Anthony Fauci to Step Down

Dr. Anthony Fauci has announced he’ll be stepping down as President Biden’s top medical adviser and the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the end of the year. The New York Times has more.

The announcement by Dr. Fauci, 81, was not entirely unexpected. He has hinted for some time that he was thinking of retiring. In an interview Sunday evening, he said he was “not retiring in the classic sense” but would devote himself to traveling, writing and encouraging young people to enter government service.

“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,” Dr. Fauci said in the interview, adding that he wanted to use his experience and insight into public health and public service to “hopefully inspire the younger generation”.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Biden thanked Dr. Fauci, whom he called a “dedicated public servant, and a steady hand with wisdom and insight”. The two had worked closely together during a global outbreak of the Zika virus when Mr. Biden was vice president.

“Because of Dr. Fauci’s many contributions to public health, lives here in the United States and around the world have been saved,” the President said.

Few scientists have had as large or as long-lasting an impact on public policy. Dr. Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson was president; he was appointed the director of its infectious disease branch in 1984, when the AIDS epidemic demanded attention.

Dr. Fauci has advised every president since Ronald Reagan – seven in all – and has been adept at navigating the nexus of science and politics. Among his proudest accomplishments, he said, was his work with President George W. Bush in developing a global program to combat H.I.V./AIDS, known as PEPFAR, which has saved an estimated 21 million lives. Mr. Bush – whose father, George Bush, called Dr. Fauci “a hero” during a 1988 presidential debate – awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.

I suspect history will not judge Dr. Fauci as favourably as George Bush – or, indeed, the New York Times.

Worth reading in full.

I wonder if the reason he’s stepped down is to better position himself to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? (Yes, I’m being serious. Remember, it was awarded to the EU in 2012.)

Or is it because he anticipates that GOP gains in the mid-terms in November will leave Republicans in control of both the Senate and the House, thereby making life difficult for him?