in different areas and I feel as soon as he is there at HHS, he’ll see that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: If he is open to the info. Dr. Birx, thanks. We’ll be proper again.
