# Anthony Fauci

Anthony Stephen Fauci (born 24 December 1940) is an American physician and immunologist who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984. Since January 2020, he has been one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States, he has served public health in various capacities for over fifty years. He has made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiencies, both as a scientist and as the head of the NIAID at the NIH. The New York Times called Fauci "the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases".

## Quotes
### 2001

* This is material that is quite formidable, that is infecting people with inhalation anthrax, infecting them in the absence of direct contact. You can call it whatever you want to call it with regard to grade and size or weaponized or not weaponized. The fact is, it is acting like a highly efficient bioterrorist agent.
** Response to a 2001 anthrax attack, reported in Denise Grady, "Not his first epidemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci sticks to the facts", The New York Times (March 15, 2020).

### 2014

* You've got to balance the compassionate-use aspect with trying to figure out whether it works.
** Quoted by the New York Times (August 9, 2014), regarding the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.
* I'd say we have a couple of people who've recovered, they've gotten excellent medical care and the specific therapy, ZMapp … may have had a role in it but we don't know.
** Quoted by Reuters (August 21, 2014), regarding the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.

### 2017

* There is no doubt they [Trump administration] will be faced with the challenges their predecessors were faced with ... we will definitely get surprised in the next few years
** Anthony Fauci during a forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University, reported by Healio Journal, January 11, 2017.

### 2018

* As experience has taught us more often than not the thing that is gonna hit us is something that we did not anticipate. Just the way we didn't anticipate Zika, we didn't think there would be an Ebola that would hit cities. [...] If you develop an understanding of the commonalities of those, you can respond more rapidly.
** On Disease X, as quoted in World Health Organization gets ready for 'Disease X' (March 12, 2018) by Susan Scutti, CNN.

