As I wrote yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci was not the only one taking the Fifth yesterday on his record during the pandemic. The media effectively invoked the same privilege to avoid self-incrimination for their years of deifying the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Across the cable networks, hosts and guests were going into vapors as Republican senators pummelled Fauci over his COVID policies and the glaring contradictions found in his diary entries. Some, like Dr. Scott Ratzan, echoed Fauci’s own prior claim that any questioning of his judgment was an attack on science.
Once again, Fauci had every right to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. That does not mean that it was the right thing to do. Fauci already had a pardon that notably extended back to 2014 when his agency approved gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab in China. Any prosecution would be difficult in light of the pardon. It would not be impossible since he could be charged with perjury for any false statements. Yet, that was the same threat that existed during countless prior hearings for Fauci.
So what was the difference now? The answer is found in diary entries and other evidence that contradicts Fauci’s public statements on subjects ranging from the lab theory to school closures. It is not that Fauci would have been tripped into false answers but that he did not have any obvious answers to some of these criticisms.
Instead, Fauci invoked the privilege 111 times. That fell short of Vito Genovese’s record, who invoked the privilege 150 times.
Rather than address the long list of criticisms and contradictions for Fauci, the media rallied around the scientist. Fauci was portrayed as something akin to the St. Sebastian of Science, taking barbs and arrows for his faith. It did not matter that over 1.2 million people died, an economy shut down, and millions of children were prevented from attending school based on these alleged errors. Fauci would remain silent rather than risk being charged with false testimony.
On CNN, Dr. Scott Ratzan repeated Fauci’s much-maligned claim in June 2021 that “attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science.” Yesterday, Ratzan declared: “This is an assault on science and scientists, and unfortunately, Dr. Fauci is in that seat. 38 years of service to the country, one of the best-known scientists for infectious disease, unfortunately, has taken a lot of heat…”
It was a maddening statement, repeated by many, that treated Fauci as inviolate, if not infallible. Fauci was wrong about issues that produced tragic costs for this country. When confronted about policies such as school closures, he insisted he had never recommended them while privately admitting he had.
Fauci owes the public explanations, including millions who lost loved ones. Instead, he refused to take the risk of being accused of perjury.
Fauci is no Sebastian. Notably, Sebastian remained silent in public to conceal his faith, but when discovered by Diocletian, he remained faithful. The price was to be shot through with arrows, but he somehow survived. After being nursed back to health by Irene of Rome, he immediately confronted Diocletian in public and denounced his abuses. For that act he was beaten to death with clubs and tossed into a sewer.
Fauci spoke endlessly in public and remained silent only when asked to address the contradictions in his diaries and the costs of his alleged errors.
What is also frustrating for many is the reappearance of figures who toed the line on prior narratives about masks, the virus’s origin, and other issues. They are now claiming victimization in being asked to account for evidence that they were wrong. As Dr. Scott Atlas has laid out, many of those who abused dissenting scientists faced no repercussions after those scientists were largely vindicated in later research.
During this period, dissenting scientists were barred from social media, removed from positions, and vilified for expressing views, despite now being vindicated on subjects ranging from the lab origin of the virus, the efficacy of masks, the six-foot rule, natural immunity, and school closures.
Many previously echoed Fauci’s view that questioning these conclusions was an attack on science. One leading columnist wrote a piece titled “The COVID lab leak claim isn’t just an attack on science, but a threat to public health.”
When courageous scientists put their careers at risk (and some lost their positions) to voice their opposition to Fauci’s policies, neither he nor these acolytes said a thing in their defense. Fauci did not defend them as fighting for science and the need to challenge orthodoxy. When their views were later embraced, they received no apologies, let alone restoration.
For my part, I am not interested in hearing from scientists who remained silent as their counterparts were vilified, shadow-banned, and fired. Their deep faith in science did not prompt them to defend those with opposing views even though orthodoxy is the very antithesis of scientific thought.
Again, Fauci has every right to remain silent, but that does not make it right.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
In my view, the utility of an early establishment of COVID-19 virus origin was to determine if this was some exotic virulent zoonotic virus that had limited human-human transmissibility or was this an artificially jacked up virus – both virulent and transmissible. It turns out it was both virulent and highly human-human transmissible, consistent with an enhanced virus. Remarkably soon, the virus was sequenced and the cognoscenti had a lot to go on including designing vaccines and therapeutics.
