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If we had to stop the presses and write a post every single time that Dr. Anthony Fauci changed his position on SCIENCE!, it would be almost the only thing we would have time to cover.
So, here we are again. Fauci has changed his message yet again on vaccination, virus spread, and asymptomatic transmission. If this were a game of Uno, Fauci would be holding all the Reverse cards in the deck, while the lockdown governors were holding all the Draw Four wild cards. It’s kind of impossible to get anywhere in the game this way.
To do a quick recap…
On masks: Dr. Fauci said publicly in March 2020 that the average person should not wear a mask. Then he admitted that he lied to the public in order to make sure that front-line workers had the PPE and masks that they needed. Then he said that two masks would be even better.
On schools: Oh my word, I could spend all day on Fauci’s “evolving” positions here that went all the way from “close schools immediately” to “close the bars, open schools” to “schools can only open if the Biden stimulus bill passes.”
And now, to vaccines. You see, Fauci does want everyone to be vaccinated. That part of his message is consistent, at least. The problem with his vaccine messaging has been his constant flip-flopping as to what will happen AFTER people are vaccinated. Up until now, the message coming from Fauci and the Biden administration has been “get vaccinated, but STAY LOCKED DOWN because we can’t let anything change OR ELSE.” This is the worst possible messaging about vaccination.
Right now, your idiotic rhetoric is generating the worst available option: the second, in which a large batch of Americans refuse to get the vaccine, then see that the virus numbers are going down and thus return to regular life unvaccinated.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 19, 2021
Remember that everything hinged on having an effective vaccine. Now that we have two effective vaccines available – hopefully three before too long – and the news about the vaccines keeps improving dramatically (the Pfizer vaccine looks to be extremely effective with only one dose, AND it apparently doesn’t need the deep freeze storage to preserve it), the message coming out of Fauci’s mouth has still been one of caution and impending doom. Wear all the masks, even after vaccination! There will be no return to normal social activities for years! Variants are coming!
Besides the reliable noise from anti-vax contigents, a lot of other people have added their voices to the skepticism, and it all sums up to one thing – the messaging has been terrible, because it’s been telling people that even getting the vaccine won’t change anything for them.
About one-third of members of the U.S. military have declined vaccine shots. When shots first became available to Ohio nursing-home workers, about 60 percent said no. Some N.B.A. stars are wary of appearing in public-services ads encouraging vaccination.”
Nationwide, nearly half of Americans would refuse a shot if offered one immediately, polls suggest. Vaccination skepticism is even higher among Black and Hispanic people, white people without a college degree, registered Republicans and lower-income households.”
Kate Grabowski, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, told me that she has heard from relatives about their friends and co-workers choosing not to get a shot because they keep hearing they can still get Covid and pass it on to others — and will still need to wear masks and social distance. “What’s the point?” she said, describing their attitude.”
The message from experts, Grabowski said, is “being misinterpreted. That’s on us. We’re clearly doing something wrong.”
“Our discussion about vaccines has been poor, really poor,” Dr. Muge Cevik, a virologist, told me. “As scientists we need to be more careful what we say and how that could be understood by the public.”
Not only has it been terrible, it was politicized. Remember how Kamala Harris was busy trashing Operation Warp Speed and said that she would not get the vaccine if Donald Trump was still president? It’s THAT kind of messaging that has also made this entire situation that much worse.
So of course Dr. Fauci is here to clarify everything. And by “clarify,” I mean it’s time to flip again.
There are currently multiple contradictory studies on whether the COVID-19 vaccine can prevent transmission
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 19, 2021
While more studies on COVID-19 spread after vaccination are clearly a work in progress, this seems perfectly OBVIOUS to anyone who has looked at how vaccines work. Again, measles are so much more contagious than COVID, and yet we don’t have this impending sense of doom anytime there is a measles outbreak. Why? Because we know that vaccination, while not perfect, STOPS COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION on the large scale. That’s what vaccines are MEANT TO DO. By constantly changing up the messaging on what the COVID vaccine is meant to do, and sounding the doom and gloom bells by saying that nothing changes even after you get vaccinated, the public health community, with Fauci standing at the top of the heap, have shot themselves in the proverbial foot.
Public health officials have lost so much credibility during this entire pandemic, and I think we all tried to give them the benefit of the doubt in the beginning when no one really knew what we were up against. Well, now we know, and we can also see who is addicted to the power trip and those sweet media spots. And the highest paid federal employee, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has proven that he is a political player rather than a singularly focused scientist. Anything he says now has to be seen through that lens.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Featured image: Dr. Anthony Fauci at a press briefing, March 31, 2020 (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks, public domain)
Hate_me says: I fully reserve the right to change my opinion as I learn more about the available vaccines, but I opted to not get it when offered. It has nothing to do with politics, it just doesn’t pass the sniff test.
