Rand Paul on NIH Director: 'How can people who are so smart say such stupid things?'

After National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins advised parents to wear masks indoors around their unvaccinated children on Twitter on Tuesday...

Let me clarify the masking message that I garbled on @NewDay this morning. Vaccinated parents who live in communities with high COVID transmission rates should mask when out in public indoor settings to minimize risks to their unvaccinated kids. No need to mask at home.

— Francis S. Collins (@NIHDirector) August 3, 2021

Sen. Paul asked Fox News host Ben Domenech, "How can people who are so smart say such stupid things?"

“There is no science to defend putting your kids in masks or parents wearing masks," Paul said. "No science whatsoever.”

Paul then explained at length the insanity of Collins' advice.

"If there were, we would be wearing masks for years and years, because for kids the death rate is about the same as the seasonal flu. It may be less than the seasonal flu.

So, is Francis Collins proposing that because the flu is with us forever that parents should be wearing masks around their kids that have the flu?

It is absolutely and utterly without scientific evidence.

Now they’re all freaking out right now about the Delta variant. One thing is in all likelihood true, it is significantly more transmissible.

But guess what? Every bit of evidence shows that it is less deadly. Significantly less deadly.

.@RandPaul responds to NIH director saying parents should mask up around their own kids:

"How can people who are so smart say such stupid things?" pic.twitter.com/hp7I8Ckq6H — Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) August 4, 2021

Public health England looked at 92,000 people. If you were vaccinated and under 50 there were no deaths. If you were unvaccinated and under 50, .08 percent. It’s still very, very small.

So it’s not an argument for not getting vaccinated, it is an argument for not getting hysterical over the Delta variant.

We shouldn’t be changing any mandates and really in all likelihood, the masks didn’t affect the trajectory of the virus at all. The only thing that is slowing the virus down is the vaccine and natural immunity, and they continue to ignore natural immunity, they think we’re too far behind, we have to vaccinate the children."

Paul added, "But in reality, I think its 90 percent of people over 65 have been vaccinated. That’s extraordinary."

"We should be celebrating!"