New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show COVID-19 cases are again rising in some parts of the country. Despite this, there is little talk of reinstating the various draconian measures the government used to enforce compliance from 2020 to 2022. Indeed, even Dr. Anthony Fauci is singing a different tune.

Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is now a professor at Georgetown University. But the man who was the architect of the government’s pandemic response still occasionally moonlights as a pundit on the television circuit, and in recent months, Fauci’s policy prescriptions have taken a stark turn.

While speaking to ABC’s Jonathan Karl on This Week earlier this fall, Fauci was asked who should be taking the new COVID booster. “I believe we should give the choice to people that are not in the high-risk groups, to have the vaccine available for them,” Fauci replied.

Choice is the keyword here. It’s a stark contrast to Fauci’s previous support of the White House’s vaccine mandate that required private companies to demand vaccination as a condition of employment.