PHILADELPHIA — Deborah Birx — the Pennsylvania-born government doctor who rose to international prominence during the pandemic — is back in the news, this time promoting her account of her controversial stint as the first coronavirus response coordinator under former President Donald Trump.
In an interview with ABC News promoting her new book, Birx claimed she became “paralyzed” when Trump famously floated the idea of injecting disinfectant to treat the coronavirus in April 2020, and further detailed a resignation pact she formed with other doctors on Trump’s coronavirus task force.
Donning her signature scarves, Birx became a daily fixture at the White House news briefings early in the pandemic, and eventually faced blowback for not standing up against Trump’s misinformed comments. And though she said she doesn’t regret taking the job, Birx called the disinfectant episode a “tragedy on many levels” and regretted not rebuffing the claim more forcefully at the time.
