Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has been one of the foremost purveyors of misinformation regarding the virus that's killed over 500 thousand Americans.
The Senator has often found himself at odds with career epidemiologist and top medical advisor to President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In a Monday tweet, Paul once again slammed Fauci on Twitter as a "petty tyrant" for urging Americans to practice basic safety protocols for the time being, even if they've been vaccinated.
While just under 50 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, at least 70 percent is needed to achieve herd immunity. If precautions are thrown to the wind before that, the virus still has enough momentum to mutate. If this momentum is prolonged, it's an inevitability that a variant will emerge that renders vaccines ineffective.
When asked by MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan if eating and drinking indoors in bars and restaurants was safe, Fauci emphasized the still-high infection rates in the United States:
"For the simple reason that the level of infection, the dynamic of infection in the community are still really disturbingly high. Like just yesterday there were close to 80,000 new infections and we've been hanging around 60, 75,000. "
He concluded:
"And if you are vaccinated, please remember that you still have to be careful and not get involved in crowded situations, particularly indoors where people are not wearing masks."
When it came to the science, people largely took Fauci's word over Paul's.
The reception of Paul's latest diatribe against Fauci wasn't well-received.
A recent study found that more than 40 percent of Republicans don't intend to take the vaccine.
