Author: Lambert Strether of Corrente.

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I got a copy of former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Uncontrolled spread another day(Harper Collins, $23.19, A sort of New York Times Bestseller). its”The first part of memoirs of a pandemic,” as Politico said in their interview with Gottlieb. (Here Transcript of another interview Worked with Gottlieb at WaPo; of course he is expressive and knowledgeable. ) Eric Topol gave Uncontrolled spread His blessing:

Although Publishers Weekly Introduce one of the few discordant notes:

Although he clearly explained scientific and logistical issues, Gottlieb tended to cite his own “Wall Street Journal” column. The post-mortem analysis of this pandemic is more concerned with improving the author’s reputation than breaking new ground.

About a sentence authorGottlieb is a member of the Republican aristocracy (we can call them that way. His wife, Allyson Brooke Nemeroff, is the national advertising director of the New York Sun. Their wedding Worked at the National Women’s Republican Club in Manhattan).this National Journal There is a detailed biography from which we extracted his work experience

• Resident Researcher, American Enterprise Institute, 2003-2017, 2019-present
• Partner, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), 2007-2017, 2019-Present
• Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2017-2019
• Managing Director of TR Winston & Company, 2013-2017
• Policy consultant, FDA, 2003-2007

And his business association:

• Served on Pfizer’s Regulatory and Compliance Committee and Technology Committee
• Director of Illumina, a biotechnology company engaged in genetic variation and biological function analysis
• Board member of Tempus, a technology company that builds clinical and molecular databases
• Special partner of venture capital firm NEA, working in healthcare, equipment, biopharmaceutical and service teams; NEA investments include Crisper Therapeutics and Collective Health

It is said that Gottlieb also owns 1,000 units of Pfizer stock worth more than $181,920 (As of May 27, 2021). According to elite standards, this is nothing, although not bad at all for such a young man (Gottlieb is a budding 49-year-old). He has only served as the head of the FDA for two years, but it seems that he has left good conditions. His resignation from the FDA is friendly He was praised by both sides. He also showed very good timing. (It is said that Napoleon, The generals who like him are lucky.) Gottlieb has enough energy to deal with many issues, but does not take any responsibility for the results of the policy.

In this short review, I will introduce and comment on excerpts from the book. (I apologize for these images. These images are readable but not beautiful, but I don’t have a camera gear that can flatten the pages of the book and allow me to photograph them from a consistent height.) I will cover two topics: First, At the CDC, Gottlieb strengthened all our prior knowledge, and then some; secondly, Gottlieb’s brain teasers and crazy plans put our public health services under the support of national security, even though they may be rigid , And involve clandestine actors in epidemiology.

CDC crash

At NC, we do have a priori about CDC (Testing and PPE, data collection, Test suite, Valenski, Aerosol transmission, VAERS,as well as Refusal to test breakthrough cases, Only some slaughterhouses are listed). Gottlieb’s extensive and detailed list of details provides a gripping account of the collapse of the system. Here are a few examples.

As readers know, CDC initially provided contaminated test kits to state and local laboratories. This undoubtedly makes it difficult for New York State, which was the initial epicenter of the epidemic, to protect public health. Page 113:

The contaminated test kit is caused by an improperly designed manufacturing process, and the CDC almost certainly knows and acknowledges this at the same time. Page 121:

The CDC maintains a simple testing system that deliberately ignores asymptomatic transmission. Page 131:

The CDC’s initial commitment to the theory of pollutant transmission meant that it was unable to transform the paradigm into aerosol transmission. Page 212:

No one knows where the “six-foot rule” comes from, including the CDC. Page 213:

No one at the CDC-not alone-has never been responsible for all this (not any Which is related to “political interference”). Trust the scientists, my dear Aunt Fanny.

Epidemics and National Security Communities

Now we come to the crazy part of the book, Gottlieb proposed to place the public health mission of preventing epidemics under the support of national security agencies. (The creepy Clay Clay part of this book is obviously the focus of the exercise, and it is more or less not mentioned in the press. I conclude from this that this is conventional wisdom, and I should be stupid for a long time, such as So many places.)

