Center for Vaccine Development director Dr. Peter Hotez said Tuesday on CNN’s “OutFront” that he believes Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) were “killers” spreading misinformation on COVID.
Anchor Poppy Harlow said, “In the past, Republican Senator Ron Johnson has claimed thousands of deaths have been connected to the COVID vaccine, and that mouthwash could kill the virus, both completely false. Here is what he said last night on Fox while discussing a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel.”
During a Fox News interview, Johnson said, “We all hoped and prayed the vaccines would be 100% effective, 100% safe, but they’re not. We now know that fully-vaccinated individuals can catch COVID. They can transmit COVID, so what’s the point?”
Harlow said, “What do you think when you hear Senator Johnson say things like that?”
Hotez said, “Well, you know, he is one of the dozen or so perpetrators of this horrible disinformation that has led to so many Americans losing their lives unnecessarily. Poppy, we have the numbers. Since June 1, 200,000 unvaccinated Americans who have been defiant of vaccines, refused vaccines, have needlessly lost their lives. This type of what I call — some people call it misinformation or disinformation — I call it anti-science aggression coming from Senator Rand Paul, Senator Johnson, members of the House of Representatives, in addition to those two senators, are killers. So, anti-science aggression is now a leading killer of young and middle-aged adults in the United States of America, and he’s part of the problem.”
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