### 2020

* Greg Kelly: Bottom line. We don't have to worry about this one, right?
    Fauci: Well, you know, obviously you need to take it seriously, and do the kinds of things that the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security are doing. But this is not a major threat for the people of the United States and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.
   * Television interview with Newsmax's anchor Greg Kelly on January 21, 2020, quoted in Trump’s and Fox News’s downplaying of the coronavirus wasn’t on par with other media, no matter what you read (April 6, 2020) by Aaron Blake, The Washington Post.
* It’s a very, very low risk to the United States, but it’s something that we as public health officials need to take very seriously... It isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about. Because we have ways of preparing and screening of people coming in [from China]. And we have ways of responding - like we did with this one case in Seattle, Washington, who had traveled to China and brought back the infection. [...] We’ve just got to make sure that we are totally prepared [since] infectious diseases will continue to emerge on the human species. And we’ve got to be essentially perpetually prepared.
** Quoted in Government health agency official: Coronavirus 'isn't something the American public need to worry about' by J. Edward Moreno, 26 January 2020, The Hill.
* The only people who need masks are those who are already infected to keep from exposing others. The masks sold at drugstores aren't even good enough to truly protect anyone. If you look at the masks that you buy in a drug store, the leakage around that doesn't really do much to protect you. People start saying, 'Should I start wearing a mask?' Now, in the United States, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to wear a mask.
** 17 February 2020 USA Today
* You don't want to go to war with a president [...] There's a temptation that you have to fight to tell the president what you think he wants to hear. I’ve seen really good people do that.
** Quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president', 3 March 2020, Politico.
* I don't think that we are going to get out of this completely unscathed, I think that this is going to be one of those things we look back on and say boy, that was bad.
** About the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president', 3 March 2020, Politico.
* It could be really, really bad. I don't think it's gonna be, because I think we'd be able to do the kind of mitigation. It could be mild. I don't think it's going to be that mild either. It's really going to depend on how we mobilize.
** About the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president', 3 March 2020, Politico.
* It's really, really tough because you have to be honest with the American public and you don't want to scare the hell out of them. And then other times, in attempts to calm people down, [leaders] have had people be complacent about it. This is particularly problematic in a ‘gotcha” town like Washington.
** About the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States, quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president', 3 March 2020, Politico.
* I feel like I'm 45. And I act like I'm 35. When I start to feel like I don't have the energy to do the job, whatever my age, I’ll walk away and write my book
** Quoted in 'You don't want to go to war with a president', 3 March 2020, Politico.
* Even before we knew it was a coronavirus, I said it certainly sounds like a coronavirus-SARS type thing. As soon as it was identified, I called a meeting of top-level people and said, 'Let's start working on a vaccine right now.'
** Response to the 2020 coronavirus epidemic, quoted in Not his first epidemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci sticks to the facts (March 8, 2020) by Denise Grady, The New York Times.
* Jonathan LaPook: There’s a lot of confusion among people, and misinformation, surrounding face masks. Can you discuss that?
    Fauci: The masks are important for someone who’s infected to prevent them from infecting someone else… Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.
    LaPook: You’re sure of it? Because people are listening really closely to this.
    Fauci: …There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.
    LaPook: And can you get some schmutz, sort of staying inside there?
    Fauci: Of course, of course. But, when you think masks, you should think of health care providers needing them and people who are ill. The people who, when you look at the films of foreign countries and you see 85% of the people wearing masks — that’s fine, that’s fine. I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine.
    LaPook: But it can lead to a shortage of masks?
    Fauci: Exactly, that’s the point. It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it.
   * Interview with Jon LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News, CBS' 60 Minutes, 8 March 2020. As quoted in Outdated Fauci Video on Face Masks Shared Out of Context (May 19, 2020) by Saranac Hale Spencer, FactCheck.org
* I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let's try and get it corrected for the next time.
** On his response to misstatements by Donald Trump during COVID-19 press briefings, in Jon Cohen, "‘I’m going to keep pushing.’ Anthony Fauci tries to make the White House listen to facts of the pandemic", Science (March 22, 2020).
* One of the problems we face in the United States is that unfortunately, there is a combination of an anti-science bias that people are -- for reasons that sometimes are, you know, inconceivable and not understandable -- they just don't believe science and they don't believe authority. So when they see someone up in the White House, which has an air of authority to it, who's talking about science, that there are some people who just don't believe that -- and that's unfortunate because, you know, science is truth. It's amazing sometimes the denial there is. It's the same thing that gets people who are anti-vaxxers, who don't want people to get vaccinated, even though the data clearly indicate the safety of vaccines. That's really a problem.
** "Fauci warns of 'anti-science bias' being a problem in US", CNN (June 18, 2020).
* We have to admit it, that that mixed message in the beginning, even though it was well meant to allow masks to be available for health workers, that was detrimental in getting the message across. No doubt about it.
** Fauci on conflicting advice around face masks, in an interview with Mary Louise Kelly of NPR's All Things Considered, NPR (1 July 2020).
* I don't regret that. At that time, there was a paucity of equipment that our health care providers needed -- who put themselves daily in harm's way of taking care of people who are ill. We did not want to divert masks and PPE away from them, to be used by the people.
** Congressional testimony on early recommendations that people not wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The mask decision that will haunt Trump's reelection bid, CNN (July 6, 2020).
* Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing
** According to NPR's Fauci Reveals He Has Received Death Threats And His Daughters Have Been Harassed
* It may be something that becomes endemic that we have to just be careful about. Certainly it's not going to be a pandemic for a lot longer because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around.
** In Coronavirus updates: US has almost 2,000 deaths in a day; Fauci says pandemic won't be around 'a lot longer'; California has almost 1M cases publshed November 12, 2020
* It’s almost like passing a baton in a race. You don’t want to stop, and then give it to somebody, you want to just essentially keep going
** Fauci says Trump administration should work with Biden transition team on coronavirus response" (November 15 2020) on CNN’s Jake Tapper State of the Union
* The answer is yes, a few, but one in particular. My youngest daughter’s boyfriend’s brother is a 32-year-old young man, athletic, healthy, who got COVID-19 and had one of the unusual complications of cardiomyopathy with an arrhythmia and died.
** In an interview according to Dr. Fauci Reveals Daughter’s Boyfriend's Brother, 32, Died After Contracting COVID: 'Very Sad' December 11, 2020
* I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can. You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January. So that would be my strong recommendation.
** Anthony Fauci, referring to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence on ABC's Good Morning America according to "Biden, Pence to get Covid vaccine soon", published December 16, 2020.
* ...record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the sweetness is the light at the end of the tunnel, which I can tell you — as we get into January, February, March and April — that light is going to get brighter and brighter, and the bitterness is going to be replaced by the sweetness
** Hope is on the way’: Pence gets coronavirus vaccine on live television published December 18, 2020
* And the reason I'm concerned and my colleagues in public health are concerned also is that we very well might see a post-seasonal, in the sense of Christmas, New Year's, surge, and, as I have described it, as a surge upon a surge, because, if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we have experienced as we have gone into the late fall and soon-to-be-early winter, it is really quite troubling. We are really at a very critical point. ... So I share the concern of President-elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.
** In an interview with cnn Fauci shares Biden's concern that 'darkest days' may be ahead in Covid-19 fight posted December 27, 2020

