Experts praise Fauci as public health 'hero'
By: Melina Khan
USA Today
..... Public health experts and advocacy groups are hailing Dr. Anthony Fauci as a hero following his appearance at a contentious Senate hearing.
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Fauci. 85, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades, was questioned for more than three hours about the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic at a July 29 [2026] Senate hearing.
..... The former public health chief invoked his Fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination in response to every question during the hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
..... Still, Fauci faced scathing criticism from Republicans during the hearing. Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who heads the committee, said he plans to schedule a committee vote in the coming days to push to contempt charges against Fauci.
..... Paul has accused Fauci of destroying government records. The senator and other lawmakers have also questioned Fauci's recommendations for classic distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
..... the infectious disease expert, who retied in 2022, was subpoenaed to testify. Days before the hearing, Paul released more than 1,000 pages of diaries Fauci kept during the pandemic. In them, Fauci wrote, in part, about President Donald Trump, calling him "out of control," a "true embarrassment" and "an idiot."
..... democrats have criticized the GOP's grilling of Fauci and come to his defense. It echoes sentiments form several leading claimed organizations and public health workers.
..... In a letter to the Senate committee, Stefano Bertuzi, CEO of the American Society for Microbiology, expressed "unequivocal support" for Fauci.
..... "His career was built on evidence, intellectual rigor and an unwavering commitment to improving people's lives," Bertuzzi said in the letter. "That record is documented in the scientific literature, reflected in countless advance in medicine and public health and measured in millions of lives saved."
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Bertuzzi also called Fauci's scientific research a "by all accounts and measures, the gold standard."
..... Similarly, he AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition said it submitted a letter to the committee ahead of the hearing.
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Mitchell Warren, AVAC's executive director said in the letter that the group is "dismayed and disturbed," by Fauci being subpoenaed "in pursuit of questionable allegations."
..... "We implore the committee to cease its erroneous investigation and harassment of renowned scientists and public servant such as Dr. Fauci, whose career, track-record, and devotion to public health research and development has changed the very course of the HIV epidemic at home and abroad," Warren said.
..... On social media, many medical and public health professionals praised Fauci's work throughout the pandemic.
..... Olivia Zarella, a research associate at the Colorado School of Public Health, said in a post on Threads that Fauci inspired her to push trough 80-hour workweeks as a university infection prevention specialist in the early days of the pandemic.
..... "Dr Anthony Fauci kept a lot of us going through this time and is a national hero," Zarella said. "the behavior towards him throughout and since the pandemic is not only absolutely appalling but a sign of a bigger issue."
..... Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general during Trump's first term, wrote on X that he believes "everything [Fauci] said and did was driven by the best intentions for our country."
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"there are plenty of people in Washington, D.C. who say and do things more for themselves than for our country. Tony Fauci is not one of them," he added.