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Infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci (81), for many the face of Covid-19 officialdom, has announced his departure. Yesterday the man who has directed the US’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for almost 40 years said he would depart before the expiry of president Joe Biden’s term in 2025.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___Fauci was a highly divisive figure during the pandemic. Praised by most US Democrats for his approach to Covid-19, he was elevated to the chief presidential medical advisor when Biden took office. Republicans, however, questioned his credibility for changing positions on numerous issues including the efficacy of mask wearing.
Among his most strident critics is JFK’s nephew (Democrat) Robert Kennedy Jr who launched another public missile over the weekend after Fauci admitted vaccines (which he pushed as a panacea) “don’t protect overly well against (Covid-19) infection”. This came after Fauci himself tested positive for the virus a month ago. He exhibited mild symptoms.
Kennedy blames Fauci for massive damage to the US economy, criticising the mainstream media for refusing to hold him “accountable for the costly national policies and the lockdowns that were utterly built upon his initial assertion that the vaccines would prevent transmission and end the pandemic.”
This is of more than academic interest here in South Africa. The country’s Covid-19 lockdowns, among the longest and harshest in the world, were a direct result of mirroring Fauci’s approach. His local counterpart, Dr Glenda Gray, is an unashamed Fauci acolyte.
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