Here’s why Fauci got support from nearly 3,500 public health experts in new letter
Nearly 3,500 public health experts have signed a letter in support of Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, amid the Trump administration’s attack on him.
The letter was created by Food and Drug Administration Associate Commissioner Peter Lurie and Yale School of Public Health professor Gregg Gonsalves, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, [Fauci] has remained one of the world’s most trusted scientists on COVID-19, daily explaining in lay terms the complexity of an illness we still don’t fully understand,” the letter read. “And he has done so by placing science front and center in the public discourse. Attempting to marginalize highly respected researchers such as Dr. Fauci is a dangerous distraction at a time when we most need voices like his.
“As current and former public health officials, researchers, and public health professionals, we call on our political leaders, members of the media and all Americans to reject the sidelining of science, to speak out against the silencing of scientists, and to champion open and public scientific discussions of the issues facing our country as we struggle to make progress against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic,” the letter states.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro criticized Fauci in an op-ed published in USA Today called “Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.” The publication later said that Navarro’s statements on COVID-19’s declining death rate, coronavirus risk, and China’s travel restrictions were “misleading or lacked context.”
President Trump criticized Navarro for the op-ed last week, saying he “shouldn’t be doing that.”
“He made a statement representing himself,” Trump told reporters, according to The Hill.. “He shouldn’t be doing that. No, I have a very good relationship with Anthony.”
Trump called Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist” on Sunday, according to CNN. Fauci responded to the comment in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Well, I mean people have their opinion about my reaction to things. I consider myself more a realist than an alarmist.”
A White House official told CNN in a statement that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.”
Fauci said he wasn’t invited to Tuesday’s White House coronavirus briefing.
“I don’t know if there’s even going to be a briefing tomorrow — I don’t know that,” he told NBC anchor Maria Shriver during an interview. “I don’t think there’s been any firm decision about when they will start.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Here’s why Fauci got support from nearly 3,500 public health experts in new letter."