- Anthony Fauci said that if vaccination was opposed at the time, the United States might still be fighting polio and smallpox.
- The top American scientist is attacking anti-vaccination commentators who spread misinformation.
- This happened days after President Joe Biden expressed frustration with misinformation on social media.
Top American scientist Anthony Fauci lashed out at commentators who opposed the subject of vaccination on Saturday, saying that if there was today’s misinformation at the time, the United States might still be fighting smallpox and polio.
The comments of the country’s leading infectious disease experts reflect people’s frustration over the sharp decline in the Covid-19 vaccination rate in the United States, even though the disease has been proliferating in low-incidence states.
A few days ago, President Joe Biden expressed his own obvious frustration, saying that the spread of well-known misinformation about vaccines on social media is “killing”.
In response to a CNN interviewer, Fauci asked whether he thought “If Fox News warned people about these vaccine problems night after night, we could have defeated measles or eradicated polio.”
Fauci said:
We may still have smallpox, we may still have polio… if we have the kind of false information that is spreading.
The initial suspicion of vaccines in many areas has gradually evolved into outright hostility, and this information has been amplified by baseless conspiracy theories broadcast regularly on Fox and other conservative networks.
“Maybe it doesn’t work, they just didn’t tell you,” Tucker Carlson, one of Fox’s most popular commentators, said recently.
On the contrary, these vaccines have proven to be very effective. For example, officials in Maryland state that none of the people who died of the disease in the state last month had been vaccinated.
Regarding the suggestion of sending vaccine educators door-to-door to encourage people to vaccinate, Fox commentator Charlie Hurt said, “They become like Taliban.”
Conservative politicians increasingly agree with former President Donald Trump’s mockery of Covid-19 preventive measures.
Rep. Madison Cawthorne of North Carolina suggested that educators from house to house might come and take people’s guns—or their bibles.
After the initial vaccinations nationwide, the pace has slowed sharply.
Biden’s announced goal of vaccinating 70% of adults by July 4 fell by about 3 percentage points. Since then, the vaccination rate has slowed further, even though the Delta variant of the disease has spread rapidly.
Some Republicans tried to blame the widely respected Fauci himself for the spread of the disease and economic chaos.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Marjorie Taylor Greene) proposed the so-called “Fire Fauci Act”, calling for his salary to be reduced to zero and asking the Senate to confirm a replacement. No progress is expected in the bill.
Read also | The WHO warns countries against hoarding the third dose of vaccine, while poor countries do not
Fauci was asked on CNN that a political action organization associated with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was selling T-shirts with the words “Don’t let Fauci be my Florida”.
He looked really confused.
“Let a person who represents public health, truth…and use my name in a derogatory way to prevent people from doing things that are good for their own health. Think about it.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” he said, shaking his head.
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