Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted in closed-door testimony that he reviewed no specific scientific data for masking children before recommending the policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The details: The revelation comes from newly-released transcripts of Fauci‘s January testimony to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Here’s what the transcript says:
- Question: Do you recall reviewing any studies or data supporting masking for children?
- Fauci: You know, I might have, Mitch, but I don’t recall specifically that I did. I might have.
- Question: There’s been a lot of studies that have come out since the pandemic started, but specifically on this there have been significant on kind of like the learning loss and speech and development issues that have been associated with particularly young children wearing masks while they’re growing up. They can’t see their teacher talk and can’t learn how to form words. Have you followed any of those studies?
- Fauci: No. But I believe that there are a lot of conflicting studies too, that there are those that say, yes, there is an impact, and there are those that say there’s not. I still think that’s up in the air.
Back up: Despite failing to recall studies to support his child-masking recommendation, the former Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden continued to recommend it to the public.
- Fauci told CBS News in March 2021: “When the children go out into the community, you want them to continue to wear a mask.”
- In February 2022, Fauci told CNN “it is risky” to let kids take their masks off.
Negative effects on children: Research has shown that masking children during the COVID-19 pandemic had detrimental effects on their social and emotional development, communication skills, and mental health.
Back to the new transcript: During Fauci’s January testimony, he also admitted there was no science behind his 6-foot social distancing guidelines, admitting it “just sort of appeared.”
What’s next? This week, Fauci will testify in his first public hearing since retiring in December 2022.
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