As the nation confronts the omicron variant and increasing case numbers, Dr. Anthony Fauci has made some stunning reversals in Covid messaging ahead of President Biden’s address to the country. In a briefing at the National Press Club, Fauci conceded that Covid would never be eradicated and acknowledged some level of protection in recovered patients: “We’re never going to eradicate this,” Fauci said. “We’ve only eradicated one virus, and that’s smallpox. Elimination may be too aspirational because we’ve only done that with infections for which we’ve had a massive vaccination campaign like polio and measles. Even though we haven’t eradicated [those viruses] from the planet, we have no cases, with few exceptions, in the U.S.”
These concessions come amid increasing criticism of the government’s response from traditional Democrat allies. Recently, The Atlantic published an investigative report slamming CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for using a study from Arizona to assert that schools without mask mandates have triple the risk of a Covid outbreak. According to writer David Zweig, experts told him the CDC study on masks was “so unreliable that it probably should not have been entered into the public discourse.”
Last week, Dr. Marty Makary, a public health researcher and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, provided a scathing assessment of the Covid response to the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. He accused the public health agencies of “modern-day McCarthyism” and said they’re relying on published studies on par with a 7th-grade science experiment. Makary was particularly critical of public health leaders not acknowledging or researching natural immunity. He was also highly critical of the rush to recommend booster shots for 16- and 17-year-olds. A proponent of the vaccines and vaccinated himself, Makary questions whether recovered patients, especially young ones, need any vaccine at all.
Related: As President Biden Prepares to Lecture the Nation Again, Omicron Should Be the Pandemic Off-Ramp
Now, add CNN village idiot Brian Stelter coming out in favor of letting children live normal lives and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten attempting to rewrite the history of school closures. Covid hawk, lockdown fan, and vaccine authoritarian Dr. Lena Wen finally admitted that cloth masks are useless against omicron. Then Dr. Vinay Prasad, associate professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, outlined the politicized nature of the booster approvals amid the resignation of prominent FDA officials who objected. In an article on Substack, he noted that the FDA and CDC made these recommendations as the following information was coming to light:
- Mounting evidence showed myocarditis is far more common than initially thought.
- Estimates from Ontario, Canada, Israel, and other locations show rates of myocarditis as frequent as 1 in 3 to 6,000. The FDA confirms this with an Optum analysis.
- Myocarditis affects men at higher rates than women.
- The highest risk age is for men aged 12-40, with those 16-24 having the highest incidence.
- Moderna has higher risks than Pfizer.
- Several European nations suspended the use of Moderna in the young.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, is also breaking with the administration on Covid policy. He declared the medical emergency phase of the pandemic over and said that public health officials could no longer implement mask mandates earlier this month. In an interview with Chuck Todd on Sunday, Polis said he wished President Biden would change his messaging and emphasize that the vaccinated should feel confident that they can go about life and suffer a minor illness if they contract Covid.
Fauci’s statement also follows reports that some Biden administration officials were already advocating a shift in the way leaders discuss Covid. According to CNN, some Biden advisers encouraged the administration to discuss how to live with the virus since it shows no signs of disappearing. In a meeting with reporters last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said, “We’re getting to the point now where … it’s about severity… It’s not about cases. It’s about severity.”
This sentiment is one many public health professionals have advocated since late 2020. In particular, the authors and signatories to the Great Barrington Declaration advocated for a focused protection approach. By the summer of 2020, it was apparent there was a significant risk stratification for severe disease and death from Covid. The elderly and those with specific medical conditions were much more susceptible.
Instead of considering or debating a modified approach, the health bureaucrats doubled down on a one-size-fits-all approach. G.overnment public health leaders were so wed to their chosen mitigation strategies that they launched a coordinated smear campaign to end the debate. Ultimately, their policies saved no one and harmed people in ways we may not fully understand for decades to come.
Related: Fauci Orchestrated ‘Quick and Devastating’ Takedown of Anti-Lockdown Experts
It is good to see that Secretary Becerra has joined Team Sanity. Fauci is not quite there since he is still peddling the illusion that an easily transmissible respiratory virus that travels through the air can be “controlled” using booster shots and indoor masking. None of these have stopped the virus to date, so it is unclear what purpose these measures accomplish other than keeping Fauci on television for the foreseeable future.
Slowly, a majority of Americans are catching on. More people watched Dr. Peter McCullough discuss Covid and the future of the pandemic on a recent Joe Rogan podcast than saw Fauci on the Sunday shows last week. Increasingly, the Great Barrington Declaration authors are appearing on prominent alternative outlets that pull more eyes than the anchors on CNN. Other prominent voices, like Dr. Makary, are breaking with the narrative as additional information comes to light.
All of them are leveling with Americans about the real stratified risk of Covid overall and omicron in particular. The nuance that has been missing from the discussion for almost two years is reaching a larger audience. And the only way Covid authoritarianism ends is through peaceful mass resistance to current restrictions and clear messages sent at the ballot box.
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