Now it seems to me that the importance of the COVID-19 virus origin is for policy makers: reporting of accidental releases, gain of function research, inventories of jacked up viruses, lab procedures, etc. This is where Dr. Fauci’s cover up is most appalling; his embarrassment should not prevent full disclosure. But Dr. Fauci did not act alone but he had to have many people assisting him. So a thorough investigation should be able to describe the actions and policies that lead to COVID-19, at least from the US perspective. We will likely never hear reliable information from the Chinese.
Dr. Scott Ratzan declared: “This is an assault on science and scientists, and unfortunately, Dr. Fauci is in that seat. 38 years of service to the country, one of the best-known scientists for infectious disease, unfortunately, has taken a lot of heat…” Well the opposite is really true. According to Dr. Scott Atlas’ book, in June-July 2020, after noting that no one on the White House COVID taskforce had the technical standings to provide independent analyses of the current COVID policies, Dr. Atlas tried to arrange for outside review of the COVID policies with constructive discussions that would lead to improved policies. But Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci refused to participate! It is a common tactic to subject complex policies, designs, proposals, … to outside reviews. This is common in medical, business, and military circles. This is not in the least anti-science. What is anti-science is refusing to participate in these reviews.
Good points. It is very hard to admit what you have done has caused the death of millions of people.
When they lay their heads down on their pillows at night they know. Some have the ability to care and some don’t.
See my post supra. The virus has been studied, and the scientific consensus is that there’s no evidence that it was manipulated in a lab. It mutated from a natural source.
Then this is the very first zoonotic virus that jumped from animals to humans and was immediately both virulent and highly human to human transmissible. Basic evolution tells us that a virus that has long adapted to the internal environment of a particular animal does not suddenly also have evolved the capability to thrive within a human. It could happen but much less likely because the virus needs considerable time to allow the right mutations to develop enabling them to thrive in human internal environments. This virus was first discovered in the “wild” just outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology which happens to have performed gain of function research and have collections of enhanced viruses. What a coincidence!
BTW: If you want me to look at your post, you might have the decency to not have it listed as anonymous to enable simple searching.
From “Science News Today”:
Zoonotic diseases are not a modern phenomenon; in fact, they have shaped the course of human history for centuries. The relationship between humans and animals has always carried the potential for the transmission of diseases, but it wasn’t until the rise of human civilization that zoonotic diseases began to have a lasting impact on global populations.
One of the earliest and most devastating examples of a zoonotic disease is the bubonic plague, which is believed to have originated in rodents and was transmitted to humans by fleas. The plague swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing millions of people and reshaping the social and economic fabric of the continent. The impact of the plague was so significant that it altered the course of European history, creating a profound shift in the balance of power between rulers and peasants.
Similarly, the rise of agriculture and the domestication of animals contributed to the emergence of diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza. These diseases are thought to have originated in animals such as cattle, camels, and pigs before making the jump to humans. As human populations grew and began to live in close quarters with their domesticated animals, the conditions for zoonotic diseases to emerge and spread became more favorable.
In more recent history, the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a sobering example of how a virus can make the jump from animals to humans and become a global health crisis. HIV is believed to have originated from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) found in chimpanzees and gorillas. It is thought that the virus crossed over to humans through hunting practices, where humans were exposed to the blood of infected animals. Over time, the virus mutated and adapted to human hosts, leading to one of the most significant health challenges in modern history.”
I would add hantavirus to the list–that is the infection that killed Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa. It is transmitted from the droppings of mice.
So, your basic premise is wrong–COVID is far from the first infectious disease to jump from animals to humans. Please don’t repeat MAGA lies–some people will fall for them and come to distrust science. When the next pandemic hits, and it will someday, some gullible people will not believe scientists and will fail to take precautions to prevent the spread and take reliable treatments or immunizations, which means that there will be lots of unnecessary illnesses and deaths.
The first zoonotic virus widely recognized to have jumped from animals to humans is HIV, which was transmitted to humans in the early part of the 20th century from non-human primates. Other notable early zoonotic viruses include those causing diseases like rabies and influenza
morons entertain morons
Worobey said that the likelihood of a coincidence — wherein the virus did come from a lab, even though the first cluster of COVID-19 cases occurred at the market — was “1 in 10,000.”
And the likelihood that COVID-19 is entirely of zoonotic origin even though no one, particularly the Chinese government, has found it in an animal must be even smaller. (Ebola and HIV are just two examples of viruses that are unquestionably of zoonotic origin because of tracing to agents in animals and neither have evolved to be highly human to human transmissible.) Clearly none of these COVID origin scenarios are very likely. But both basic evolution and the discovery in the proximal vicinity of such a lab decidedly point in that direction. Although, thanks to the Chinese government, we will never have absolute proof but we do have sufficient evidence to realize that Dr. Fauci’s (and others) gain of function research is a terrible idea with little upside and enormous downsides.
