WASHINGTON – Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., responding to the public release of the Fauci diary, said the former infectious disease chief had not been upfront with Americans about masks, vaccines and other measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest surprise in the 1,141 pages of Anthony Fauci’s diary, Kennedy told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview, is that the nation's former top infectious diseases official fell ill after getting the vaccine.
“He got the vaccine to tell the Americans it's safe. And then when he got an adverse event that could have been related to the vaccine, he didn't tell anybody about it,” Kennedy said. “That's an inexcusable deception.”
Fauci, who is now 85, wrote in his diary that he suffered a pulmonary
infarction, which is when a lung loses its supply of blood and oxygen, in June 2021 − six months after getting the Moderna vaccine in December 2020. The diary was recently released by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't mention pulmonary infarction as a common side effect of the vaccine, and it is not clear if Fauci's infarction was the result of the vaccine or an unrelated event. The most common cause of a pulmonary infarction is a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in the lung – according to VeryWell Health and Medical News Today.
While early results from the Food and Drug Administration found pulmonary embolisms and other potential adverse effects were not "cause for concerns" with the COVID vaccine, later studies have found potential links − though some note the risk is greater with the COVID virus itself. Doctors overwhelmingly say the COVID vaccine is safe and saves lives.
Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, spoke to USA TODAY on July 29 – the same morning Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared at a Senate committee hearing probing the government's response to the COVID pandemic.
Fauci’s diary, which was typed on government computers from December 2019 to December 2022, became the centerpiece of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.
The committee, chaired by Paul, obtained the diary by subpoena. Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, said the previous secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services refused to turn over the diary, but Kennedy did.
Republicans on the committee accused Fauci of privately contradicting his public advocacy in his diary entries, while Democrats said he was being scapegoated in a partisan inquiry relitigating events that happened years ago.
In the USA TODAY interview, Kennedy repeated Republican talking points questioning the origin of COVID and criticizing Fauci's contradictory messaging on the effectiveness of masks and social distancing.
On the CDC's website, masks remain a recommended prevention strategy for lowering your risk of a range of repository illnesses.
Skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines have been a key part of some Republican criticism of Fauci for years.
This skepticism has also fueled hesitancy for vaccines across a range of disease, like measles, which recently surged in the U.S. due mainly to unvaccinated individuals despite it previously being declared eliminated. In the interview, Kennedy declined to respond to a question about vaccines and the upcoming flu season.
Since becoming head of HHS, Kennedy has taken numerous actions against vaccines, including firing all 17 sitting members of a federal vaccine panel and appointing new members, including some vaccine skeptics − even one who described themselves as an "anti-vaxxer."
Kennedy has also changed numerous recommendations for childhood vaccines, which public health experts and organizations have spoken out against, saying it puts children's health at risk.
Some of Kennedy's vaccine changes are facing court challenges.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Inexcusable deception': RFK Jr., in exclusive interview, discusses Fauci diary
