Watch: Dr. Megan Ranney reacts to Fauci calling out Rand Paul during committee hearing

Dr. Megan Ranney is applauding Dr. Anthony Fauci for confronting Sen. Rand Paul during a Tuesday Senate committee hearing, during which he accused the Republican lawmaker of spreading misinformation during the crisis of the pandemic and fundraising off of making false attacks against him.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, pointed to the arrest of a California man in Iowa last month, who was armed with an AR-15 and said he was headed to Washington with a “hit list” that included Fauci, The Washington Post reports.

“What happens when he [Paul] gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue?” Fauci said during the hearing. “All of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have life — threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me.”

Ranney, an emergency room physician in Rhode Island and associate dean at the Brown University School of Public Health, told CNN on Tuesday that it’s not just Fauci who has been targeted in an “unprecedented manner.” 

State, county, and other public health leaders have also been receiving verbal threats and threats against their families throughout the pandemic. 

“Honestly, I’m glad that Dr. Fauci stood up,” she said. “Not just for himself but for public health professionals across the United States … The very people who are trying to protect the health of our society are being forced out of their jobs out of fear of their own and their families lives.”

Ranney said she takes no issue about having “reasoned debate” about science. 

But “frank lies and calls to violence,” which she said have permeated discussions about COVID-19 and the pandemic, cannot be tolerated. 

“I myself have been subject to these, as has almost every other figure who has spoken out publicly or tried to lead some part of COVID response,” she said. “It distracts from the core issues and it stops us from making progress on the things that we need to care most about, which are controlling COVID and getting our lives closer to normal.”

Watch her remarks below:

Dialynn Dwyer

Dialynn Dwyer is a reporter and editor at Boston.com, covering breaking and local news across Boston and New England.

 

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