Center for Vaccine Development director Dr. Peter Hotez said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that “far-right anti-vaccine aggression has caused 200,000 Americans” to lose their lives.
Hotez said, “Well, there is some credibility gap from the CDC, but I think it’s important not to conflate that with the attacks on prominent U.S. scientists. Let’s break it down into components. Component one is the fact that the far-right anti-vaccine aggression has caused 200,000 Americans since June, last June, to lose their lives because they were defiant of vaccines, so there is — and this is coming right out of the CPAC conference, vaccines are political instruments of control. Or, first, they’ll vaccinate you, then they’ll take your guns and Bibles away, quotes from members of the United States Congress.”
He continued, “So the attack on Tony, Dr. Fauci today, it’s not all just Tony. It’s myself, and a few other key U.S. scientists is all part of that. It’s — and it’s not random. It’s intentional. It’s meant to discredit science and to discredit scientists, and sow doubt in the American people for political gain. So, Dr. Fauci was absolutely right in the way he responded.”
Hotez added, “Those who are defiant of vaccinations are strictly along a partisan divide. You can show this in the red states, and you can make these very strong associations statistically between the percentage of conservatives, those who voted for Donald Trump, and those who are defiant of vaccinations.”
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