Why do you keep lying about “gain of function research” that DID NOT HAPPEN and was not authorized by Dr. Fauci? From “SciTech Daily”, 9/22/24:
“A new study identifies raccoon dogs and civet cats as likely carriers of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan market, supporting the theory that infected animals caused the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings highlight the need to understand pandemic origins and prevent future zoonotic spillovers.
A recent global study has compiled a list of wildlife species found in the market believed to be the source of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, in late 2019. This research is based on new metatranscriptomic data analysis provided by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data come from more than 800 samples collected in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market beginning on January 1, 2020, and from viral genomes reported from early COVID-19 patients. The research appears September 19 in the journal Cell.
“This is one of the most important datasets that exists on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says co-corresponding author Florence Débarre of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). “We’re extremely grateful that the data exist and were shared.”
“This paper adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid- to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic,” says co-corresponding author Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research.
“We have analyzed, in new and rigorous ways, the vitally important data that the Chinese CDC team collected,” says co-corresponding author Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona. “This is an authoritative analysis of that data and how it fits in with the rest of the huge body of evidence we have about how the pandemic started.”
The Market Investigation in Early 2020
On January 1, 2020, after the animals were removed and just hours after the market was closed, investigators from the Chinese CDC went to the market to collect samples. They swabbed the floors, walls, and other surfaces of the stalls; they came back days later to focus on surfaces in stalls selling wildlife, such as a cage and carts used to move animals, and then also collected samples from the drains and sewers.
They performed metatranscriptomic sequencing of the samples, a technique aiming to obtain all RNA sequences (and which can pick up DNA as well) from all organisms present in the samples—viruses, bacteria, plants, animals, humans. The Chinese CDC team, led by Liu Jun, published their data and results in 2023 in the journal Nature. However, the article left unresolved the exact identities of the animal species found in the data that could represent plausible intermediate hosts. The Chinese CDC shared their sequencing data on public and open repositories.
According to the latest analysis of these data being published in Cell, SARS-CoV-2 was present in some of the same stalls as wildlife sold at the market—including raccoon dogs (small fox-like animals with markings similar to raccoons) and civet cats (small carnivorous mammals related to mongooses and hyenas). In some cases, genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and these animals was even found on the same swabs. The exact animal species were identified by genotyping their mitochondrial genomes in the samples.
“Many of the key animal species had been cleared out before the Chinese CDC teams arrived, so we can’t have direct proof that the animals were infected,” Débarre says. “We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where SARS-CoV-2 was found too. This is what you would expect under a scenario in which there were infected animals in the market.”
“These are the same sorts of animals that we know facilitated the original SARS coronavirus jumping into humans in 2002,” Worobey adds. “This is the most risky thing we can do—take wild animals that are teeming with viruses and then play with fire by bringing them into contact with humans living in the heart of big cities, whose population densities make it easy for these viruses to take hold.”
Evolutionary Analysis and Market Spillovers
The international team also performed evolutionary analysis of the earliest viral genomes reported in the pandemic, including these environmental sequences, and inferred the most likely progenitor genotypes of the virus that infected humans and led to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that there were very few, if any, humans infected prior to the market outbreak. This is consistent with spillovers from animals to humans within the market. There may also have been spillovers of limited impact in the immediate upstream animal trade……
Reference: “Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic” by Alexander Crits-Christoph, Joshua I. Levy, Jonathan E. Pekar, Stephen A. Goldstein, Reema Singh, Zach Hensel, Karthik Gangavarapu, Matthew B. Rogers, Niema Moshiri, Robert F. Garry, Edward C. Holmes, Marion P.G. Koopmans, Philippe Lemey, Thomas P. Peacock, Saskia Popescu, Andrew Rambaut, David L. Robertson, Marc A. Suchard, Joel O. Wertheim, Angela L. Rasmussen, Kristian G. Andersen, Michael Worobey and Florence Débarre, 19 September 2024, Cell.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.010
I write about gain of function research because it has existed and has been funded by the US government. A 2026 GAO report goes on at great length about gain of function research and then states, “HHS further noted that as of the date of its response, all “dangerous gain-of-function research” was suspended, per the May 2025 Executive Order, until the United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential, which was issued by OSTP in May 2024, is revised or replaced. Upon establishment of the requisite policy, HHS stated that it will apply the proper reviews and ensure public transparency about the scope of the research and actions taken to mitigate such risks.” I will note that in 2026, the NIH has now a policy in place that establishes, “…an explicit prohibition on dangerous gain‑of‑function research.” Gain of function research sponsored by the Federal government was real, Dr. Fauci’s protestations not withstanding.
