TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
nity, in which people with expo-
sure to previous coronaviruses —
such as the common cold — have T
cells that also protect them against
covid-19, the disease caused by the
novel coronavirus.
No credible scientific study has
proved this theory, and Atlas’s ad-
vocacy of it dismayed other task
force officials.
At a task force meeting late last
month, Atlas stated that there was
herd immunity in much of the
country because of a combination
of high infection rates in cities
such as New York and Miami and
T-cell immunity, according to two
senior administration officials. He
said that only 40 to 50 percent of
people need to be infected to reach
the threshold. And he argued that
because of this immunity, all re-
strictions should be lifted, schools
should be opened and only the
most vulnerable populations, such
as nursing home residents, should
be sheltered.
This resulted in a fierce debate
with Birx and Fauci, who demand-
ed Atlas show them the data that
backed up his assertions, one of
the officials said.
“It is not the case there’s extra
immunity around in T cells,” Lip-
sitch said. “The vast, vast majority
of infectious-disease epidemiolo-
gists in this country don’t believe
several of the key points these
people are arguing for and don’t
believe it because the evidence
isn’t there and points in the other
direction.”
Regardless, Trump has used At-
las to back up his own rejection of
medical expertise. At Thursday’s
NBC News town hall, a Florida
voter asked the president whether
after contracting covid-19 he now
believed in the importance of
mask-wearing.
Trump equivocated.
“I’ve heard many different sto-
ries on masks,” he said.
When Guthrie challenged him
by noting that all of his health
officials were united in advocating
masks, Trump countered by invok-
ing Atlas.
“Scott Adkins,” Trump said, mis-
pronouncing the doctor’s name. “If
you look at Scott, Dr. Scott, he’s
from — great guy — from Stanford,
he will tell you.”
“He’s not an infectious-disease
expert,” Guthrie said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Trump re-
plied. “Look, he’s an expert. He’s
one of the experts of the world.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]‘A lot of political pressure’
The distrust in Washington has
trickled down to the states, where
friction has increased between
several governors and the admin-
istration over the vaccine process.
Some governors and officials
close to them privately have ex-
pressed alarm about Trump and
his aides laying the groundwork
for a rushed vaccine announce-
ment. The president has delegat-
ed much of the state outreach to
Pence, who in regular calls with
governors has come across as a
smooth salesman for Trump’s
speedy approach. The vice presi-
dent has encouraged governors to
help build confidence for eventu-
al vaccines among their constitu-
ents.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D),
whose state is the site for vaccine
trials, said in an interview, “I cer-
tainly fear there is a lot of political
pressure being applied.” He said
his state is preparing for a vaccine
rollout, but would carefully evalu-
ate the integrity of any announce-
ment emanating from the White
House.
“Nobody has told me that it’ll be
ready by November 2nd or any-
time before the election,” Pritzker
said. “But [Trump] will no doubt
claim such a thing because of the
cocktail of drugs that he seems to
be on now. He’s liable to say any-
thing that isn’t true.”
The concerns are not limited to
Democrats. One Republican state
official who works with the Trump
administration and spoke on the
condition of anonymity to pre-
serve that relationship, said, “It’s
what I would call soft power. Pence
comes on these calls and sounds
normal and upbeat, and basically
says, ‘Stand with us.’ ”
The official added, “We all want
a vaccine, right? We obviously
want it. We’ll take it. But we don’t
really know if they’ll do this right.”
The politicization of the process
has damaged public credibility in
an eventual vaccine. A Gallup poll
released this month found that
50 percent of Americans said they
would be willing to take a corona-
virus vaccine approved by the FDA
“right now at no cost.” That is a
sharp decline from 61 percent in
August and 66 percent in July.
During a virtual task force meet-
ing led by Pence on Sept. 21, Wash-
ington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said,
“There is a substantial concern,”
according to an audio recording of
the meeting. “A significant part of
that problem is the president’s
TASK FORCE FROM A
throw away my mask, I can engage
in high-risk activity, and then we’d
actually take a step back.”
Most controversially, Atlas has
pushed a baseless theory inside the
task force that the U.S. population
is close to herd immunity — the
point at which enough people be-
come immune to a disease either
by becoming infected or getting
vaccinated that its spread slows —
despite a scientific consensus that
the United States is nowhere close.
Given the transmissibility of the
coronavirus, experts estimate
about 60 to 70 percent of the popu-
lation would need to become in-
fected to reach herd immunity, a
course that they warn would prob-
ably result in hundreds of thou-
sands of excess deaths. A recent
CDC study, about which Redfield
testified to the Senate, showed
about 9 percent of people in the
United States had antibodies
against the virus.
But Atlas publicly contradicted
Redfield last month, telling report-
ers that more of the population
was protected against the virus
because of so-called T-cell immu-Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar, a former Eli
Lilly president who has close ties
to the pharmaceutical industry,
has sought to cool Trump’s temper
and assure him that the process is
sound.
Also whispering optimism in
the tempestuous president’s ear
has been Atlas, who is said to be
operating with the full confidence
of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-
law and senior adviser overseeing
key aspects of the pandemic re-
sponse, and Hope Hicks, the presi-
dent’s counselor and confidante.
This is in part because Atlas has
sought to spin the public with
what others deride as “happy talk”
that the outbreak is close to over.
“Everybody looks for what Atlas is
giving them,” one official involved
in the response said.
Offit said: “This administration,
like it does with everything, is
overselling vaccines. They make it
sound like a magic dust they’ll
distribute over the country and the
disease will go away... What
could happen is people think,
great, I just got my vaccine, I canInslee said. “We need to follow
science and not this distortion
campaign... The people are on to
[Trump]. They know he is trying to
turn this into an electoral issue.”‘A magic dust’
As the election nears, one of
Trump’s biggest vulnerabilities
with voters is his handling of the
pandemic — which he increasingly
has sought to blame on others. For
instance, the president has com-
plained bitterly about Hahn and
Redfield, pointing to congres-
sional testimony and other public
comments they have made as un-
dermining his chances for reelec-
tion, according to multiple admin-
istration officials.
Trump also has vented about
the slow pace of vaccine trials and
has fumed privately about the
pharmaceutical industry, even
though he speaks highly of some
industry executives. Lately, he has
expressed particular concern that
the absence of a vaccine announce-
ment has been hurting him with
early voting, according to an ad-
ministration official.continued anti-science statements
that are contradictory to his medi-
cal advisers in so many different
ways.”
Inslee asked Pence directly,
“Have you discussed with the pres-
ident how he’s been eroding public
confidence in our efforts, includ-
ing the vaccine approval? Have
you discussed that with him? Have
you urged him to stop this behav-
ior?”
Pence did not directly answer
the question. Rather, he replied,
“We think you and all the gover-
nors on this call have a great re-
sponsibility to make sure the pub-
lic knows while we’re moving rap-
idly and while there may be differ-
ences in opinion about various
events, we just don’t want any
undermining of confidence in the
vaccine.”
The vice president added, “I can
assure you the president will con-
tinue to speak clearly about that
process.”
Inslee later said in an interview
that Pence was anything but assur-
ing.
“There is a pressure campaign,”OLIVER CONTRERAS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist whose commentary on Fox News led President Trump to recruit him, has
consolidated power on the president’s pandemic task force while openly challenging infectious-disease experts such as Anthony S. Fauci.AfterBefore*Off er expires 10/31/20, call for more details. Min. purchase is required. Off er applies to Gutter Helmet gutter protection
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