### 2021

* I was trying to let science guide our policy, but he was putting as much stock in anecdotal things that turned out not to be true as he was in what scientists like myself were saying. That caused unnecessary and uncomfortable conflict where I had to essentially correct what he was saying, and put me at great odds with his people.
** "Dr Fauci Says Trump Would Do ‘Terrible Things’ Anytime He Disagreed With Him Publicly", Cameron Frew, Unila, (20 February 2021)
* There's all of this concern about what's gain-of-function or what's not, with the implication that that research led to SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19, which, George, unequivocally anybody that knows anything about viral biology and phylogeny of viruses know that it is molecularly impossible for those viruses that were worked on to turn into SARS-CoV-2 because they were distant enough molecularly that no matter what you did to them, they could never, ever become SARS-CoV-2
** 24 October 2021
* This would not be the first time, if it happened, that a vaccine that looked good in initial safety actually made people worse. There was the history of the respiratory syncytial vaccine in children, which paradoxically made the children worse. One of the HIV vaccines that we tested some years ago actually made individuals more likely to get infected.
** As quoted in Zuck and Fauci Discuss VEI, Vox Popoli (14 December 2021)]

### 2022

* We have immunological data and you have now clinical efficacy data. Everybody was asking the question: Where’s the clinical efficacy data? Now it has come out with the CDC MMWR this morning. So, we know it’s safe. We know that it is effective. So, my message and my final message — maybe the final message I give you from this podium — is that: Please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible to protect yourself, your family, and your community. I urge you to visit Vaccines.gov to find a location where you can easily get an updated vaccine. And please do it as soon as possible.
** White House Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, COVID-⁠19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, and Chief Medial Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci (22 November 2022) · PBS NewsHour video at YouTube
* Fauci says 'we need to keep the politics out of' investigating COVID origins
** (Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor and Director of the NIAID, addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House on Tuesday, November 22, 2022)
*** BY ZACH SCHONFELD - 11/27/22 9:41 AM ET

