On Wednesday afternoon’s CNN Newsroom, host Brianna Keilar collaborated with medical analyst and former Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen to attack one of the liberal media's most hated targets in White House adviser Scott Atlas and discredit herd immunity. Wen lied by claiming that herd immunity “goes against the consensus of entire medical, scientific and public health community” and Keilar proclaimed that “it’s not a public health strategy.”
Keilar and Wen began the segment with some typical CNN fearmongering:
KEILAR: It is not great to talk about the forecast that we're seeing here because it is bad, there is really no way around that. Give us the reality check on what to expect.
WEN: We are on the verge of exponential, explosive spread across the U.S. We know this because we've been there before. We've seen what happens when you have rising numbers of infections, rising hospitalizations, and all this in a setting also of high levels of test positivity, which means that we're not doing nearly enough testing and the real numbers of infections is certainly to be much higher than what's currently reported. The difference between what's happening now versus before is that there are virus hot spots simmering all over the country. And all of this is as we're just in October. We haven't even hit the worst of the winter yet when people have to be indoors when it gets really cold. And we're still arguing in the U.S. about whether we should be wearing masks when it's something that's such a basic intervention that can save lives. So I'm really worried about the grim winter that's ahead.
Keilar and Wen then launched into their attack on Atlas:
KEILAR: It was notable that the U.S. surgeon general, Jerome Adams, today dismissed herd immunity as a public health strategy. He said in a tweet, quote, this could overwhelm health care systems and lead to many complications, deaths. So, I mean, clearly, he felt that it was necessary to say this out loud and to say this publicly. Do you understand why?
WEN: Well, it seems that it's because there is this disagreement within the Trump administration and we have people like Scott Atlas who has the President's ear and is advocating for strategies like herd immunity, which, by the way, goes against the consensus of entire medical, scientific and public health community, because herd immunity is not a strategy. It's basically saying, we wash our hands, we give up. Forget all the sacrifices that people have made along the way, we're just going to let millions of people die when we could have stopped that from occurring in the first place. I mean, I think it's really tragic that we have to -- we continue to have to speak up and speak out against strategies like this that aren't strategies. They are just a method for having preventable deaths in this country.
Wen flat out lied about the “consensus” about herd immunity. Atlas himself is an esteemed scientist for one so his opinion certainly bares some weight. Furthermore, the strategy is supported by esteemed Harvard professor of medicine Martin Kulldorff as well as other medical experts from Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford. Furthermore, the strategy was proven as effective in Sweden, as cases and deaths have dropped dramatically there. In fact, by September, Sweden averaged one COVD death per day.
Keilar gushed over Wen’s attack on Atlas and herd immunity by exclaiming that herd immunity is “not a public health strategy, it's a white flag.”
Wen finished by bashing Trump’s response to COVID: “And to hear the President say that he wouldn't do things differently when there are over 220,000 Americans who have died, I mean, that's shocking, it's unbelievable.”
A rather ironic statement coming from a former president of Planned Parenthood. Is she as concerned about the hundreds of thousands of babies that Planned Parenthood murders every year?
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Read the full October 21st transcript here:
CNN Newsroom
10/21/20
1:02:06 PMBRIANNA KEILAR: Well, let's talk now with E.R. Dr. Leana Wen, who is Baltimore's former health commissioner. Doctor, it’s great to see you. It is not great to talk about the forecast that we're seeing here because it is bad, there is really no way around that. Give us the reality check on what to expect.
DR. LEANA WEN (CNN MEDICAL ANALYST): We are on the verge of exponential, explosive spread across the U.S. We know this because we've been there before. We've seen what happens when you have rising numbers of infections, rising hospitalizations, and all this in a setting also of high levels of test positivity, which means that we're not doing nearly enough testing and the real numbers of infections is certainly to be much higher than what's currently reported. The difference between what's happening now versus before is that there are virus hot spots simmering all over the country. And all of this is as we're just in October. We haven't even hit the worst of the winter yet when people have to be indoors when it gets really cold. And we're still arguing in the U.S. about whether we should be wearing masks when it's something that's such a basic intervention that can save lives. So I'm really worried about the grim winter that's ahead.
KEILAR: So we need to wear masks. What else do we need to do?
WEN: So there are simple interventions that we know by now can save lives. Absolutely wear masks. Wearing masks can reduce the risk transmission by up to 80 percent. We also have to avoid crowds, avoid these crowded gatherings, especially large crowded gatherings. We have to keep our physical distancing, maintain at least six feet away from individuals who are not in our household, continue to wash our hands. I mean, these are all the things that we've been discussing for weeks, for months now, but they are as important as before. And also really keep in mind that it's these small gatherings of extended family and friends that's driving the surge. So, as we're coming into the holidays, be aware that we don't want to be the ones who are hosting the next super-spreader event and inadvertently sicken our loved ones. And so use an abundance of caution even with the people we love.
KEILAR: Very, very good advice. It was notable that the U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, today dismissed herd immunity as a public health strategy. He said in a tweet, “this could overwhelm health care systems and lead to many complications/deaths.” So, I mean, clearly, he felt that it was necessary to say this out loud and to say this publicly. Do you understand why?
WEN: Well, it seems that it's because there is this disagreement within the Trump administration and we have people like Scott Atlas who has the President's ear and is advocating for strategies like herd immunity, which, by the way, goes against the consensus of the entire medical, scientific and public health community, because herd immunity is not a strategy. It's basically saying, we wash our hands, we give up. Forget all the sacrifices that people have made along the way. We're just going to let millions of people die when we could have stopped that from occurring in the first place. I mean, I think it's really tragic that we have to -- we continue to have to speak up and speak out against strategies like this that aren't strategies. They are just a method for having preventable deaths in this country.
KEILAR: It's not a public health strategy, it's a white flag. The President was asked if he’d do anything differently if he could redo his pandemic response and he said, quote, not much. What is your reaction to that?
WEN: I mean, that's shocking, because I think all of us should be able to look back and say, we've learned a lot along the way. We didn't know in the beginning, for example, how important testing is from the get-go and we missed opportunities. We missed opportunities when it came to mask-wearing because we didn't know about the beginning about asymptomatic and aerosol spread. We know all that now. We know the importance of restrictions. We know the importance also of having early action, of having consistent messaging. All of these things we've learned. And to hear the President say that he wouldn't do things differently when there are over 220,000 Americans who have died, I mean, that's shocking, it's unbelievable. And I think for all of us, we need to see this as a call to action for each individual, to take matters into our own hands. If there's failure on the level of the federal government, we need to each do our part, wear masks, practice social distancing, because it is really up to each of us to change the trajectory of the disease ahead.
KEILAR: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much.
