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‘I Can’t Be Part Of This’: Private Emails Reveal Dr. Birx Balked At Trump Pressers Over Herd Immunity

   DailyWire.com
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 08: White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx holds up a mask as she speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the U.S. Department of Education July 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. Vice President Pence and the task force members discussed the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic and the reopening of nation's schools in the Fall. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Alex Wong/Getty Images

An email included in a recent dump from the House Select Committee revealed that Dr. Deborah Birx, who served on former President Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, had serious reservations about some of the positions the White House wanted to explore at the time.

“I can’t be part of this with these people who believe in herd immunity and believe we are fine with only protecting the 1.5M Americans in LTCF and not the 80M + with co-morbidities in the populations included the unacceptable death toll among Native Americans, Hispanics and Blacks,” Birx wrote in an email dated August 25, 2020 — which was sent to former CDC Director Robert Redfield, former FDA Director Stephen Hahn, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short.

“With our current mitigation scenario we end up near 300K by Christmas and 500K by the time we have vaccine – close to the 600K live lost with 1918 Flu,” Birx continued. “We have worked to find a path that is the least disruptive to the economy but moves us under R1 and saves both the economy and American lives.”

Birx then noted that part of the reason Americans needed to take measures such as wearing face masks and social distancing was the fact that obesity was a bigger problem in the United States than in places like Sweden, where such measures had been relaxed.

“Without masks and social distancing in public and homes we end up with twice as many deaths – we are a very unhealthy nation with a lot of obesity etc — we will never look as good as even Sweden due to our co-morbidities,” Birx explained. “These are people who believe that all the curves are predetermined and mitigation is irrelevant – they are a fringe group without grounding in epidemics, public health or on the ground common sense experience.”

Birx went on to say that she was even willing to add an out-of-town trip to her schedule to give the White House cover for the fact that she would not be part of such a briefing if the focus was on herd immunity rather than mitigating measures.

“I am happy to go out of town or whatever gives the WH cover for Weds. Perhaps do Annapolis and meet with Hogan. Fauci and I could probably do it together — I am open to options,” she concluded.

The event Birx was declining to participate in was touted as a “medical experts roundtable” and was set to feature remarks from Dr. Scott Atlas.

According to the email, prior to introducing Atlas as the featured speaker, Trump was going to stress the importance of sheltering those who were most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 while allowing the economy to reopen and those who were less vulnerable to get back to work and school.

“There are some politicians who are calling for unending lockdowns,” Trump was slated to say. “That is not a science-based approach — and it would inflict grave harm on our children and our entire society. Our strategy is not based on fear but the facts, the science, and the data.”

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