“We are in an anti-science, anti-vax era right now”—Fauci

Fauci on vaccines & more at Ms. Magazine with Michele Goodwin

Today I’m going to briefly listen to, summarize, and react to the following interview between Anthony Fauci and Michele Goodwin of Ms. magazine, so you don’t have to (unless you want to). There’s an option to listen to the audio within the piece—it’s about forty minutes long—or you can read the summary of the conversation directly at the link above.

HEALTH NATIONAL ‘We’re Still in an Anti-Vax Era’: Dr. Fauci on Battling Anti-Science Sentiment in a Divided America

Before Fauci comes on the show, Ms. Goodwin provides a long, slightly hysterical intro about the dangers of questioning vaccines. She then introduces him as “the nation’s chief doctor.” Check out the sycophantic manner in which she introduces him (emphasis mine throughout):

“You’re not just our nation’s doctor… you really served as the global health thought leader for the world.”

The global health thought leader? Not so fast.

They jump right into discussing the Covid phenomenon and the associated vaccines. He then claims that the Covid vaccine has saved tens of millions of lives worldwide, and “3-5 million” in the U.S. “With Covid itself, vaccination saved at least 3 million lives.” Really? What about all the deaths from myocarditis among young, previously healthy men that were likely caused by the Covid vaccine?

Fauci then discusses how the “anti-vax” sentiments might affect the response to “the next pandemic.” That’s concerning.

One clear thread throughout this conversation is concern that the Covid phenomenon brought about a renewed interest in questioning authority, which is no surprise from a psychological perspective, but causes Goodwin and Fauci to wring their hands desperately. She asks: “We’re in an anti science space— how did we get here?”

Fauci blames this on the “libertarian spirit” of the American people, and the fact that people “don’t like to be told what to do.” “Perhaps we were too dogmatic.” You think?

Vaccine skepticism in the U.S., Fauci believes, can be traced back to an anti-authority libertarian spirit in this country, as well as a rising trend of people using their pro- or anti-vax identity to try to join a specific group.

Anti-authoritarian sentiment is anti-science, according to Fauci—but science is apolitical, by definition. What he is discussing here is not the scientific method, that’s for sure.

They then discuss the fact that Fauci has testified before Congress multiple times, and then include a clip of Marjorie Taylor Greene asking him to admit that he stated that he “represents science.” He refuses to answer, either within the clip or in the interview itself.

“Why is there a political divide around a health issue?” Could it possibly be the fact that we were all locked in our homes and many of us forced to take a barely tested vaccine? The covid skeptics didn’t make this political. That’s on you and your cronies, Fauci.

He claims the covid vaccine is highly effective and safe. Why, then, should we believe a word he says about, say, AIDS?

At about the fifteen minute mark, Fauci introduces HIV AIDS. He about falls over himself praising the AIDS activists. Then he, disturbingly, discusses how important they were because they pointed out the need to not make clinical trials “too rigid.” This is more important than it might seem at first glance, because as we know, the AIDS era ushered in some of the most egregious abuses of the clinical trial design model—placebos are now “unethical,” and we don’t need to run trials for years. We need to stop them at the first positive safety or efficacy signal. Destroy all safeguards in the interest of doing something—what could go wrong?

The highlighting of the AIDS activists is interesting to me, because Fauci is very careful to draw the distinction between the AIDS activists and the Covid skeptics—the former are heroic iconoclasts, the latter are deluded and a danger to public health. Got it.

Fauci also pointed out that the HIV activists protesting the government’s choices were demanding more medical intervention, not less. “I think one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life was to go past the demonstrations and the provocative behavior and listen to what the activists were saying, [and] what they were saying was making perfect sense,” he said of the health-related protests of his early career.

Well, of course he’s enthusiastic about the group of activists demanding increased medical intervention—that’s his bread and butter. Decreasing medical intervention doesn’t support the careers of Fauci and other public health bureaucrats in any way, so it’s never a good idea. That’s their logic.

They don’t spend a lot of time on HIV AIDS, but I think he said the most important part already. They then move on to discussing the possibility of removing childhood vaccine mandates, which terrifies them (and also is unlikely to ever eventuate).

There was one tiny moment that Fauci made me laugh, and that is when they discuss the proliferation of ideas via social media, he replies that he doesn’t do social media. “I wouldn’t know how to send a tweet if you paid me for it.” (Thanks, I hate tweeting myself.)

She then asks whether there will be another pandemic—“ABSOLUTELY.” “We need to continue to be prepared.” You’d think that infectious diseases were anywhere near as deadly as cancer or heart disease. They do give some lip service to non-infectious co-factors that may have predisposed patients to a particularly bad case of Covid; he mentions two: obesity and climate change. Wait, what?

They conclude with Ms. Goodwin asking Fauci how he would advise “the next administration.” Considering that the “next administration” will most likely involve a secretary of health and human services that wrote an entire book exposing Fauci’s crimes, I can only say: Good luck with that, my man.

They wrap up discussing Fauci’s “powerful” memoir. Ms. Goodwin’s final question is what, if any, “silver lining” Fauci can see. He sees two. As a human being, “A firm confidence in the fundamental goodness of people;” as a scientist—well, here it is in his own words:

Along with his optimistic “firm confidence in the fundamental goodness of people,” Fauci is still keeping sight of one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s few silver linings: the unprecedented accomplishment of developing a safe, highly effective vaccine in fewer than 11 months.

“It happened, and that is truly unbelievable. When you look at all of the great vaccines that we’ve had that have been life-saving, the average was seven to 10 or more years to get the vaccine, and we did it in 11 months.” he said. “That’s a real silver lining about what science can do.”

And we are still seeing the fallout from the disastrous Operation Warp Speed. If this is the best we can claim as a “silver lining” of the Covid fiasco, that tells you how much trouble the current model of infectious disease and public health finds itself in.