Kentucky Senator Rand Paul torches National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci's post-vaccination mask mandates stating "there's no science behind it" during a senate hearing held this week.
A March 21 video of the senate hearing covered by Fox News showed Paul hitting on Fauci's requirement for those who have been vaccinated to continue wearing masks, as well as, for stating earlier of the need to even wear two masks for better safety as nothing but "theater." Meanwhile, Paul tweeted a similar video but from C-SPAN.
"Well, let me just state for the record that masks are not theater. Masks are protective," Fauci responded calmly during the hearing.
"If you have immunity, they're theater. If you already have immunity you're wearing a mask to give comfort to others," Paul retorted.
To which Fauci responded, "I totally disagree with you."
In its news report, Fox News said Paul mocked Fauci's advocacy and went on to Twitter on Wednesday to continue proving where he is coming from, citing a study published at the National Library of Medicine website.
"Dr. Fauci, great news! T cell immunity after natural infection shown to include variants. Do we still need to wear multiple masks after we've recovered or been vaccinated?" he said sarcastically.
The study, entitled "CD8+ T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals target conserved epitopes from multiple prominent SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants," said that "virtually all anti-SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell responses should recognize these newly described variants."
Fox News said that Paul was able to cite scientific researches due to his medical background as an eye doctor. The senator, as such, has been constantly contradicting Fauci's directives for Americans to wear masks, which the latter suggested since scientists are still studying the COVID-19 variants and its effect on immunity.
As per Fox News, the study Paul cited from the National Library of Medicine is still pending peer review and that its findings were only based on a limited sample size as indicated by its authors.
Paul tweeted on the day of the senate hearing regarding claims of "fearmongers" on the vaccines.
"Sorry Dr Fauci and other fearmongers, new study shows vaccines and naturally acquired immunity DO effectively neutralize COVID variants. Good news for everyone but bureaucrats and petty tyrants! Neutralizing Antibodies Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants," he announced.
The tweet contained a link to a study published by JAMA Network on March 19 entitled, "Neutralizing Antibodies Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants After Infection and Vaccination", that was conducted by Mehul S. Suthar, PhD of Georgia's Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University.
The study found the "neutralizing activity of infection- and vaccine-elicited antibodies against 4 SARS-CoV-2 variants, including B.1, B.1.1.7, and N501Y" but is limited to the sample size during the study along with the possible selection bias, lack of clinical outcomes, and how neutralization titers correlate with protection".
"Because neutralization studies measure the ability of antibodies to block virus infection, these results suggest that infection- and vaccine-induced immunity may be retained against the B.1.1.7 variant. As additional variants emerge, neutralizing-antibody responses after infection and vaccination should be monitored," it said.
