Aaron Rodgers suggests that the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s was created by the federal government and immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci in a bizarre months-old clip: ‘The blueprint was made in the 80s’
Aaron Rodgers’ problems with Dr. Anthony Fauci did not start the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. As revealed in revived footage from March, the New York Jets quarterback suggested that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director helped develop the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s with support from the federal government.
“The blueprint, the game plan was done in the ’80s,” Rodgers said during a Zoom interview with The Check out that podcast.
Fauci, who led the US response to the coronavirus under the Trump and Biden administrations, previously faced the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. It was during this period that he was often criticized for the government’s response to the virus, as more than 100,000 victims would die between 1981 and 1990.
“Create a pandemic with a virus that’s going wild,” he continued. ‘Fauci was given over $350 million to research this, to come up with new drugs or new drugs to deal with the AIDS pandemic. And all they came up with was AZT,’ Rodgers continued.
“And if you do a little bit of research — and I know I’m not an epidemiologist, I’m not a doctor, I’m not an immunologist, whatever — I can read it though.” And I can learn and look things up just like any normal person. I can do my own research, which is so reviled that I can even question authority.’
Aaron Rodgers, who plays for a team owned by a pharmaceutical giant, has regularly targeted Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci has faced criticism for his response to the HIV crisis and the COVID-19 virus
Rodgers then tied Fauci’s past controversies with the HIV/AIDS epidemic to the government’s response to the coronavirus, which is responsible for more than a million American deaths.
‘But that was the game plan then: Create an environment where only one thing works. Back then AZT. Now? Remdesivir,’ Rodgers continued, referring to an antiviral medication created in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
One of many AIDS protesters in the 1980s
Fauci did not invent, nor did he profit from the creation of Remdesivir, but the canard remains a point of contention among his critics.
Rodgers also accused Fauci of having a “stake in the Moderna vaccine,” though he cited no source for his information.
“And we know that Pfizer is one of the most criminally corrupt organizations ever,” Rodgers continued. ‘The fine they paid was the largest in DOJ (Department of Justice) history in 2009. What are we talking about? We are going to put our full trust in science that cannot be questioned.’
There have been many false claims about Fauci regarding his work in combating the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and the 2020 to 2022 COVID-19 pandemic.
Many have argued that the majority of AIDS patients died from drugs developed when Fauci led the nation’s response to the burgeoning epidemic — and not from the virus itself.
However, a fact check by the Associated Press found this to be false.
While it is true that Fauci had been a leading researcher when AIDS emerged in the 1980s, claims that azidothymidine, commonly known as AZT, killed more people than the virus itself are baseless.
Members of ‘Act UP’ and others demonstrate around the White House, protesting the lack of AIDS research funding from the President George HW Bush administration
Public health agencies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the World Health Organization, as well as prominent AIDS organizations and researchers, told The Associated Press that the drug remains in use today because it has been shown to be effective in keeping HIV at bay when it is used in combination with other medicines.
Many others have accused Fauci of profiting from the COVID-19 vaccine, but again, evidence is lacking.
A 2020 PolitiFact.com piece described such a claim, originating from Facebook, as false.
Rodgers was recently under consideration to be a third-party candidate and fellow COVID-19 vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in the ongoing presidential election. Ultimately, he was passed over for tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan.
Instead, the 40-year-old four-time MVP will return to work for the Jets, a team owned by billionaire Johnson & Johnson heir Woody Johnson.