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Dr Anthony Fauci reveals what he would do differently if there's another pandemic - after admitting 6ft distancing rule was not based in science
Dr Anthony Fauci conceded that Covid measures such as school and business closures may have been too harsh- in a rare admission of mistakes officials made when it came to responding to the pandemic in 2020 and early 2021.
The former White House doctor also admitted some recommendations he endorsed were not backed in science, including the six-foot social distancing guideline.
In heated testimony in front of a Congressional committee, Dr Fauci, 83, said while officials issue advice based on the current public health situation, it is 'very very clear' that going forward, they will need to consider 'the potential collateral negative effects' of things like mask and vaccine mandates and ask 'how we can do better next time.'
Other memorable moments of Dr Fauci's testimony included him evoking an action movie as he described conspiracy theories that claim he parachuted into CIA headquarters to discuss how to make Covid more transmissible and tearing up when describing the death threats he and his family have faced.
Dr Anthony Fauci , former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testified Monday in front of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Dr Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testified Monday in front of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic for the second time, and while he continued to downplay any role the NIAID played in a potential lab leak and gain of function experiments, he did concede that some preventative measures may have gone too far and led to harmful outcomes.
Dr Fauci said he believed the harsh lockdown measures put in place in the early days of the pandemic when the virus was killing nearly 5,000 people per day were justified, but added that how long they should have been kept in place is 'debatable.'
The former top public health official who has continuously come under fire for his role during the Covid-19 pandemic, admitted there were substantial negative psychological and educational effects on young children due to the prolonged school closures.
However, Dr Fauci explained, officials were responding to real-time information and looking back, things should have been done differently.
He said: 'I think things we did in the beginning were in the context of a horrible situation of 4,000 to 5,000 deaths per day, but that doesn't mean that you don't go back and look and say "Did everything we do at that point and the duration for which we did it, was that appropriate and do we need to re examine?"
Students' learning loss and social setbacks have been well documented, with one NIH study calling the impact of mask use on literacy and learning 'very negative.'
And the impacts from social distancing caused 'depression, generalized anxiety, acute stress, and intrusive thoughts,' another NIH study found.
When subcommittee's staff director Mitch Benzine asked Dr Fauci if, in preparing for the next pandemic, it is important to consider the unintended consequences of such harsh public health measures, the former top public health official answered: 'Absolutely.'
Dr Fauci also agreed that once there is a better understanding of who the most vulnerable and affected people are in a pandemic, officials should more 'narrowly craft public health measures to specifically favor those demographics.'
However, he did caution that with novel outbreaks, it is often a 'moving target and you only hear about other vulnerables as you get further into the outbreak.'
This hearing is the first time Dr Fauci testified publicly since retiring in 2022. Earlier this year, he appeared in front of the subcommittee for a closed-door interview that spanned 14 hours over two days.
Last week, House Republicans released the transcripts of those interviews, which revealed he made up the six foot social distancing rule and other measures to 'protect' Americans from Covid.
Speaking to counsel on behalf of the House subcommittee in January, Fauci told Republicans the six foot social distancing rule 'sort of just appeared' and that he did not recall how it came about.
'You know, I don't recall. It sort of just appeared,' he said according to committee transcripts when pressed on how the rule came about.
He added he 'was not aware of studies' that supported the social distancing, conceding that such studies 'would be very difficult' to do.
In Monday's testimony, Dr Fauci clarified, saying he meant the six-foot social distancing rule, which was recommended by the CDC, had no clinical trial-backed science to support that maintaining six feet of distance from people stopped the transmission of Covid-19.
However, he added, he did not want to push back against the CDC's official guidelines because it would be frowned upon to criticize another federal government health organization.