- Immunologist was an advisor to seven presidents
- Fauci was vilified by Trump and Republican lawmakers
- He faced death threats over pandemic policies
Aug 22 (Reuters) – Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official who became the face of the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden , announced Monday that he will step down in December after 54 years in the audience. service
Fauci, whose efforts to fight the pandemic were applauded by many public health experts even as he was vilified by Trump and many Republicans, will step down as Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the Institute US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). ), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci, 81, has led NIAID since 1984.
The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven US presidents, starting with Republican Ronald Reagan, focusing on the dangers of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, smallpox of the monkey and the COVID-19.
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Fauci endured criticism from Trump and several conservatives and even death threats against him and his family from people who opposed safeguards such as vaccinations, social distancing and masking that he advocated to try limit the lethality of the COVID-19 pandemic. After defeating Trump in the 2020 election, Biden made Fauci his chief medical adviser.
“I definitely feel like it was worth staying as long as I did. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact of life that we’re living in a very, very divisive society right now,” Fauci told Reuters on Monday.
Fauci said he never considered resigning because of the threats against him.
“I don’t like the idea that I have to have armed federal agents with me. It’s not a happy feeling. It’s reality. And you have to deal with reality,” Fauci said.
Republican lawmakers, including fierce critic Rand Paul, with whom Fauci clashed during Senate hearings, vowed Monday to investigate him if they win control of the House or Senate in November’s congressional elections .
“As he leaves his position in the United States government, I know that the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next,” Biden said in a communicated “The United States of America is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him.”
Fauci signaled his imminent departure last month, telling Reuters he would retire at the end of Biden’s first term, which runs until January 2025, and possibly sooner. Read more
Dr. Anthony Fauci and U.S. President Joe Biden give an update on the Omicron variant at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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The United States leads the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million. During the early months of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci helped lead scientific efforts to develop and test vaccines against COVID-19 in record time and participated in regular televised briefings at the White House alongside Trump.
Fauci became a popular and trusted figure among many Americans as the U.S. grappled with lockdowns and a rising death toll from COVID-19, even inspiring the sale of cookies and bobbleheads with his likeness.
However, Fauci drew the ire of Trump and many Republicans for warning against reopening the US economy too quickly and the risk of increasing infections, and for opposing the use of unproven treatments such as the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
‘DISASTER’
Democrats accused Trump of presiding over a disjointed response to the pandemic and disregarding the advice of public health experts, including Fauci. Trump in October 2020, weeks before his re-election loss, called Fauci “a disaster” and complained that Americans were tired of hearing about the pandemic. Trump even mocked Fauci’s ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game.
Fauci has at times publicly contradicted Trump’s statements about the pandemic. Fauci said Monday that while he respects the office of the presidency, he felt he had to speak out “when things were said that were completely false and quite misleading.”
“I didn’t really like it,” Fauci said.
Paul frequently attacked Fauci during Senate hearings on the pandemic. Read more
Fauci has accused Paul of spreading misinformation. Paul on his website has accused Fauci of “lying about everything from masks to the contagiousness of the virus.” Fauci noted during a hearing that Paul made fundraising appeals on his website alongside a call to fire him.
Fauci said staying until December allows for a search for a new director of NIAID, an institute with an annual budget of more than $6 billion, and the appointment of an acting head. Fauci also said he wanted to stay to help deal with an expected spike in COVID-19 infections in the fall.
Fauci made it clear that while he will leave public service, he will not retire. She said in the future she hopes to use her experience to help inspire a new generation of doctors to pursue careers in public health, medicine and science.
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Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bangalore and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Sriraj Kalluvila
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.