I am not arguing that the COVID-19 virus did not ultimately originate from animals. After all, virus researchers need to start somewhere. So all the ghost DNA that have been found in animals should be expected.
I would also not place a whole lot of credence on any conclusions by Chinese scientists investigating this virus on behalf of the Chinese government. There is just too great a possibility of confirmation bias.
What I am saying is that historically zoonotic viruses have never been highly transmissible human to human right out of the box. Someone above lists a whole set of diseases of zoonotic origin. Bubonic plague was transmitted flea to human, rarely if ever human to human. The West Nile virus was transmitted mosquito to human, not human to human. Small Pox is indeed of zoonotic origin and highly transmissible but it took thousands of years of evolutionary development before it had developed its high degree of human to human transmissibility. I could go on.
Despite all of the arguments by well meaning people, find it unpersuasive that in last part of 2019 a virus which jumped from some animal to human was out of the box highly human to human transmissible. I find it far more persuasive that this virus was artificially jacked up to become highly human to human transmissible. This fits much more with basic evolutionary theory.
Most scientists believe that COVID-19 likely originated from a zoonotic spillover, with evidence suggesting it transferred from bats to humans, either directly or through an intermediate host.
His motive?
It is very strange to see the mainstream media’s lack of curiosity. It has been twelve years and not one bit of evidence has been found to support the animal transfer of Covid. No investigation just a declaration that the case is closed by the science gods. Not even a ferret with a cold and yet they persist. What happened to science is based on the evidence. We know where the self serving weasels and the god Fauci reside.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered this perspective: “As things stand, all hypotheses must remain on the table, including zoonotic spillover and lab leak. We continue to appeal to China and any other country that has information about the origins of COVID-19 to share that information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics.”
It is called precedence.
Did you read my post, supra? There have been numerous studies on the genetics of COVID, and no evidence of laboratory manipulation of its genetic codes, meaning that the likeliest source is zoonotic–a natural mutation from animals. And, Dr. Fauci did not finance any “gain of function” studies. Trying to blame him for the deaths of millions due to COVID is outrageous.
Most scientists believe that COVID-19 likely originated from a zoonotic spillover, with evidence suggesting it transferred from bats to humans, either directly or through an intermediate host.
WRONG AGAIN
All Fauci had to do was follow what he learned in Immunology 101 or what two ER MDs told all of us on April 24, 2020 – protect the vulnerable and everybody else get on with their lives.
Their presentation was originally posted on YouTube and ABC but were subsequently taken down presumably after being deemed to be misinforation. It is still available at the URL below. There might be other copies floating around.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7tgi9s
Here is the full presentation.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7tgigd
A perfectly healthy young man was admitted to a local hospital just as the virus broke. He was in perfect health and died of COVID in a week.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul’s opening 12-minute statement is an opening argument worthy of a most accomplished prosecuting attorney who preps a jury with all the incriminating evidence of a case before a trial begins. After listening to it, there is little to wonder why antidemocratic interests gave Fauci a sweeping preemptive pardon that covers 11 years running from January 1, 2014, to January 20, 2025.
https://youtu.be/4bC-rF2ymK0
While I am no fan of Fauci, Congressional hearings are not trials, they are dog and pony shows put on by politician in order to make political points. They’re supposed to be used to determine new laws but they’re actually just so much propaganda designed to attract media attention.
An entire nation was shut down. People who did not agree were financially destroyed but you say that no looking into such things is justified. Please tell us of another venue where such deeds might be brought into the open so the public can be informed enough to make decisions about who they want to represent them. I understand. In difficult times the placing of the head beneath the surface of the sand can be the overwhelming solution.
Rand Paul railed against government-mandated vaccines, suggesting they infringe on personal rights, during a congressional hearing.
July 2026, the U.S. has recorded over 2,371 confirmed measles cases across 45 jurisdictions and 37 new outbreaks this year, continuing a sharp multi-year rise linked to declining vaccination rates
Measles can be deadly and leads to severe complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, and death in about 1 to 3 out of every 1,000 cases.
THANKS RAND. WE WILL PROSECUTE YOU FOR YOUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN THE SERIOUS INJURIES AND DEATHS OF THE SEVERAL THOUSAND RECENTLY INFECTED.
