Deborah Birx calls on Trump to back Covid vaccine as she reveals she thinks about ‘disinfectant’ episode every day

‘You can see how extraordinarily uncomfortable I was’

Former Trump White House coronavirus coordinator Dr Deborah Birx has said that she hopes that the former president backs the vaccine and revealed that she thinks about the moment that he suggested injecting disinfectant to deal with the virus "every day".

"That moment obviously, there's a lot of tape on that, you can see how extraordinarily uncomfortable I was," Dr Birx told ABC News.

She added: "Frankly, I didn't know how to handle that episode, I still think about it every day."

At a White House briefing in April last year, Mr Trump turned to Bill Bryan, an official dealing with the Covid response, and said: “So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn’t been checked because of the testing.

Read more:

• GOP ‘being eaten alive’ by Trump - follow US politics live
• Daughter-in-law of Trump’s right-hand man is cooperating with financial probe
• Trump thanks Washington Post after ‘find the fraud’ story corrected 

“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too.”

He went on: “And then I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”

Dr Birx, who was seen staring at the floor during Mr Trump’s comments, was criticised by some for not intervening at that moment to reject Mr Trump’s suggestion. She explained that after spending almost three decades in the military – where she achieved the rank of colonel – interrupting and contradicting a commanding officer in a public setting was not something her training had taught her to do. She said that Mr Trump had been speaking to a different official in the room when he made the controversial and inaccurate statement.

She briefly said "not a treatment" when Mr Trump asked her if heat and ultraviolet rays could be used to treat the virus in people.

Mr Trump, apparently stung by the criticism and mockery he faced following his comments, claimed the following day that he been speaking “sarcastically” to reporters “to see what would happen”.

Dr Birx told ABC News: "Those of you who have served in the military know that there are discussions you have in private with your commanding officers and there's discussions you had in public."

While they both were the scientific voices in a room where Mr Trump repeatedly made false claims about the pandemic, Dr Birx was a political appointee and could be fired at any time while she said her colleague Dr Anthony Fauci had a more stable position as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr Birx said she often spoke to Dr Fauci about "how to correct the record".

She said: "I can't tell you how many discussions we had on, how do we get the message out realising what's happening at the most senior levels of the White House."

Dr Birx, who left the White House in December, said the new Biden administration's unity in messaging is vital.

She said: "Whether it's the CDC director or Dr Fauci or President Biden or Vice President Harris, all of them and all of their spokespeople are communicating exactly the same pieces, and I think that is critically important."

She said that when there's a discrepancy in the public messaging from various parts of the government, it can allow people "to give themselves permission to perhaps do things that may put other people at risk".

She praised the previous presidents who have pushed for people to get vaccinated, and said she hoped that Mr Trump would do the same.

She said: "I hope President Trump lends his voice to that. I think it is important. But to every Trump supporter out there: Protect yourself, protect your family. Get vaccinated."

In a recent PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, around half of all men who identify as Republicans said they would not get the vaccine. Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, Dr Fauci also called for Mr Trump to encourage his supporters to get inoculated.

Asked to respond to the poll numbers and whether Mr Trump should speak to his supporters, Dr Fauci said: “I hope he does because the numbers that you gave are so disturbing. How such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to get vaccinated merely because of political considerations … it makes absolutely no sense."