Anthony Fauci challenges Rand Paul's claims on herd immunity, says he's 'not listening'

US top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Wednesday, September 23 challenged Sen Rand Paul's claims of New York developing herd immunity and that it has overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci, who has previously disagreed with several remarks made by the US lawmakers and urged people to believe science, told the Republican senator that he is “not listening” during the Senate hearing over America’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

While the COVID-19 death toll in the US surpassed the grim milestone of  200,000, Paul not only compared the New York’s response to the health crisis to that of Sweden but also claimed that the US state is “no longer having the pandemic”. He also said that COVID-19 death rate in New York continued to soar despite having lockdown. Therefore, according to Kentucky US Senator, “those who argue” that the stay-at-home orders are successful in flattening the curve of the disease are incorrect. 

Read - 'Virus Hurting Us, Not Health Measures', Says Fauci As US Surpasses 200,000 Deaths

Read - US Govt Disease Expert Anthony Fauci Sees No Return To Normal From COVID-19 Until 2021

Fauci 'challenged' Paul's claims

Since Paul even accused Fauci of being a “big fan” of the Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and state’s “shutdown”, the White House coronavirus adviser retaliated by saying that the lawmaker “misconstructed” the facts in the similar manner he has done in the several months of the nation being embattled with COVID-19 pandemic. At the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, Fauci said that New York “got hit very badly” and that they even “made some mistakes”.

Fauci went on to “challenge” the claims made by the lawmaker of New York developing the herd immunity saying that 22 per cent of state’s residents have most likely been already exposed to the novel coronavirus. Even the senior officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO) have said that in order to develop herd immunity, 60-80 per cent of the population needs to be either vaccinated or develop antibodies through natural infection. 

Earlier in the hearing on Wednesday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr Robert Redfield had noted that over 90 per cent of the American citizens remain ‘susceptible’ to COVID-19. Following which, Fauci told Paul, “You are not listening to what the director of the CDC said...If you believe that 22% is herd immunity, I believe you’re alone in that.” Watch:

Video credit: CSPAN

Read - Fauci Unsure About What Donald Trump Meant By Saying 'rounding Up On Virus'

Read - Anthony Fauci Says He Was In Surgery When Updated CDC Testing Guidelines Were Discussed

Image: AP