Massie: CDC's entire leadership must be fired over coronavirus 'lies'

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Fauci, CDC, media credibility 'completely shot': columnist

Dr. Anthony Fauci escapes questioning on his emails and coronavirus origins. Washington Examiner columnist Eddie Scarry with reaction on 'Fox & Friends First.'

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., called for the upper echelon of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be fired for "their constant stream of lies" about the coronavirus pandemic.

"If the government response to this virus has taught us anything, it’s that everyone at the top of @CDCgov needs to be fired. It’s being far too generous to characterize their constant stream of lies as ‘misinterpretations’ and ‘typos,’" Massie wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

Massie linked to a March op-ed from four medical researchers criticizing the CDC for its school reopening guidelines.

"Keeping schools closed or even partially closed, based on what we know now is unwarranted, is harming children, and has become a human rights issue," they wrote earlier this year in an article claiming the CDC misinterpreted their research.

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Last month, a New York Times report claimed that the CDC's estimate that the risk of coronavirus transmission while outdoors is around 10% is greatly exaggerated. The CDC had cited the 10% estimate to back up its recommendation that vaccinated individuals do away with masks in certain outdoor situations, but should keep wearing masks during others. 

According to the Times, the 10% benchmark is based "partly on a misclassification" of some virus transmission in Singapore at various construction sites that may have actually taken place in indoor settings. Singapore also classified settings that were a mix of indoors and outdoors as outdoors, including construction building sites, the outlet reported. The number of cases reported at the various sites did not add up to as much as 10% of transmission but was more like 1% or less, the report stated.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., stops to speak with reporters as he leaves the Capitol after the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was passed in the House on Friday, March 27, 2020. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Massie is no stranger to criticizing the CDC and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci. Massie is an original cosponsor of the "Fire Fauci Act," which states that Fauci "has continually failed to provide Americans with accurate information about the COVID–19 pandemic and has shown distrust in the American private sector and American ingenuity."

Earlier this year, Massie criticized the CDC for slow-walking correcting a false claim that data showed the Pfizer vaccine was efficacious for people who had already recovered from coronavirus.

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"Instead of fixing it, they proposed repeating it and just phrasing their mistake differently. So, at that point, right now I consider it a lie. I think the CDC is lying about the efficacy of the vaccine based on the Pfizer trials for those who have already had the coronavirus," Massie told "Full Measure."

Fox News' inquiry to the CDC was not returned at the time of publication.

Fox News' Alexandra Hein contributed to this report.