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Anthony Fauci, Jill Biden asked fluff questions on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’, Internet calls it ‘nauseating’

There were many questions that went unasked. Especially those related to the emails sent by Fauci in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic

Hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest had two very big guests on their talk show on Monday, June 7. First lady Dr Jill Biden and chief medical advisor to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr Anthony Fauci appeared on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’, but their talk with the two hosts did not please their critics. 

The first lady and Dr Fauci sat down with the hosts and discussed the latest efforts to combat Covid-19, shared an update on the progress that the country has made against the pandemic, and talked about the widening scope of vaccination efforts in the US. 

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"It's really good news," Fauci said. "We have about 50 percent of the adult population already vaccinated. We have a bit more than 60 percent of the adult population having at least one dose, so we're really going in the right direction. We want to, and we're going to hit 70 percent of the population, the adult population, by the Fourth of July. We have to keep going, though, guys, we can't prematurely declare victory."

Speaking on vaccine hesitancy, Biden urged people not to become spreaders of the illness. "It's based on science," she said. "So if you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for your best friend who might have diabetes. Do it for your grandmom who might be compromised. You have to do it for someone else, your neighbors."

For the most part, the interview was only full of light-hearted chit-chat. Ripa asked Fauci about his first trip to New York since the pandemic: “Is it good to be back in New York City, or do you find yourself on a friends and family tour?” Seacrest asked Biden about her birthday trip: “There was a birthday last week. How did you celebrate?”

Ripa also brought up the fact that she and Biden were from neighboring towns in Jersey, calling Biden's hometown of Hammonton the “blueberry capital of the world."

But there were also many questions that went unasked. Especially those related to the emails sent by Fauci in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News and The Washington Post, were not part of the conversation at all. 

These emails have revealed that Fauci was made aware of reports that said the novel coronavirus may have been leaked from a lab in China -- though this theory still has not been proven at all. They also revealed that Dr Steven Black, SPEAC (Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines) Project work package lead for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) had written to Fauci, informing him that he and his team were assisting with developing preclinical and clinical testing criteria to evaluate the risk of “enhanced disease following vaccination with Covid-19 vaccine candidates.” He said in the mail, “As you know, this had been an issue with some prior SARS vaccine candidates.” 

Following the emails coming under the media scanner, there have been loud demands from conservatives that Fauci be sacked from his position -- some have even called for his arrest. Online, this interview with Ripa and Seacrest was criticized for failing to address these issues. 

“@KellyRipa and @RyanSeacrest have no shame. This ‘interview’ was disgusting,” wrote a Twitter user. Another said, “Our media is a joke. More interested in covering up for their own side and their mistakes rather than getting the truth.” One person wrote, “Media are just leftist propaganda. Not even trying to hide it. Leftists are just blind cult that pretend not to see it or not to care (both equally dangerous).”

“That is today’s media. They are afraid to ask questions they don’t want to hear the answer!! It’s sad our country has come to this thing from CNN, MSNBC and other networks. People may want to hear about family dinners from movie stars but not the man who is suppose to run the US,” wrote a Twitter user, while another said, “Trotting this fraud around pretending like nothing happened. The propaganda machine just grows everyone who does this is obviously Complicit in the lie..or too brainwashed.”

But more people criticized Biden and Fauci. “They are in full damage control mode - it’s showing up in their internal polls!” said a Twitter user. Another said, “COVID was used as a tool to defeat Trump, now they don't care abt the millions of lives lost or where the wuhan virus originated and who funded the GoF, if the entire covid is deliberate or not.” One person wrote, “Nauseating. Just saw a clip. It’s cringe, embarrassing, and an insult to all who lost a loved one or a job because of the pandemic.”