Flip-flop Fauci is at it again.
This time, he’s claiming the CDC “hasn’t really flip-flopped at all.”
Considering its face-mask protocols change like the wind, hasn’t it, though?
Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday morning to discuss the CDC’s latest COVID guideline update that has garnered its share of negative attention.
Fauci on the CDC's mask flip-flop: "The CDC hasn’t really flip-flopped at all." pic.twitter.com/ZNvrCesra5
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 28, 2021
Just weeks ago, fully vaccinated individuals were given the green light to go maskless in both indoor and outdoor spaces.
Now, the CDC has reversed course, and guidelines state that even those individuals should begin wearing masks indoors to protect against the Delta variant.
“Even though two months ago — 60 days ago — the CDC came out with the recommendation that individuals who are vaccinated do not need to wear masks indoors or outdoors,” Fauci said.
“Something has changed. And what has changed is the virus. The CDC hasn’t changed, and the CDC hasn’t really flip-flopped at all. What’s happened is that when that earlier recommendation was made, we were dealing predominantly with the Alpha variant.”
Fauci went on to explain how the Alpha variant differs from the Delta variant that’s headlining news around the country — including that the Delta variant is far more contagious and data shows its presence in the nasopharynx of a fully vaccinated person is approximately 1,000 times higher than the Alpha variant.
Therefore, the chances of breakthrough infection sharply increase.
Still, if you’re into numbers, data on efficacy rates for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines — which are considered the most effective mRNA COVID vaccines — appears promising, but not entirely conclusive.
One study out of Israel indicated the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 64 percent effective against the Delta variant but should still prevent severe illness, according to The Wall Street Journal.
According to Yale Medicine, a study from Public Health England reported efficacy rates of 88 percent against symptomatic infection with a 96 percent efficacy rate against hospitalization for symptoms.
Moderna, in its own study, also said its vaccine is effective against the Delta variant.
The viral-vector Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has an estimated efficacy rate of 60 percent against the Delta variant and a 93 percent efficacy against hospitalization and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is less efficient, according to Yale Medicine.
Should these numbers warrant tightening protocols? Or should business owners and officials trust people to exercise their own personal discretion regarding their personal health?
According to a separate CNBC report, the CDC’s policy reversal “recommend[s] that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high Covid transmission rates” and stresses that people plan ahead for an anticipated surge in cases as employers bring workers back into offices this fall.
We have heard a plethora of conflicting reports from both the CDC and Fauci since the pandemic began, however, and people are fed up with being chess pieces in the game.
Remember when Fauci himself said mask usage wasn’t warranted last year?
He has since become an avid proponent of masks — even double masking, wearing a mask while fully vaccinated, going head-to-head with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on the issue, and now publicly advocating for the CDC’s most recent update.
The Delta variant is here, and it’s taking the country by storm, no doubt.
In fact, 83 percent of the reported COVID cases in the U.S. can now be credited to the Delta variant, according to the CDC.
Still, any attempts to instill vaccine trust in Americans aren’t going to stick if the CDC is determined to keep even the fully vaccinated cowering in fear from this novel variant.
Despite what Fauci says, the CDC has, in fact, flip-flopped on the mask issue, and it’s showing just how inconsistent its narrative can be.
Then again, Fauci has done the same.
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