Dr. Anthony Fauci praised former President Donald Trump for recently telling a crowd that he had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. However, the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden also expressed disappointment that some in the audience booed upon hearing the announcement.
The comments from Fauci came during his appearance on CNN's New Day Tuesday. A clip was played on the show of Trump stating he received a booster at an event with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. Though some cheered Trump and O'Reilly, who also said he was boosted, there was also a smattering of boos.
New Day co-anchor John Berman asked Fauci what he thought of Trump's revelation.
"Well, I would have liked any public persons, particularly former President Trump, who has a large number of followings to have benefited from what he said," Fauci answered.
The infectious diseases expert then addressed those who disapproved of Trump's action, saying "...they were booing him, which just doesn't make any sense at all, to boo someone who's saying they did the right thing."
"From a public health standpoint, I'm very pleased that he did say that and come out publicly and say that he has been vaccinated and boosted," Fauci added. "But to get booed for saying that just tells you about the extraordinary divisiveness we have going into this public health issue, which should be devoid of divisiveness. It should just be focusing on what the public health principles are."
During the CNN interview, Berman also asked Fauci his thoughts on recent comments made by Fox News host Jesse Watters. At an event for the conservative grassroots organization Turning Point USA over the weekend, Watters urged attendees to confront Fauci and tell him that he "funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab."
Watters added that making such a statement to the doctor would be like a rhetorical "kill shot" that would be "deadly."
"Boom, he is dead! He is dead! He's done!" Watters said.
In response, Fauci said Watters' remarks were "a reflection of the craziness that goes on in society. The only thing that I had ever done throughout these two years is to encourage people to practice good public health practices, to get vaccinated, to be careful in public settings, to wear a mask. And for that, you have some guy out there saying that people should be given me a kill shot, to ambush me?"
"That's awful that he said that, and he's going to go very likely unaccountable," Fauci continued, saying "whatever network he's on is not going to do anything."
"The guy should be fired on the spot," Fauci said of Watters.
Update 12/21/21, 10:10 a.m. ET: with more comments from Fauci's CNN interview.
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