You have not given any argument for why mandated vaccines don’t infringe personal rights, or where the government gets the authority to mandate vaccines. Arguing that being vaccinated for measles is a very good idea doesn’t get you even one inch closer to that goal; it’s simply off topic. It doesn’t matter how good an idea is, if the government has no authority to do it then it has no authority to do it. No amount of good sense entitles you to infringe someone else’s rights.
None of you even touched in the worst aspects of this whole hoax. 1. the release of the virus was a deliberate act of war by the chi-coms in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on them. 2. The shutdown was designed as an exercise in population control by Fauci under orders from his masters. Fortunately enough of us were intelligent enough to see through the lies and resisted the effort. They can’t ever use that tactic again.
Do you need more tinfoil for your hat?
The only “hoax” is MAGA media taking up the mantle of relitigating Trump’s failures of leadership and mistakes in his first term by making up lies about Dr. Fauci. The COVID virus was NOT “released” by any lab and did not come from any “gain of function” experiments, and Dr. Fauci did not financially support any such experiments. Subsequent genetic studies show no proof that the virus’s DNA was artificially altered, so the source was from nature. Dr. Fauci made RECOMMENDATIONS consistent with the consensus of scientific opinion at the time, based on what was known AT THAT TIME to limit the spread as the US set new daily records for COVID infections and deaths that far exceeded other industrialized countries. Meanwhile, Trump was lying about the seriousness of COVID and recommending quack cures. The decision whether to shut down schools, businesses, restaurants, etc. was that of local health officers and Trump. Dr. Fauci had NO authority to shut anything down. Dr. Fauci did not have any “masters”.
What were the “lies”? COVID was a novel virus and highly contagious. Older persons and those with chronic conditions were especially vulnerable. In larger cities, hospitals were overwhelmed with the acutely-ill and ran short of ventilators. In NYC, health officials begged people to stay home because they ran out of bed space and couldn’t take care of more acutely-ill people. Hospitals had to get refrigerated trucks to hold corpses until overwhelmed undertakers could collect them. What “tactic” was used?
Has MAGA explained to you why Dr. Fauci would lie, or proven that any recommendations he made were not consistent with what was known at the time?
You are some genius, alright. One stayed in the coo coo’s nest.
Who was it that said that the media is the enemy of the people? Right again Donald.
Dr. Fauci’s provisional diagnosis: “R/O dissenters.”
Another idiot who can’t follow the thread.
Or you could ask her politely what “R/O dissenters” means.
Then you might learn something.
Like the fact that “R/O” is a well-known medical expression. And that her addition of “dissenters” is a very clever use of that expression — which makes her comment spot on the thread.
Lin, Sam,
Well said.
Very clever Lin.
And that annony is a misogynist. That why he hates Lin. She is a smart, accomplished, lawyer and a woman.
And annony is a Gen Z, 30-something failure to launch.
@Upstate
‘And annony is a Gen Z, 30-something failure to launch.’
Almost certainly, and great comment overall, as was what you were responding to. I personally think that particular flavor of gen z are likely stunted for life.
I thought it was funny.
It seems important to Dr. Fauci to R/O dissenting opinion about the origins of the covid virus and the efficacy of the new mRNA vaccines.
*can’t R/O future GOF research projects that have a far higher death rate than covid @ >1%.
Dr. Fauci is, essentially, the character Dr. Floyd Ferris in Atlas Shrugged.
To claim that Dr. Fauci is a scientist is just not true. The little he did was largely in the 1970s and that was in studies verifying outcomes already published as small case series.
Exactly!
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them.” (the villain, Dr. Ferris)
Fauci excelled at turning the innocent into “criminals.”
Nothing can make right what happened. But more and more people opening their minds to the truth would prevent future mass delusions.
What I don’t understand is how someone can say early notes show Fauci “lied”. That would be like claiming a doctor lied if his initial diagnosis differed from an updated diagnosis following the review of lab tests. It is embarrassing that folks don’t understand how the scientific process works.
Another idiot who can’t follow the thread.
Another idiot who does not understand science but just exhibits symptoms of Fauci Derangement Syndrome.
Estovir, you’re the ONLY deranged person here. And we mean ONLY. No one else but ‘you’.
By his own admission he LIED multiple times. In his own handwriting he said in Jan 2020 the market was not the source but the amplifier while saying something different for years. He LIED when he said masks were not useful or needed to avoid a “run on masks” for an excuse. He LIED when he said herd immunity would be reached at 60%, then 70%, then 80% because he didn’t want to scare people and the biggest LIES of them all that he had nothing to do with closing schools or shutting down the economy which we now know he bragged about it on his diary.
