Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden, Anthony Fauci, testified on Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
81-year-old Dr. Fauci had to testify virtually from his home, where he is isolating after he tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
During the hearing, Fauci had a heated exchange with U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) regarding Covid-19 vaccines and if he received royalties from vaccine manufacturers.
Rand Paul asked Fauci if there are any studies showing a reduction in the hospitalization or death of children who take a booster. Fauci responded, “NO.”
Read the excerpt from the hearing:
Sen. Rand Paul: The government recommends everybody take a booster over age five. Are you aware of any studies that show a reduction in hospitalization or death for children who take a booster?
Fauci: Right now there’s not enough data that has been accumulated, Senator Paul, to indicate that’s the case.
Sen. Paul: So there are no studies and Americans should all know this. There are no studies on children showing a reduction in hospitalization or death with taking a booster. The only studies that were permitted, the only studies that were presented were antibody studies. So they say if we give you a booster, you make antibodies. Now, a lot of scientists would question whether or not that’s proof of efficacy of a vaccine. If I give you ten or if I give a patient ten mRNA vaccines and they make protein each time, or they make antibodies each time, is that proof that we should give ten boosters Dr. Fauci?
Fauci: No, I think that is somewhat of an absurd exaggeration.
Sen. Paul: That is the proof that you use [and] your committees used that. That’s the only proof you have to tell children to take a booster is that they make antibodies. So it’s not an absurdity. You’re already at like five boosters for people. You’ve had two or three boosters. It’s like where is the proof?…. There is risk and there are risks and you’re telling everybody in America just blindly go out there because we made antibodies… All right. That’s not science. That’s conjecture. And we should not be making public policy on it.”
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On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisors unanimously voted to recommend the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for 6 months through 5 years of age and the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for 6 months through 4 years of age.