Photo By NIAID

Anthony Fauci.

When Dr. Anthony Faucicame to Sacramento in October, I had the opportunity to go see him. There were police and security surrounding the area. At first, I was confused, but then I saw the infamous anti-vaxxers yelling their songs about how the COVID-19 vaccine is propaganda and Dr. Fauci is a liar.

The anti-Fauci agenda is nothing new, however. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been warning people about how the anti-vaxxer agenda is harmful to our society.

“I do believe it has been an underestimation of the numbers of people who are taken in by the misinformation associated with the anti-vaccination movement,” Fauci said on MSNBC.

Over the last few years, misinformation has tainted our society, putting pressure on Fauci and his team to ensure anti-vaccine sentiment did not spread. Social media is one of the biggest ways that disinformation is spread. Fauci says to stay away from most social media news about COVID and other illnesses.

“99% of the time, this type of information is biased and untrue,” Fauci told us at his Sacramento presentation.

There is no reason to rely on social media as our primary source, and the harmful effects of anti-vaccine misinformation will worsen if we continue to turn to social networks for news.

Misinformation isn’t the only thing Fauci deals with. He receives many death threats despite trying to advance science and help people. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, these threats became a daily occurrence. Last year, a man sent an email to Fauci saying that Fauci’s family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire.”

When I went to Fauci’s speaker series, there were police everywhere protecting him. The anti-vaxxers across the street held signs with sayings like “Fauci lied, people died,” claiming the vaccines are ineffective.

A big problem with anti-vaxxers is that their hate is purely of their own doing. Fauci hasn’t spread any false information, at least on purpose; he just wants the best for the people.

“[I] wouldn’t have imagined in [my] wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it,” Fauci said in a 2020 interview with NPR.

All of these anti-vaxxers hate on him for all of the wrong reasons. They truly believe that he is a liar with no real truth. He has proven to us that he just wants everyone to be safe, healthy and vaccinated. We cannot tolerate the relentless hate he and other scientists face.