CNSNews.com has long been a promoter of right-wing Sen. Rand Paul’s nasty, partisan attacks against Anthony Fauci for his efforts in trying to protect Americans during the COVID pandemic. For instance:
- Sen. Rand Paul Tells “Every Snot-Nosed ‘Journalist’ Who Accosted Me” Spouting “Fauci-isms” to “Read the Science!”
- Sen. Rand Paul: Fauci Should Be Fired After NIH Letter Admitting It Funded Gain-of-Function Research
- Rand Paul: Fauci’s Edicts are ‘More About Submission’ than Science; ‘That’s a Real Problem in a Free Country’
- Rand Paul Tells Fauci His Christmas Gathering of ’57 Strong’ Has Only One Requirement – And It’s Not Proof of Vaccination
- Sen. Paul to Fauci: ‘The Idea That Any Criticism of You Would Be Considered a Criticism of Science Itself Is Quite Dangerous’
- Rand Paul: Fauci Should Be Fired; He Should Be Let Go Immediately’ Because His Disinformation Is ‘Putting You at Risk’
- Sen. Rand Paul: Our Investigation of COVID’s Origins Would Have People Saying ‘Holy Cow, This Thing Came from a Lab’
For his latest tirade, none other than CNS managing editor Michael W. Chapman chose to serve up servile stenography for Paul in a Jan. 11 article, with added boldface:
In a tweet of a video showing Dr. Anthony Fauci telling Americans in May 2021 that if they “are vaccinated, they can feel safe that they are not going to get infected” with COVID, Sen. Rand Paul remarked, “so many lies,” and added that he would “hold Fauci accountable.”
Dr. Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and former chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, made his remarks on the May 17, 2021 edition of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC.
During the discussion, Hayes mentioned cases of COVID infection among members of the New York Yankees who were fully vaccinated but still “tested positive for COVID.” These included three coaches, five staff members, and shortstop Gleyber Torres.
Explaining why this happened, Fauci said “these are certainly breakthrough cases,” and added, “Breakthrough infections mean, you have been vaccinated, but you still get infected.” He also said that even if infected with COVID while vaccinated against COVID, the symptoms in most cases are minor or “no symptoms at all.”
“If you do get infected, the chances are that you’re going to be without symptoms, and the chances are very likely that you’ll not be able to transmit it to other people,” said the doctor.
Fauci further said, for the vaccinated, “when you do get infected [with COVID], the chances are, you’re going to be without symptoms. And because of that — that was the accumulating scientific data that prompted the CDC to make that recommendation — that when people are vaccinated, they can feel safe that they are not going to get infected, whether they’re outdoors or indoors. That’s the bottom line of that to get people to appreciate: you get vaccinated and you’re really quite safe from getting infected.” (Emphasis added.)
Commenting on the video-clip of Fauci, Senator Paul tweeted, “How many vaccinated people do you know who still got Covid? So many lies. I will hold Fauci accountable.”
But neither Chapman nor Paul offered any evidence that Fauci was telling “lies,” a word that means a specific thing that is not defined as Fauci not exactly matching CDC guidance. Neither mentioned the fact that the COVID virus has mutated in a way that makes older vaccines less effective, the updated bivalent boosters protect against infection, hospitalization and death. Boosters are necessary because the nature of the virus means that efficacy of the vaccines wear off over time — just like protection from a previous case of COVID (which anti-vaxx enthusiasts like Paul like to romanticize as “natural immunity”) wears off over time.
Chapman managed to refrain from doing so here , but CNS has previously tried to privilege his rants on COVID-related issues by touting that he is a “medical doctor” — even though he’s actually just an eye doctor with no demonstrated expertise in virology or epidemiology.