President Joe Biden’s top healthcare official, who is neither a medical doctor nor a scientist, refused to apologize for labeling people who have hesitated in getting a COVID-19 vaccine “flat-earthers.”
According to The Washington Times, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra recently advocated for greater vaccination rates at a forum hosted by the Foundation for Healthy Kentucky.
During the event, Becerra noted that about 20 percent of Kentuckians expressed reluctance to get jabbed, and said, “because some flat-earthers, especially those in places of influence, choose to peddle fiction, we’re losing more of our loved ones.”
At a Senate hearing on Thursday, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who is a medical doctor, asked Becerra if he wanted to apologize for that comment.
Paul pointed to an Israeli study of 2.5 million patients that found those who had gotten a COVID vaccine were seven times as likely to contract the virus than those who had recovered from the illness and thus had natural immunity.
When Becerra said he was unfamiliar with the report, Paul replied, “You think you might want to be if you’re gonna travel the country insulting the millions of Americans, including NBA star Jonathan Isaac [of the Orlando Magic], who have had COVID, recovered, look at a study with 2.5 million people and say, ‘Well, you know what, it looks like my immunity is as good as a vaccine … and in a free country maybe I ought to be able to make that decision.”
“Instead,” Paul continued, “you’ve chosen to travel the country calling people like Jonathan Isaac and others, myself included, flat-earthers. We find that very insulting. It goes against the science. Are you a doctor, a medical doctor?”
Becerra responded to Paul by saying he has worked on healthcare policy for more than 30 years.
Becerra is not a doctor, nor a scientist. As the Times noted, he is a former Democratic congressman who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a law degree from Stanford. He also is California’s former attorney general.
Paul shot back, “And yet you travel the country, calling people flat-earthers who have had COVID, looked at studies of millions of people, and made their own personal decision that their immunity they naturally acquired is sufficient. But you presume somehow to tell over a hundred million Americans who survived COVID that we have no right to determine our own medical care?”
“You alone are on high, and you’ve made these decisions – a lawyer with no scientific background, no medical degree,” the senator continued.
“This is an arrogance, coupled with an authoritarianism, that is unseemly and un-American. You, sir, are the one ignoring the science.”
Paul added that the “vast preponderance” of “dozens and dozens” scientific studies on the issue indicates that natural immunity confers “robust” and “long-lasting” protection against further infection.
Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection, Paul noted, does not recommend a measles shot for people who have recovered from the measles, and that the same was true for smallpox.
“You ignore history and science to shame the flat-earthers, as you call them. You should be ashamed of yourself and apologize to the American people for being dishonest about naturally acquired immunity.”
Becerra declined to take that step, according to the Times.
“I appreciate that everyone has their opinion,” he said during the exchange.
“We follow the facts and the science at HHS. We use the expertise of the medical professionals, the scientists at HHS to make decisions,” he added. “It’s a team effort and we rely on what is on the ground showing us results.”
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