Ep. 449 — Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2021

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was picking up his dry cleaning in Brooklyn when he got a call from the Obama administration asking if he was interested in the job. He wavered at first, but realized it was the perfect blend of his healthcare nonprofit, advocacy and medical practice experiences. He is now on his second stint as America’s top doctor under President Biden. Dr. Murthy joined David to talk about his family’s immigration story, Covid-19 and his concerns over variants and vaccination rates, gun violence, emotional wellness and loneliness and designing a better post-pandemic future.

To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with
0:12.5	your host, David Axelrod.
0:18.9	Dr. Vivek Murthy now serving his second tour as the nation's surgeon general is not just
0:23.8	an extraordinarily powerful and compelling voice on public health, which is so important
0:29.1	as we work our way through this pandemic.
0:31.4	He has an amazing personal story as well, as you can hear in this conversation that we
0:36.2	recorded yesterday.
0:45.0	Dr. Murthy, good to see you again.
0:47.0	So happy to have this time with you.
0:49.0	There is so much to talk about going on in your world, in your portfolio right now, but
0:55.4	I really want to first talk a little bit about you and your story because it is an extraordinary
1:02.6	story.
1:03.6	It's one of those great American immigrant stories.
1:07.2	Tell me about your family and you weren't born here.
1:11.4	How you came here, how they came here, talk a little bit about the beginnings in India.
1:16.2	Well, thanks, David.
1:17.2	It is so nice to see you again and to be here with you.
1:20.5	So my story is one of many unlikely stories that make up our country here in America.
1:26.7	And I was really blessed with parents who had the foresight, the courage, the vision to
1:33.0	imagine that there may be a place halfway across the world that may have better opportunities
1:37.9	for their children in terms of education, but also just in terms of acceptance.
1:42.2	And there might be a funny thing for them growing up in India and you might think, well,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.