Dr. Eric Topol: The CDC Was a “No-Show for the Pandemic”

  COVID-19 numbers in general are co ming down in the U.S. But the good news is tentative. Viral variants appear to be increasingly widespread, an important reminder that people must keep their guard up. Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, is one of the country's top medical researchers. He spoke with Walter Isaacson about vaccines, variants, and what to expect going forward. CDC is responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in China and which has now been detected in almost 70 locations internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”). On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of internationa...