Dr. Ben Carson, former HUD secretary and retired neurosurgeon, voiced strong criticism of the public health response to COVID-19 during an interview with Newsmax on Monday. He highlighted credibility issues and "crazy rules" that he believes hampered effective treatment.
Appearing on "Prime News," Carson, a former member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, expressed significant concerns about the credibility of the U.S. public health system. He argued that the public health industry had suffered a major credibility hit, comparable only to that of the current justice system and that rebuilding trust in both institutions would take time.
"There were so many things that happened; first of all, we have some crazy rules," Carson said. "For instance, you can't get an EUA [Emergency Use Authorization] if you have another viable option. Well, that's why they had to suppress Advair. That's why they had to suppress hydroxychloroquine. That's why they had to suppress ivermectin."
He explained that admitting the effectiveness of these treatments would have hindered the EUA process for other medications. Carson argued, "It should be just the other way around. We should be going down every avenue possible when there's a pandemic to make sure that we can find the most effective source of treatment."
Carson also criticized the lack of international data consideration, noting, "We didn't look at data around the world. We didn't ask ourselves questions like, why don't they have much of this disease on the western coast of Africa? The answer is that they use hydroxychloroquine as an anti-malarial, and in southern India, they use ivermectin."
The former HUD secretary addressed the impact of mandates, especially on children, stating, "The masking for children at a time when they are developing their language skills, that's a very complex sociological issue. You need to be able to see people's facial expressions. You need to be able to see their lips; we don't know what the long-term impact of that is going to be."
Carson highlighted the economic and social repercussions of the mandates, emphasizing the job losses in the military and airline industry. He mentioned, "Look at all the people who lost their jobs in the military and in the airline industry, and how that has impacted the quality of life of everybody. You know, these are just crazy things."
He also pointed out the public's reaction to potential COVID-19 reemergence warnings by the Biden administration, stating, "Several months ago, they tried to say there might be a reemergence of COVID-19, and it was received hostilely. So, they just kind of dropped it because nobody's going back there again."
Carson also expressed deep sadness over the isolation of patients during the pandemic, noting, "But the thing that really saddens me is all the people who had to die with no family around unnecessarily because people were making arbitrary rules, and their mandates were more important to them than the quality of life of the people that they're dealing with. And I don't know how we solve that with any rules and regulations."
This interview coincided with Dr. Anthony Fauci's testimony before a House subcommittee on Monday, marking his first public appearance on Capitol Hill since retiring. Fauci faced rigorous questioning from Republicans about pandemic recommendations and public health officials' email use, CNN reported.
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