Anthony Fauci has defended the Biden administration for getting ahead of ‘the science’ when they announced a plan for booster shots for all Americans to begin on Monday, despite the FDA rebuking the idea.
Last month, Joe Biden announced a plan for all Americans who have been currently vaccinated against COVID-19 to receive booster shots, starting from Monday. “The threat of the delta virus remains real but we are prepared,” Biden said at the time, saying that “this is no time to let our guard down.” During the same press conference, Biden praised teachers at schools who “follow the science,” and mandate masks in schools. The following day, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the effects of the initial vaccine were “waning,” and that booster shots would become necessary.
However, last week, the FDA advisory panel voted in a 16-2 decision to reject the administration’s plan to offer booster shots from Pfizer to everybody. “Members of the Food and Drug Administration panel of outside efforts voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on safety of extra doses,” the report explained. They also “complained that data provided by the Israeli researchers about their booster campaign might not be suitable for predicting the U.S. experience.”
Despite this drawback, Anthony Fauci, who currently stands as the White House Chief Medical Advisor, rejected “the science,” and said that the booster rollout plan was not a problem at all. Defending the “confusing” timeline to ABC’s Martha Raddatz on Sunday, Fauci said that “the story is not over because more and more data is coming in and will be coming in,” suggesting that they knew better than what “the science” says right now.
On ABC's This Week, Dr. Fauci defends Biden getting ahead of the science and announcing a plan to rollout booster shots only for it to be shot down by the FDA. "Isn't a timeline like that just confusing to people," Martha Raddatz asked. Fauci said it wasn't a problem. pic.twitter.com/OsKpWddmNo
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 19, 2021
The idea of booster shots has come under fire from many, including President Trump, who said that the whole idea was “crazy,” and that it was a cynical cash grab from the pharmaceutical companies. President Trump noted that people wouldn’t think that they would need a booster, as when the vaccines first came out they were good for life. “Then they were good for a year or two, and I could see the writing on the wall, I could see the dollar signs in their eyes,” he remarked.
As National File reported, the potential of booster shots is certainly likely to produce even further profits for the Big Pharma companies involved in producing the vaccines. SEC filings have showed that in 2021, Moderna has already made $12 billion, with Stéphane Bancel, the company’s CEO, saying that they are “looking forward towards our vision of a single dose annual booster that provides protection against COVID-19, flu and RSV for adults.”