Time to put him out to pasture?
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Dr. Fauci — the nation’s foremost political-scientist — continues to be ubiquitous on TV, pitching that getting vaccinated is a “no brainer” and that, to paraphrase, all Republicans are morons.
Loyal readers know that I’m not a big fan of Dr. Anthony Fauci — Biden’s chief political-scientist — who is always certain (but often wrong), occasionally evidence-based (except when the data goes against him), straight-shooting (depending on the political winds).
For full chapter, verse and sources re: Fauci’s many mis-steps, see
Here are a couple of more logs to throw on my Fauci fire.
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I’ve been doing a doing a deep dive into vaccine hesitancy — why some people are reluctant to take the Covid vaccines — and how the resistance might be softened.
Note: For the moment, I’ll skip over the thornier question: Should the resistance be softened? I’ll have more on that subject in future posts.
I came across the COVID States Project Report #36: Evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine communication strategies.
Note: The 50-state COVID-19 project is “a multi-university group of researchers with expertise in computational social science, network science, public opinion polling, epidemiology, public health, communication, and political science.”
Here’s what caught my eye in the report…
The researchers queried study participants on whether public endorsements (i.e. televised vaccinations or public service messaging) by an array of personalities would make the subjects more or less likely to get vaccinated.
For example, predictably, an endorsement by Trump made Democrats less likely to get vaccinated and an endorsement by Obama (or Biden) made Republicans less likely.
Less predictably, a vaccine endorsement by Dr. Fauci resulted in only small reductions in vaccine resistance among Democrats, but increased and strengthened vaccine resistance among Republicans.
According to the researchers, the Fauci finding “contrasts with unspecified scientists and respondents’ personal physicians, whose endorsement reduce vaccine resistance across the board.”
So, the researchers conclude that Fauci has taken on a partisan association that has substantially reduced his credibility and effectiveness as a messenger.
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That finding brought to mind an interview with Frank Luntz who presented some focus group video footage re: vaccine hesitancy among Republicans.
Disclosure: The interview was on Fox; Luntz leans right but usually exhibits anti-Trump tendencies.
The headline from the focus group:
Click to view a worthwhile 1-minute video clip that brings the comments to life:
Luntz’s conclusion: Fauci — “who keeps changing his mind and moving the goalposts” — has no credibility whatsoever among Republicans … if you want reluctant people to get vaccinated, the message must be delivered by their personal physicians.
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Bottom line:
Both the impartial 50 States Project and the Luntz focus group reach the same fundamental conclusions:
> If you want to overcome vaccine hesitancy
> And, if Republicans are, in fact, the problem (i.e. more reluctant to get vaccinated than Democrats)
> Then one of the last people you want pitching the merits of getting vaccinated is Fauci
> Especially if he’s dishing inflammatory, condescending messages like “Getting vaccinated is a no-brainer”.
To summarize more bluntly: Yes – it’s time to put Fauci out to pasture.
Amen.
The Homa Files 
April 22, 2021 at 7:19 am |
Perhaps he should be put to pasture given the survey and focus group results, but it’s hard not to think that Fauci’s lack of credibility among Republicans is more likely a direct result of Fat Donny Trump and Fox’s persistent belittling than it is the result of any coherent thought.