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Dr. Tom Borelli’s commentary originally published at Newsmax.com
It’s time for Dr. Anthony Fauci to retire, or at the very least retreat from the public stage.
At this point, Fauci’s role as President Biden’s top medical adviser and frequent media guest on SARS-COV2 and vaccines is doing more harm than good.
Fauci is the wrong messenger carrying the wrong message for Biden’s vaccination goals.
Many Americans, especially conservatives, have “Fauci Fatigue.”
His numerous TV interviews with too many conflicting statements over the past year and a half has eroded his credibility.
Moreover, Fauci’s sales pitch to get vaccinated is a turnoff to conservatives.
On MSNBC, Fauci interpreted the personal decision to avoid getting vaccinated is based on politics and said, “Get over it. Get over this political statement. Just get over it and try and save the lives of yourself and your family.”
Scolding conservatives for not obeying his view is a sure way to get the opposite response.
The recent exchange between Fauci and Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., over the definition of gain-of-function research and Fauci’s role in funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a Senate hearing will only further alienate conservatives.
In response to a question from Paul, Fauci got very agitated, aggressive, and essentially called the Senator a liar. His entire demeanor, both tone and body language, was defensive which points to the weakness of his arguments.
Here's the full exchange between Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Fauci. pic.twitter.com/cxlgIV6qJD
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2021
Substantively, his carefully crafted answers regarding his role in funding the Wuhan laboratory illustrates Fauci’s willingness to cloak the truth.
Fauci’s denial that a scientific paper published by Chinese scientists was gain-of-function research is based on a narrow definition of the research technique.
As Paul described, the Chinese scientists took a naturally occurring bat coronaviruses found in a cave in China and genetically manipulated the viruses to give them the ability to infect human cells.
Fauci completely rejected Paul’s assertion in a demeaning way saying, “Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would like to say that officially.”
It was human intervention, not nature, that created a novel virus with a new trait in a laboratory. That’s literally a gain-of-function.
The bottom line is the Chinese researchers were manipulating bat coronaviruses with financial support from Fauci and as proof as Paul mentioned, the Chinese publication gave credit to the National Institute of Health including the grant number.
Importantly, the publication showed the Wuhan lab had the capability to create novel coronaviruses that can infect human cells. Additional research projects conducted at the lab, possibly including the creation of SARS-COV2, remains unknown.
Fauci’s wordsmithing to narrowly define gain-of-function is analogous to former President Bill Clinton’s statement during his grand jury testimony about Monica Lewinsky – “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
Evidence is mounting that Fauci Fatigue is contributing to vaccine hesitancy.
A recent CBS News YouGov poll conducted July 14-17 on the pandemic and reasons for adults not getting the vaccines.
According to the poll, 50 percent are not getting vaccinated because they don’t trust the government. That’s ten points higher than in June where 40 percent responded that way.
Additionally, there was a meaningful increase in adults that don’t trust the science as a reason to avoid vaccinations. In June, 33 percent didn’t trust the science but in July it shot up to 45 percent.
To summarize, increasing numbers of Americans don’t trust the government or the science. Logically, that makes Fauci – a government scientist – the worst person to convince individuals to get vaccinated.
What’s remarkable is Fauci admitted he is not the best messenger for vaccinations. On CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” he acknowledged government messengers are not trusted. Fauci said, “… what’s going on right now is getting trusted messengers, not government officials like myself, but trusted messengers in the community to outreach to people.”
Despite knowing and admitting he is not a trusted source, Fauci continues to appear on numerous network and cable news stations.
If Biden really wants to increase the number of vaccinations, he will recognize Americans are suffering from Fauci Fatigue and remove Fauci as the government’s face on SARS-COV2 information and vaccines.
Dr. Tom Borelli is a contributor to NewsmaxTV and co-hosts radio programs on SiriusXM Patriot with his wife Deneen Borelli. He received his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Michigan State University and Master of Science and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from New York Medical College. Read Dr. Tom Borelli’s commentaries here.
