harold varmus. i'm pleased you made time to be with us. >> my pleasure. >> let me ask you of that characterization of that op-ed. it struck me to see your name next to that sentiment, that argument, and, indeed, that headline was jarring to me because of what i know about your history in health and medicine -- in science and medicine. tell me about the decision-making process to do that, to go that far. >> let me say, first of all, rachel, i didn't write the headline. the headline was useful because it attracted a lot of readers, but i don't want to be bashing the cdc overall. it is a great institution that served the nation well for many years, but they made a mistake advocating that we test asymptomatic people less frequently. that's the opposite of what we need for reasons you laid out. we need to test people and limit the transmission of the virus. i want to skplarngs firexplain,, testing asymptomatic people is critical to control the pandemic, and we have a lot of new tools do that, and we can

varmus on science and technology and dr. varmus was pointed at the cancer of institute. is your background, you do not expect to see dr. varmus' name on top of an opt-ed like this one. "it has come to this, it has come to the cdc." we were startled and dismayed to learn that the cdc altered its testing guidelines to reduce the testing of asoymtommatic people. it is up to states and other other institutions to act. dr. varmus, he's the former head of the nah. today dr. varmus is one of the ones who endorsed joe biden. joining us now is dr. harold harold varmus. >> my pleasure. >> let me ask you of that headline was jarring to me because of what i know about your history in health and medicine, in science and medicine. tell me about the decision making process to go that far >> first of all, i didn't write the headline. the headline was useful because it attracted a lot of readers. i don't want to badger the cdc. it is a great institution that served the nation well for many years but they made a mistake advocating that we test asymptomatic people less frequently. we need