Anthony Fauci: ‘It’s Horrifying’ to See CPAC Audience Cheer for America Not Being More Vaccinated

Dr. Anthony Fauci said it was “horrifying” to see people at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) cheering for the fact that the government wasn’t able to get more of the country vaccinated against the coronavirus by now.

CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke to Fauci on State of the Union on Sunday, where the latter spoke of his regret for the “inexplicable pushing back” against vaccines from certain people. He also hit back at the idea that the government will “force” people to get vaccinated with the Biden administration’s door-to-door promotional effort.

We’ve got to put aside this ideological difference or differences thinking that somebody is forcing you to do something. The public health officials, like myself and my colleagues, are asking you to do something that will ultimately save your life, and that of your family and that of the community. So, Jake, I don’t know. I really don’t have a good explanation, Jake, about why this is happening. I mean, it’s ideological rigidity, I think. There’s no reason not to get vaccinated.

From there, Tapper turned to CPAC, and he played a clip of Alex Berenson getting cheered by the crowd for saying “the government was hoping that they could sort of sucker 90 percent of the population into getting vaccinated, and it isn’t happening.” Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, has been a recurring figure on Fox News for months as he pushed anti-vaccine talking points, many of which have been slapped down by health professionals. Berenson has been so widely panned by so many experts that The Atlantic deemed him “The Pandemic’s Wrongest Man.”

As Tapper called out Berenson for saying “things that are not true about the vaccine,” he asked Fauci for his reaction.

“It’s horrifying,” Fauci responded. “I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it’s a good thing for people not to try and save their lives… It’s almost frightening to say, ‘Hey, guess what? We don’t want you to do something to save your life. Yay!’ Everybody starts screaming and clapping. I just don’t get that.”

Watch above, via CNN.