In the United States, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, has again come under fire for downplaying the possibility that the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. Following the release of a trove of his emails, the President’s pandemic adviser is again surrounded by another controversy.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been a political lightning rod since the early days of the pandemic. Being considered a beacon of truth and a spotlight-seeking bureaucrat seeking to knock the wind out of former U.S. President Donald Trump in the administration that mismanaged the pandemic, Fauci, who now serves as President Joe Biden’s pandemic adviser, has been pilloried as a liar who misled the American people about the origins of the pandemic.
But now, he has come under fire again for downplaying the possibility that the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, and trying to protect the Chinese government.
In Congress, Republicans were all smiles, as they have found a new opening to revive attacks and criticisms on Fauci. Calls for his resignation have grown louder, as have demands for new investigations into the origins of the virus.
The Republicans’ move is seen as a new effort to turn public sentiment against the new President. Hitherto, Biden has enjoyed widespread job approval, buoyed by the public because of his efforts to vaccinate more Americans and contain the virus outbreaks bearing fruit.
The recent release of Fauci’s emails from the early days of the pandemic show no evidence of any kind of cover-up about the origin of the coronavirus. Many of the discussions reflect the science at the time. One of the emails features Fauci and other medical researchers working to decipher the origins of the virus.
But, Republicans, including Trump, have “utilised” this opportunity to accuse Fauci of obscuring the origins of the virus, saying his cover-up about the origins of the virus is evidenced by the emails.
Suffice it to say, during a press conference, the White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, implied, under no circumstances would Biden fire Fauci.
Psaki:
We know that Dr. Fauci, and many members of the NIH team, medical and science experts, because of their work over the last 10 years, we have developed a focus in effort and apparatus to fight this pandemic. And we are grateful to them for their work. Everybody wants to get to the bottom of the origin. Dr. Fauci is a renowned public servant, civil servant I should say, career civil servant. He’s overseen management of multiple global health crises and attacks, and attacks launched on him, are certainly something we wouldn’t stand by. I understand there’s interest in the emails. He’s answered a lot of questions on the emails. I don’t think I’m gonna have much more to add on them from here.
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