## Quotes about Fauci

* Fauci suppressed off-label use of hydroxychloroquine by encouraging discussions of it to be pulled from social media, by sabotaging its clinical trials by testing doses six times the recommended levels (p. 26), and by pulling sixty-three million doses of the medicine off the market, safely away from covid sufferers they could have helped (p. 28). Fauci also provided cover for those who threatened doctors and pharmacists with loss of licenses and jobs for prescribing and dispensing hydroxychloroquine for covid (pp. 31–32). The story of ivermectin is similar.
** Robert Batemarco, Anthony Fauci: Master of Medical Crony Capitalism, Mises Institute, 14 February 2022
* Neither Anthony Fauci, the CDC, WHO nor any medical governmental establishment has ever offered any early treatment other than Tylenol, hydration and call an ambulance once you have difficulty breathing. This is unprecedented in the entire history of medical care as early treatment of infections is critical to saving lives and preventing severe complications. Not only have these medical organizations and federal lapdogs not even suggested early treatment, they attacked anyone who attempted to initiate such treatment with all the weapons at their disposal—loss of license, removal of hospital privileges, shaming, destruction of reputations and even arrest.
** Russell Blaylock, COVID UPDATE: What is the truth?, National Library of Medicine, 22 April 2022
* The real Anthony Fauci was a greedy egomaniac hell bent on creating an image of himself as the savior of the world during the AIDS crisis while generating billions in profits for his pharmaceutical industry “partners.” The “partners” would then share some of the loot with Fauci and others in various ways, including sharing in patent rights, the “revolving door” of very highly paid jobs for former government bureaucrats, paying multimillion dollar “user fees” to the NIAID, distributing shares of stock, etc.
** Thomas DiLorenzo, Review: The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, Mises Institute, 15 December 2021
* Then there was the 2005 “bird flu” hysteria where Fauci once again predicted “unprecedented carnage.” This time he partnered with Bill Gates and hired the now disgraced and discredited British conman statistician Neil Ferguson to construct “models” that predicted up to 150 million people could die from the bird flu. In the end, about 100 people died from it, and most probably had comorbidities that were the real causes of death. That was after President Bush asked Congress for $1.2 billion for Big Pharma to come up with another of its experimental vaccines.
** Thomas DiLorenzo, Review: The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, Mises Institute, 15 December 2021
* Documents recently revealed that the Fauci-led National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) authorized $1.68M in taxpayer dues to experiment on beagles. The documents obtained by the White Coat Waste Project (WCW), a watchdog organization that investigates scientific research, said SRI International researched on beagles between October 2018 and February 2019. The experimentation, later deemed "unnecessary" by the FDA. According to the Daily Caller, the studies "involved force-feeding or injecting 44 beagle puppies aged 6-8 months old with an experimental drug before killing and dissecting them," and also "involved cutting the dogs' vocal cords so they could not bark, as well as experimentation on mice."
** James Anthony, REVEALED: Documents show Fauci approved public funds for puppy-killing experiments, The Post Millennial, 6 October 2021
* In a piece of legislation he introduced on Monday, Paul addressed the public’s growing weariness with the White House medical advisor by proposing to eliminate Fauci’s role as the director of NIAID altogether. “We’ve learned a lot over the past two years,” Paul said, “but one lesson, in particular, is that no one person should be deemed ‘dictator-in-chief’…To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I’ve introduced this 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.” So it’s no wonder Dr. Fauci is nervous. Things are about to get very interesting for “America’s Doctor.”
** Todd Jaquith, A nervous Fauci cites Benghazi probe to say GOP likely to come after him if they retake Congress, BPR, 16 March 2022
* The chief fearmonger of the Trump Administration is without a doubt Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Fauci is all over the media, serving up outright falsehoods to stir up even more panic. He testified to Congress that the death rate for the coronavirus is ten times that of the seasonal flu, a claim without any scientific basis. On Face the Nation, Fauci did his best to further damage an already tanking economy by stating, “Right now, personally, myself, I wouldn’t go to a restaurant.” He has pushed for closing the entire country down for 14 days. Over what? A virus that has thus far killed just over 5,000 worldwide and less than 100 in the United States? By contrast, tuberculosis, an old disease not much discussed these days, killed nearly 1.6 million people in 2017. Where’s the panic over this? If anything, what people like Fauci and the other fearmongers are demanding will likely make the disease worse.
** Ron Paul, The Coronavirus Hoax (March 16, 2020), Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. [By March 16, 2021, one year from the date of this quote, Coronavirus had killed over 2,660,000 people worldwide, and over 533,000 in the United States.]
* Speaker to Anthony Fauci: And would you also weigh in on this issue of hydroxychloroquine? What do you think about this and what is the medical evidence?
    Donald Trump: You know how many times he’s answered that question?
    Speaker: I’d love to hear from the doctor.
    Donald Trump: Maybe 15. 15 times. You don’t have to ask the question.
    Speaker: He’s your medical expert, correct?
    Donald Trump: He answered that question 15 times.
   * On using the drug as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronavirus Task Force Briefing (April 5, 2020). Transcript at Rev
* Tony, Tony Fauci, he's a nice guy. He said it is not a threat, it is not a problem. Then he said do not wear a mask, don't not not not do not wear a mask under any circumstances But he's a nice guy so I keep him around.
** Donald Trump during a MAGA event in North Carolina on October 15 talking about the COVID pandemic. video
* ... the same message has to ... be reiterated over and over again, because either people don't hear it, or they don't believe it, or they don't adopt it.
** Anthony Fauci's wife, in an interview, was asked about what frustrates him (October 18, 2020). video
* Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election.
** President Trump Hints He Might Fire Fauci After Election As Coronavirus Cases Rise, NPR, November 2, 2020
* Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci. Now, I actually want to go a step farther, but I realize the president is a kind-hearted man and a good man. I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I'd put the heads on pikes, right. I'd put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats. You either get with the program or you're gone.
** Steve Bannon Calls for the Beheading of Dr. Fauci on Podcast (November 5, 2020)
* Fauci knew from the very beginning that covid likely came from a Chinese lab. He took active steps to suppress the information and defame anyone who talked about it. This should be one of the greatest scandals in the history of the US. But instead it barely makes a wave.
** Matt Walsh, twitter, 9:01 AM · Jan 13, 2022
* Testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci reveals he made up the six foot social distancing rule and other measures to 'protect' Americans from covid.
** Jon Raasch, REVEALED: Dr. Anthony Fauci confesses he 'made up' covid rules including 6 feet social distancing and masking kids, Daily Mail, 3 June 2024
* In addition to not recalling any evidence supporting social distancing, Fauci also told the committee's counsel that he didn't remember reading anything to support that masking kids would prevent COVID.
** Jon Raasch, REVEALED: Dr. Anthony Fauci confesses he 'made up' covid rules including 6 feet social distancing and masking kids, Daily Mail, 3 June 2024

## External links

Anthony Fauci at Wikiquote's sister projects: :
* Article at Wikipedia
* Media from Commons
* News stories from Wikinews
* Source texts from Wikisource
* Database entry #Q573246 on Wikidata
* Authority control: WorldCat search