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By Vivian Lam -
Politifact
On November 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded eligibility for COVID-19 booster vaccines to all adults.
The plan to offer a third dose of the vaccine was openly discussed in the months leading up to the official announcement.
However, some people are taking Dr. Anthony Fauci's recent statements about the boosters to falsely suggest that he believes the COVID-19 vaccines are not working.
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One such person is Infowars creator Alex Jones, who used clipped audio from an interview Fauci gave on November 12 to The Daily, a popular New York Times podcast, to suggest that Fauci said vaccines they are not effective.
"Fauci admits that Covid vaccination does not work," reads the headline of a video of Jones' Nov. 14 show circulating on Facebook.
In the recording, Fauci can be heard saying the following:
“We started to see decreased immunity against infection and immunity that decreased initially against hospitalization.
And if you look at Israel, which has always been a month or a month and a half ahead of us in the dynamics of the outbreak, in its response with vaccines and in all the other elements of the outbreak, they are seeing a decrease in the outbreak. immunity, not only against infection, but also against hospitalizations and, to some extent, death, which begins to encompass all age groups, is not only the elderly.
So
if you look back, you can say that a booster is not extra, but that a booster is an essential part of the primary (vaccination) regimen that people should have ”.
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At no point during the interview with The Daily host Michael Barbaro did Fauci say that vaccines don't work, as Jones claims.
Jones' post was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat fake news and misinformation on its wall.
(Read more about Politifact's alliance with Facebook).
Jones chose Fauci's comments carefully and distorted what the expert said.
In reality, Fauci was promoting booster doses and seeking to motivate unvaccinated people to get vaccinated, thus preventing the continued increase in cases as has occurred since the delta variant of the virus arrived.
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"I think it would be a misrepresentation to say that vaccines don't work," Fauci told Barbaro on the podcast.
“Nor do I think there is free rein to demonstrate what it takes to make them work.
And that is the reason why I say, once again, that according to my scientific opinion and my projection, reinforcements will be an essential part of protection ”.
Infowars has spread other misinformation about vaccines.
And recently a court found Jones liable for defamation against the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, an attack that Jones has described as a hoax.
We reached out to Jones through Infowars, but received no response prior to this post.
Radio host Alex Jones is a well-known conspiracy theorist and owner of the fake news website Infowars.
In the image, during a demonstration in favor of Donald Trump in Phoenix, Arizona, in November 2020.Matt York / AP
Boosters don't mean vaccines don't work
Vaccines provide protection against disease in both the short and long term.
The initial antibody surge experienced immediately after vaccination naturally decreases over time.
But certain immune cells, like memory B cells, stay circulating for much longer and generate a faster response when they encounter the virus.
Just because a booster is needed does not mean that vaccines are not effective.
Boosters are a standard method used to help the body achieve longer-lasting immunity.
For example, a tetanus booster is recommended every 10 years.
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Furthermore, the decrease in the number of antibodies does not mean that their protective effects have completely disappeared.
"Overall, antibody levels are declining, but their ability to protect against infection is not," said Ted Ross, director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunology at the University of Georgia, in a news release.
"The quality is still there even if the total quantity has gone down."
When asked by Barbaro about the current state of the pandemic in the United States, Fauci said it is "a mixed bag leaning towards the positive."
The implementation of the vaccine has gone well, the expert explained, but the situation is also "sobering" because, although the cases have stagnated, there are currently more than 70,000 new infections per day and that is a high benchmark for the possible resurgence of the virus.
With more than 60 million people still unvaccinated and vulnerable to infection by the circulating variants, vaccinated people are at risk.
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In the portion of the interview that Jones uses, Fauci mentions the decrease in immunity observed in Israel, a country that is considered a benchmark in the COVID-19 pandemic due to its early response with the vaccine.
Given the decline in vaccine protection that was observed in that country, Fauci believes that boosters are a necessary step to ensure lasting protection.
An Oct. 23 study conducted in Israel found that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduced COVID-19-related hospitalization by 93%, death from the virus by 81%, and severe infections by 92 %, with respect to when two doses were had.
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"A booster could actually be an essential part of the primary regime that people should have," Fauci said.
Our verdict
Alex Jones stated in a video that "Fauci admits that the Covid Vax vaccination does not work."
However, Fauci's statements were chosen to be offered without context.
What he actually said was that booster shots increase the protection of vaccines.
He never said they are a sign that vaccines are failing.
Therefore, we
qualify Jones's claim as false.