You are making my point for me. Does your doctor lie to you when he thinks you have X condition, then after you get lab results back, he updates his diagnosis to Y condition? Is that a “lie”? Really?
You must be joking. The 6′ rule was a 1960’s theory debunked in the 1980’s. Masks were known ineffective in the late 1990’s. It was also well known that children were virtually invulnerable and natural immunity superior.
Heck, they had to redefine “vaccine” in order for the shot to qualify.
So, yeah, tell me more about how science evolves.
None of this is about science. They changed the language and altered history. How someone can still defend any of this is astonishing.
If masks are ineffective, why are they worn during surgery? Children are not “virtually invulnerable”–they are less vulnerable than adults, but some of them, even healthy ones, who get COVID die from it, even after the epidemic. From the Georgia PBS, August, 2025:
“The goal of the vaccine is to keep people out of the hospital, and keep them out of intensive care, Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said.
While people over 65, those with high-risk medical conditions like chronic lung or heart disease, people who are immune compromised, and women who are pregnant are in the highest risk situations.
Nationwide, 152 children died of COVID last year, half of whom were previously healthy, Offit said.
Thousands of children were hospitalized with COVID last year, most of whom were unvaccinated, and about one-fifth or 20% of those hospitalized were admitted to the intensive care unit, according to the CDC’s data.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children who have not been vaccinated and have not been naturally infected, receive a vaccine,” Offit said. “That comports with the data.”
The Academy has been working with insurance companies to make sure that they, too, follow the science, and continue to cover vaccination, Offit said.
“I’m optimistic that insurance companies will back this up because, frankly, it’s a lot less expensive to pay for a vaccine than to pay a hospitalization,” he said.”
Why don’t you ask the parents of the kids who died in 2024 and those who had to go to the ICU with a COVID infection how they feel about COVID and immunity?
We are surrounded by numbskulls who prove America’s shameful ranking well below other industrialized nations in math and science, is on target. Arguing with morons is fun but useless.
Fauci is Hitler’s grandson.
When I was in junior high school taking a basic science class, i was told that questioning science brought about new ideas and innovations. To take the position that Fauci is or was science is absurd and any scientist that supported that position, IMHO, should not be considered a scientist.
Just think where we would be if people did not question the prevailing science.
rcs is Estovir with another ‘first person’ account. These always begin with, “When I..
That’s your response to him… you bot?
What he says his true to the scientific method.
Admitting that you were wrong about something is one of the hardest things a person must do, often to a spouse, friend, or client. Many an “expert witness” that I have cross-examined chose instead to remain silent, leaving a juror on the fence and often increasing my own burden to come in elsewhere from another evidentiary angle.
I was initially ambivalent toward Fauci’s silence.
But two things have turned me against him.
First, I had specific clients; -Fauci’s clients were the public at large, to whom he owed a duty of candor and transparency.
Second, Fauci’s recently disclosed emails- in which he directed deletion/erasure among communicants.
The diary entries are icing on the cake.
When Fauci realized that research he funded via EcoHealth Alliance contributed to the development of COVID he did everything in his power to deflect from that finding. That’s when the Wet Market became the culprit although in an early meeting of 9 virologists, 7 thought that it was probably an-made. Everything snowballed from there, including the denigration of alternative treatments, closing schools, small shops, churches, etc., and a Fauci ego trip that defies imagination. The thing that made Fauci so dangerous is his support from the media who supported him partly out of hatred of Trump. Recall that Fauci was contradicting Trump over virtually everything and NY Governor Cuomo was being hailed by the press as the model to be followed:
“How Coronavirus Made Andrew Cuomo America’s Governor” (U.S. News & World Report, March 23, 2020)
Portrayed him as rising to fill a national leadership vacuum with a comforting, take-charge style.
“People are praising New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s steady and calm leadership during the coronavirus pandemic” (Business Insider, March 20, 2020)
Highlighted public and expert (including Dr. Anthony Fauci) applause for his approach.
Cuomo wins praise for ‘wisdom’ amid coronavirus crisis as Trump blusters” (The Guardian, March 23, 2020)
Cast him as an alternative guiding force offering competence in contrast to the president.
“Andrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now” (New York Times media column by Ben Smith, March 16, 2020)
Described him as the executive best suited for the crisis.
