Dr. Deborah Birx, the Trump White House covid-19 response coordinator, testified earlier this month that the last administration didn’t do enough to mitigate coronavirus deaths.

Earlier this year, Birx described a “very uncomfortable situation” within the Trump team and the political pressure she faced, and flat-out said many covid deaths after the initial surge “could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”

Over 700,000 Americans have died of covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. Two-thirds of the entire U.S. population is at least partly vaccinated, according to CDC data.

Birx testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis earlier this month, and the subcommittee released excerpts Tuesday that showed her deep concerns about the federal pandemic response.

When asked if Donald Trump himself did everything he could to save lives, Birx responded:

Do I think that we could have done more on unified messaging coming out of the White House? Do I think we could have done more on — very early on showing the efficacy of masks? Yes. And I think that would have decreased the confusion. Could we have done more to understand people and the adult people’s reaction to adult immunizations? Yes. We could have been doing that with the flu vaccine. We could have known precisely who our hesitant vaccinators were and we could have been prepared to combat that.

She was asked directly again if Trump did everything he could, and Birx answered, “No.”

“I’ve said that to the White House in general, and I believe I was very clear to the President in specifics of what I needed him to do.”

Her internal push for more mitigation and treatment was not well-heeded, she claims, and the election “distracted” the White House “away from the pandemic.”

“Did you also feel that the election was taking people in the White House away from working on the pandemic?” Birx was asked.

“That was my feeling, that they were actively campaigning and not as present in the White House as previously,” she said.

The post Dr. Birx Reportedly Testifies Trump Didn’t Do Enough to Fight Covid: Election ‘Distracted’ the Administration from Pandemic first appeared on Mediaite.

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