Gottlieb started to keep a low profile, implying that we need to define a “clearer role” for our “national security infrastructure.” Page 345:

But he will upgrade soon. Page 349:

“We will have to participate.” It was just begging.Of course the intelligence agency is not if only National agencies capable of predicting and analyzing? (To be fair, I can understand why people might want to rely on one of the few institutions that are actually in our hardened state Do Function instead of calling the army to deal with nursing home staffing or container clogging. )

If someone brings up Gottlieb’s idea, then one obvious reason for screaming out of the room is this episode. From “Scientific American”, “How the CIA’s false vaccination campaign endangered us all“:

To determine the identity of bin Laden or his family, the CIA used a fake hepatitis B vaccination program to collect DNA in the neighborhood where he was hiding. Efforts have clearly failed, but a breach of trust may frustrate global public health efforts for decades.

For example, it is difficult enough to distribute polio vaccine to children in extremely poor and politically unstable areas, which are filled with 10 years of rumors that the drug is a Western conspiracy to sterilize girls-this mistake The assertion has long been denied by the Nigerian religious leaders who first promoted them. There are now a large number of credible reports about the vaccination campaign, which are part of the CIA conspiracy — the United States has not denied it.

The fatal consequences have already begun. Villagers along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan drove away legal vaccine workers, accusing them of spies. The Taliban commander banned polio vaccination in parts of Pakistan, particularly on the grounds of bin Laden’s tricks. Then, in December last year, nine vaccine workers were murdered in Pakistan, which eventually prompted the United Nations to withdraw its vaccination team. Two months later, the gunman killed 10 polio workers in Nigeria-indicating that violence against vaccinators may be spreading.

This attack came at the right time. The global polio movement has entered its final stage. The number of cases dropped from 350,000 in 1988 to 650 in 2011. The disease spreads naturally in only three countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria), compared to more than 125 countries 25 years ago. Interruption or postponement of vaccination efforts may instigate a resurgence of polio around the world.

Leslie F. Roberts of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health said that the mistrust sowed by the false campaign in Pakistan could delay the eradication of polio by 20 years, resulting in more than 100,000 cases that might not have occurred. Cases. “Forever, people will say that this disease, this disabled child is because the United States is so crazy about Osama bin Laden,” he argued.

100,000 disabled children did a good job because CIA agents hijacked public health work. Of course Gottlieb knew about this episode. His idea is that if public health personnel “sit at the table,” good things will happen. Maybe the norm fairy will intervene, I don’t know. Page 370:

This is extremely weak; I have effectively emphasized “possibility” and “possibility”. Can Gottlieb really believe that public health officials are capable of overthrowing these ghosts? (Not to mention that Ghost may have files.) However, this is a picture he drew. Pages 371 and 372:

Dear lord. Gottlieb hopes to install CIA assets throughout China’s medical system (and it must be “through the whole” because we cannot predict where the next outbreak will occur).Morality aside, the obvious objection is Our assets will be hit hard; China’s counterintelligence agency has been formedIn addition, our assets that are still alive may have been “switched” and will provide us with bad data. Next, We knew about the Covid genome before January 3, 2020 because a heroic Chinese scientist Zhang Yongzhen uploaded it to an open source database. If Zhang knew he might be shot as a spy, would he do it?Of course, once one of these networks is infiltrated and destroyed, it will be so, it will bid farewell to international cooperation with the United States anything On issues related to the pandemic, it is not only related to China, but also related to the entire world. That’s right. The whole plan is so crazy and anti-social, I can only conclude that the talented Mr. Gottlieb will be in charge of it.[1]

in conclusion

In short, Uncontrolled spread Provides a lot of insights into the collapse of the U.S. system in the face of the Covid pandemic. One might say that the policy recommendations and agenda are completely out of order, which is very disturbing. But this is life in America today!

notes

[1] Unless it has already happened, we certainly don’t know. If so, Gottlieb is the one who sells it.