White House's Birx denies 'herd immunity' policy under consideration

By Ben Klayman

 

FILE PHOTO: White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx speaks during a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott about coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 7, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

 

LIVONIA, Mich. (Reuters) - The White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, on Wednesday dismissed the notion that the Trump administration was considering a strategy of allowing Americans to become infected with coronavirus in order to reach "herd immunity."

 

"Neither I, nor anybody in the administration, is willing to sacrifice American lives for herd immunity. We'll get to herd immunity through a vaccine and that's the right way to do it," Birx told reporters during a briefing at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia, Michigan.

 

Birx was responding to news reports that new White House pandemic adviser Scott Atlas, a physician who is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, had advocated for the Trump administration to lift all social and business restrictions aimed at stopping infections from spreading.

 

The United States, which has not had a coordinated federal-led response to the virus, has recorded more than 6 million COVID-19 cases and 185,000 deaths, both the highest in the world.

 

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told MSNBC on Wednesday that the White House was not using a "herd immunity" strategy and was relying on identification of COVID-19 cases, isolation and contact tracing.

 

White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx on Wednesday dismissed the notion that the White House was considering a strategy of allowing Americans to become infected with coronavirus in order to reach "herd immunity." Gavino Garay reports.

 

Once enough individuals have been infected and become immune, others are less likely to be infected, creating what health officials call "herd immunity."

 

"I would not be here if the White House believed that herd immunity was an option for America," Birx said.

 

Economic shutdowns and measures such as extensive testing and social distancing have curbed the virus' spread in many countries. Others, like Sweden, have attempted to let the outbreak run its course in the hopes of creating herd immunity.

 

Sweden and the United States are both among the nations with the highest rate of coronavirus-related deaths per capita.

 

President Donald Trump in August said Atlas was working with the White House on the coronavirus.

 

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Writing by Caroline Humer; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-03

 

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Not  "Official " policy. Just seemingly an inevitable result in a  Dis-United States ?

Could have fooled me trumps lack of a competent (or any) response to the crisis kinda adds up to it ehhhh?

The memo has not gotten to those two yet. They are out and Atlas is in. The herd are being moved towards the cliff.

IMO, "herders" are worse than "hoaxers".

 

Invariably they're the one's at the center of the herd, urging the vulnerable to the edges where they can be devoured by predators.

 

hoaxers are just liars, and probably not the brightest bulb in the 4-pack.

 

Hopefully, like Ralph, we can be saved at the end, by an adult?

The knives are already out for this guy. He's a neuroradiologist with no  background/experience in the management of  infectious disease. He transitioned from direct medical care to "political health policy" years ago.  Yes he has an MD, but he isn't engaged in  direct patient care anymore. 

 

Anyway, he has certainly distanced himself from the "herd immunity" claims.

Atlas told host Tucker Carlson of Fox News that he was not advising anyone to pursue a herd immunity strategy and has never mentioned it to President Trump or the task force.

 

I think he should be given the benefit of the doubt here. If he says he is not promoting the  idiotic notion, then, I will accept him  at his word.

 

ohh i thought that was already the case whee rioters arsonists and vandals arnt subject to the laws of that land

The reason this issue is in the news today...is because Atlas and herd immunity were in the news in the day or two prior... with him allegedly pushing exactly that agenda.

 

Quote

 

New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial ‘herd immunity’ strategy, worrying public health officials

 

One of President Trump’s top medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic, which would entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus, while taking steps to protect those in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, according to five people familiar with the discussions.

...

The approach’s chief proponent is Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist and fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution, who joined the White House in August as a pandemic adviser. He has advocated that the United States adopt the model Sweden has used to respond to the virus outbreak, according to these officials, which did not impose lockdown orders or close most schools and businesses.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-coronavirus-scott-atlas-herd-immunity/2020/08/30/925e68fe-e93b-11ea-970a-64c73a1c2392_story.html

 

And then more from him:

 

Quote

 

A New Coronavirus Adviser Roils the White House With Unorthodox Ideas

Dr. Scott Atlas arrived at the White House as a coronavirus contrarian, questioning controls like masks. He has angered top health officials while pushing a suite of disputed policy prescriptions.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-scott-atlas-coronavirus.html

 

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Perhaps it's an all but in name herd immunity policy, in the absence of anything else...

 

Quote

Internal tensions and a resignation to virus' spread govern President Trump's pandemic response

 

Washington (CNN)A different approach toward the coronavirus pandemic is taking hold at the White House, as newcomer adviser Dr. Scott Atlas eclipses Dr. Anthony Fauci in influence and President Donald Trump and aides are resigned to the virus' inevitable spread.
 

Internal struggles among the medical advisers have divided the White House for weeks, with advisers like Fauci and other members of the task force pushing a forward-leaning stance on coronavirus against resistance from the top down. Now, with two months to go until the election, the White House is focused on reopening the economy and mitigating the virus to a limited extent, or just enough to keep hospitals from being completely overwhelmed.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/01/politics/white-house-coronavirus-response-atlas-fauci/index.html

 

If I were Birx and Fauci, I'd be checking to see when my White House access credentials will be being revoked...  Trump clearly doesn't want to hear anything that they have to say or advise.

 

Edited September 3, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

27 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The reason this issue is in the news today...is because Atlas and herd immunity were in the news in the day or two prior... with him allegedly pushing exactly that agenda.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-coronavirus-scott-atlas-herd-immunity/2020/08/30/925e68fe-e93b-11ea-970a-64c73a1c2392_story.html

 

And then more from him:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-scott-atlas-coronavirus.html

 

Many Thanks TGJBKK! Atlas is scrambling to deny, deny, deny, yet here it is in black and white. Let's see who's gonna' be the first to claim "fake news".

5 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

IMO, "herders" are worse than "hoaxers".

...

hoaxers are just liars, and probably not the brightest bulb in the 4-pack.

I know at least one rather bright person (MSc physics, software dev) who might fall these categories. Basically he's so fed up with bias and inaccuracy in mainstream media (MSM), he doesn't believe it at all. However, he fails to apply the level of scrutiny which made him so disillusioned with MSM to his non-MSM sources, and ends up believing stuff promulgated by the sources that align with his biases.

 

Another member of the same clique, seems to be just... impermeable to logic. I think he likes to believe the 'whole thing is a hoax' because a) it saves him thinking about whether the data on cases etc could be hoaxed &/would be hoaxed to appear the way it does, in widely different countries etc. & b) it enables him to think of himself as very bright, for being able to "see through the hoax" (which in fact merely involved uncritically parroting things from his initial sources).

3 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

ohh i thought that was already the case whee rioters arsonists and vandals arnt subject to the laws of that land

Depends whether or not you believe the exaggerations from Trump. He says Portland is burning every day, the fire department says that isn't so but we have gotten used to lies from the orange man.

What policy. There is no policy at all, by default its herd immunity policy.

18 hours ago, Sujo said:

What policy. There is no policy at all, by default its herd immunity policy.

I live 60 miles from that country. Everything pretty much under control concerning the virus here. Kids start school, in their classrooms, this Monday. I think my grandbabies will do fine there. By and large everyone bought into proper precautions other than one religious cult. Their colonies have had a rough time but since they stay to themselves the rest of us haven't suffered from their irresponsible.