Two of the least credible sources of information around – CNN and Dr. Anthony Fauci – partnered to engineer another media hit job on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Fauci is under fire after The Intercept recently revealed that Fauci’s agency funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan – something the nation’s alleged top infectious disease expert denied under oath had ever happened.
Appearing on CNN on Wednesday, Fauci opted to play along in criticizing DeSantis, in an attempted redirect from his own credibility issues. CNN’s host, Jim Sciutto, asked Fauci to respond to a highly edited clip of DeSantis discussing vaccines during an event in Pensacola.
During the appearance, the governor said, according to CNN’s clip, “The vaccines have helped people ward off severe illness. We obviously work very hard to distribute it. At the end of the day, though, it is about your health and whether you want that protection or not. It really doesn’t impact me or anyone else.”
Sciutto made that comment the launching pad for Fauci to denounce DeSantis – who himself is vaccinated against COVID-19 and has stoutly championed shots, especially for the elderly – as somehow being against getting the jab.
Fauci asserted DeSantis was “completely incorrect.” He then went on to compare the COVID-19 vaccine to those for polio, smallpox, and other diseases.
Sciutto then tried to say DeSantis’s point was that getting the vaccine was a “personal choice about yourself” that “doesn’t impact anybody else.” Fauci went along.
If you’re not vaccinated as a virus is circulating, Fauci said, “you are part of the problem.”
“You can get infected, … and then pass it on to someone who in fact might be very vulnerable,” said Fauci. “When you’re dealing with an outbreak of an infectious disease, it isn’t only about you. There’s a societal responsibility.”
The problem is that CNN took DeSantis’s comments completely out of context.
What CNN didn’t broadcast was DeSantis’s comments before what the network actually aired.
He started by pointing out that 13 million Floridians – or roughly 70 percent of the state’s adult population – are vaccinated against COIVD-19.
“We have a lot of vaccinations. It is helping people, if you’re infected, reducing the likelihood dramatically of you being hospitalized and of dying, which is great,” the governor said.
But at the same time, he added, breakthrough cases among people who are fully vaccinated are occurring. He then pointed out that those people still may need to be treated, despite having the shots.
Along those lines, he said, “We’ve been able to help particularly some very elderly people who were vaccinated many months ago, and we’re able to do it. It’s also just the fact that as the data comes in, there’s a concern about the waning efficacy [of vaccines] certainly against infection. It’s not producing the kind of 95 percent reduction that the clinical trials have promised. I think that’s pretty clear.”
“It’s still very good and it’s still offering protection, but you also got to have an ability to treat as well. And so there’s a prevention, but then also the treatment. And we, um, you know, for far too long, the treatment was neglected. So we’re not doing that here in Florida.”
The remarks by DeSantis that CNN aired were actually in response to a question about vaccine passports.
In his answer, the governor noted, “I’m vaccinated, but I’m offended that someone would make me show something just to go to a restaurant or just to live life. And there’s a lot of people who’ve already recovered from COVID who do have immunity.”
He also pointed out that, as recent studies have shown, that people who have recovered from COVID likely possess a stronger resistance to the virus than the vaccinated. DeSantis called arguing otherwise is “anti-science.”
“I am happy to see vaccinated people get good protection against hospitalization and death. And it has been good,” DeSantis added. “We gotta protect people’s ability to live their lives. I don’t want a biomedical security state in which you’re constantly having to do this, just to be able to live everyday life.”
“At the end of the day,” he continued, “the vaccines have helped people ward off severe illness. We obviously work very hard to distribute it. At the end of the day, though, it is about your health and whether you want that protection or not. It really doesn’t impact me or anyone else because we’ve seen the data on this.”
DeSantis also made the case that people who advocate for vaccine passports actually hurt the drive to get more people vaccinated. “Some of these authorities, lecturing people about this, I can tell ya, there’s a lot of folks that when they hear that [about vaccine passports] if they’re on the fence that pushes them in the other direction. That is not the way that you do it.”
DeSantis then took a shot at federal health authorities who downplayed treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies. “A lot of these folks, they tell these noble lies because they want you to behave in a certain way. And so they don’t give the whole truth,” the governor said.
DeSantis suggested that health authorities dismissed the effectiveness of treatments because they didn’t want people to think that they didn’t need to be vaccinated.
“My job is to protect your individual freedom. My job is not to protect corporate freedom. That is not what I’m here for,” DeSantis said. “This idea that businesses can just do whatever they want and invade your privacy and doing all that, no, I’m not signing up for that. I’m signing up for protecting your freedom and making sure we have a society in Florida where people can make the best decisions for themselves and for their families.”
Support journalism by clicking here to our GoFundMe or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. It’s Free And Coming To Apple Users Soon
“Fauci is under fire after The Intercept recently revealed that Fauci’s agency funded bat coronavirus research in Wuhan – something the nation’s alleged top infectious disease expert denied under oath had ever happened.” There are two misleading assertions in this sentence. First, the NIH, which funded the research, isn’t “Fauci’s agency” and never has been. Dr. Fauci leads the NIAID, which is one agency under the NIH. Second, Fauci never denied that the research in question was funded by the NIH. He denied that the research was “gain-of-function” research. That is the assessment of the NIH and Dr. Fauci, but there are varying opinions on whether or not it’s a correct assessment.