Dr. Anthony Fauci recently admitted that there was no scientific evidence supporting the widely implemented Covid-era guideline requiring individuals to maintain six feet of “social distancing” or the recommendation for children to wear medical face masks in schools. This admission surfaced from the transcripts of Dr. Fauci’s closed-door interview with the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in January.

When questioned about the origin of the six-foot social distancing rule, Fauci, unable to pinpoint its source, stated, “It just sort of appeared. I don’t recall, like, a discussion of whether it should be 5 or 6 or whatever.” He acknowledged the absence of scientific studies supporting this specific distance and remarked that proving such an exact measurement would be “very difficult.”

Regarding the recommendation for children to wear masks in schools, Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), indicated that the science behind this practice remained “up in the air.” When asked if he had reviewed studies or data supporting the masking of children, Fauci responded ambiguously, saying, “You know, I might have,” but admitted he did not “recall specifically” doing so.

The transcripts also revealed that the Majority Counsel questioned Fauci about studies on learning loss and speech development issues associated with young children wearing masks. When asked about following such studies, Fauci responded, “No. But I believe that there are a lot of conflicting studies too, that there are those that say, yes, there is an impact, and there are those that say there’s not. I still think that’s up in the air.”

Fauci also admitted that the vaccine mandates imposed during the pandemic, regardless of individuals’ natural immunity, might have contributed to increased vaccine hesitancy. He acknowledged that these mandates were not thoroughly studied before being implemented. He suggested that post-pandemic evaluations should include social studies to understand the impact of vaccine mandates on public willingness to get vaccinated.

“I think one of the things that we really need to do after the fact, now, to — you know, after-the-game, after-the-event evaluation of things that need to be done, we really need to take a look at the psyche of the country, have maybe some social-type studies to figure out, does the mandating of vaccines in the way the country’s mental framework is right now, does that actually cause more people to not want to get vaccinated, or not? I don’t know. But I think that’s something we need to know,” Fauci concluded.

Following the release of the transcript, Fauci appeared before Congress on June 3. Addressing the reporting on his testimony, he clarified that while he previously stated the social distancing guidelines “just appeared,” he wanted to emphasize that the guidelines were initially recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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