Dr. Anthony Fauci and First Lady Jill Biden on Sunday visited a COVID-19 vaccination site in New York City.
Fauci and Biden visited Abyssinian Baptist Church, a megachurch on W. 138th St. in the borough of Manhattan. People can get a COVID-19 shot there.
About 75 protesters gathered outside the church, shouting âfire Fauciâ and âfreedom over fear.â
The group held signs that included ââFaucismâ is the only legal religionâ and âFauci = criminal.â
Jo Rose, one of the protesters, said that the recently released emails to and from the doctor show that he has lied.
âNothing that Dr. Fauci said is based on real science,â she said.
Fauci, White House chief medical adviser to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said the emails are âreally ripe to be taken out of contextâ and has received support from President Joe Biden even as calls among members of Congress for his resignation or firing grow.
âThe American people donât have trust in Dr. Fauci,â House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on âBreitbart News Saturday.â âLetâs find a person we can trust. Take politics aside, I mean weâre talking about American lives here.â
Fauci, Biden, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) visited with health care workers and thanked them for their work. The first lady showed her appreciation for Fauci, introducing him as âthe man, the myth, the legend!â
The group, who were all masked, made brief remarks but took no questions from reporters.
âI want to thank you all for coming, because this is how we get the word out,â Biden said.
âWe want everyone 12 or older to come get vaccinated. Weâre really working hard because we have to get back to life as normal. And Dr. Fauci is here and he is working hard, he is working seven days a week,â she added.
Fauci, a native New Yorker, said heâs known about the church since he was a child.
âAnd to actually be in this place with all of the extraordinary people who are working [here]; weâre going to end this outbreak, weâre absolutely certain,â he said. âAnd the vehicle to ending it is vaccination, and thatâs whatâs going on right here, and thatâs why Iâm so impressed and honored to be here.â
Fauci, during appearances on MSNBC last week, has criticized the attacks heâs facing in the wake of the email releases.
âIâm concerned about that, more because itâs really very much an attack on science,â he said on âThe Rachel Maddow Showâ on Friday.
He also said that some people resent what he did during the Trump administration but insisted he was âjust trying to get the right information, to try and get the right data.â
âWhat they didnât seem to understandâI guess that it is understandable that they didnât understand itâthat science is a dynamic process,â he added. âSo something that you know in Januaryâyou make a recommendation or a comment about it. But as you get more and more information, the information leads you to change. Because that is what science is, it is a self-correcting process.â