Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul lambasted Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday for causing “hysteria” over the Omicron variant without basing it on science.
Paul appeared Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” where he commented on the recent scientific findings of the mildness of symptoms among patients who contracted the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“This shouldn’t surprise any of us,” the senator said. “Dr. Fauci routinely ignores the science, causes hysteria, and creates fear. This is the opposite of what you really want as far as someone leading your public health effort [is concerned].”
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Paul noted that the South African scientist who discovered the new strain — a finding that has prompted the introduction of travel restrictions by President Joe Biden’s administration — has reported zero cases of hospitalization or death from the Omicron variant in her country. (RELATED: POLL: Americans Aren’t Cowering In Fear Of Omicron Variant)
“So, you’re banning travel, which will destroy economically tourism and travel [industries] and have great hardship for the world, but you’re doing it for something that’s not scientifically sound,” Paul stated.
The Omicron variant, which has been said to show a higher transmissibility rate than its predecessors, like Delta, has a potential of becoming the new dominant strain and eventually putting an end to the pandemic, Paul hypothesized.
“In 1918, when we had the Spanish flu, we never knew where it went. It just went away,” he explained. “Maybe it became … a less lethal virus, and people didn’t know, cause we didn’t do the testing. And maybe, all of a sudden, people were getting colds again and not deadly flu.”
Fauci said Tuesday that the Omicron variant is “almost certainly … not more severe” than the still-dominant Delta variant.