Tipsheet

CNN Doctor Wants to Bring DOJ, Homeland Security Against Covid Vaccine Critics

Scott Morefield
Scott Morefield  |  December 31, 2021 5:00 PM

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and a frequent CNN guest, told CNN's Jim Acosta that government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice should somehow be brought to bear against Covid vaccine critics.

Despite the "fully-vaccinated" level topping 60 percent in the U.S., cases have surged to nearly double January 2021 levels, with 572,029 on Thursday alone. None of this has stopped Branch Covidians from claiming that if only more people were vaccinated, we wouldn't be experiencing the latest Covid wave.

Appearing on CNN's "The Situation Room" Thursday afternoon, Hotez told Acosta that he has advised President Joe Biden to rely on government agencies to fight what he called a "well-oiled, well-funded anti-vaccine ecosystem." 

"These are not mom-and-pop groups," he said. "They have funding. They have organization. They have leaders in the U.S. Congress. They have the conservative think tanks. They have the far right-wing news outlets, and this is gonna require Homeland Security. This is gonna require the Justice Department, the Commerce Department, to help us figure it out, because the health sector at this point just doesn't know what to do with it."

"Anti-science is one of the leading killers of young and middle-aged adults in the United States," he continued. "And I think we have to take more aggressive steps to counter it because it's not going to stop."

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Hotez also claimed that if the country "had reached levels of 80, 85 percent vaccination," the current surge could have been avoided.

Then again, Portugal might beg to differ: