Dr. Anthony Fauci wants more people to get vaccinated. His latest suggestion: Make vaccinations mandatory.
In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Fauci told Jake Tapper, “I have been of this opinion, and I remain of that opinion, that I do believe at the local level, Jake, there should be more mandates.”
Some may be inclined to trust Fauci. After all, 58% still trust him on information about COVID-19, according to a June Hill-HarrisX poll. But before local lawmakers rush to enact vaccine mandates, they ought to remember the times when Fauci was wrong during the pandemic, sometimes with disastrous effects.
Take Fauci’s changing guidance on masks, for instance. As Tiana Lowe of the Washington Examiner documented in June last year, Fauci initially downplayed the efficacy of masks only to admit months later that he made a calculated lie to preserve protective equipment for medical workers.
To make things even more convoluted, Fauci sent an email in February 2020 saying that face masks were only needed for sick individuals, according to the Washington Examiner’s Lawrence Richard. Fauci added that the “typical mask you buy in the drug store” is not effective at stopping the virus.
Fauci has also repeatedly dismissed the idea that COVID-19 could have been engineered or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As the Washington Examiner’s Becket Adams noted, in April 2020, Fauci “dismissed the lab leak hypothesis by citing a single study as proof the virus came from natural origins.”
But while he publicly dismissed the lab-leak theory, reporting by the Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy shows that Fauci actively steered scientific conversation behind the scenes toward the natural-origin hypothesis. Emails obtained by BuzzFeed News appear to demonstrate Fauci offering guidance and articles to scientists pushing back against the lab-leak theory.
In a May 2021 interview with Politifact, Fauci reversed course on the lab-leak theory. When asked whether he was still confident that COVID-19 developed naturally, Fauci replied that he was not.
And what about vaccine efficacy? It turns out that Fauci has undermined perceptions of the vaccines’ efficacies. In December 2020, Fauci accused the United Kingdom of rushing its vaccine distribution, even though the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by British regulators.
As the Washington Examiner’s Madeline Fry Schultz observed this past April, Fauci undermined confidence in the vaccine at home as well. Fauci exhibited over-zealous caution, telling the public that it was not safe to eat inside restaurants or drink at bars. This despite the fact that all three American-made vaccines were found to be highly effective.
Fauci has also shifted the goalposts on herd immunity. In an interview with the New York Times, he admitted that he downplayed the percentage of people who would need to receive the vaccine.
Given Fauci’s flip-flopping, it is not surprising that the public has lost trust in our public health institutions and indulged in untrue claims. A RAND Corporation study found that the public’s trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. And polling from YouGovAmerica found that a significant portion of those who will reject the vaccine believe in disproven claims about vaccines.
So, before Fauci offers his latest policy prescription from the pulpit, he should remember to show some humility, especially given his previous lies and mistakes.
