Marty Makary pushes back on Biden vaccine mandate
Johns Hopkins Dr. Marty Makary joins 'Fox News Primetime' with analysis
The advent of two antiviral pills from vaccine maker Pfizer and fellow pharmaceutical giant Merck should render the scientific case for President Biden's heavy-handed coronavirus vaccine mandate "obsolete", Johns Hopkins physician Dr. Marty Makary said Monday.
Makary told "Fox News Primetime" that one of the two breakthrough drugs all but eradicates the probability of death from the virus.
The Pfizer pill cut hospitalization and death rates by nearly 90% in high-risk adults according to the Associated Press.
Pfizer said it will ask the FDA and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible after independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. Once Pfizer applies, the FDA could make a decision within weeks or months.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, right, sign a banner during a working visit to the Pfizer pharmaceutical company in Puurs, Belgium, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a visit to the Belgian Pfizer factory on Tuesday to thank employees making the COVID-19 vaccine. (Frederic Sierakowski, Pool via AP)
"[They] completely render the medical case for a mandate obsolete. Two of the drugs cut COVID deaths to zero," he said, going on to refer to a third new drug not mentioned in the AP report.
"The drug [that slashed the COVID death probability] changed the calculus -- and that needs to be factored in as people lose their jobs and see 911 response times go up and lives destroyed from a rigid, indiscriminate vaccine mandate policy," he said.
"We asked the Biden administration to be more flexible, account for natural immunity and allow for more exemptions and they have dug in and said no and taking it to court all the way."
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, centered in the Gulf Coast States, dealt a blow to the White House when it granted a temporary halt to the White House's edict essentially requiring employers with more than 100 workers to terminate those who did not elect to administer the vaccine.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led several other Republican state prosecutors in the suit which is still being fully litigated.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, responds to questions by Senator Rand Paul during the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on July 20, 2021. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite / POOL / AFP) (Photo by J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) ((Photo by J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images))
Makary told host Lawrence Jones that by NIAID Director Anthony Fauci's own statements, the United States should have returned to quote-unquote "normal" after case rates dipped below 10 per 100,000.
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"I think [the] Delta [variant] was so much more contagious it did warrant moving the number up a little bit. Remember, Dr. Fauci had always said the bottom line raw number less to 10 to 20 cases. We would get back to normal quote-unquote ‘free and clear’," he said.
"Most of the country is between one and five cases per 100,000. Most are asymptomatic or mild. And yet we still have low-risk individuals forced to be fully vaccinated and forced to wear masks after being vaccinated."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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