Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health
Posted on 02/25/2021 1:18:34 PM PST by lightman
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said Wednesday that given the relative lack of certainty about the protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines, it is better to go overboard on masking up than not do enough to help curb the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
Collins made the remarks in an interview on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” in which he said getting a vaccine may provide people with a false sense of security.
He said that, even after people have been vaccinated, “we don’t know exactly whether it’s still possible for that person to carry the virus. It might be, and until we have better data, then masks are still important.”
Wearing masks helps minimize asymptomatic spread more generally, he said, as people may be infected with the virus but have no idea as they have no symptoms.
“The only way we’re going to keep such individuals, and it might be any of us, from spreading this is if they’re careful about wearing that mask. It’s not about protecting themselves as much as it is protecting everybody from them,” Collins said.
He acknowledged the drudgery of mask-wearing, but urged people to do it regardless of their level of comfort.
“I know people are tired of them. I’m tired of them too,” he said. “But, at the same time, it’s a simple measure. It’s a life-saving medical device. Just put it on. Even if we’re overdoing it, that’s fine. Better that than run the risk of infecting more people.”
The COVID-19 vaccines are still relatively new, and researchers have not yet been able to study how long the protection they provide can last, Collins wrote in a recent blog post that explored the issue of how protective a single dose is. Health officials recommend that, with both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, people get two doses. But a recent study that Collins cited suggests that people who have already had COVID-19 may have an immune response following a single dose that is equal to—or even greater—than after the second dose. The findings are preliminary and the study has not yet been peer reviewed.
“For now, the most important thing all of us can all do to get this terrible pandemic under control is to follow the 3 W’s—wear our masks, wash our hands, watch our distance from others—and roll up our sleeves for the vaccine as soon as it’s available to us,” Collins wrote.
Earlier this week, in an interview with “Axios on HBO,” Collins lamented that mask-wearing had become a political hot potato.
“The evidence was pretty compelling by last March or April that uniform wearing of masks would reduce transmission of this disease. And yet, with a variety of messages through a variety of sources, mask wearing became a statement about your political party or an invasion of your personal freedom,” he said.
A mask “is nothing more than a life-saving medical device, and yet it got categorized in all sorts of other ways that were not factual, not scientific and, frankly, dangerous,” he said, arguing that politicization of mask-wearing may have accelerated the spread of COVID-19 and so contributed to the deaths of “tens of thousands.”
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health
Why not just execute people then?
After all, cutting the contagion is the most important factor.
Who cares if you can breath. At least you’ll die a healthy
person.
I thought a news story said a few days ago that masks cause droplets in the normal breathing cycle and could set of lung cancer.
Then a large amount of sudden “fact check” and “myth” articles appeared saying it is not true. Wonder whom to believe?
Google, of course, pushes its favored bias to the top of all searches and eliminates those nasty facts that don’t support it.
I see this issue the same as school shootings.
Americans feel the need to “do something” “anything” when something happens out of their control. It doesn’t matter if that something will actually help, or prevent whatever we are talking about from happening again. The desperate need to “control” or .. more exactly to give the impression that we are in control drives everything. This has been a trend for... 15-20 years? I’ve lost track honestly. It started with the helicopter parents.
COVID droplets have been found to survive up to three days on FABRIC.
How is that nose rag “protecting” anyone?
Some medical workers and industrial folks have been wearing masks for many many decades.
Shouldn’t be too difficult to compare their lung cancer rates with the general population.
Everyone of these medical “institutes” is just a political hatchet organization for Pharma and the AMA.
Medical Doctors, unfortunately, have been shown by history to be the first to embrace massive govt murder schemes. Twas the mental patients in Germany who were murdered before Jews. Virtually without opposition from the medical profession. Eugenics was settled science to doctors.
Then there’s the black guys who were allowed to go untreated for syphilis. Those weren’t Nazi doctors. They were just everyday medicos. Yet they embraced that atrocity in their love for experimentation.
Now they try to turn pure social problems into money making medical initiatives. Like gun violence. You name it. There’s a doctor or shrink trying to medicalize it.
Was he party to the transaction wherein NIH funded the Red Chinese weapons lab in Wuhan ?
Dr.....Is breathing important for good health?
Dr.....Is breathing important for good health?
Then why are so many of our ruling class overlords caught not wearing one...?
A science-free doofus.
Wasted salary and bonuses.
Last time I checked, as of today, there is not a single Documented Case of an asymptomatic person transmitting the virus to anyone. The quack should be locked up
I CAN’T BREATHE!!
Where is his review of the Sweden experience/Science ?
LOL
Excellent point.
Wonder how often surgeons wear their heart procedure masks on the golf course and the boat after work? And car paint technicians and so on. Now they do at the drug store, grocery
and retail stores, and the DMV and post office lines.
But you’re right, at least work hours for those people could be in statistics for masks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.