i am secretary shulkin. he said oh no this can't be true. but we got them on his way and i got another physician to help him. >> host: early on you mentioned by priority that you had in the va. could you talk about those five priorities and how you arrived at what they would need and maybe can expand on some of your ways of achieving those goals. >> guest: when i firsten came to the va i not only had never worked in government before the day was an organization that i was going to have to l learn. it's such a large organization that if i had waited until a truly understood everything about it i would have waited a long time but as i mentioned it was a time of crisis. they were veterans literally waiting for care. we leave this program to take you live to capitol hill for a press conference following the

i'll be speaking with david shulkin next. with david shulkin next so when it comes to screening for colon cancer, don't wait. because when caught early, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... ...even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. that's a step in the right direction. -excuse me. uh... do you mind...being a mo-tour? -what could be better than being a mo-tour? the real question is... do you mind not being a mo-tour? -i do. for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. >>> he wrote a letter. the letter was a five-page letter from a cam it aptain and letter was all over the place. that's not appropriate. i don't think that's appropriate. >> it's not appropriate. earlier today the president weighed in on the decision to relief navy captain brett crozier from his

he said why, i said because i am secretary shulkin.we got him on his way and i got another physician to help them. >> you early on mentioned five priorities you had when you are coming into the va. could you talk about those five priorities and how you arrived at what they would be? and maybe you can expand on how you feel you did in achieving those goals? >> when i first came to the va, i not only, never worked in government before. this was an organization that i was going to have to learn. it was such a large organization that if i had waited until i truly understood everything about it, we'd be waiting a long time. as i mentioned, i entered at a time of crisis. there were veterans literally waiting for care that needed help and i didn't feel like i have the time that i normally would if this was a normal situation. so i came in having studied the va from the outside the best i could i came in and said we will have priorities right now. if we change them later that's okay. but our single top priority was going to be to address the w

. >> secretary shulkin, one of the things we're talking about is a vaccine. there's testing, there's treatment and there's vaccine. we don't have enough testing, we don't yet have a treatment. we have some things that we're looking at and real possibilities, including convalescent plasma. then there's vaccine. one of the conversations i was having with bill gates who knows a lot about vaccines, he says this under 18 months, under a year talk is happy talk but it not actually typical for a vaccine. because of the amount of testing and the number of people you need in a vaccine test, they usually take longer. we might to think about the fact that this one might be two years or more before we have a combination of either vaccine or therapy to the extent that most people can be covered by it. >> yeah. ali, i think it really is unknown. the soonest that we've seen a vaccine be developed is actually four years. talking about doing this in 18 months would be an incredible, you know, something really unusual for us to see. but there is reason to be encouraged. we are

david shulkin is the former veterans affairs secretary under president trump.'s joining us right now on the phone. mr. secretary, when you look at how this outbreak was handled, what message does it send to the sailors and marines aboard this aircraft carrier? >> well, i think it's most important to our men and women who serve that they know that they have officers that are looking out for their best interests. and we saw with the captain that was dismissed that he was looking out for their interests and he knew he needed to get help. and we want our officers to be able to stand up and do what's right. because watching men and women get sick like this, they can't do their job, they can't protect their country and we have to keep them healthy and well to be able to defend the country. >> yeah, the president ridiculed the captain of the theodore roosevelt because he wrote letters complaining, the letters were leaked and the president said he's writing letters, who does he think he is, ernest hemingway. that was pretty awful when we heard the president spe about t

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shulkin to use his savings medical workers on the front lines. >>it didn't take long for the money to run out prompting marshall to change his side but word of his good deeds spread fast inspiring another resident to jointhe cause renewed fundmarshall was back in business this time with help. multiple trucks from the new york fire department showed up during a shift change at a queens hospital to patribute to doctors and nurses working tirelessly, e firefighters cheed blair their sirens and held up signs reading you are our heroes. >>that was a jemy roth reporting since more than 90% of americans are under stay at home orderoften looking for ways to entertain themselves. a neighborhood in peoria illinois. people there were treated to a curbside concert froma local deejay treasure roberts s that story. >>he says lee is on the front lines daily to reduce the spread of covid-19 scary going to work ery day and that's i'm putting myself i have to be there for my patients, she says she's be forced into a new utinely i feel like i go to come home in. no

david shulkin. he was also the president and ceo of beth israel medical center in new york city.r. secretary, thank you very much for joining us. first off, what are the medicines that they are running out of right now. what do hospitals need that they are having a harder time getting ahold of. >> katy, thank you for discussing this. we are hearing from hospital leaders that they're increasingly concerned about this supply. and one of the reasons is that the u.s. gets so many of its medications that are manufactured overseas and both china and india have put some halts on exports to the united states of some of these critical medications. and they include things that, of course, we hear a lot about like aazithromycin, but even more important, some of the common medications, some of the pain medications and analgesics, anything from tylenol to morphine in increasingly short supply. and paralytic agents that have to do with running ventilators and keeping people sedated are increasingly in short supply, and common medications like hormones and even anticholesterol medications, we'r

david shulkin. he is also the former president and c.e.o.beth israel medical center, and author of the book "it shouldn't be this hard to serve your country." mr. secretary, thanks very much for being on the program tonight. let me just start right there. how did this trial come to be inside the v.a.? do you think it was ethical to conduct it or are you sympathetic to concerns of people who say this was not the way to go about it? >> well, this was a retrospective study. this means that the researchers took a look at the results after the patients were already treated. it's the largest study of its type, though, so that's why this is so important. and the findings appear to be pretty significant and concerning. and so when you put this in conjunction where we found that those that were treated with the hydroxychloroquine had higher mortality rate and higher rates of going on ventilators, and you now take a look at the study out of brazil that had to be stopped early because of concerns about cardiac effects and mortality, this really should

let's bring in former va secretary david shulkin. mr. shulkin, you know the system so very well.veterans as much as possible, but sadly, they have haven't been spared the tragedy of this virus. what is your assessment of the situation and how the va is doing now? >> we certainly have to do everything we can to protect our veterans. so many of them are older and vulnerable and really deserve to be specially cared for. our men and women who work in the va healthcare system are doing such a terrific job. i'm so proud of them, but they are doing this under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. many va hospitals came into this crisis short staffed already, and now we're seeing high absenteeism rates. over 130 -- i'm sorry, over 1130 of our va staff themselves have now become infected. as you mentioned, eric, seven of them have died. this is an extraordinary battle that they are undertaking, and they are struggling with getting all the equipment that they need, the protective equipment, and you can't expect the staff to take care of our veterans if you don't have healthy staff and s

. >> secretary shulkin, thanks. he is a former veteran affairs secretary and author of "it shouldn't be this hard to serve your country." >>> the best way to put the open for business sign back on america is a strategy of covid-19 testing. with some experts suggesting we need to test 20 to 30 million people a day. i'll talk to a rutgers researchers devel researchers behind a developing test. you're watching "velshi." can it one up breakfast in bed? yeah, for sure. thanks, boys. what about that? uhh, yep! it can? yeah, even that! i would very much like to see that. me too. introducing new tide power pods. one up the toughest stains with 50% more cleaning power than liquid detergent. any further questions? uh uh! nope! one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods. >>> i think 29 states are in that ball game, not open. i think they'll be able to open relatively soon. i think the remainder are getting better. we have a lot of states that through location, through luck, and also through a lot of talent. we have st

thursday, april 23, p more information.y, april 23, p >> next, doctor david shulkin recounts his timet the secretary of the veterans affairs department for the trump administration. he's interviewed by jeremy butler. "after words" is a weekly interview program. they are also available to listen to as podcasts.