On multiple occasions over the past year, Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before Congress to update lawmakers on America’s COVID-19 response.
Dr. Fauci assumed control of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984. The infectious disease expert — who has served through seven presidential administrations in his current position — quickly assumed a leading role in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past year, however, many Americans have expressed frustration over Dr. Fauci’s seemingly fluid public health guidelines.
For example, at one point, Fauci told Americans that face masks were unnecessary. He then pivoted toward encouraging face coverings, later instructing vaccinated Americans to continue wearing masks. Most recently, he said that Americans ought to consider wearing two masks.
Lawmakers have likewise noticed Dr. Fauci’s changing standards. Here are three heated exchanges between the nation’s top public health professional and leading members of Congress.
Rand Paul — Vaccine and two masks
During a March 18 hearing, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pointed out that Fauci’s decision to wear two masks after receiving the vaccine was a strange move, especially in light of Fauci’s role in assuring Americans of the vaccine’s efficacy.
“You’ve been vaccinated and you parade around in two masks for show,” noted Sen. Paul, an ophthalmologist and graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine. “You can’t get it again. There’s virtually 0% chance you’re gonna get it, and yet you’re telling people that have had the vaccine, that have immunity — you’re defying everything we know about immunity by telling people to wear masks that have been vaccinated.”
“You want to get rid of vaccine hesitancy? Wearing masks after they get the vaccine? You want people to get the vaccine? Give them a reward instead of telling them that the nanny state is going to be there for three more years and you gotta wear a mask forever,” said Paul. “People don’t want to hear it; there’s no science behind it.”
“Let me state just for the record that masks are not theater. Masks are protective,” Fauci immediately declared.
“If you have immunity they’re theater,” Sen. Paul shot back. “If you already have immunity, you’re wearing a mask to give comfort to others, you’re not wearing a mask because of any science.”
Despite studies showing that COVID-19 vaccines are effective against other strains of COVID-19, Fauci justified his position by stating that one may not necessarily have immunity with a “circulating variant.”
Jim Jordan — Black Lives Matter protests
During the summer of 2020, politicians across the United States seemed to show far more zeal in enforcing COVID-19 regulations for businesses and church services in comparison to Black Lives Matter protests. When Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked Dr. Fauci if he would encourage officials to uphold their standards more consistently, Fauci refused to take a concrete position.
“Well, I’m not in a position to determine what the government can do in a forceful way,” said the nation’s leading public health official in response to Rep. Jordan.
“Well, you make all kinds of recommendations,” retorted the congressman. “You make comments on dating, on baseball, on everything you can imagine. I’m just asking, you just said protests increase the spread. I’m just asking should we try to limit the protest?”
Fauci doubled down: “I think I would leave that to people who have more of a position to do that.”
After Fauci insisted multiple times that he was “not going to opine on limiting anything,” Rep. Jordan asked, “Do you see the inconsistency, though, Dr. Fauci?”
“There’s no inconsistency, congressman,” he replied.
Rand Paul — Reopening schools
As the United States began emerging from economic lockdowns in May of 2020, Dr. Fauci warned the Senate that the nation could see another uptick in cases. He also suggested that schools ought to remain closed through the fall semester — a point which Sen. Paul immediately challenged.
“I think that … we’re going to have a national one-size-fits-all approach — nobody’s going to go to school, is kind of ridiculous,” Sen. Paul said to Fauci. “We really ought to be doing it school district by school district, and the power needs to be dispersed because people make wrong predictions.”
“We ought to have a little bit of humility in our belief that we know what’s best for the economy,” he continued. “And, as much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don’t think you’re the end-all. I don’t think you’re the one person that gets to make the decision.”
“Sen. Paul, thank you for your comments, I have never made myself out to be the end-all and only voice of this,” responded Fauci, who then expressed concern that some children develop inflammatory syndromes in association with COVID-19 infection.
“We don’t know everything about this virus and we really better be very careful, particularly when it comes from children,” Fauci said. “For example, right now children presenting with COVID-19 who actually have a very strange inflammatory syndrome.”
Though a year’s worth of research has since revealed that schools can safely reopen — a point that Biden-appointed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky supported in February — many American children remain at home, largely due to teachers union strikes in major cities.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.