“How Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor, Became the Politician of the Moment” (The New York Times, March 24, 2020)
Noted that Joe Biden called Cuomo’s briefings “a lesson in leadership.”
STOP THE LYING. Dr. Fauci DID NOT FUND ANY GAIN OF FUNCTION research. That is a MAGA lie. The consensus of scientists and rigorous studies looking at the genetics of the virus conclude that it was NOT manipulated, and that it naturally evolved.
Thank you professor for pointing out the deafening silence from MSM about the contents of Fauci’s diary, the contradictions of what he wrote in the diary to what he said in public. Independent media on the other hand did.
Only dupes are the ones who continue to read MSM only to get fed lies, spin, and adds to their delusions of reality. MSM is the same media who openly embraces advocacy, biased, journalism. These dupes are the same ones who would wear a mask, in their own vehicle, by themselves. These are the same dupes who to this day still wear masks in public.
Talk about dupes… do you read the MSM? Why not, too stupid to comprehend others opinions? Fed lies etc. and somehow your Fox News is unbiased?
What makes you write such ignorant and utterly stupid comments?
Why, yes. I did read MSM yesterday in a search of what they covered of Fauci’s diary. I mentioned it more than a few times in yesterdays PT column and today. What I found was a gross display of MSM advocacy journalism. What they called “news” was nothing but opinionated, advocacy, editorial. There might of been a fact here or there, like it was Thursday, or that the sky was blue.
The most interesting and useful thing I found was on CNN about the history of The Michelin Guide and some of the restaurants and food they serve.
I generally do not read Fox News and while they do have their own bias, they report a lot more actual news than other MSM.
The only reason why you think my comments are so ignorant and stupid is you cannot comprehend them.
This bot is exhausting.
Go have your mom warm you up some pizza rolls.
In Anthony Fauci’s own words:
August 18, 2021 – Global – 208,500,000/4,400,000; USA – 37,100,000/621,300
Yesterday 180,000 cases. 7 day daily average >100,000
Had a very eventful and stressful day today; however things worked out well with the rollout
of the booster plan at the White House press conference. Following that I briefed the president
and VP in the Oval Office together with Vivek, Jeff, Rochelle, Berchara, and Marcella, and
Natalie. Only Vivek and I in person. The president and vice president asked good questions ,
particularly with regard to the president’s concern that this is contingent upon FDA and acip
recommendations . He picked up right away on the concern that Jeff had that we needed to do
this and make sure that we don’t have a stumbling block with the FDA and acip. The one issue
that could arise is that the FDA may feel that the risk benefit ratio of boosting young kids 18
years old and there abouts may not be favorable in the context of the risk of myocarditis
balanced against the risk of their winding up in the hospital as a result of COVID.
https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf
NB: acip = Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a CDC committee of medical and public health experts that develops vaccine recommendations and immunization schedules for children and adults.
Fauci saw the FDA and ACIP as a stumbling block.
IOW, the mandate of COVID boosters was a political decision conceived by Fauci during meetings in the Biden White House and not by the CDC, FDA or ACIP health agencies.
Exactly right. And elsewhere in the diary Fauci explains how he strong-armed Rochelle Wollensky to override ACIP, which rejected the boosters 9-6.
I realize that exposing and (more on point) exploiting the divisions between the current principal political factions remains good editorial fodder for Professor Turley and others. But I think a caveat is also in order. While I think that one side is largely correct, and the other side is largely wrong on the core issues, I also think that the undecided group is quite small, and that the prospects for anyone who has already made up his or her mind about which side has (mostly) right on its side being persuaded to switch have become minimal, and are decreasing daily. So I try to keep that thought in mind when evaluating columns like this and comments to same. I must admit that I sometimes find my own standard in that regard difficult to meet – my passions run high on some of these topics. 😉 I also think that more than rhetorical conflict is becoming more likely daily as a result of the increasingly irreconcilable (imo) differences. That is regrettable, but I am preparing for it, some others here might consider whether it is time to do the same. YMMV (highly)…
Adherence to the cult ideology is paramount. Of course the prog-dominated media must comport with and defend one of their holy men. This cult will destroy this nation and we sit idly by and discuss it all over our coffee (I could suggest Nero fiddling while Rome burned, but that is such an old cliche).
Unfortunately for us, those who cling to our memories of what this nation was are dwindling in number as we age out and fewer are left of our younger generations, who have not been polluted by the progressive ideologies pumped freely into the minds of our children for several generations, to carry on that vision.
