How Fauci became a divisive face of COVID

Dr. Anthony Fauci was once one of the most trusted faces of the Covid-19 pandemic, appearing beside even President Trump to update the American public in a time of mass uncertainty.  

But after more than two years as the nation’s top doctor fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the 81-year-old announced he will retire in December, no doubt exhausted by chronic battles with Republicans who grew mistrustful of his advice as messaging for the virus morphed from ‘two weeks to stop the spread’ to on-and-off lockdowns to being accepted as endemic.

Eventually sidelined by the Trump administration, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) continued to speak out, advocating for masking and social distancing while Republicans painted him as the symbol of lockdowns and pointed out his own inconsistencies. And since Fauci announced his retirement, they promised their investigations into his actions would go on.

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

‘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.

Here’s a roundup of how the infectious disease expert 

Fauci flip-flops on masks

The NIAID head was far from alone on this one. Fauci, along with other top health officials in the U.S. told the public that masks were ineffective at the onset of the virus so that healthcare professionals would not run into shortages. 

Fauci also claimed that at the time he was not aware how many people who were carrying the disease would be asymptomatic.

‘We were not aware that 40 to 45 percent of people were asymptomatic, nor were we aware that a substantial proportion of people who get infected get infected from people who are without symptoms. That makes it overwhelmingly important for everyone to wear a mask,’ he said. 

‘So when people say, ‘Well, why did you change your stance? And why are you emphasizing masks so much now when back then you didn’t — and in fact you even said you shouldn’t because there was a shortage of masks?’ Well the data now are very, very clear,’ he said.

‘We need to put that nonsense behind us about ‘well, they keep changing their minds,’ Fauci said.

Fauci now has an ‘open mind’ after tamping down lab leak theory 

The infectious disease expert appeared on Fox News in July to say that Covid-19 likely occurred through animal-to-human transmission, but he kept an open mind about the possibility that it leaked out of a Wuhan lab.

Fauci admitted: ‘We have an open mind but it looks very much like this was a natural occurrence, but you keep an open mind.’

In April 2020, Fauci had emailed NIH director Dr. Francis Collins calling the lab leak theory a ‘shiny object that will go away in times.’ 

During an event called ‘United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking,’ Fauci was asked if was ‘still confident’ that the virus evolved naturally.

‘No, actually … I am not convinced about that. I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened,’ Fauci said. ‘Certainly, the people who investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else, and we need to find that out.’

He added: ‘So, you know, that’s the reason why I said I’m perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus.’

In May 2021, Fauci was asked if was ‘still confident’ that the virus evolved naturally.

‘No, actually … I am not convinced about that. I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened,’ Fauci said. ‘Certainly, the people who investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else, and we need to find that out.’

He added: ‘So, you know, that’s the reason why I said I’m perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus.’

But days later, he walked back those remarks, telling a CBS reporter it was ‘highly likely’ the virus occurred naturally. 

Fauci downplays American funding that went to Wuhan lab    

Senator Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci have been at loggerheads over gain-of-function research and a $600,000 grant the National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2014. The Wuhan lab is believed to have practiced gain-of-function research. Lab researchers reportedly came down with Covid-like symptoms as early as November 2019. 

Gain of Function Research (GOF) is a controversial practice that involves altering a virus or pathogen in order to study the development of new diseases and their transmission. The research can ultimately make the virus more contagious or more deadly in a lab.

According to an NIH definition, GOF includes studying and altering viruses in animals to make them transmissible to humans – and potentially more contagious and deadly.

Paul accused Fauci on May 11 of misleading Congress by saying the U.S. has never funded gain-of-function projects at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Kentucky Republican points to a $3.7 million grant NIH gave EcoHealth Alliance in 2014. EcoHealth Alliance in turn distributed nearly $600,000 of that funding to its collaborator, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

Fauci told Congress in May 2021 that the NIH ‘has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.’

However, Fauci also said during that hearing that there was no way to know if Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lied and conducted gain of function experiments on bat coronaviruses using U.S. tax dollars.

‘There’s no way of guaranteeing that,’ Fauci said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, responding to a question from Republican Sen. John Kennedy.

In June, he defended the ‘modest’ collaboration with the Chinese lab, arguing it would be ‘almost a dereliction of our duty if we didn’t study this, and the only way you can study these things is you’ve got to go where the action is,’ referencing the early-2000s SARS outbreak, which is presumed to have come from bats in China

More spats with Rand Paul 

Paul has led the charge within the GOP promising to investigate Fauci if Republicans take back the House or Senate next year. 

In March of 2021 Fauci called Paul ‘dead wrong’ when the senator suggested that masks are ‘theater.’ 

‘You’re telling everybody to wear a mask, whether they’ve had an infection or a vaccine,’ Paul said to Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. ‘If people that have had the vaccine or have had the infection … if we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater?’ Paul asked.

‘Here we go again with the theater. Let’s get down to the facts,’ Fauci replied. ‘Let me just state for the record that masks are not theater. Masks are protective.’

‘You’re not hearing what I am saying about variants,’ Fauci told Paul.  

‘You’ve been vaccinated and you parade around in two masks for show,’ responded Paul, who is an ophthalmologist. ‘You want people to get the vaccine, give them a reward instead of telling them that the nanny state is going to be there for three more years and you got to wear a mask forever. People don’t want to hear it.’

‘I totally disagree with you,’ Fauci said.

In March Paul introduced an amendment to effectively fire Fauci. 

‘We’ve learned a lot over the past two years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed ‘dictator in chief.’ No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,’ Paul wrote in a Fox News op-ed.

‘To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I will introduce an amendment to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and divide his power into three separate new institutes.’

In December Paul accused Fauci of being responsible for ‘thousands’ of Covid-19 deaths by saying he deemphasized therapeutics and because he did not account for natural immunity in prioritizing vaccines. 

‘Many older people die, and many 35-year-old people are being vaccinated, that makes no scientific sense,’ Paul continued. 

Tensions boiled over in January of this year when Fauci claimed that Paul was responsible for threats on his life by claiming he himself was ‘responsible for the death of 4 to 5 million people, which is really irresponsible.’ 

‘What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden it kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me,’ Fauci said.  

First pitch redemption

The 81-year-old doctor redeemed himself after botching his first attempt at throwing a first pitch at a Nationals game in 2020. He threw out a first pitch at T-Mobile Park before the Mariners took on the Yankees that got to home plate. 

During his first go-around at Nationals park two years earlier, he’d thrown the ball completely wide of home plate.