Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx told Newsmax that news media coverage missed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opening discussion on health in tribal nations and rural communities during Wednesday's Senate appearance.
"Those are the groups where COVID was most deadly," Birx said Thursday during an appearance on "American Agenda."
"And people are talking about how the United States had the most COVID proportionate deaths," she said. "And that's a very simple reason. We have the highest level of chronic disease, which were the drivers in many cases of susceptibility to severe COVID.
"So, we have a chronic disease epidemic, and we've been treating it. And so, people are living with those diseases. But really talking about how do we get to the 30- and 40-year-olds before they have destruction in their bodies? And how do we diagnose early and how do we reverse pre-diabetes? There are ways to do this," she added.
"So, I think talking about solving this chronic disease issue is very important to me, personally. It's why I'm putting a lot of effort into rural health and changing rural health models and making sure that our health care system works in the rural areas, as well as it works in some of the urban areas."
The Senate Finance Committee had called Kennedy to a hearing about his plans to "Make America Healthy Again," but Democratic senators pressed Kennedy on his actions around vaccines.
Some even urged him to resign.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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