The Politics of a Health Crisis

[sexobon]

Catfight!



This could be dangerous. They may each be on the last of their nine lives.

Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday strongly defended her record amid criticism from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she doesn't have confidence in the White House coronavirus task force coordinator's handling of the pandemic.

... "I have never been called pollyannish, or nonscientific, or non-data driven," Birx said. "And I will stake my 40-year career on those fundamental principles of utilizing data to really implement better programs to save more lives."

But Pelosi doubled down Sunday morning on a comment she reportedly made behind closed doors on Thursday night accusing Birx of spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.

Politico reported Pelosi told White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that Birx was the "worst" and that they were in "horrible hands" with her. ...

... In 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Birx to her role at the US State Department as an ambassador-at-large and coordinator of the US Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and US Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy.

She served as the head of US Military HIV Research Program in the 90s -- a role in which she oversaw the Thai vaccine trial, the first HIV vaccine to show preventative results -- and later became director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Global HIV/AIDS in 2005.