'He is a moron': US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as McCarthy says mask rule based on 'India study'
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “a moron” on Wednesday in response to a reporter who asked her about McCarthy's suggestion that the decision late Tuesday night by Congress's top physician to reinstate a mask mandate indoors on the House side of the Capitol wasn't based on science.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dubbed US politician Kevin McCarthy a "moron" after he criticised the Democratic Party and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reimposing a mask mandate for vaccinated people in certain circumstances.
McCarthy said that the new guidance is "exclusively based on an Indian study." The paper "didn't even pass peer review," he added.
"President Biden’s CDC can’t make up its mind. One mask. Two masks. No masks. Back to one mask. Their new guidance for vaccinated individuals to wear a mask is based exclusively on a study FROM INDIA—which has NOT passed peer review—using vaccines that are NOT APPROVED in the US, " he Tweeted.
President Biden’s CDC can’t make up its mind. One mask. Two masks. No masks. Back to one mask.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 29, 2021
Their new guidance for vaccinated individuals to wear a mask is based exclusively on a study FROM INDIA—which has NOT passed peer review—using vaccines that are NOT APPROVED in the US.
McCarthy's comments on masks, as well as Pelosi's response, came after the Capitol attending physician sent a message on Tuesday advising that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, should wear masks indoors; the document stated that such instruction is necessary in the House.
Later at a press conference, Pelosi said, “To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think, is not wise.”
(With inputs from agencies)