Former Acting Cdc News Today

Of the country, that for certain it will become dominant elsewhere. also, at the time omicron really started to take off in south africa, they were in a relatively quiet period. so it wasnt really racing against delta at that point. so well see. you know, if it starts to become more dominant in the states but i dont think thats a foregone conclusion. >> dr. besser, i mean, whether its, you know, disinformation, mixed messaging, covid burnout. do you worry that people arent listening to the cdc a...

And so, you see that happening on a bigger level. the president meeting with his team. of course, the cdc also meeting with state labs talking to them every day because thats how they find these -- these variants. and so, thats been happening. of course, all of this leading up to a big speech that president biden is giving tomorrow to talk about whats ahead in the coming months. >> do -- i mean, what might they do? do we know? >> i think in the speech tomorrow, you will see the president lay out...

Belly fat. whoa. and as it burns it away, whats left behind? >> muscle. >> muscle. >> reporter: more recently he made claims during the pandemic that critics called medical misinformation. >> i would take it myself if i was having issues with the virus. >> thats dr. oz speaking with larry king last year about using the controversial antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine to fight the coronavirus, remarks that he later walked back. >> because its believed to be so safe, its used widely and it turns ...

That the white house is using this for is to try to push for that as well. something, of course, lessons left over from the delta variant that are kind of looming over how they are responding to this variant. >> kaitlan, appreciate it. kaitlan collins. perspective now from dr. richard besser, former acting cdc director and currently president and ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation. with us as well my co-host for tonights upcoming cnn town hall at 9:00 p.m., cnn chief medical correspondent...

So, you know, this was something that was very clear from the cdcs guidelines. the administrations own guidelines. and again, if this is true, those guidelines werent followed. people were put at risk, including the patient, the president. and also a potential future president at that debate. >> dr. besser, i mean, i dont -- i mean, there -- this has been discussed for a while. the idea that mark meadows is actually saying it happened in his book, according to the "guardian," does it -- i mean, ...

With vice president biden. >> yeah. i mean, i -- i think if this is true, this was really -- this was really reckless theres no question. and from what i understand, again if this is true, the president was also symptomatic. you know, he was -- he was not feeling well. so it wasnt just an incidental sort of finding. they actually -- he was having symptoms. so, yeah. this -- this is a problem. i mean, it -- its challenging. you know, for a physician to reveal someones specific health information ...

Was having issues with the virus. >> thats dr. oz speaking with larry king last year about using the controversial antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine to fight the coronavirus, remarks that he later walked back. >> because its believed to be so safe, its used widely and it turns out that it might have an effect against this virus. >> reporter: the fact is the cdc has noted the drugs efficacy to either prevent or treat this infection are unknown. its warned that unsupervised use can cause serious...

That. >> is it clear the white house has learned lessons from the chaos caused by the delta variant over the summer? >> i think so because the delta variant, remember, came at that time they had that big fourth of july celebration here at the white house. the president was talking about getting close to this independence from the virus. people were taking off their mask and of course delta then swept across the united states in a pretty vicious manner. and so, i think they are being extra cautio...

President and his team have basically been meeting nonstop. whether thats within the agencies, people meeting and talking about how they are going to respond to this. or the president meeting with his medical team directly. they have had hours on ends of meetings where he has been peppering them with questions about the data here, the timeline of what they are going to know more to those big questions, like how severe of disease this could cause or whether or not it evades vaccines because the p...

Engineson foundation. with us as well, cnn chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. dr. besser, so in light of this case in the u.s. which was inevitable, how do you think the cdc is handling all this behind the scenes right now? >> well, you know, anderson, i think the steps that are being taken, being aggressive until we know more is the right thing to do. its -- you only have one chance to get ahead of a newly spreading strain of a disease. and, you know, im -- my -- my hope is that we ...