Fauci news live: ‘Moron’ spat senator re-ups disclosure conspiracy as Rand Paul dismisses threats to Dr
Fauci heard calling Roger Marshall ‘a moron’ after heated exchange
Dr Anthony Fauci has defended remarks made on Tuesday following a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director was heard calling Mr Marshall “a moron” when the senator questioned if he should have a publicly available financial disclosure form.
Dr Fauci told MSNBC on Wednesday that he was stunned to know “that a sitting United States senator doesn’t realise that my financial statement is public knowledge”.
The infectious diseases expert also clashed with Senator Rand Paul during the hearing, who he accused of politicising the pandemic and “kindling the crazies” with his remarks. Dr Paul has since doubled down on his remarks.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, also appeared before lawmakers to answer questions on the US response to new variants of Covid-19.
The hearing comes as health policymakers say they believe the administration needs an urgent reset in the way it is approaching the new realities of the pandemic, although Dr Fauci has suggested that the US was on the “threshold” of Covid-19 becoming endemic.
At a speech on Tuesday, he said the Omicron variant “with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody”.
What happens if a child becomes seriously ill with Covid?
It’s a photo that’s been viewed thousands of times. A two-year-old boy, his eyes closed, lies in a hospital bed with a tangle of tubes protruding from his nose and mouth. One of them is for a ventilator. Underneath it is a Paw Patrol toy.
The boy was Adrian James of Mount Vernon, Illinois, who was critically ill with Covid-19. For parents, the photograph seemed to realise a nightmare that was never supposed to come true – children, supposedly, didn’t get Covid. And yet, here was this seriously ill boy.
Nathan Place reports on what happened next.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 22:05
Moderna expects data on children aged 2-5 in March
Moderna says it expects to report data on the efficacy and safety of its vaccine on children aged two to five years old in March and proceed with regulatory filings after that.
The company says it is also evaluating the potential of lower doses in children 6-11 and adolescents aged 12-17 years old in ongoing clinical trials.
Moderna is also evaluating boosters for teenagers.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 22:00
Fauci defends ‘moron’ outburst
Anthony Fauci has defended mocking Republican senator Roger Marshall after the two sparred over his financial disclosures during a senate committee hearing on health, education, labour and pensions.
Dr Fauci, in an interview with MSNBC News on Wednesday, said he was stunned to know “that a sitting United States senator doesn’t realise that my financial statement is public knowledge”.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 21:45
Voices: Rand Paul showed us all who he really is
Skylar Baker-Jordan writes:
By now, Paul and Fauci’s arguments are par for the course whenever the good doctor testifies before Congress. This one, though, was remarkable in just how craven and hypocritical “Rona Rand” behaved.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 21:25
Covid top cause of death for US police officers for second year
Covid-19 has been the biggest killer of police in the United States for the second year running, a report has revealed.
A total of 301 members of law enforcement died in the line of duty last year from Covid, the report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found.
That was among 458 fatalities reported by the fund, revealed on Tuesday in its annual report. It also makes 2021 the deadliest for more than nine decades.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 21:01
United Airlines reduces schedule in Covid staff crunch
United Airlines is canceling more flights after thousands of the company’s workers called out sick with the coronavirus.
According to a memo from the airline’s CEO, Scott Kirby, about 3,000 UA employees have recently tested positive for Covid-19, including almost a third of the workers at Newark Liberty International Airport – an important entryway to New York City.
Nathan Place has the story.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 20:40
Don Jr bemoans ‘victim’ Fauci
Donald Trump Jr has bemoaned Dr Anthony Fauci for being a “victim” after the infectious disease expert defended calling a Republican senator a “moron” and accused another of misinforming the public on Covid.
“Remember Lord Fauci is always the victim folks,” Mr Trump Jr tweeted on Tuesday, “No one else!”
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 20:15
Marshall demands ‘truth’ from ‘least trusted bureaucrat’ Fauci
Senator Roger Marshall is still implying that there is something hidden in Dr Fauci’s financial disclosure forms and demands the “truth”. and not a redacted version from before the pandemic.
In a tweet from Tuesday, he referred to him as America’s “least trusted bureaucrat”
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 19:50
Fauci: US may be on ‘threshold’ of living with Covid
Dr Anthony Fauci said the US is approaching the “threshold” of living with Covid-19, with cases surging across the country.
The chief medical adviser to the president, while speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday, said almost everyone will be exposed to the highly-contagious Omicron variant but the vaccinated will fare better.
“Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody,” he said.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 19:25
Can you reuse KN95 and N95 masks?
As the US fights to slow the spread of Covid-19’s Omicron variant, reports have surfaced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering recommending that those who can should wear a higher standard of mask when in public – specifically the KN95 and N95 masks that have been in high demand for the last two years.
The Washington Post quotes an unnamed official saying that “the agency is currently actively looking to update its recommendations for KN95 and N95 in light of Omicron”, explaining: “we know these masks provide better filtration”.
Oliver O’Connell12 January 2022 19:00
