A nationally recognized doctor said his reliance on science over conspiracy theories make him an easy target during the pandemic.
Doctor Anthony Fauci has been both praised and ridiculed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic after he became the face associated with government medical responses. As the Director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Fauci has struggled to bridge the communication gap between the government and the public, and in a recent interview he tried to defend “the science” that he feels is diminished by “conspiracy theories.”
“I have stood for always making science, data and evidence be what we guide ourselves by,” Fauci told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. “And, I think people who feel differently, who have conspiracy theories, who deny reality, that’s looking them straight in the eye.”
“Those are people that don’t particularly care for me, and that’s understandable because of what I do,” he added in the interview. “Sometimes, the truth becomes inconvenient for some people so they react against me.” He has been a lightning rod for criticism about mandates for masks and vaccines, most recently from Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).
Fauci tried to emphasize during his Fox News Sunday appearance that he’s uncomfortable telling people what to do under normal circumstances, before noting, “We are not in normal circumstances.”
The nation’s top infectious disease expert used law enforcement officers as an example. “Take the police,” Fauci said. “We now know the statistics: more police officers die of Covid-19 than they do from other causes of death, so it doesn’t make any sense not trying to protect yourself, as well as the colleagues that you work with.”
He was alluding to many lawsuits brought by police officers around the country objecting to state, local or agency mandates for Covid-19 vaccination.
Oregon State Police Troopers sued after Governor Kate Brown issued an executive order requiring all executive branch employees, such as troopers, to become vaccinated. The Democrat Governor noted that many private and public employers across the country have imposed similar mandates. The governor’s order gives state executive branch employees until Oct. 18 to show proof they’ve been fully vaccinated, or they could be fired.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he won’t enforce his county’s vaccine mandate.
New York health care workers sued after disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo mandated they get vaccinated, or get fired. A judge recently ruled in their favor, finding that the state had to honor religious exemptions to the mandate.
“So I think if we can get people to just think about that, think about the implications of not getting vaccinated,” Fauci said, again pressing the need for vaccines. He also brought up the new guidance from the Food and Drug Administration that endorsed Moderna booster shots for six months after the second shot and a Johnson & Johnson booster two months after the shot.
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