Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, on Saturday told CNN's Jim Acosta that he's "certain" smallpox and polio would still be present in the United States if their vaccine drives faced misinformation campaigns similar to the ones currently plaguing COVID-19 inoculation efforts.
"If you look at the extraordinary, historic success in eradicating smallpox and eliminating polio from most of the world — and we're on the brink of eradicating polio — if we had had the pushback for vaccines the way we're seeing for certain media, I don't think it would have been possible at all to" eradicate the two deadly diseases, Fauci said.
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