A video recorded in June 2021 and recently released to promote an episode of PBS’ American Masters series shows Dr. Anthony Fauci and Washinton DC Mayor Muriel Bowser walking the DC neighbourhood of Anacostia encouraging residents to get vaccinated..This was well before recent revelations about the potential origins of COVID-19 and the efficacy of vaccines, with the video showing, even then, people doubted the official take on both..Fox News reports the neighbourhood is “a historical African-American neighbourhood that Fauci called "disenfranchised" with low vaccination levels. At the time of the video, Fauci was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.”.The pair were not well received by everyone they spoke to, with one man, shown in the clip, greeting them with a heavy dose of skepticism, says the New York Post. .“So, I’m not going to be lining up taking a shot on a vaccination for something that wasn’t clear in the first place,” the unidentified man tells Fauci and Bowser..“Nine months is definitely not enough for nobody to be taking no vaccination that you all came up with,” he says when Fauci tells him how long it took to develop the jab, reports The Post..Bowser responds, saying she was vaccinated..“The only reason I’m talking to you right now, as close as we are, is that I’ve been vaccinated,” she says. “If thousands of people like you don’t get vaccinated, you’re going to let this virus continue to percolate in this country and in this world.”.“Something like the common flu, then, right?” says the man..Fauci tries to reassure him of the vaccine’s efficacy, telling him it had been under development for two decades and 30,000 people died from the flu, comparing that to the 60,000 deaths from COVID-19, the number recorded at the time of the video..The man is not convinced and then delivers a searing comment about the incentives offered to get vaccinated..“Again, that’s you all’s number,” he says. “When you start talking about paying people to get vaccinated, when you start talking about incentivizing things to get people vaccinated, it’s something else going on with that.” .“Your campaign is about fear. It’s about inciting fear in people. You all attack people with fear. That’s what this pandemic is, it’s a fear, it’s fear, this pandemic. That’s all it is.”.They speak later with a woman, who tells them, “I heard that [the vaccine] doesn’t cure it, and it doesn’t stop you from getting it.”.Fauci reverts to his mantra of the day back then, a mantra that has since been proven to be wrong,.“No, on the very, very, very rare chance that you do get it even if you’re vaccinated, it’s a very, you don’t even feel sick,” he says. It’s like you don’t even know you got infected. It’s very, very good at protecting you," Fauci said..“At least 60,000 DC residents contracted COVID-19 despite getting the shot, according to the city’s website,” reports The Post..Bowser engages Fauci, asking about states where the vaccine had not been mandated, saying those states were allowing spread of the virus to go unchecked..“What are we going to do about those other states?” she says..“Oh my God, they’re going to keep the outbreak smouldering in the country,” says Fauci, then, ignoring the science, goes partisan..“It’s so crazy. I mean, they’re not doing it because they say they don’t want to do it. They’re Republicans. They don’t like to be told what to do. And we got to break that, unpack that.”.“The teaser clip went viral on social media (this week) and elicited a wide range of responses,” says The Post..“Fauci got destroyed. I can’t believe they actually let this footage see the light of day,” one user said on Twitter..Another said, “Watch as Anthony Fauci and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser get condemned by a regular American for fear-mongering about COVID.”.Both the FBI and the US Energy Department have said that COVID-19 likely leaked from a Chinese lab, which Fauci has steadfastly denied but said recently “we may never know” the origin of the disease..Fauci has allowed he’s keeping a “completely open mind” on COVID-19's origin of the virus, suggesting a lab leak still could be considered a “natural occurrence.”.“A lab leak could be that someone was out in the wild, maybe looking for different types of viruses in bats, got infected, went into a lab and was being studied in the lab and then came out of the lab,” Fauci told CNN.