From my understanding, this doesn’t work like a true vaccine in that it gives a similar but more survivable variant of a disease in order for the body to develop the necessary antibodies that create immunity against the larger threat virus (this is where we get the word “vaccine,” as vaccinia is the cowpox variant that allowed for immunization against smallpox).
As my PCM and others have explained to me, which meshes with my own research, the current vaccines are more akin to a prophylactic than a true vaccine – they inhibit the healthy cell receptors from interacting with the specific protein that allows the SARS-CoV-2 virus to bind with that cell. It doesn’t actually build immunity, it just makes it less likely to develop the disease.
Now, I’m not a virologist or immunologist, nor a doctor of any sort, and my experience working against COVID-19 has been entirely on a demographic/tracking level. Anyone more informed on the topic, please educate me. Again, I’m perfectly willing to change my mind as my knowledge grows and changes….
Yet, with my current understanding of the science (biased, of course, by my own principles and cosmology), the ability of the body’s cells to recognize and interact with that protein is a feature, not a bug, of evolution. I am much less concerned over catching COVID-19 (assuming I’ve not acquired it at some point, already) than I am about potential side effects of tweaking the natural function of my cells.
Robin H says: All true. If they ever come out with an “old fashioned” vaccine I would consider taking that one.
Politically Ambidextrous says: the current vaccines… inhibit the healthy cell receptors from interacting with the specific protein that allows the SARS-CoV-2 virus to bind with that cell. It doesn’t actually build immunity
This is not consistent with what I’ve read and would appreciate a link to this information source.
What I’ve read so far explains that the body creates an immune response against a protein associated with the virus, just like other vaccines. What different about the mRNA approach is how that protein is introduced into the body. Traditional vaccines do this by injecting inactivated, weakened, or analogous viruses. mRNA vaccines do this by tricking specific cells to produce a specific characteristic protein that provokes the immune response. The function is not unlike how viruses themselves work; viruses tweak the natural function of our cells to make more viruses.
The “experimental” status of the vaccine is due to the accelerated approval process, not specifically related to the use of mRNA (although this is the first wide-spread use of such a vaccine). The more traditional vaccines that are coming will also be classified as “experimental”.
Each of us has to assess the risk/benefit of any vaccine or treatment that is offered to us against the risk/consequence of the disease it is intended to prevent or treat. See my post below.
ken says: If we’ve never used an mRNA vaccine within the human population then it would indeed be experimental.
Hate_me says: I don’t have a single link for any comprehensive assessment. As stated, this was collated from personal discussions with doctors and independent research. Also as stated, I am willing to change my mind.
Do you have a link to a source supporting the idea that the vaccine actually builds immunity against the virus and/or disease, rather than the specific protein the virus uses to access the cell?
MLRMD says: Forgive me, but your understanding of what a vaccine is and does is way off the mark. By definition a vaccine is a prophylaxis against an infectious agent. The part of the organism that is responsible for its ability to gain entrance into your cells and cause clinical infection is what the vaccine is intended to block. It causes your body to produce antibodies and cellular memory to build more of those antibodies in the future. Those antibodies are called neutralizing antibodies because they neutralize the ability of the virus to cause infection.
In the past, vaccines were made up of whole virus particles that were rendered non infectious, grown in duck eggs for example, and then injected into you. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are elegant scientific achievements. They analyzed the chemical make up of the spike protein (the part of the virus responsible for being infectious) and manufactured a mRNA that codes for the spike protein that your own body will make and acts as the substitute for the whole viral particle. And they are apparently very effective in preventing death and severe disease from Covid-19.
The people who benefit the most from the vaccine are those who are at risk for dying from Covid. If you are at low risk from death, you don’t need the shot. So relax and stay well.
Hate_me says: No reason to forgive you; I welcome any new information on the topic. Thanks are in order.
I am still concerned about what the current vaccine might do as far as inhibiting my cells from being able to bind with similar (but beneficial) proteins.
I’m relatively low risk – 41yo, in good shape, overweight BMI (due to muscle mass, not fat), and the option for the shot is still open. I’m still more afraid of it than the disease.
Will Hunt says: Thanks for this concise, understandable explanation. FWIW I’m 67 yo in good phys cond. Tested pos for covid Dec 2020. Had two weeks of congestion/sinusitis/loss of taste/smell, lingering, low grade sinus congestion for 5-6 weeks. Over and done. Not remarkably different than any other cold/flu I’ve had in the last 6 decades.
