Wednesday 14 September 2022 08:23 PM Rand Paul clashes with Anthony Fauci in Congress again trends now
The Fauci-Paul show returned to Congress on Wednesday, when the world-renowned immunologist traded blows with his libertarian tormentor in a contest that did not even mention monkeypox - the subject that had brought them to the Senate hearing.
Once again, Sen. Rand Paul went to the archives to dig up old comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci in an effort to paint him as a scientifically inconsistent fraud.
And once again Fauci bested him with a factcheck and a quip. 'I have never ever denied fundamental immunology,' he said.
'In fact, I wrote the chapter in the textbook of medicine on fundamental immunology.'
The two have clashed at hearing after hearing, but the end of the Fauci-Paul show is nearing. The 81-year-old has announced he will retire from government service in December.
The only chance of reruns is if Republicans take back the House or Senate and launch investigations into Fauci and his handling of the pandemic.
The subject before the Senate health committee on Wednesday was 'stopping the spread of monkeypox: Examining the federal response.'
But it could have been 'five easy steps to cure cancer,' for all Paul cared, as he continued his quest for a pandemic gotcha moment with President Joe Biden's top medical adviser, and the public face of the country's pandemic response.
Sen. Rand Paul used a Senate hearing into the monkeypox emergency to grill Dr. Anthony Fauci over the COVID-19 pandemic response, bringing up a 2004 interview about flu
Fauci gave as good as he got and must be looking forward to retirement in December
He put a tablet beside his microphone and played an old clip of Fauci answering a question on a TV show about whether someone with flu still needed a flu shot.
'Well no,' responded Fauci in the clip from 2004.
'If she got the flu for 14 days, she's as protected as anybody can be because the best vaccination is to get infected yourself.'
Aha, said Paul. So why isn't this being taken into account when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, he wondered.
'This is an ongoing question and we've heard evolving opinions from you. Currently, antibody surveys show that 80percent of children and approximately 80 percent of children have had COVID,' he said.
'And yet there are no guidelines coming from you or anybody in the government to take into account their naturally acquired immunity.'
Mortality for COVID is now similar to flu, he added.
Paul blew up an image of Fauci from the 2004 interview as he tried to show that he had been inconsistent in his stance on vaccination, previous infection and antibodies
But Fauci came with a Reuters fact check, concluding that his stance was
