Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday (Dec. 27) accused top U.S. epidemiologist Anthony Fauci of lying about the effectiveness of masks and misrepresenting information about the percentage of people who would have to be vaccinated to gain herd immunity against the Chinese Communist virus (Neocoronavirus) in the United States.
According to Foxnews, Rubio, a Florida Republican, said in a tweet, “Dr. Fauci lied about the masks in March, and Dr. Fauci misrepresented the percentage of vaccinations needed for herd immunity. Not just him, but many in elite circles believe that the American public doesn’t know ‘what’s good for them’ so they need to be duped in order to get them to ‘do the right thing’.”
Rubio’s comments on the vaccine issue may have come after Fauci’s interview with the New York Times. The interview was about public health officials “quietly changing” the percentage of the American public that must be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity.
When polls showed that only about half of Americans would be vaccinated, I said that herd immunity would require 70 to 75 percent,” Fauci said. Then, when the latest survey showed that 60 percent or more would be vaccinated, I thought, ‘I can raise that number a little bit,’ so I moved it up to 80 or 85 percent.”
He continued, “We have to be a little humble here – we really don’t know what the real number is. I think the real range is between 70 and 90 percent. But I wouldn’t say 90 percent.”
That statement stirred up anger at Fauci for not telling the truth to Americans.
In his report, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat said, “You can’t just ‘trust the science’ because scientists lie to you all the time and then they say, ‘Oh, that was just a noble lie, I’m sorry.'”
Speaking about the New York Times interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Fauci said, “We have to recognize that we have to be humble and recognize that there are things that we don’t know. These are pure estimates.” “The calculations that I’ve done – which are a range – the reason I initially said 70 to 75 percent – are actually based on calculations and pure extrapolation .”
Fauci also said the increase in the numbers he has publicly stated is about 10 percent, which isn’t that big. When asked more directly if he had intentionally adjusted the numbers based on polls, he went on to say, “A little bit.” And added, “I want to encourage people in the United States and around the world to get vaccinated.”
Another part of Rubio’s tweet also took aim at the epidemic’s early public health recommendations, which also saw an apparent reversal. At the time, there was little research on the CCP virus and the U.S. was facing a severe shortage of personal protective equipment.
Officials said at the time that a surge in the supply (of masks) and evolving scientific research – not lies – had led to a change in recommendations about wearing masks.
In February, HHS Director Jerome Adams urged Americans to “STOP BUYING MASKS”; a few months later, he, Fauci and other U.S. public health officials said wearing masks was the best way to stop the spread of disease.
Adams laid out where the change occurred at a July briefing of the White House Task Force on the CCP virus.
WHO and professionals initially advised the public not to wear masks because, based on the best evidence available at the time, it was not believed that wearing a mask would have a significant impact on whether a healthy person would contract COVID-19 coronavirus (the CCP virus),” Adams said. What we have always recommended is that those who are symptomatic wear a mask.”
He added, “What has changed in our recommendations? — We now know from recent studies that a significant proportion of people with coronavirus are asymptomatic — even those who eventually develop symptoms can transmit the virus to others beforehand.”
Rubio’s criticism of Fauci’s comments came just days after he went public with his vaccination. Rubio said he went public with the vaccine to convince the American public that it was safe.
Rubio tweeted, “I know, I took my eyes off the needle at the time. Yes, I know, I need to get a bronze tan.” “But I was so confident that the COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective that I decided to get it myself.”
Vaccination efforts for frontline health workers and vulnerable older adults continued in the final days of December, as more and more people were able to access the vaccine. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Fauci said he believes the vaccine will likely be available to the public by late March or early April, and that herd immunity will likely be reached by “mid to late summer.
That way, he said, we would be “back to some form of normalcy” by this fall.
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