From yesterday's Face The Nation:
MARGARET BRENNAN: And in real world terms, what does that mean? Does that mean you fear vaccination rates go down? Does that mean the next national emergency people just don't listen to the doctors. What- what do you mean?
DR. FAUCI: Yeah, what I'm concerned about is that if you put science aside and if you discredit science, you start to discredit the truth of what it takes to get people their health preserved, prevent disease, treat disease. When you do that, you are going to really disrupt society in very many respects, and that's what I worry about. I mean, anybody who looks at what's going on in the United States to say there's not a lot of- lies become normalized now, and the social media amplifies the normalisation of lies. So scientists try to say this is the truth, and it's based on data. That's what we live by, data, evidence, truth. And then you all of a sudden have permeating in society, it is OK to say anything you want that is patently, obviously wrong. And if you say it long enough and often enough and you get social media involved, then everybody- not everybody, X percent of the population starts believing it. See, that's what I worry about more than people throwing slings and arrows at me because my whole life has been as a scientist and I identify with the field of health and science.
Spreading misinformation about the virus, misinformation about the vaccines is only putting more people at risk.
And it's reprehensible.