‘It's a LIE!’: Morning Joe FACT CHECKS RFK Jr. on Covid

[0:00] Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made several controversial [0:04] and often false claims about COVID-19, vaccines, and measles over the weekend during a contentious [0:11] interview with CNN's Dana Bash. Many of his claims flat out contradict established scientific [0:18] evidence. Joining us now to do some fact checking, Dr. Omer Awan, he's a practicing radiologist [0:23] physician in Baltimore and currently serves as a professor and vice chair of education [0:28] at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He's also a senior contributor for Forbes. [0:33] We're grateful he is joining us this morning because we have a lot of fact checking to do. [0:37] It was a pretty outrageous performance. So let's dive right into it. Doctor, thank you. Here's [0:42] what Secretary Kennedy said about the death rates in the United States during the COVID pandemic. [0:48] The damage to our country was the lockdowns, the lockdowns that shut down 3.5 million businesses [0:57] in our country with no due process, no just compensation. All of our churches closed our [1:02] schools and our children are still paying the price for that. And yet we had the worst outcome [1:10] of any country in the world. How so? We have the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth. [1:16] What I said was accurate. We have the highest death rate from COVID of any. [1:20] There are other countries that are higher. Actually, not accurate. In reality, according [1:28] to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, numerous countries recorded higher cumulative per capita [1:32] COVID-19 death rates in the U.S. That includes Peru, Bulgaria and Hungary. And nine of the top [1:38] 10 states with the highest death rates per capita went for Trump in the 2016 election. In 2020, [1:45] eight of these states went for Trump. Doctor, this is a blatant misrepresentation. Your thoughts? [1:54] Yeah, it's a misrepresentation. It's not factually accurate. You know, we are not even in the top 10 [2:00] for highest COVID death rates. And partly because of the success of Operation Warp Speed and the vaccines [2:07] that were disseminated, that were life-saving. Remember that the COVID-19 vaccines saved more than a [2:13] million lives, according to research. And those statements by Secretary Kennedy undermine actually [2:18] the efficacy of vaccines. And he later goes on to say and says that he does not question the efficacy [2:24] of other vaccines. But here he is clearly questioning the efficacy of the vaccine, particularly because [2:30] he didn't understand that, you know, the United States did not have the highest COVID-19 death rate. [2:36] So we'll get more to the vaccines in a moment. But first, Secretary Kennedy also placed a lot of [2:42] blame on President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, particularly regarding the COVID lockdowns. [2:48] He also claimed hospital ICUs were empty during the height of the pandemic, including here in New York [2:54] City. Anthony Fauci was mismanaging the COVID pandemic and was doing it under the Biden administration. [3:03] President Trump wanted to end the lockdowns. And in fact, in Anthony Fauci's diaries, [3:09] he talks about how President Trump is calling him every day, trying to get him to reopen the country. [3:16] Yeah. Well, the lockdowns were done by governors. I mean, certainly Anthony Fauci and the president had opinions, [3:22] but the lockdowns were done by governors and largely because and largely because largely because they were hearing [3:29] they were hearing from hospitals saying that their ICUs were overrun and they needed some help while that was happening. [3:36] Well, that's just not true. You're saying it's not true. No, they were doing it because Anthony Fauci [3:42] was telling them from the top, you need to lock down. There were ICUs that were empty all over the [3:48] country, including in New York at the height. Kennedy's claim is false and frankly infuriating. [3:54] In March of 2020, FEMA sent 85 refrigerated trucks to New York City to service temporary morgues [4:01] because hospitals in the nation's largest city were at full capacity. Hundreds of bodies had to be stored [4:08] in those trucks. Additionally, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 400,000 in Trump's [4:15] first term. Again, according to Johns Hopkins. I mean, doctor, this is such and it's a lie, but also such an [4:22] effort to shift blame and to frankly diminish the suffering and toll that these Americans who lost [4:30] their lives and their families went through. Yeah, it's deeply concerning, John. I mean, you are sitting in [4:36] New York City. I'm sure you remember that ICUs were flooded in New York City and you saw probably tents [4:41] in Central Park dealing with and treating patients. And to put blame on Dr. Fauci, who is a public servant, [4:47] I want to remind people that he spent decades of his life helping people like Americans and saving [4:53] their lives, not just with COVID-19, but also with the infectious disease responses of things like HIV [4:59] and Zika virus and Ebola. You know, we definitely owe a lot of gratitude to individuals like him. And [5:05] to put blame and to shift blame on, you know, these public health officials, you know, that not only [5:10] undermines science, but also, you know, it demystifies and really over, there's, it shifts the over [5:19] complexity to the pandemic because it's more a result of, you know, vaccine hesitancy, you know, [5:25] the polarization, the politicization of vaccines, you know, old age and people's age, socioeconomic status, [5:32] health disparities. These are all reasons why a lot of people died. So decisions were not made in a vacuum. [5:38] And certainly it was a collaborative effort. So to pinpoint, to scapegoat one individual, as has been [5:44] incurring, is problematic. [5:47] Dr. Omer Awan, thank you so very much for being with us this morning. His invaluable fact check [5:52] of RFK Jr. is available online now at Forbes.