WATCH: Fauci admits to masking after vaccination for the sake of optics, not science

Responding to questions on how the new mask mandates have changes his own personal mask wearing tendencies, Fauci responded, "I'm obviously careful because I'm a physician and a healthcare provider. I am now much more comfortable in people seeing me indoors without a mask.

"Before the CDC made the recommendation change," Fauci admitted, "I didn't want to look like I was giving mixed signals. But being a fully vaccinated person, the chances of my getting infected in an indoor setting is extremely low, and that's the reason why in indoor settings now, I feel comfortable about not wearing a mask because I'm fully vaccinated," Fauci continued, speaking to the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.

However, Sen. Rand Paul questioned Dr. Fauci recently on the necessity of masking after recovering from natural infection or vaccination. "Given that no scientific studies have shown significant numbers of reinfections of patients previously infected or previously vaccinated, what specific studies do you cite to argue that the public should be wearing masks well into 2022?"

Fauci didn't understand the connection, he said, about "masks and reinfection."

"You're telling everyone to wear a mask," Paul said, whether they have immunity or not. "If we're not spreading the infection, isn't it just theatre?"

"No, it's not."

"You've got the vaccine and you're wearing two masks, isn't that just theatre?" Paul asked.

"Here we go again with the theatre," Fauci said dismissively. "Let's get down to the facts." Fauci discredited the studies, but now, it turns out, Fauci believes that masking post vaccination is all about the optics, the theatre of it, and not the science at all.

The CDC updated their guidelines on mask wearing last week, saying that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear a mask indoors or out.