Dr. Anthony Fauci believes that the unvaccinated are responsible for the continued spread of the coronavirus and that Americans should effectively not have a free choice in wearing masks.
The chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden took to ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday to declare he “respectfully” disagreed with those who believe that individual liberty and personal choice should factor in the decision of Americans to mask up amid the rise in COVID-19 cases and the new delta variant.
With Biden warning that restrictions and mandates could be coming in the wake of a surge in new infections, some Republican governors, such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Arizona’s Doug Ducey, have argued that Americans have the constitutional right to make their own decisions about whether they get vaccinated or wear protective face coverings.
“What is your answer to these … Republican governors in some of the largest states in our country?” Jonathan Karl, “This Week” co-anchor, asked Fauci on Sunday.
“I disagree with them. I respectfully disagree with them,” the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases responded.
(Video: ABC News)
“The fact is, there are things that are individual responsibilities that one has. And there are things that have to do with you individually, which also impact others and get the spread of infection that we’re seeing now — the surge in cases, Jon, is impacting everyone in the country,” Fauci said.
“A person’s individual, individual decision to not wear a mask, not only impacts them — because if they get infected even though they say, ‘It’s my decision if I get infected, I’ll worry about that’ — but the fact is if you get infected, even if you are without symptoms, you very well may infect another person who may be vulnerable, who may get seriously ill,” he contended, concluding with his take on the debate.
“So in essence, you are encroaching on their individual rights because you’re making them vulnerable,” Fauci added. “So you could argue that situation both ways.”
Democrat lawmakers in some areas of the country have begun to re-enact mask mandates as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month that the delta variant of COVID-19 has become the dominant strain in the U.S. The CDC and others argue that masks should be worn again in certain conditions and that getting vaccinated remains the best way for Americans to protect themselves.
Last week, the Biden administration announced a plan to require that federal workers be vaccinated or else they would have to be subjected to regular testing while required to wear masks and social distance.
But with the conflicting messaging on masks and vaccines, many Americans are still refusing to get the jab and Fauci did not hesitate to call them out while predicting that “things are going to get worse” in the country.
“I don’t think we’re gonna see lockdowns. I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country — not enough to crush the outbreak — but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter. But things are going to get worse,” he told Karl.
“If you look at the acceleration of the number of cases, the seven-day average has gone up substantially. You know what we really need to do, Jon, we say it over and over again and it’s the truth — we have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated. We are seeing an outbreak of the unvaccinated,” he claimed, predicting that there would be more “pain and suffering in the future.”
“From the standpoint of illness, hospitalization, suffering and death, the unvaccinated are the much more vulnerable because the vaccinated are protected from severe illness, for the most part, but when you look at the country as a whole and getting us back to normal, the unvaccinated, by not being vaccinated, are allowing the propagation and the spread of the outbreak which ultimately impacts everyone,” Fauci said.
His responses and the apparent dismissal of Americans’ personal liberties for the ‘greater good’ earned Fauci plenty of pushback on social media.
The founders had hundreds of years of history regarding diseases that could kill people when they wrote the Constitution in 1789. They prized individual liberty above that possibility.
— Nuclear Ironman 🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️🏅 (@NuclearHerbs) August 1, 2021
Sweet. How do I find out and where do I sue everyone who I ever caught the flu from, and can we arrest those people now?
— Critical Thinker (@FiveKGreg) August 2, 2021
“The right to not get sick” doesn’t exist. It can’t exist. It’s an utterly insane concept.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 1, 2021
Unvaccinated people are selfish??…didn’t the CDC just say vaccinated people can carry it just as well as unvaccinated? Personal choice is the freedom of America, not selfishness.
— Charlene Dragotti (@CDragotti) August 2, 2021
I’m not responsible for your health. Only me and my family. You do what’s best for you and I’ll do the same. That’s how it works.sorry
— Joey (@Joeypete2301) August 2, 2021
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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