Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida lashed out at the man widely considered America’s top expert on COVID-19, accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of deceiving the public on the effectiveness of face coverings and downplaying what it might take to eradicate the virus from human populations.
“Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March,” Sen. Rudio tweeted on Sunday morning. “Dr. Fauci has been distorting the level of vaccination needed for herd immunity.”
“It isn’t just him,” the post continued. “Many in elite bubbles believe the American public doesn’t know ‘what’s good for them’ so they need to be tricked into ‘doing the right thing.’”
Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March
Dr. Fauci has been distorting the level of vaccination needed for herd immunity
It isn’t just him
Many in elite bubbles believe the American public doesn’t know “what’s good for them” so they need to be tricked into “doing the right thing”
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 27, 2020
Rubio posted the comments after Dr. Fauci appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” where he told anchor Dana Bash that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is still yet to come.
Fauci, who recently turned 80, has been criticized for frequently changing his recommendations and projections since the pandemic began. The National Institute of Allery and Infectious Diseases director was an original member of the Trump administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, which formed in January. In the beginning, he significantly influenced the president’s response, public opinion, and mitigation policies on the national, state, and local levels. However, several media outlets tried to pit Fauci against President Donald J. Trump and, at times, reduced his expertise to politicized guesswork.
Earlier this month, Dr. Fauci accepted a job offer from Joe Biden to become his chief medical adviser.
The New York Times recently reported that Dr. Fauci “has begun incrementally raising his herd-immunity estimate,” and:
In the pandemic’s early days, Dr. Fauci tended to cite the same 60 to 70 percent estimate that most experts did. About a month ago, he began saying “70, 75 percent” in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said “75, 80, 85 percent” and “75 to 80-plus percent.”
In a telephone interview the next day, Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts. He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks.
Hard as it may be to hear, he said, he believes that it may take close to 90 percent immunity to bring the virus to a halt – almost as much as is needed to stop a measles outbreak.
I am sure its just an innocent oversight, but @cnn left out how Dr. Fauci said his biggest fear is widespread vaccine hesitancy https://t.co/HW6yry45cc
And they fail to mention facts that would undermine their claim that I downplayed the pandemic https://t.co/NMKCcGG3b5 https://t.co/liYuvfLaaO pic.twitter.com/bnvABUoIeF
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 22, 2020
President Trump accused Fauci of being a media darling in October, describing him as a “disaster.”
“Dr. Tony Fauci says we don’t allow him to do television, and yet I saw him last night on @60Minutes, and he seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope,” Trump tweeted at the time. “All I ask of Tony is that he make better decisions. He said ‘no masks & let China in’.”
Dr.Tony Fauci says we don’t allow him to do television, and yet I saw him last night on @60Minutes, and he seems to get more airtime than anybody since the late, great, Bob Hope. All I ask of Tony is that he make better decisions. He said “no masks & let China in”. Also, Bad arm!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2020
Mr. Trump referred to Fauci’s advice from earlier this year, citing his opposition to a proposal that would restrict travel from China, where COVID-19 had originated. According to the NY Times, Fauci later changed his mind at the end of January.
Fauci went on to reverse course on the usefulness of face coverings after telling the USA Today editorial board in mid-February, “there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to wear a mask” in the United States. By the end of March, Fauci said he would “lean toward” the idea of changing that recommendation “if we do not have a problem of taking away masks from the health care workers who need them.” A few days later, after the task force obtained new data indicating casual conversations could spread the virus, Fauci said the general public should be wearing cloth masks in addition to physical distancing.
Related: Fauci Warns Americans That Worst Of COVID-19 Still Yet To Come