Politically Ambidextrous says: People won’t get vaccinated because they believe some combination of the following:
1. the risks of the vaccine side-effects are greater than the risks of the disease itself
2. they won’t get the disease if they always stay six feet apart and wear a mask
3. they don’t care if they get the disease (consequences of getting the disease are low)
4. the vaccine won’t change their social behavior (they will still keep doing what they are doing now)
5. they’ve already recovered from the disease
6. they consider natural immunity to be superior to any induced immunity
7. they don’t trust authorities (in general, or because of the changing, inconsistent messaging)
8. politics, i.e. who would look good (if successful) or bad (if not)
9. other
I’ll get the vaccine as soon as I can.
ken says: 10. the TFR for this virus is so low why bother?
Politically Ambidextrous says: ken – good addition; I should have been more comprehensive in #2, e.g. “their risk of catching the disease is low, because of low TFR (transmissivity) and/or high avoidability (distance and/or masks)”
Ampleforth says: I’m probably going to get hammered for writing this, but one of the problems in the nation right now is that way too many of our leaders are 70 and 80 years old. They don’t worry as much about the future and providing for a family. On top of that most of them are lifelong politicians, who have not done anything productive in their lives.
Tony Fauci is the posterchild for this. He’s cozied up in a gubmint job for nearly a half century, so he can make arbitrary decisions, and his pickleball club of D.C. politicians think that he’s some sort of enlightened oracle. I’m starting to think this little gnome has some of the same issues that Joe Biden has with his mental health.
You want some proof? Watch the proceedings of the U.S. Senate. I’m embarrassed for the nation because the world is watching these doddering old fools send a great republic around the drain. They’re terrible. The once noble Senate is a bizarre group of geriatrics bent on procedure rather than the content on the laws they are supposed to deliberate.
This is a terrible moment in this nation’s history. It is the low point of the republic.
John A Wilson says: I agree with your observations
George Turner says: The military has a mandatory retirement age for good reasons. Our experience has been that elderly leaders, no matter how well esteemed and accomplished, are a bit slow on the uptake in their later years, often with catastrophic results.
Don M says: I would suggest the low point for the Republic would be some time in 1863. This virus would be a pimple on a fart, except for over-reaction by certain state governors.
Ampleforth says: I was very cognizant of the War of Yankee Aggression when I wrote that post. I pondered it for about five minutes: Do I really want to write this statement?
I went with it. What tipped the balance for me is that the cabal of Southerners decided to leave the republic, and what was left of the United States was still cohesive. I believe the entirety of the nation — the former republic — is in dire straits, and our leaders are two generations into their obsolescence. The threat that Lincoln and the northern leaders faced at the time was a regional defection. Today, the socialist surge is throughout the nation and well embedded in Washington.
Who do we have leading this nation? Joe Biden is in mental decline from a platform that started near the bottom. Mitch McConnell. Chuck Schumer. Nancy Pelosi. Patrick Leahy. I believe their ages and their political longevity is a problem, but watch how they handle things. They’re terrible.
The virus itself could’ve been handled much more rationally, and I believe that the age of many of the leaders guided the nation down a road that led to an economic and social disaster. I also believe that the reaction of certain governors was part of an orchestrated effort to knock down the nation in order to depose one man.
You’re right, the virus is a fart pimple. I agree. What takes the republic to a low point is the response bolstered by an oligarchy of old men and women who are out of touch with the nation and lack the mental capability to reverse course.
We are in the midst of a revolution. As a community, we are too close to recognize it. People still want to call it a coup or a revolt, and dullards still think what has happened is a protest. The left is striking at the very fabric of the nation and society. When segment of society openly attacks the stability of the family that is completely revolutionary.
Those people have become powerful and Joe Biden is our president. He’s a socialist. I remember when he was rated the second most liberal member of Congress. Now, the left thinks of him as a centrist. He’s an idiot, so he’s perfect to be the front for the socialist he has so adored. He is William J. Lepetomane: “Work, work, work, work…”
Meanwhile, the world watches. Remember Konstantine Chernenko and Yuri Andropov? They were the indicators that the Soviet Union was approaching collapse. We have our indicator right now.
The republic rebounded pretty well after July of 1863.
Robin H says: Sorry, I’m not getting the vaccine. And isn’t that what this country is all about? The freedom to do as we want and accept the risks that go along with that freedom? If my not getting this vaccine somehow affects your health than that’s a flaw in the vaccine not of my making. I’ve also advised my 23 year old daughter not to get it. There are questions about fertility that have never been addressed or answered. Let someone else be the guinea pig. We also didn’t get the Gardasil vaccine for the same reason. Too early and not enough long term studies.
