A couple of weeks ago, Sen. Rand Paul shared a 2004 video and said, “once upon a time Dr. Fauci could tell the truth.”
Here’s the key exchange in the video:
Q: She’s had the flu for 14 days, should she get a flu shot?
Fauci: Well no, if she’s had the flu for 14 days she’s as protected as anybody can be because the best vaccination is to get infected yourself. If she really has the flu, she definitely doesn’t need a flu vaccine.
Q: She should not get it again?
Fauci: No, she doesn’t need it, because it’s the most potent vaccination is getting it yourself.
Grabien News founder Tom Elliott also tweeted the video of Fauci, and this ended up being the basis for a Reuters “fact-check”:
Fauci, in 2004: “If she got the flu for 14 days, she’s as protected as anybody can be, because the best vaccination is getting infected yourself. If she really has the flu, she definitely doesn’t need a flu vaccine … the most potent vaccination is getting infected yourself” pic.twitter.com/3Ztv66Sgi9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 1, 2022
Right on cue, Reuters swooped in for a rescue attempt:
Furthermore, COVID-19 is a different virus from influenza and receiving a vaccine is safer than risking severe illness with the virus, according to the CDC.(bit.ly/3vc95u8).
Although people who recover from COVID-19 usually gain some immune defenses against reinfection, they get additional protection from vaccines, especially against severe disease, according to two studies published on March 31 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal (see here ).
Reuters has previously debunked claims comparing the influenza virus and the COVID-19 virus (here , here , here and here).
VERDICT
Missing context. Top infectious disease Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments made in 2004 were regarding a specific case of influenza.
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Elliott spotted something very wrong with that, along with a missing disclosure in that “fact-check”:
.@Reuters dispatched its "Fact Check team" to investigate one of my posts:https://t.co/lcRANJam80
The article, which fails to disclose Reuters' chairman is a @pfizer board member & investor, doesn't dispute my post, but instead tackles a strawman argument they invented … 1/2
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
Reuters: "Fauci is giving advice for a specific situation pertaining to this caller. Natural immunity from infection does not mean flu vaccinations do not help curb community spread and protect vulnerable people." /2
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
Straw man DETECTED:
That second sentence responds to a claim I never made. The actual point here is that Fauci has stated many times throughout his career that natural immunity is equally if not more protective against viral reinfection. /3
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
Yet for reasons Reuters doesn't find worthy of journalistic investigation, Fauci has treated Covid differently, shaping government policy such that naturally immune Americans are nonetheless compelled to get Covid vaccines. /4
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
Since Omicron, Fauci's occasionally once again acknowledged natural immunity (as data from S. Africa made it impossible not to), but the federal govt — unlike in Europe — still fails to allow the naturally immune to opt out from their unconstitutional vax mandates /5
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
As a direct result of Fauci's science denial, an untold number of Americans have lost their livelihoods. And my tweet proved he's well aware he's denying science. If Reuters were a news organization, that would be the story they're interested in. /fin
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2022
By now everybody knows that “fact-checkers” are merely government narrative enforcers.
Everyone should read this thread and, if they still don’t get the media suppression, then they are truly stupid or hopeless…maybe both?? https://t.co/kmP64XBKGw
— Mark Murphy (@murphytravels) April 13, 2022
They use their "fact" checks to get rid of inconvenient truths. Often times, the article cited as basis for their "fact" check doesn't even address the point being made.
— Zees United (@TruthTeIIerz) April 13, 2022
And their authoritative sources are often the same government officials who have been caught lying and constantly moving the goal posts for over two years.
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