Fauci says extreme ideological divide has contributed to disproportionate amount of Covid deaths

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the federal government and chief proponent of Covid vaccines, sharply criticized the extreme ideological divide that he said has led to a disproportionate amount of coronavirus deaths among Republicans and Democrats.

Fauci said political viewpoints had a measurable effect on the number of people who could have been saved by the coronavirus vaccine in an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt on Wednesday night.

I think there are some healthy differences in ideology. It is part of our democracy, part of what makes our country great. That is really awful when they get so extreme that it prevents you from doing something that is life saving, he said.

There are a number of studies that show that Covid deaths are uneven among Republicans and Democrats. In September of this year, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that excess death rates, or deaths, were 76% higher in Florida and Ohio among Republicans than Democrats from March 2020 to December 2021, which was higher than expected based on historical trends.

Fauci, who was a member of the Covid task force, said the degree of divisiveness in this country has led to such a polarization that it has interfered with an adequate science-based public health response.

He said that it is just extraordinary that you have under-vaccination in red states, good levels of vaccination in blue states, which has been translated into a disproportionate amount of suffering and death among Republicans compared to Democrats. That is completely crazy. Fauci announced in August that he would leave his post at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he has been running since 1984, and step down as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser.