May 21, 2024

Four Years Late, Collins Stumbles Into Some Truth

The NIH keeps admitting that its draconian COVID measures were arbitrary and hopes we won’t notice.

In January, Dr. Francis Collins, former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), gave testimony behind closed doors to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Collins was Dr. Anthony Fauci’s boss, and though Fauci became infamous for his god-complex answers to interviews, the buck stopped with Collins. He was more likable and a Christian whom the wider public was more inclined to trust. Sadly, though, at the end of the day, Collins was a government-employed bureaucrat who made arbitrary rules and quashed free speech, all in the name of controlling the public through fear of viral infection.

The transcript of the interview was finally released last week, and it includes several infuriating admissions.

First, Collins admitted that there was no scientific basis for social distancing. Here is the relevant exchange:

Q: On March 22nd, 2020, the CDC issued guidance describing social distancing to include remaining out of congregant settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining a distance of approximately six feet from others when possible. We asked Dr. Fauci where the six feet came from and he said it kind of just appeared, is the quote. Do you recall science or evidence that supported the six foot distance?

A: I do not.

Q: Is that I do not recall or I do not see any evidence supporting six feet?

A: I did not see evidence, but I’m not sure I would have been shown evidence at that point.

One can reasonably conclude from these comments that the “six feet apart” rule was completely arbitrary. Yet that directive had a huge impact on policy. Social distancing and the isolation that it encouraged kept schools and churches closed and unconscionably restricted our freedoms. This meant that people died alone in hospitals and that funerals were sparse by necessity. Children were trapped with abusive family members, and mental health declined across the board. Social distancing and the isolation it enforced were an aspect of COVID lockdown measures that were downright inhumane.

Masking was no different. Some of us were suspicious of the efficacy of masking and especially mask mandates from the beginning and ready to ditch them entirely. Before Fauci advocated double masking, he said, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.” He was right the first time, as Collins more or less admitted, at least in the case of kids. Asked if there was any scientific basis for the U.S. government having “directly contradicted the WHO’s recommendation” on masks for kids, Collins answered, “I have no knowledge of that.”

In other words, the men whose job it was to steward public health during a pandemic are essentially now saying that their guidance was the same as a teenage boy’s — it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Another admission by Collins is that he changed his stance on the origin of COVID. While the Wuhan, China-originating virus raged, Collins and Fauci staunchly refuted the lab leak theory. That was despite the Wuhan Institute of Virology being right there at the epicenter and a lab leak being far more logical than a “tainted bat soup at a wet market” theory.

That particular exchange was rather terse:

Q: Is the origin of Covid-19 still unsettled science?

A: Yes.

The COVID confessions keep on coming, and it seems like everything the NIH insisted was a conspiracy seems to be much closer to the truth. The NIH quickly and mightily abused power — and the consequences for that hubris were devastating.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.