Could you re-state in clearer terms what President Biden was saying in response to this Republican pediatrician, Dr. Nicole Baldwin?
From last week's CNN Town Hall transcript provided by Cincinnati.com| The Enquirer:
QUESTION: Hi. Thank you for taking my question, Mr. President. I am a pediatrician who utilizes social media to educate about health, and I'm very concerned about the rise in misinformation from the anti-vaccine community that is eroding trust in life-saving vaccines.
Spread of this misinformation and declining vaccination rates could leave Americans vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases in the future. So what I want to know is, what is the White House doing to combat medical misinformation and to restore America's faith in science?
BIDEN: What we're doing is, number one, to restore America's faith in science is listen to the scientists. No, I'm not joking.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean, literally listen to the scientists and not interfere. Not rush anything, just make — let the scientists proceed, because they desperately want to get this right, number one.
Number two, you may have heard — I never get myself in trouble as you know politically — but you may have heard that I was critical of some of the things that are on Facebook and I was attacking Facebook. I wasn't attacking Facebook.
There was a report out saying that — for something like 45 percent of overwhelming disinformation on Facebook comes from 12 individuals. I said they're killing people, those 12 individuals, that misinformation is going to kill people. Not a joke. Not a joke.
It's like telling your kid, I tell you what, four years old, when you see a red light, cross the street. I mean, come on.
And so what we're trying to do is use every avenue we can — public, private, government, non-government — to try to get the facts out, what they really are. And one of the things, Doc, that's happening that I'm feeling better about — I'm not being a wise guy now — you know, one of those other networks is not a big fan of mine, one you talk about a lot.
But if you notice, as they say in the southern part of my state, they've had an altar call, some of those guys. All of a sudden they're out there saying, "Let's get vaccinated. Let's get vaccinated."
The very people before this were saying — so that — I shouldn't make fun of it. That's good. It's good. It's good. We just have to keep telling the truth. That's why, for example, my wife just flew to Alaska today to do an event in Alaska about making sure people understand and get vaccinated, talking about COVID, et cetera.
So it's — you know, and, by the way, there's pockets. If you notice, there's about, what, four or five states that have close to 45 percent or — don't hold me to exact numbers.
Dr. Baldwin said later she was "disappointed" with his answer.
