‘I’m frustrated’: Dobbs apologizes after labeling those spreading COVID falsehoods ‘anti-science Nazis’

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs is apologizing after coming under fire for comments made during a recent Facebook live.

Friday during a weekly roundtable by the Mississippi State Medical Association, the group of doctors, which included Dobbs, was discussing a question regarding vaccinated positives - those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 who have then tested positive for the virus.

During the conversation, Dobbs stated, “You know, the anti-science Nazis on social media try to find anything to make an excuse, right? Excuse monkeys. Just saying, ‘Oh, it was this!’ And every time you give them data that undermines it they find another thing. It’s like a twisty-turney thing, you know?”

The 18-second comment by Dobbs was then extracted from the conversation and shared to Facebook by State Representative Steve Hopkins.

Hopkins tagged both Dobbs and Governor Tate Reeves in the post, writing that if Dobbs had “any shred of integrity left” that he would “resign immediately after this.”

“This is unprofessional and totally uncalled for,” Hopkins wrote. “This is the United States not China! People are free to speak their mind and make their own health care choices.”

The post has now been shared hundreds of times with commenters also calling for Dobbs’ firing.

On Tuesday, Dobbs was asked about the statements made in the Mississippi State Medical Association video.

Dobbs first apologized for “getting away from a sense of calm decorum.” But he also said that he is frustrated, mad, upset and depressed “because we’re gonna watch people needlessly die over the next month or two for no good reason.”

“There is a mountain of lies and disinformation that is being promulgated by a relatively small number of misinformed, disillusioned people and it’s leading folks astray,” Dobbs continued. “It’s very difficult to watch. It’s upsetting to see this perpetual nonsense go unchallenged and I’m here to fight for Mississippi.”

This at a time when Mississippi is seeing a “4th wave” of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant of the virus. At the beginning of the week, MSDH reported more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 over a three-day period.

The state also remains the least-vaccinated in the country and is one of two states where less than 40 percent of the population has received at least one dose.

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