Dr. Anthony Fauci and his boss, NIH Director Francis Collins, appeared on five of the six Sunday shows this week. Despite the fact we have a de facto hostage situation in Afghanistan, the Pentagon admitted to killing ten civilians in a drone strike, and 13,000 Haitians are sitting under the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, no one from the Pentagon, the State Department, or Homeland Security is appearing. It looks like an attempt at image rehabilitation after the FDA resisted political pressure to recommend COVID-19 booster shots for all Americans 16 and older.
The FDA’s decision may be a signal that the reign of Fauci is over. He told Americans that the third dose was the correct number of vaccines in the series to provide maximum immunity in previous appearances. Fauci and President Biden have both set the expectation that all vaccinated Americans would be eligible for a booster shot. Even worse, many Americans believe they need it based on their public statements.
Having to walk back these statements is a massive hit to Fauci’s credibility. The vote based on the clinical data and a risk-benefit analysis was not even close at 16 against and only two voting for the broad-based booster. The entire discussion between the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee members demonstrated the members had more questions than answers after viewing the presentations.
Several members pointed out there was no data from Israel, which they relied on heavily, indicating that all people over 16 needed a booster. The limitations of Israel’s program data were it only addressed boosters in people over 60 and only covered one month. Many experts were concerned with the incidence of myocarditis in young males and no clear indication of what a third dose may do to the rate of that severe side effect.
Doran Fink, M.D., Ph.D. FDA Deputy Director-Clinical Division of Vaccines and Related Products Applications provided some insight into the side effect frequency. The highest reporting rate in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is for young men aged 16 and 17. Health claims data in the U.S. shows an incidence of approximately 1:5,000 largely following the second dose of an mRNA vaccine. Israel, which has electronic medical records to base reports on, shows a rate of 1:6,000. Fink stressed that there is no data on the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis following the third dose in any age group.
Dr. Arnold Monto, the acting committee chair, asked Fink if it was possible to determine what age the side effect ceased to be a problem. Fink’s complete answer was astonishing.
“If you look at the healthcare claims data, you see that there is evidence of some attributable risk at all age groups. Although, the older you get, the higher the risk of complications from COVID that offset the risk of myocarditis. So, when you look at the balances of risk versus benefit, what we really start to see is risk of myocarditis being higher [than COVID-19] is males under age 40.”
Anchors should have asked Fauci and Collins about this revelation during every single appearance. It came from an FDA official using insurance claims data. To mandate vaccines in a population that contains a large share of the workforce and children where the risk of the disease is lower than the risks associated with the vaccine is unprecedented. It did not come up but needs to.
However, the fact the FDA rejected the booster plan despite the statements made by Fauci and Biden is a good sign. Both Fauci and Collins attempted to minimize those booster program pronouncements from Biden and other officials before the FDA’s determination. It did not go well on CNN with Jake Tapper, Fox News with Chris Wallace, or ABC with Martha Raddatz.
During a panel on “ABC This Week,” Jon Karl said, “Well, it looked like the White House was getting ahead of the science. The White House was getting ahead of the health experts. Dr. Fauci seems to be in a little bit of a spin mode in saying look, we just wanted to be ready by this date.” Biden has said the booster for everyone over 16 programs would begin on September 20.
Karl continued, “But make no mistake, Martha. When the White House rolled this out, the expectation was you would begin the process of boosters for everybody on September 20th. That was not the recommendation of the FDA advisory panel. It will not be what the FDA goes forward with in all likelihood.” Then he hit on the point that may bring an end to Fauci’s reign, “And this is important because Biden’s credibility on COVID has been what has driven his level of popularity. I mean, this is what he is trusted most on and what he needs to be trusted most on. And we’ve seen it eroded over the last several weeks.”
Everything that comes out of Biden’s mouth about COVID starts in Fauci’s brain. Following Fauci’s advice has cost Biden the one policy item that kept his poll numbers over 50% approval for months. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki once said it would be hard to imagine a circumstance where Biden would fire Fauci. However, we know our president is more than a little petulant, and he will have some dried egg on his face when he comes back from the beach. Stay tuned.
Source: PJ Media
