Jim Geraghty of National Review Online highlights one high-profile federal health official’s contribution to misinformation about COVID.
[I]f public-health officials wanted to rebuild public trust, they would call out misinformation from those irrationally or excessively worried about the virus, as much as they called out misinformation from those insufficiently worried about the virus. Right around that time, one of our most prominent public-health officials was doing everything possible to avoid calling out a prominent figure on the left for ludicrous, wildly inaccurate Covid-19 misinformation.
On Fox News Sunday, anchor Bret Baier gave CDC Director Rochelle Walensky every possible opportunity to point out that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was offering inaccurate nonsense when she contended that more than 100,000 American children were in in serious condition and many on ventilators, because of Covid-19. And Walensky just kept going back to her talking points about the importance of getting kids vaccinated.
SONIA SOTOMAYOR, U.S. SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE: We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators.
BAIER: Now, what we can find from Friday suggest there are fewer than 3,500 current pediatric hospitalizations from COVID-19. Is that true?
WALENSKY: Yeah. But, you know, here’s what I can tell you about our pediatric hospitalizations now. First of all, the vast majority of children who are in the hospital are unvaccinated, and for those children who are not eligible for vaccination, we do know that they are most likely to get sick with COVID if their family members aren’t vaccinated. …
… When public-health officials denounce misinformation about the pandemic, what they usually mean is misinformation that comes from the powerless people — Aunt Edna sharing absurd theories on Facebook that if everybody in the ICU took some Vitamin C or colloidal silver then they would be up and feeling great in no time. President Joe Biden can say, “How about making sure that you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anyone else,” and no public-health official blinks.