Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert and the face of America’s campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the administrations of Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, will retire in December after 54 years of public service, he revealed on Monday.
Fauci, whose efforts to combat the pandemic have been praised by many health experts despite being vilified by Trump and many Republicans, will leave his positions as Biden’s top medical adviser and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci, 81 years old, has directed the NIAID since 1984.
The seasoned immunologist has advised seven presidents of the United States, beginning with the Republican Ronald Reagan, focusing on new and emerging infectious disease threats such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, monkeypox, and COVID-19.
Fauci has endured criticism from Trump and other conservatives, as well as death threats against him and his family from those opposed to the safety measures he has supported, such as immunizations, social distance, and masks, in an effort to reduce the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden appointed Fauci as his main medical advisor after beating Trump in the 2020 election.
“I definitely feel like I should have stayed as long. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that we now live in a very, very divided society,” Fauci told Reuters on Monday.
Fauci said he never considered resigning because of the threats against him.
“I don’t like the idea of having armed federal agents with me. It’s not a happy feeling. This is reality. And you have to deal with reality,” Fauci said.
Republican legislators, notably outspoken critic Rand Paul, with whom Fauci engaged during the Senate hearings, pledged on Monday to investigate if they gain control of the House or Senate in November’s congressional elections.
“As he leaves his post in the US government, I know the American people and the world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in what he does next,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him.”
Fauci announced his resignation last month, telling Reuters that he will retire before to the conclusion of Biden’s first term, which runs until January 2025 or maybe earlier.
With over one million recorded fatalities from COVID-19, the United States tops the globe. During the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci led the scientific effort to create and test vaccines against COVID-19 in record speed and participated in frequent televised briefings with President Trump at the White House.
As the United States faced a lockdown and mounting death toll from COVID-19, Fauci became a beloved and trusted character among many Americans, even sparking the selling of cookies and figurines bearing his picture.
Fauci, however, has earned the ire of Trump and a number of Republicans for his warnings against a too-rapid US economic recovery, the danger of additional illnesses, and the use of untested therapies such as the malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine.
Democrats have accused Trump of overseeing an incoherent response to the pandemic and disregarding the advise of health professionals, including Fauci. In October 2020, weeks before his re-election, Trump referred to Fauci as a “disaster” and lamented that Americans were sick of hearing about the pandemic. Even during Fauci’s ceremonial first pitch for the Washington Nationals, Trump laughed.
Fauci has challenged Trump’s remarks regarding the epidemic on occasion. Fauci said Monday that while he respected the office of the president, he felt he had to speak out “when things were being said that were completely false and misleading.”
“I didn’t get a lot of satisfaction out of it,” Fauci said.
Paul regularly slammed Fauci during pandemic-related Senate hearings.
Paul was accused of distributing false information by Fauci. On his website, Paul accused Fauci of “lying about everything from masks to the contagiousness of the virus.” During one of the sessions, Fauci noticed that Paul’s website had both financial requests and demands for his dismissal.
Fauci said that keeping office until December would allow for the selection of a new head of NIAID, an institution with an annual budget of more than $6 billion, and an interim director. Fauci also expressed his desire to remain in order to assist with the anticipated autumn increase in COVID-19 infections.
Fauci has made it obvious that he would not retire, despite quitting public service. He said that he intends to utilise his experience in the future to encourage a new generation of physicians to pursue jobs in health, medicine, and science.
Fauci intends to resign before to the conclusion of US President Biden’s tenure.