Dr. Fauci: Vaccine distribution effort 'not starting from scratch'
White House chief medical adviser provides insight to the Biden administration's vaccine distribution plan
CNN reported a now-debunked narrative about the Biden administration "starting from scratch" with a coronavirus vaccine rollout plan 47 times on Thursday before Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed that the liberal network had been spreading misinformation, according to Grabien Media.
CNN raised eyebrows Thursday with its alleged "scoop" that quoted unnamed Biden officials claiming, "There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch," as well as that the new administration would have to start from "square one" since there was no plan.
FAUCI DEBUNKS CNN REPORTING, SAYS BIDEN'S VACCINE ROLLOUT NOT 'STARTING FROM SCRATCH'
Fauci, who was tapped by President Biden during the transition to be a White House adviser, was asked later in the day if the new administration was in fact "starting from scratch."
"We certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution," Fauci responded, essentially revealing that CNN’s report was inaccurate.
Grabien Media founder Tom Elliott, who monitors cable news, tweeted that CNN mentioned the "false" report 47 times on Thursday, while MSNBC covered CNN’s report 11 times.
CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee, who authored the report, defended her story on social media, characterizing Fauci as "a holdover from the Trump administration." Yet on the same day, news reports touted Fauci's remarks that he felt freer to speak his mind under Biden than he did with Trump.
Lee also attempted to rely on Biden's earlier comments to validate her reporting, tweeting, "In the last hour, Biden said Trump's vaccine rollout had been a 'dismal failure.'"
After being criticized on social media throughout the day for the erroneous report, Lee was ridiculed again for referring to Fauci as a "holdover" from President Trump.
Lee's story now includes Fauci's comments.
The gaffe was so egregious that even CNN’s Chris Cuomo condemned it later in the evening, but only after the inaccurate information was parroted on the network throughout the day.
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Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.
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