The Jets QB is back at it.
Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the New York Jets, has long expressed skepticism about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Recently resurfaced footage from a March interview on the “Look Into It” podcast reveals Rodgers suggesting that Dr. Fauci was involved in the engineering of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s with federal government support.
“The blueprint, the game plan was made in the 80s,” Rodgers stated during the interview. He continued by asserting that Fauci was allocated over $350 million to research and develop treatments for AIDS, yet the primary outcome was the drug AZT.
Rodgers criticized the reliance on singular treatments both in the past and present, drawing a parallel between AZT and Remdesivir, the latter being an antiviral medication used during the COVID-19 pandemic. “But that was the game plan back then: create an environment where only one thing works. Back then, AZT. Now? Remdesivir,” he elaborated.
Furthermore, Rodgers voiced a broader distrust in pharmaceutical companies and the scientific community, mentioning Pfizer’s legal history and questioning the unquestioning trust in science. “And we know Pfizer is one of the most criminally corrupt organizations ever,” he claimed, referencing a significant fine Pfizer paid in 2009.
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Rodgers also touched upon rumors that Fauci had a financial stake in the Moderna vaccine, though he did not provide evidence for this claim.
These remarks echo widespread but largely debunked claims about Dr. Fauci’s role in the AIDS crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, an Associated Press fact check refuted the notion that the majority of AIDS patients died from medications rather than the virus itself, affirming the efficacy of AZT in combination with other drugs.
Criticism has also targeted Fauci’s alleged profit from the COVID-19 vaccine, a claim found to be without evidence by fact-checkers like PolitiFact.com.
Despite his controversial views, Rodgers will continue his professional career with the Jets, owned by Woody Johnson of the Johnson & Johnson family. Meanwhile, his potential political alignment with vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not materialize as he was not chosen as Kennedy’s running mate.
Instead, tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan was selected for the role.