Dr. Deborah Birx: The Untold Story of Fighting COVID-19

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

During the early days of the political and medical panic of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Deborah Birx was at the center of the storm. Appointed as the White House coronavirus response coordinator despite heavy distrust from the inner circles of the Trump administration, Dr. Birx, a seasoned diplomat, physician and political administrator, found herself facing the greatest public health crisis in a generation, with a mercurial and unpredictable president who made implementing an coordinated and consistent government response a daily challenge. She also amassed critics outside the White House as the pandemic grew.

In her new book Silent Invasion, Dr. Birx recounts how she balanced skepticism from the West Wing, bitter partisanship and media speculation with delivering the fastest vaccine ever created, reform of the public health system and the power of public health interventions in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Giving a candid look at how the pandemic developed and her role in convincing President Trump to see the danger COVID posed to the country, Dr. Birx gives a sobering and comprehensive view of the ongoing pandemic, and provides advice on how to prevent another pandemic from tearing apart American society.

Join us as Dr. Birx retells her frantic battle to reform a broken federal response to the pandemic into one that could protect American lives, and gives a look to the future of the ongoing battle against COVID-19.

SPEAKERS

Dr. Deborah Birx

Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator and Coronavirus Task Force Member; Senior Fellow, The Bush Institute; Author, Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, Covid-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late

Mark Zitter

Chair, The Zetema Project; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on May 3rd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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