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Fauci criticizes incorrect statement claiming no vaccine until Biden

Daily Mail 14/05/2022 James Gordon For Dailymail.com

Dr Anthony Fauci smirked, laughed and pleaded ignorance when asked on CNN about why the Biden administration had tweeted a claim that it had rolled-out COVID vaccines across the US.

He said 'I just can't explain it,' when asked by CNN host Jake Tapper about the incorrect tweet Friday.

Fauci added that he'd had nothing to do with the tweet being sent, and couldn't be held responsible for every social media post sent by the White House, for whom he serves as COVID tsar.

'When President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available,' the offending missive read.

'In the last 15 months, the economy has created 8.3M jobs and the unemployment rate stands at 3.6% - the fastest decline in unemployment to start a President's new term ever recorded,' a Thursday afternoon tweet read.

The claim is incorrect. The first Covid-19 vaccination in the United States took place in December 2020 when former President Donald Trump was still resident in at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Dr. Anthony Fauci laughed off a mistake tweet by the The White House on Friday

JAKE TAPPER: "Why is the White House politicizing the pandemic by tweeting out that there was no vaccine available until Joe Biden became president? It's not true."
FAUCI: "I just can't explain it." pic.twitter.com/9oFe9lZ6OL
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 13, 2022

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - a collaboration between a US pharmaceutical giant and a German biotechnology company - was the first Covid-19 vaccine to be approved by US regulators.

When questioned on Friday, Dr. Fauci could do nothing but laugh and was unable to provide an explanation.

'When president Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available and it goes on from there but as you know it's not true. It might not have been widely available, but it was available,' CNN's Jake Tapper told Fauci.

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'More than 3 million Americans had been fully vaccinated, more than 18 million had at least one shot by inauguration day. I think President Biden, then president-elect Biden had two shots by then. You're the president's chief medical adviser. Why is the White House politicizing the pandemic by tweeting out that there was no vaccine available until Joe Biden became president?' Tapper asked.

Then President-elect Joe Biden is pictured receiving his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on December 21, 2020

© Provided by Daily Mail Then President-elect Joe Biden is pictured receiving his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on December 21, 2020 The COVID vaccines were first distributed in December 2020 under President Trump

The COVID vaccines were first distributed in December 2020 under President Trump

'You know Jake, I'm sorry. I cannot explain every tweet that comes out. You are talking to the wrong person. I was not involved in the tweet. I just cannot explain it. Sorry,' Fauci responded, but Tapper wasn't finished.

'I know you can't explain it. But certainly you would agree that it is important to have facts when it comes to assertions being made about the vaccine, whether it is from the Trump White House or the Biden White House. Certainly you would agree the was vaccines available before Joe Biden became president?' Tapper pushed.

'Yes. Of course. He got vaccinated. And others got vaccinated. From a pure accuracy, that is not a correct statement. But it just went out. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about that Jake,' Fauci continued.

Less than an hour after Fauci's interview, The White House tweeted for a second time noting its error.

'We previously misstated that vaccines were unavailable in January 2021. We should have said that they were not widely available.

'Vaccines became available shortly before the President came into office. Since then, he’s responsible for fully vaccinating over 200 million people,' the tweet stated.

The White House later tweeted a correction but left Thursday's mistaken tweet up

Earlier this week, the United States recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, crossing a milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.

The 1 million mark is a stark reminder of the staggering grief and loss caused by the pandemic even as the threat posed by the virus wanes in the minds of many people and represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.

By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus had claimed 36 lives in the United States.

In the months that followed, the deadly virus spread like wildfire, finding fertile ground in densely populated urban areas such as New York City and then reaching every corner of the country.

The U.S. death toll had surpassed the total of the country's military deaths in World War One and it would exceed the American military losses of War World Two by January 2021 when more than 405,000 deaths were recorded.

The disease has left few places on Earth untouched, with 6.7 million confirmed deaths globally.

The true toll, including those who died of COVID-19 as well as those who perished as an indirect result of the outbreak, was likely closer to 15 million, the WHO said.

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