Stanford University School of Medicine infectious disease specialist Jake Scott admitted to Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno during a Tuesday hearing that he was wrong to push for masking all two-year-olds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Departmentās (HHS) Head Start program mandated children as young as 2 years old wear masks until a Texas federal judge halted it in 2023. Moreno, during a hearing titled, āHow the Corruption of Science has Impacted Public Perception and Policies Regarding Vaccines,ā asked the witnesses whether they believed two-year-olds should have worn masks during the pandemic ā all responded that they should not have.
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āYou tweeted in January of 2021 that you masked your two-year-old and that all two-year-olds should be masked,ā Moreno told Scott. āIāll submit the tweet for the record.ā
āI changed my mind ā¦ Iām admitting it,ā Scott replied, prompting applause in the hearing room after Moreno commended the admission.
A June 2021 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics section found that masking children leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels in both inhaled and exhaled air. The authors, a group of doctors from Germany, Poland and Austria, concluded that the findings āsuggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.ā
Whether or not kids should wear masks became a source of intense debate during the pandemic, with proponents asserting that children could spread the virus even if they were relatively safe from the illness themselves. Opponents said it was not necessary and that masks could be harmful.
As of June 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still recommendedĀ that children above the age of 2Ā wear a maskĀ if notĀ vaccinated.
āThe CDC recommendations still maintain that for children who are not vaccinated ā¦ while indoors they should still wear masks,ā Dr. Anthony Fauci said in May 2021.
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