I will be watching this tonight as Gupta interviews some of the leading experts and advisors from the last administration; Redfield, Hahn, Giroir, Kadlec, Birx and of course Fauci. Some of Redfield's comments have been released already.
The title was misleading - should've been the Covid Team Doctors Speak Out because it presented a behind-the-scenes look at what the various agencies & team doctors were thinking, doing, & saying at the time. The summary was "Had China not lied, had there been a coordinated effective effort by the appropriate agencies, and a unified message to protect in the absence of a vaccine, the US would not have had the catastrophic rates of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths."
None of that is news & wasn't said in hindsight; we got conflicting messages everywhere we tuned in & most of us settled on believing Fauci, being the most experienced, cautious, & articulate member of the so-called team. One really has to laugh at Dr. Birx - an experienced physician & former Army Colonel - being "uncomfortable" when the then president yelled at her in a phone call. She was also the doctor in the room who stared at the floor when that same president suggested bleach & UV lightbulbs might cure Covid.
Probably a video more useful to students of public health policy in the future than in moving forward now.
I found the show compelling and well done. I did fall asleep for about 30 minutes due to me, not the program putting me to sleep.
I have sympathy for Dr Birx and the difficult position (s) she was in.
I will be watching this tonight as Gupta interviews some of the leading experts and advisors from the last administration; Redfield, Hahn, Giroir, Kadlec, Birx and of course Fauci. Some of Redfield's comments have been released already.
Apart from the inclusion of Fauci, I can't but help thinking it is disingenuous (at best) for CNN to provide the means for those others to rationalize their lack of independence and engage in revisionism...I don't need to see the transparent lack of will from Hahn, Giroir and Redfield any longer!?!??!
Yes, it would've been best for the nation's response if these experts had spoken up or resolved inter-agency infighting AT THE TIME & not be cowed by the administration. Had any of them been fired, they still could've gotten their expert opinion out via the media & this wouldn't have had more value as history than current guidance as new strains appear.
@cyclone88 If I did not know better, I would regard this program as one of CNN's awkward attempts to maintain a facade of objectivity---and I am not conspiracy theorist on mainstream media!?!?
It's more like propaganda for the Covid Team to air their side of the story. It's not flattering.
Based on the title, I thought it would be stories of front-line Covid docs from around the world reflecting back on the past year - a far more interesting topic than tales of bureaucratic infighting & job preservation.
I still think of that doctor who was head of a NYC ER who committed suicide at her family's home in VA after having recovered from Covid herself but was despondent over her inability to help all the patients arriving at her ER in the early months with scarce resources. People forget what a mess we were in this time last year.
