Dr. Anthony Fauci asserted that “disinformation” is one of the “enemies of public health” after CNN correspondent Jim Acosta accused Fox News host Tucker Carlson and podcast host Joe Rogan of spreading “debunked information.”

“The best way to counter disinformation and misinformation is to try as best as we all can to get the proper and correct information out,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House chief medical adviser, said on CNN Sunday. “But one of the enemies of public health is disinformation, and, unfortunately, we do see that in some corners.”

IVERMECTIN EXPLAINED: WHY THE SO-CALLED ‘HORSE DRUG’ HAS EMERGED IN COVID FIGHT

Acosta had brought up Carlson, who asserted in a recent segment that those buying vaccine cards “do so out of desperation,” and Rogan, who recently contracted COVID-19 and revealed that he “threw the kitchen sink” at the virus by taking a “variety of meds.”

The CNN correspondent accused Carlson of “defending counterfeit vaccine cards” and said that Rogan took the “livestock de-wormer ivermectin,” claiming that it “doesn't have any effect on COVID, obviously.”

The anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is widely prescribed by doctors for human use and is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a “presumptive therapy” for intestinal parasites for refugees. Several early studies have examined whether ivermectin is effective against COVID-19.

Interest in the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment prompted some people to purchase a version of it formulated for horses, which made people sick. There is no consensus about whether it is effective against the virus, and the Food and Drug Administration warned the public against taking it to combat COVID-19.

“Disinformation and misinformation is really a very serious issue when it comes to a public health issue like COVID-19,” Fauci said. “It is essential to get correct information out, both for people who are infected and who do need proper medication and proper care. To foster things that are unproven, right from the beginning, has always been a problem.”

Despite warning against false information, Fauci himself has repeatedly come under fire for changing his advice on how to combat the virus.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

In March 2020, he said that there was "no reason" to wear a face-covering to slow the virus's spread. About a month later, Fauci joined other health officials in encouraging mask-wearing.

Early in the pandemic, Fauci brushed off the theory that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab rather than occurring naturally, calling it a “circular argument.” A year later in May 2021, Fauci said he is “not convinced” that the virus occurred naturally.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Coronavirus, Anthony Fauci, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, CNN, Misinformation

Original Author: Emily Brooks

Original Location: Fauci: ‘Disinformation’ one of the ‘enemies of public health’