In the past few years, despite spending over five decades in the health service sector relatively unnoticed, Dr Anthony Fauci has found himself unavoidably in the limelight. The onetime Chief Medical Adviser to the US president has been both praised widely and viewed as a permanent adversary by a specific segment of the Republican party. This Saturday, the Republican activist, Marjorie Taylor Greene, at a conservative assembly in Detroit, accused Dr Fauci of committing “crimes against humanity” owing to his involvement in managing the Covid-19 pandemic.
“They violated the very essence of our liberties, all because of a virus that they produced in a lab in Wuhan, China,” she stated. Taking up the popular MAGA slogan – “Lock Him Up” – she proclaimed to the audience, “I guarantee you, if it’s up to me, we will imprison him. He is under the conviction of prison.”
This Tuesday, the release of Fauci’s book On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service provides the ideal counter-argument. The book, described by early critiques as a sober and restrained narrative, strikes a balance between a memoir and a scholarly study. With the impending potential of an avian flu threat on the horizon, Dr Fauci’s personal recount comes as a crucial reminder about his leadership during various societal viral threats.
Having served under seven presidents, Fauci, since 1984, has taken up the position as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In this role, it’s been his responsibility to provide the administrations with advisory regarding dealing with health crises like Aids epidemic, swine flu, the Ebola crisis, and the anthrax threat. However, his role in managing the Covid-19 pandemic is what thrusted him into the heart of the US’s response, making him widely recognized globally.
In spite of facing continuous critiques from Donald Trump post their collaboration, Fauci’s reflection in this regard is rather balanced. Fauci states in his book that it was on June 3rd, 2020, when he first felt the intensity of the president’s anger, which coincided with the concluding year of Trump’s first term.
In his account, Dr Fauci states that the president pointed out his dissatisfaction with his work, blaming him for the financial instability. Fauci explains how being scolded by the country’s leading figure, not matter how affectionate they might seem, is hardly a pleasant experience. He mentions episodes of right-wing extremism intensifying and the White House’s ever chilling attitude towards him during 2020’s challenging summer months in his narrative. Here he cites an unsettling incident from August when an envelope filled with a white substance, initially feared to be Anthrax, was sent to him, triggering an FBI inquiry. Despite the harmless nature of the matter, it reflected the threatening environment he was operating in.
Fauci, at the conclusion of a 15-month probe, exhibited his resilience during his recent testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on Capitol Hill. Here, the 83-year-old’s reputation continues to inspire a complex mix of reverence and resentment across the political spectrum.
Republican insinuations suggesting that Fauci concealed the potential laboratory origins of the Covid-19 virus were strenuously denied by him. In defence, he referred to an email from February 2020, where he advised a colleague to inform the FBI about suspicions of a laboratory leak.
Having previously maintained a harmonious and constructive relationship with all preceding heads of states, Fauci admits that the dynamics had changed with the 45th president. Despite his assertive stance in exchanges with Republican politicians, it appears to have had limited impact on changing the perception of those accusing him of causing the coronavirus.
Fauci’s book compares the scale of the pandemic with the severity of prior crises, specifically the Aids outbreak that adversely impacted gay communities in the early ’80s. He speaks of how it took the activists by surprise when he sought meetings to discuss the government’s indifference towards the situation.
Following his appointment in 1984, the budget for AIDs research witnessed significant growth. He penned down an episode in his book where he recalled gathering world health leaders at an Italian eatery in Bethesda, situated in the Maryland outskirts of Washington. This occasion served to casually guide them through a White House session where they unanimously agreed upon a programme aimed at enhancing HIV treatment and prevention worldwide.
He asserts that he enjoyed a pleasant and fruitful rapport with every president he served, with the exception of the 45th.
In a twist of fate, despite believing that the New York origins that both he and Trump share would prove advantageous, their relationship did not prove so. In a world without the pandemic, it is plausible that the term of Trump might have proceeded without incident.
Nevertheless, he brings to the forefront a conversation post the president’s signing of an executive order for the flu vaccine distribution. Trump had informed Fauci that he had never received a flu jab. When quizzed why, he remembers that the president’s response was, “Well, I’ve never been down with the flu. Why would I require a flu jab?”