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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 23 augusT 2022

Fauci to step down after decades as top U.S. infection expert

By LAURAN NEERGAARD Fauci, frustrated at being
and ZEKE MILLER unable to save dying pa-
Associated Press tients in the NIH’s hospital,
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. brought them to the table
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s in the hunt for treatments.
top infectious disease ex- Later, under President
pert who became a house- George W. Bush, Fauci
hold name — and the helped develop PEPFAR,
subject of partisan attacks the President’s Emergency
— during the COVID-19 Plan for AIDS Relief, to bring
pandemic, announced life-saving HIV treatments
Monday he will leave the to developing countries. In
federal government in De- 2008, Bush awarded Fauci
cember after more than the Presidential Medal of
five decades. Freedom.
Fauci directs the National Fauci said Monday he’d
Institute of Allergy and In- hoped there would be a
fectious Diseases, is chief successful HIV vaccine
medical adviser to Presi- before he retired but “it
dent Joe Biden and also wasn’t for lack of trying”
leads a lab studying the im- to overcome extraordinary
mune system. scientific challenges posed
While the COVID-19 pan- by that virus.
demic introduced him to Fast forward to COVID-19,
millions of Americans, he’s and for many Americans,
given straight-talk to the Fauci has remained a trust-
nation about numerous ed voice even as scientists
outbreaks including HIV/ Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks were surprised again and
during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Nov.
AIDS, SARS, pandemic flu, 4, 2021, in Washington. again by a fast-evolving
Ebola and the 2001 anthrax Associated Press new virus. The NIH had laid
attacks. the scientific groundwork
“I’ve gone into this campus the government response masks in public settings be- resilient, and healthier be- for the speedy develop-
and into the labs and into to COVID-19 as it hit in early fore the rollout of the CO- cause of him.” ment of powerful coronavi-
the hospital every day, in- 2020, with frequent appear- VID-19 vaccines. Fauci said he planned to rus vaccines that, while not
cluding most weekends, for ances on television news He was also the subject of continue working after perfect, are highly effec-
54 years. The idea of walk- and at daily press confer- political attacks and death leaving the government, tive at preventing serious
ing away from it obviously is ences with White House of- threats and was given a se- saying he wants to use his illness and death.
bittersweet,” Fauci told The ficials, including then-Presi- curity detail for his protec- experience “to hopefully Fauci told the AP that he
Associated Press. dent Donald Trump. But as tion. inspire the younger genera- remains frustrated at the
In announcing his depar- the pandemic deepened, When Biden won the White tion of scientists and would- country’s divisions over how
ture, the 81-year-old Fauci Fauci fell out of favor with House, he asked Fauci to be scientists” to consider a to handle the pandemic.
called his roles “the honor Trump when his urgings of stay on in his administration career in public service. “If ever there was a situa-
of a lifetime” but said it was continued public caution in an elevated capacity. For all the rancor of the tion where you wanted a
time “to pursue the next clashed with the former “I’ve been able to call him coronavirus pandemic, it unified approach and ev-
chapter of my career.” president’s desire to return at any hour of the day for wasn’t Fauci’s first run-in erybody pulling together
Known for his candor and to normalcy and to pro- his advice,” Biden said in with an angry public. He for the common good,
for the ability to translate mote unproven treatments a statement. “Whether became head of the infec- it would be when you’re
complex medical infor- for the virus. you’ve met him personally tious diseases branch of the in the middle of a public
mation into everyday lan- Fauci found himself margin- or not, he has touched all National Institutes of Health health crisis,” he said. “As
guage, Fauci has been a alized by the Trump admin- Americans’ lives with his in 1984 when the nation a physician and a scien-
key adviser to seven presi- istration, but he continued work. I extend my deepest was in the throes of the tist, I and my colleagues
dents starting with Ronald to speak out publicly in thanks for his public ser- AIDS crisis. Activists protest- have the responsibility to
Reagan. media interviews, advocat- vice. The United States of ed what they saw as gov- do what’s correct, what is
Fauci became the face of ing social distancing and America is stronger, more ernment indifference and science-based.”q