The claim: Fauci said: “The most powerful vaccine is to infect yourself”
More than two years after COVID-19 was first detected, misguided attempts to compare the virus to the flu continue to spread on social media.
That happened again recently when Facebook users resurfaced video of Dr. Anthony Faucidirector of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, answering a question about the 2004 influenza outbreak. April 1 post of a Facebook user’s video was shared nearly 900 times in less than a week.
In the clip from Fauci’s October 2004 appearance on C-SPAN, he answered a caller’s question and said in part, “The strongest vaccine is to get infected.”
The Facebook post attempted to compare this approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Fauci and other leaders and experts are pushing for vaccines.
“Check out this video of Dr. Fauci in 2004 talking about the STRENGTH of natural immunity,” the post read. “Fast forward 18 years, what happened to this “‘science?'”
The clip was posted by multiple accounts Y accumulated thousands of shares.
But Facebook users are taking this clip of Fauci out of context. She is responding to a caller’s specific question about her flu diagnosis, she is not talking about COVID-19. Experts say that it is not reasonable to apply the same logic to both diseases given the great difference in transmissibility and lethality.
Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to receive updates throughout the day on our latest debunkings
USA TODAY has contacted the user who shared the claim for comment.
Fauci was talking about the flu shot, and in one specific case
Fauci’s clip comes from an Oct. 11, 2004, appearance in C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, in which he discussed the flu shot.
That year there was a flu vaccine shortage, after the world’s second-largest supplier of the flu vaccine, The Chiron Corp., had its company’s license suspended due to problems at a manufacturing plant. This cut the supply of influenza vaccines in the United States by nearly half and prompted public health leaders to recommend that healthy Americans postpone influenza vaccination so that high-risk individuals, the elderly, and the young can have access. to vaccines.
During the nearly 50-minute show, people from across the country asked Fauci a series of questions about the vaccine shortage and that year’s flu season.
A 67-year-old woman from Minnesota called the show to ask Fauci about her current 14-day case of the flu. She said that in the past, when she got a flu shot, she would experience flu symptoms for weeks, but when she didn’t get a flu shot, she only got the flu once during the winter season.
Fauci suggested to the caller in Minnesota that he might be allergic to a component of the vaccine.
The C-SPAN host then turned to Fauci and asked, “She’s had the flu for 14 days, should she get a flu shot?”
Fauci’s response is where the viral video that users have been sharing begins.
“Well, no, if you had the flu for 14 days, you’re as protected as anyone, because the best vaccine is to get infected yourself,” Fauci said. “If you really have the flu, you definitely don’t need a flu shot.”
The interviewer asks again, “Shouldn’t I get it back?” and Fauci replies: “She doesn’t need it, it’s the most powerful vaccine: infecting yourself.”
Of course, COVID-19 did not exist at the time, and it presents a number of threats that the flu does not.
The mortality rate of COVID-19 is much higher than the flu. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 290,000 to 650,000 people die from flu-related causes each year world. The The fatality rate of COVID-19 is thought to be up to 10 times higher than most strains of the flu.according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Fact check:False claim that a 1997 boycott reduced gasoline prices by 30 cents a gallon in one day
The CDC has said that, compared to the flu, COVID-19 can cause more serious illness in some people. With COVID-19, people may also take longer to show symptoms and may remain contagious for longer periods of time than with the flu.
COVID-19 vaccines offer more consistent and safer protection than natural immunity
Using Fauci’s clip to boost natural immunity instead of vaccines, as many online are doing, ignores several critical points.
As noted, infection that produces natural immunity is much more likely to cause death from COVID-19 compared to the flu.
And the caller in the 2004 clip was already infected, so the question was whether he should get vaccinated at that point. That’s a very different question than whether someone who isn’t already infected should get vaccinated or wait for an infection and resulting natural immunity.
AN CDC study August 2021 confirmed that vaccination offers greater protection than previous COVID-19 infection.
“This study shows that you are twice as likely to be reinfected if you are not vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. statement.
That study shows why Fauci’s comment about the 2004 flu shot cannot be compared to what experts have said about natural immunity and COVID-19. Vaccines for COVID-19 offer more consistent and safer protection than natural immunity.
AN study from April 2021 found that people who received two doses of injections from Pfizer or Moderna had antibody levels “up to 10 times” higher than those from a natural infection.
While the immunity to COVID-19 provided by the vaccine and previous infection is high, neither offers 100% protection. The the vaccine, however, offers more consistent protection against COVID-19the CDC said.
The level of immunity gained after a COVID-19 infection also varies widely, which experts say leaves some people with minimal natural immunity.
Fact check:Images of Slovak politicians pouring water on the Ukrainian flag lack context
“Natural immunity tends to be strong, yes,” Shane Crottyprofessor and vaccine researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, he previously told USA TODAY. “The reason that scientists and public health officials have been more cautious with COVID-19 is because of this wide range (of immunity levels) that we have seen for COVID-19 in people, which appears different than other infections.
Our Rating: Missing Context
Based on our research, we rate Fauci’s statement that “The most powerful vaccine is infecting yourself” as LACK OF CONTEXT because without additional information it is misleading. This clip of Fauci answering a caller’s specific question about his flu diagnosis had nothing to do with COVID-19, which didn’t exist at the time and is much more deadly and transmissible.
Our fact-checking sources:
- Washington Journal C-SPAN, October 11, 2004, Influenza vaccine
- NPR, October 6, 2004, US Facing Flu Vaccine Shortage
- CDC, accessed April 7, Similarities and differences between the flu and COVID-19
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, February 23, COVID-19 against the flu
- World Health Organization, accessed April 7, Global Influenza Program
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 6, 2021, New CDC Study: Vaccination Offers Greater Protection Than Prior COVID-19 Infection
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 29, 2021, Scientific Brief: Infection-Induced Immunity and the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine
- Shane CrottyJune 10, 2021, telephone interview with USA TODAY
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, November 23, 2021, Natural COVID Immunity: What You Need to Know
- bioRxic, April 20, 2021, Different antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 elicited by natural infection and mRNA vaccination
- USA TODAY, June 21, 2021, Fact Check: COVID-19 Vaccines Provide Safer, More Consistent Immunity Than Infection
Collaboration: Daniel Funke
Thank you for supporting our journalism. May Subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app, or e-newspaper replica here.
Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
Reference-www.usatoday.com