Sometimes things take months, even years, to become clear. But sometimes only three days.

• Wednesday: Tucker Carlson asks, if vaccine is effective, why after two doses we still must wear masks and observe social distancing? Aren’t officials implying vaccine is less than fully effective?
• Thursday: Dr. Fauci calls this a “conspiracy theory” but does not answer Carlson’s question.
• Friday: Dr. Fauci announces that those who took two doses of Moderna or Pfizer vaccine may have to take a third as a booster.

I once heard a Soviet dissident, perhaps Sakharov, explain that when the communist leaders proclaimed their latest propaganda, of course they wanted the people to believe it. But if some people didn’t believe it, yet still felt compelled to repeat it, so much the better. They were tacitly admitting that they had sold both their souls and their minds. They were so frightened, so cowed, that they parroted what they knew to be nonsense.

We aren’t there yet, but we’re on our way. “Two doses are over 90% effective, but we still must wear masks, observe social distancing, and avoid crowds, just as we did before getting the vaccine.” And now, “Two doses are over 90% effective, but we may need a third dose.” But what’s next? No matter what it is, repeat it as if it were written on stone tablets. We no longer believe the Ten Commandments were given by God Himself, but we do believe whatever is decreed by Fauci Himself. Or at least we pretend to.

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