Elias Zerhouni discusses ‘amateur hour’ in DC, the destruction of infectious disease R&D and how we need to prep for the next time
Elias Zerhouni favors blunt talk, and in a recent discussion with NPR, the ex-Sanofi R&D and ex-NIH chief had some tough points to make regarding the pandemic response.
Rather than interpret them, I thought it would be best to provide snippets straight from the interview.
On the Trump administration response:
It was basically amateur hour. There is no central concept of operations for preparedness, for pandemics, period. This administration doesn’t want to or has no concept of what it takes to protect the American people and the world because it is codependent. You can’t close your borders and say, “OK, we’re going to be safe.” You’re not going to be able to do that in this world. So it’s a lack of vision, basically just a lack of understanding, of what it takes to protect the American people.
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