Fauci defended his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and noted Trump's surgeon general also advised people not to wear masks.
"It wasn't only me," Fauci told Todd of the advice not to wear a mask."I'm picked out as the villain. It was the surgeon general of the United States and the entireDr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told MSNBC's Chuck Todd the calls for him to be fired are"preposterous.
Fauci told Todd there were four factors that went into changing that advice. Officials realized there wasn't the shortage they once believed there was and that cloth masks were acceptable, and that masks could be effective outside of hospital settings. Fauci added that officials became"painfully" aware that many cases involved people who were asymptomatic, making universal mask-wearing more important.
"That's what's called the scientific process," Fauci said."As a scientist, as a health official, when those data change, when you get more information it's essential that you change your position because you have to be guided by the science and the current data."
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