Dr. Fauci to STEP DOWN in December: Biden pays tribute to 81-year-old who became face of the COVID pandemic and nemesis of Trump and Republicans

• Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave government service in December to ‘pursue the next chapter’ of his career
• President Joe Biden praised his work on the covid pandemic 
• ‘His commitment to the work is unwavering, and he does it with an unparalleled spirit, energy, and scientific integrity,’ Biden said
• Fauci didn’t say what was next for him but ruled out a job in the pharmaceutical industry
• He said he’s been working on a memoir but did not have a publisher
• ‘While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring,’ Fauci said 
• Fauci became a household name during the covid pandemic
• But he also became the nemesis of Donald Trump and Republicans 

Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave government service in December to ‘pursue the next chapter’ of his career as President Joe Biden praised his work during the covid pandemic and Republicans vowed to call him before Congress. 

Fauci, 81, has hinted for months retirement was on his mind but never gave an end-date for his public service. He made the announcement official on Monday. 

‘While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring,’ Fauci said in a statement.

‘After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field. I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats,’ he said.

Biden said Fauci has saved ‘countless lives,’ which includes decades of work on infection diseases including the AIDS crisis, Ebola, Zika and the coronavirus pandemic.

‘I’ve been able to call him at any hour of the day for his advice as we’ve tackled this once-in-a-generation pandemic. His commitment to the work is unwavering, and he does it with an unparalleled spirit, energy, and scientific integrity,’ Biden said in a statement.

Fauci didn’t say what was next for him but ruled out a job in the pharmaceutical industry. He said he’s been working on a memoir but did not have a publisher.

‘So long as I’m healthy, which I am, and I’m energetic, which I am, and I’m passionate, which I am, I want to do some things outside of the realm of the federal government,’ he told The New York Times. 

Fauci became a household name during Donald Trump’s presidency when he clashed with the then-president and members of the Republican Party on how to handle the covid pandemic. 

Eventually sidelined by Trump’s administration, he continued to speak out, advocating for face masks and social distancing before vaccines were widely available while Republicans painted him as symbol of lockdowns. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave government service in December to ‘pursue the next chapter’ of his career

President Biden praised Dr. Fauci’s work on the covid pandemic: ‘His commitment to the work is unwavering, and he does it with an unparalleled spirit, energy, and scientific integrity,’ Biden said; above the two men at the White House in November 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci,during his time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, in a lab in 1984.

Fauci said he considered stepping down after Trump left the White House, but did not want to turn down Biden’s request to stay on during the covid pandemic.

‘So I stayed on for a year, thinking that at the end of the year, it would be the end of Covid, and as it turned out, you know, that’s not exactly what happened,’ Fauci told the Times. ‘And now it’s my second year here, and I just realized that there are things that I want to do.’

Fauci also clashed with Congressional Republicans about mitigation measures for the pandemic, notably Senator Rand Paul.

‘Fauci’s resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak,’ Paul wrote on Twitter of Fauci’s resignation. 

There was some suggestion that, if Republicans win control of Congress in the November election, they would start an investigation of Fauci. There was speculation he would retire to avoid that.

Fauci called that ‘nonsense.’ 

Republicans, however, are already vowing to call him before Congress – whether he works for the government or not.

‘Dr. Fauci is conveniently resigning from his position in December before House Republicans have an opportunity to hold him accountable for destroying our country over these past three years. This guy is a coward,’ tweeted Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.

‘Make no mistake, my colleagues and I will hold Dr. Fauci accountable whether or not he remains in public office,’ he added.

Republican Rep. James Comer, who will chair the Oversight panel if Republicans win control of Congress in November, tweeted that ‘Retirement can’t shield Dr. Fauci from congressional oversight.’

The infectious disease expert also clashed with some AIDS activists during the 1980s but he told the Washington Post that the covid pandemic was different because his opponents, most of whom were on the political right, engaged largely in arguments devoid of science.

‘The situation with the political divisiveness [with covid-19] was totally different because you had the complete unreality of stating that drugs worked when there was no evidence they did,’ Fauci said. ‘The leader of the country is saying, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s going to disappear tomorrow.’ … I felt I had an obligation to the country to be the person who speaks for science and speaks for the truth.’ 

Dr. Anthony Fauci became a household name during the covid pandemic and he clashed repeatedly with then President Donald Trump; above Trump and Fauci at the White House in March 2020

Dr. Fauci with his wife and three daughters – he needed a security detail during the covid pandemic due to threats made to him and his family

Dr. Anthony Fauci with an AIDS patient in 1987

The clashes with Republicans led to threats on his life. A man who sent emails to Fauci threatening to kill him and his family was sentenced this month to more than three years in prison. 

