Dr. Anthony Fauci incurred the wrath of the MAGAverse when he declared that the emperor has no clothes when it came to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci had to stand up and disagree with President Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the pandemic—such as suggestions that hydroxychloroquine or bleach might work, or that the virus is going to suddenly go away with a change of season. Unhinged MAGAts responded with death threats directed against Fauci and his family.
But Trump did at least fast-track the development of COVID-19 vaccines with his Operation Warp Speed, even though MAGA supporters began falling victim to anti-vaxx conspiracy theories. And the ambitious Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sees an opening there.
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Fauci is leaving his posts as chief White House medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the end of the year.
And he isn’t wasting any time in responding to the latest nonsense put forth by the Florida man who would be president. And we’re not talking about Trump.
On Tuesday, DeSantis said his office had petitioned for a grand jury investigation into alleged “crimes and wrongdoing” against Floridians “related to the development, promotion and distribution” of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The governor also announced plans to establish a state Public Health Integrity Committee due to distrust of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DeSantis said anything the CDC puts out, “you just assume, at this point, that it’s not worth the paper that it’s printed on.”
The committee would be headed by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who has already gone on record as opposing mask mandates and claiming that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are unsafe.
It was just another political stunt pulled off by DeSantis in his expected bid to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. So in an interview with CNN’s Kate Boldaun on Wednesday, Fauci was having none of DeSantis’ nonsense: “I don't have a clue what he's asking for. We have a vaccine that unequivocally is highly effective and safe, and has saved literally millions of lives. … So what’s the problem with vaccines? I mean, vaccines are life-saving. So quite frankly, Kate, I’m not sure what they’re trying to do down there.”
Fauci cited statistics from a report from The Commonwealth Fund that came out on Dec. 13, that the COVID vaccines have prevented millions of deaths and hospitalizations in the U.S. since they first started being administered nearly two years ago. Here are the key findings of that report:
From December 2020 through November 2022, we estimate that the COVID-19 vaccination program in the U.S. prevented more than 18.5 million additional hospitalizations and 3.2 million additional deaths. Without vaccination, there would have been nearly 120 million more COVID-19 infections. The vaccination program also saved the U.S. $1.15 trillion (Credible Interval: $1.10 trillion–$1.19 trillion) (data not shown) in medical costs that would otherwise have been incurred.
Please proceed, Gov. DeathSantis.
Fauci was then asked what could be done to turn things around after the pandemic has become “politicized and weaponized by some people.” Fauci replied:
“If people don't get vaccinated, which unequivocally is life-saving, because of political ideology or because of misinformation and disinformation, that costs lives. We just have to get the American public, regardless of whether you lean left or right, it doesn't matter at all, we're all in this together, we're all human beings and susceptible to disease that can kill us.
“It ever there was a time in society when we need to pull together and recognize that the common enemy is the virus, not each other, we've got to get people to appreciate that. Like I said, I don't have an easy answer, but when people's lives are lost, maybe that will shake people up to realize we have to pull together, not against each other.”
Fauci also didn’t mince words in responding to criticism from Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, who on Sunday called in a tweet for Fauci to be prosecuted. “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Musk tweeted. He later shared a meme edited to show Fauci as Grima Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings telling Biden, “Just one more lockdown, my king.”
“I don’t pay attention to that,” Fauci said during an interview on MSNBC, when asked about Musk. “I mean, yeah, he has a big megaphone, but, I mean, the Twittersphere as it is has really gone berserk lately. It’s kind of become almost a cesspool of misinformation.”
And even though Fauci is leaving his government posts at the end of the year, Republican lawmakers have announced plans to use their new House majority to investigate Fauci over the U.S. COVID-19 response.
Fauci’s response: Bring it on. “I have nothing to hide at all, despite the accusations that I’m hiding something. I have nothing that I could not explain clearly to the country and justify,” Fauci told The Hill last month.
Here is the CNN interview. Fauci’s remarks about DeSantis begin at the 4:45 mark.