We all expect that fauci with skate free with the aid of a string of lawyers who will employ whatever legal tricks are needed to dispel the attempts of a mostly lethargic congress so close to election time. If we were not enraged by either of the clintons still roaming free, by a quasi-American trickster who gamed the nation with his “fundamental transformation” or a sadly addled old grifter who was used to attempt the completion of the grift started by his boss; we surely can see the lack of justice coming to this slimy little pecker.
The Republicans have had more than a decade of deep digging to find anything that the Clintons did to be punishable.
I like the idea that Republicans are so incompetent they cannot investigate what are, to some, so greatly obvious injustices, but then I wonder, why vote for people who are so incompetent? Clearly this level of incompetence should be allowed nowhere near the Federal government.
The more likely case is there is nothing that the Clintons did that was illegal, that the Republicans, in an effort to distract from their incompetence, continue a terror campaign against a variety of targets, Dr. Fauci included, to distract their incredibly stupid followers by this futile action.
EXCELLENT
NEVER FOUND A MILLION BUTCHERED BODIES JAMMING THE RIVERS IN RWANDA.
And MAGA isn’t a cult? Do you make a point of being ignorant or does it come naturally?
Well said, JT. Very well said.
JT I am just waiting for the first s@@tlib to call you a ‘nazi’ too for attacking St. Fauci.
antonio
That Hiltzik has his head shoved so far up his @$$ he could do his own colonoscopy.
There is no evidence supporting the zoonotic hypothesis. No intermediate animal host was ever identified, although the anti-lab-leakers worked with might and main (raccoon dog? Pangolin?).
The bats carrying similar viruses came from 600-900 miles away. How would they end up in a Wuhan wet market, in preference to local bats? And why weren’t any COVID-carrying bats sold anywhere else in a 900 mile radius? SARS-CoV-2 broke out only in Wuhan, the home of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, recipient of a Fauci grant of OUR tax dollars, laundered through the EcoHealth Alliance.
Hiltzik definitely rode the short bus to school.
Why hasn’t CV come back? The Wet markets are still there,
Question for Prof. Turley: Had you been Fauci’s attorney, what would you have advised him? Answer questions or take the Fifth on ALL questions? Prof. Dershowitz says that he would have advised Fauci to take the Fifth on ALL questions.
Taking the filth was the only viable option. The pardon means very little since Trump already said it was not valid.
Why would Fauci need a pardon? Of what crime did he commit needing a pardon? In accepting a pardon, is he not admitting to be guilty of something?
If Biden, who was clearly mentally incompetent, was not able to recall names, dates, the year his own son’s death, did Biden know who he was pardoning and for why?
Need? Crime? Accept? Guilt? Do you make a point of being ignorant or does it come naturally?
I agree that Fauci was sensible to plead the Fifth, but honestly, Trump has ZERO say as to whether his pardon is valid. This is a supposed President who either does not understand the Constitution or just thinks it does not apply to him. If Biden’s criminally inappropriate pardons are not valid, then Trump’s criminally inappropriate pardons are not valid. It is not as if Trump either understands the law, or has a single lawyer working for him with the moral courage to tell him that his opinions are so often wrong and his actions unlawful. Instead, he has spineless clowns like Blanche.
Biden apparently LACKED CAPACITY to make his pardons. Therefore SOMEBODY ELSE issued them, in violation of the Constitution.
In contrast, Trump is quitr capable of issuing pardons on his own.
Trump lacks mental capacity to even be President.
Nope , that would be biden. We have the proof!
Given that question under oath, Turley would take the Fifth or, maybe, declare it to be a hypothetical and refuse to answer on those grounds.
Turley is the character played by Donald Southerland at the end of The Bodysnatchers, raising his arm and pointing his finger and howling.
Here’s your hero, Fauci, in action:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nih-closes-experimentation-labs-accused-brutally-killing-thousands-beagles-40-years?msockid=3c470ae738ca69c601961fa439dd68e2
If that doesn’t bother you, you should see what Hamas posted after October 7th. You people are sickos.
WARNING: for those of us who love animals, it’s better NOT to read the link and see what Fauci funded. I could only read so far before I stopped in horror.
Dersh will not put anyone on the stand to testify if he knows the person will lie.
Prof Turley says Fauchi had every right to claim the 5th, presumably because he wanted to protect himself from prosecution if (when) he lied in answering. I respectfully disagree. That is not a proper use of the 5th Amendment. It protects one from testifying against oneself with respect to alleged crimes already committed, not hypothetical crimes yet to be committed. If it were not so testimony could never be compelled in any circumstances, even after a grant of immunity. I seldom disagree with the professor but this is one time.