Fauci, who plans to step down soon as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, has tackled many thorny issues and health crises, from the AIDS epidemic to bird flu and Ebola.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the renowned American physician who was honored and sidelined when he took over to coordinate the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, took advantage of his final briefing at the White House today to denounce the division and, at the same time, to promote vaccination.
Fauci, who plans to step down soon as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, has tackled many thorny issues and health crises, from the AIDS epidemic to bird flu and Ebola.
But it was his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic – and his emphatic statements from the White House podium that Americans needed to change their behavior – that made him a hero to public health advocates, an enemy to some on the right and celebrity among bureaucrats accustomed to toiling in obscurity. Fauci has received many threats to his life over the years.
In the latest press briefing, Fauci encouraged Americans to get vaccinated for Covid-19 and take the booster dose, while insisting on the effectiveness of the protective mask.
The US is the country with the most recorded deaths due to Covid-19, with over a million victims.
With 13 billion doses of the vaccine administered worldwide to date, Fauci noted that “there is clearly a broad base of information” that shows it is safe.
“When I see people in this country, because of the divisive discourse in our country (…) not being vaccinated for reasons that have nothing to do with public health but with division and ideological differences, this, as a doctor, hurts me. I don’t want to see everyone hospitalized, I don’t want to see anyone die from Covid. “Whether you’re a far-right Republican or a far-left Democrat, it doesn’t matter to me,” he stressed.
Fauci, 81, will retire in December after 54 years in public health. Since 1984, he has been head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The veteran immunologist has been an adviser to seven presidents, beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan. He made his first appearance at a White House press conference in 2001.
Republican politicians such as his staunch critic, Senator Rand Paul, have warned they will launch an investigation into him when they regain control of the House of Representatives after November’s midterm elections.
Today, Fauci said he would “certainly cooperate fully” with any investigation Republicans launch next year.
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