President Joe Biden’s Covid adviser Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert who has become the face of the country’s fight against the pandemic, announced Monday that he would step down in December.
Fauci said in a statement he will be leaving both his positions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and as Biden’s chief medical adviser — although he added, “I’m not retiring.”
The 81-year-old, who previously announced plans to leave until the end of Biden’s current tenure, announced he would be leaving in December to “pursue the next chapter of my career.”
Biden expressed his “deepest thanks” to Fauci in a White House statement.
“Due to the many contributions of Dr. Fauci on public health has saved lives here in the United States and around the world,” the president said, adding that the country “is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him.”
Fauci has led the United States’ response to infectious disease outbreaks, from HIV/AIDS to Covid-19, since the 1980s and has served under seven presidents.
When Covid first spread globally from China in 2020, he became a trusted source of reliable information and reassured the public with his calm and professorial demeanor in frequent media appearances.
But his candid stance on America’s early failure to get a grip on the virus put Fauci at odds with former President Donald Trump and made the doctor-scientist a hated figure for some on the right.
Fauci is now living with security protection after his family received death threats and harassment.
Biden said that Fauci was “one of my first calls” after winning the 2020 election when he was trying to build a team to lead the Covid-19 response.
“In this role, I was able to call him any time of the day for his advice as we addressed this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic,” the President said.
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