Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., blasted Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Thursday over freedom-restricting vaccine mandates.
“You presume, somehow, to tell over 100 million Americans who have survived COVID that we have no right to determine our own medical care?” Paul asked.
Referring to Xavier Becerra’s promotion of the COVID-19 vaccine to Americans who may already have developed natural immunity, Paul said it was “very insulting.” According to a press release from the office of the HHS, Becerra recently commended the CDC and FDA for approving booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in people ranging from 18 to 65 and older.
Paul, who is also a retired ophthalmology surgeon, slammed Becerra’s alleged lack of medical training in regard to understanding natural immunity versus immunity supposedly provided by the coronavirus vaccines. Rand told Becerra, “You’ve chosen to travel the country and call people like Jonathan Isaac, and others – myself included – flat earthers. We find that very insulting. It goes against the science.”
Jonathan Isaac, NBA player for the Orlando Magic team, came under fire last week for his decision to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19.
When the senator asked Becerra if he was a medical doctor, Becerra simply responded, “I’ve worked over 30 years on health policy.” The HHS secretary did not state any other credentials.
Xavier Becerra’s alleged lack of medical training was a sticking point for Senator Paul. “You should apologize to the American people for being dishonest about naturally acquired immunity,” he demanded. He went on to say that if Becerra wanted to lessen vaccine hesitancy in the American people, the “lies” needed to stop.
Paul asked Becerra if he wanted to apologize for calling Americans who were hesitant to be vaccinated “flat-earthers.” Becerra did not offer an apology. “We follow the facts and the science at HHS,” he replied, also stating that “660-odd thousand Americans or more have died because of COVID.”
Paul responded by firing back, “Nobody is arguing the severity of this [COVID], but you are completely ignoring the science of natural immunity… because you want submission.”