President Trump has not met with the White House coronavirus task force recently, according to the head of the National Institutes of Health.
It has been “quite some time,” NIH Director Francis Collins told National Public Radio on Tuesday.
“I think the president primarily is getting his information from the vice president, from Dr. Atlas,” Collins added.
Dr. Scott Atlas, who is a member of the task force, appears to have become Trump’s lead adviser on the coronavirus. Atlas, who is not an epidemiologist, generated controversy recently when he met with scientists involved with “The Great Barrington Declaration,” a document that outlines a “herd immunity” strategy for dealing with the pandemic. Many public health experts have been highly critical of the document.
Recently Trump was critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, another member of the task force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb,” Trump said in a recent campaign call. “But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy’s a disaster.”
