Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed his contempt for the media on Sunday during an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
"You said this week that you differed from the president in an assessment that a combination of two drugs, Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin, combined, could have an outcome that he described to the public," Margaret Brennan said. "Who is the president listening to and do you see a concern here that those drugs could become, basically oversubscribed, and there could be a shortage that could impact people who have persistent medical issues, like Lupus, and need those?"
"There's an issue here of where we're coming from. The president has heard, as we all have heard, are what I call 'anecdotal reports' that certain drugs work. So, what he was trying to do, and express, was the hope that it might work, let's try and push their usage," Fauci explained. "I, on the other hand, am not disagreeing with the fact that, anecdotally, they might work. But my view is to prove, definitively, from a scientific standpoint, that they do work. So I was taking a purely medical, scientific standpoint. And the president was trying to bring hope to the people."
According to Fauci, the media is continually trying to find contrasts between what the NIAID director and the president have said about the Wuhan coronavirus.
"I think there's this issue of trying to separate the two of us," he said. "There isn't fundamentally a difference there. He's coming from a hope standpoint. I'm coming from it from a scientific standpoint."
DR. FAUCI: “The President was trying to bring hope to the people. I think there's this issue of [the media] trying to separate the two of us. There isn't fundamentally a difference there." pic.twitter.com/lSygidey2a
— Ken Farnaso (@KLF) March 22, 2020
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The media has taken issue with President Trump suggesting that a combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin could be a potential treatment for the virus.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents).....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
....be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE! @US_FDA @SteveFDA @CDCgov @DHSgov
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
But when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) suggested it, the mainstream media applauded the proposal. The media has continually praised Cuomo for his response to the Wuhan coronavirus but point to Trump and say he's not doing enough. Interestingly enough, Cuomo has repeatedly praised the Trump administration for working with states to make personal protective equipment and testing available.
This is just another example of the media doing what they do best: spinning the facts in a time of crisis.
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