Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has slammed Dr. Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky, during a hearing on the government’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The senator incorrectly claimed that a rising number of infections in New York show that lockdowns do not work.
Dr. Fauci, NIAID Director, then challenged him, noting the current low COVID-19 positive test rate in the state, to which, Dr. Paul erroneously said it is because of herd immunity.
Dr. Fauci said Dr. Paul “misconstrued” what happened in New York, adding that the senator has done it so “repetitively in the past.
Dr. Fauci’s schooling to Dr. Paul drew cheers from the medical community.
Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha said Dr. Paul “almost” understands the complex issues of immunity and cross-reactivity and keeps sharing “nonsense that is largely incorrect,” while “Dr. Fauci patiently lays out the facts.”
Journalist Chip Franklin called Paul “ignorant” and tweeted the clip of the interaction saying, “Watch Fauci school him.”
Radiologist Dr. Howard Forman of Yale University said Dr. Fauci is “not taking s*** from Rand Paul today.”
Epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding called Paul a “fake-board-certified ophthalmologist,” adding the senator created his own “dubious org to self certify himself.”
However, Buzz Patterson, the Republican California Congressional candidate, stood up for Paul, stating he “showed what a partisan Dr. Fauci really is.”
“If you believe 22% is herd immunity, I believe you’re alone in that,” Dr. Fauci told Dr. Paul.
“It’s important that we the people not simply acquiesce to authoritarian mandates on our behavior without first making the nanny state prove their hypothesis,” Dr. Paul said, adding New York and the tri-state area “still allowed the highest death rates in the world” despite the shutdown.
This is not the first time it has gotten contentious between Dr. Paul, who was the first senator to test positive for COVID-19, and Dr. Fauci.
In May, Dr. Paul told Dr. Fauci, “I don’t think you’re the end all. I don’t think you’re the one person that gets to make a decision.” Dr. Fauci replied, “I have never made myself out to be the end all and only voice in this. I’m a scientist, a physician and a public health official.”
