Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech said on Fox News Thursday vaccinated politicians are sending the wrong message to the American people when they continue to wear face masks and socially distance.
Domenech made the claim hours after Kentucky Republican Rand Paul charged National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci of engaging in political theater with continuing to use double masks despite his vaccination.
The “theater” that Paul was criticizing, Domenech said, “basically says ‘despite the fact that you’ve been vaccinated, even if you’ve gone through this whole procedure in order to get these shots, nothing about your life is going to change under our guidelines.'”
“That’s the opposite of the message we ought to be sending and it’s the opposite of the message politicians ought to be sending,” Domenech said. “Virtually all of them that you see on your TV cameras have been vaccinated. They are not going to be transmitting this disease, they are not going to be vulnerable to it anymore.”
Instead of sending the message that vaccinated individuals are safe from the virus, however, Domenech said, “they are engaged in this type of theater, this type of play on our cameras that really illustrates to people ‘You shouldn’t even bother because nothing about your life is going to change.”
Paul challenged Fauci before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Thursday afternoon to cite studies that justify mask compliance for individuals with immunity either through previous infection or vaccine. Paul is a medical doctor who graduated from Duke University School of Medicine then specialized in ophthalmology.
Sen. @RandPaul: "If we're not spreading the infection, isn't it just theater? You have the vaccine and you're wearing two masks, isn't that theater?
Dr. Anthony Fauci: "Here we go again with the theater. Let's get down to the facts."
Full video here: https://t.co/61RnSUvayG pic.twitter.com/xDWnCuFjjO
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 18, 2021
“What study shows significant reinfection, hospitalization, and death either after natural infection or a vaccine?” Paul asked. “It doesn’t exist… There is no evidence there are significant reinfections after a vaccine.”