Fauci has a protective security detail that he is likely to still need when he leaves the government.

‘I had to oppose a president of the United States. That is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I did it,’ he told the Post.

Trump and Fauci initially got along but grew apart as the then-president wanted to end the nation-wide shutdown while Fauci advocated to keep mitigation measures like face masks and social distancing. 

Fauci also contradicted the president when Trump said hydroxychloroquine was a promising treatment, Fauci said it didn’t show signs of working. Trump and his team eventually released a memo detailing why they said Fauci was wrong about the pandemic. 

‘I was put in a very unusual circumstance where the country was scared, they really wanted someone who was steady and honest and showed integrity and stuck with the facts, and I became the symbol of that,’ Fauci said. ‘And when you become a symbol for a certain segment of people, the people against that, you become the villain to them.’ 

But there has been some indications that the government response to the pandemic was wrong. A report on the CDC last week found the agency was slow to respond to the pandemic and gave confusing information on issues like face masks.

Fauci became Biden’s top medical adviser when Biden entered the White House. He’s also been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years.

Biden said Fauci has saved countless lives during his work on infectious diseases.

‘Because of Dr. Fauci’s many contributions to public health, lives here in the United States and around the world have been saved. As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next. Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work. I extend my deepest thanks for his public service. The United States of America is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him,’ the president said in his statement.

For his contributions, Fauci was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in June 2008

Fauci is seen left with Sir Elton John in Washington, DC, in July 2012

I am announcing today that I will be stepping down from the positions of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, as well as the position of Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden. I will be leaving these positions in December of this year to pursue the next chapter of my career.

It has been the honor of a lifetime to have led the NIAID, an extraordinary institution, for so many years and through so many scientific and public health challenges. I am very proud of our many accomplishments. I have worked with — and learned from — countless talented and dedicated people in my own laboratory, at NIAID, at NIH and beyond. To them I express my abiding respect and gratitude.

Over the past 38 years as NIAID Director, I have had the enormous privilege of serving under and advising seven Presidents of the United States, beginning with President Ronald Reagan, on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats including HIV/AIDS, West Nile virus, the anthrax attacks, pandemic influenza, various bird influenza threats, Ebola and Zika, among others, and, of course, most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration.

While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring. After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field. I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats.

Over the coming months, I will continue to put my full effort, passion and commitment into my current responsibilities, as well as help prepare the Institute for a leadership transition. NIH is served by some of the most talented scientists in the world, and I have no doubt that I am leaving this work in very capable hands.

Thanks to the power of science and investments in research and innovation, the world has been able to fight deadly diseases and help save lives around the globe. I am proud to have been part of this important work and look forward to helping to continue to do so in the future.

NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson was president.  

He was born in Brooklyn in 1940, the son of pharmacy owners whose parents migrated to the US from Italy. 

President George W. Bush, who in 2008 awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom, noted that even as a boy he showed an independent streak: In a neighborhood full of Brooklyn Dodgers fans, Fauci rooted for the Yankees. 

And despite being short in stature, Fauci captained the basketball team at the prestigious Regis High School, which he attended on a scholarship. 

He went on to College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, before completing an MD at Cornell University. 

‘My interest in medicine stems from my keen interest in people, in asking questions and solving problems,’ Fauci told the NIH Historical Office in a 1989 interview. 

Fauci runs long distances , and completed the 1984 Army Corps Marathon in 3 hours 37 minutes. 

He became head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984, when the nation was in the throes of the AIDS crisis. 

He’s recalled the huge frustration of caring for dying patients in the NIH’s hospital with nothing to offer.

After hours, he’d chat with then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop about what scientists were learning about AIDS, influencing Koop’s famous 1986 report educating Americans about the disease.

Early on in the AIDS crisis, Fauci clashed with activists who wanted patients to have access to experimental drugs. Fauci, and many other scientists, didn’t want to change the research process out of fear it would compromise scientific integrity.

Activists staged ‘die-ins’ in front of his NIH office. 

He said he eventually realized the activists were right, meeting with activists and working on a parallel track where patients could access the experimental medication while a randomized controlled group would determine a drug’s efficacy. 

Fauci, under President George W. Bush, Fauci was one of the architects of PEPFAR, the multibillion-dollar global HIV/AIDS program that has saved millions of lives.

In 1985, at the age of 44, Fauci tied the knot to nurse Christine Grady. The pair went on to have three daughters: Jennifer, Megan and Alison.  

Source: Read Full Article