Politically Ambidextrous says: Yes, freedom. to choose is exactly what this country is about! No apologies are necessary.
I’m also mindful that there also have been no studies regarding the effects of COVID-19 on future fertility (or a variety of other long-term health risks). It’s an unanswered question that can only be answered with assumptions.
Chris Paige says: Why do you call this a vaccine? it’s not – it’s an experimental gene therapy.
That is, it does NOT introduce a dead or weakened version of the virus in order to induce an immune response, so it is NOT a vaccine.
Instead, it uses mRNA to induce your body to manufacture a protein that the body then learns to attack; this protein is found in the virus, so it means the virus will not make you as sick as it otherwise might.
Please don’t use a technical term like “vaccine” incorrectly.
Second, refusing to take an “EXPERIMENTAL” treatment is quite rational given the survival rate – which is increasing as treatments improve. We’re talking about a virus that @99% of those infected survive.
This week, we learned that 2/3 of Americans are likely immune, and that new cases have dropped 77% in 6 months. Both argue strongly against taking an experimental treatment.
Already, 181 deaths have been reported to the government. Granted, we don’t know if that’s an over-count or an undercount, but how many experimental treatments have you taken AFTER 181 deaths were reported to the government?
You’re acting like an alarmist. Please stop it – it’s like shouting fire in a crowded theater; in both instances, you’re hurting real people.
We need more light and less heat on COVID. Taking an experimental gene therapy is NOT an obvious right choice; it’s actually rather dubious.
Finally, no woman of child-bearing age should take this. Even the CDC admits that the long-term fertility effects have NOT been studied – studies are merely planned & some tracking of some pregnant people has been done, but no results. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/pregnancy.html. Given the infertility risks, it’d be insane to take this treatment.
gospace says: Coincidences happen.
One of my coworkers just a few days after the second vaccine shot had a heart attack. He was otherwise sick for a few days after the shot before the attack. So, I’m getting some good overtime this week. He’s a bundle of ill health in any event. Talked to my son today. One his friends lost her husband. 4 hours after the second vaccine. Due to a heart attack. He was in otherwise good health.
Me? I’ve been exposed a minimum of twice- closely. Two sons diagnosed with it. Isolated at home. We took no special precautions. Haven’t gotten the dreaded covid. Seems there’s a lot of latent immunity around- some people just don’t get the dreaded covid. We knew that from the Diamond Princess. From what I’ve seen of others getting the shot, the vaccine reactions seem to be worse than the symptoms of actually getting the dreaded covid- IF YOU ARE OTHERWISE HEALTHY! And I am otherwise healthy. I’ll take my chances.
ROP says: Could someone tell me how we can develop a yearly flu ( which COVID is!) vaccine
and why this was so much more virulent. When we haven’t had a flu season this year.
Hate_me says: COVID is not a flu, technically (though I do favor the term “kung flu”).
Influenza is not a coronavirus, though many versions of the common cold are.
Bob Smith says: “On masks: Dr. Fauci said publicly in March 2020 that the average person should not wear a mask. Then he admitted that he lied to the public in order to make sure that front-line workers had the PPE and masks that they needed”
The problem here is that Fauci’s second statement is the lie, not the first. CDC published a summary in May 2020 where ~14 studies all showed that masks offer no statistically significant reduction in infection rates for respiratory viruses. His first statement is in conformance with that, since he was no doubt familiar with those studies. The problem is that doesn’t give Fauci the population control and media attention he seemingly craves. So he instead claims that his first, truthful, statement (“masks offer no protection”) is a lie, and that his second, false, statement (“masks do offer protection”) is the truth.
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A government employee who wields any sort of authority over others has a unique position: He can command others to do this or avoid that, often under threat of punishment, but if those decrees should hurt those others, the government employee will PAY NO COSTS. All the costs will be borne by the others. This lack of a feedback mechanism is what makes anyone and everyone who works in or for a government untrustworthy.
“Never believe anything political until it is officially denied.” — Originator unknown
Hate_me says: Hardly a new thing. Fauci’s pretty bad at his job (though very successful at it), but our Generals and Ambassadors have similar powers and often do great things with it. Sometimes, they do bad, but the system largely works as long as they stay within their bounds (imagine what MacArthur could have accomplished, had he not backed Truman into a corner).
Fauci is not an idiot, but he’s always been more politician than doctor. The best politicians don’t waste their time with things like elections.
F.D.R. in Hell says: “The broad mass of a nation will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one. The greater the lie, the greater chance that it will be believed.” — Guess Who
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