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COVID-19 pandemic has been and remains unlike any public health crisis we have ever faced due to politically charged polarization and anti-science aggression that arose early and persists to this day. That partisan divide has pushed the COVID-related death toll in the U.S. higher than other large, well-resourced nations by fueling vaccine hesitancy and refusal, and by heightening resistance to public health measures proven effective in slowing the spread of infectious disease. And sadly, the overt politicization of COVID-19 resulted in an avalanche of hostility and even credible death threats directed at Dr. Fauci and his family.
The threats against Dr. Fauci and his loved ones are emblematic of the intimidation and outright violence directed at physicians, nurses, hospitals and health systems nationwide whose lives are at stake, even as we work to save lives and minimize harm by delivering evidence-based medical care. Health workers, like all workers, should be able to pursue their profession without fear of intimidation or physical harm.
Misinformation and disinformation continue to drive these threats, and it is only by communicating facts and our current understanding of the evidence that science can ultimately prevail. As the nation’s top expert on infectious disease, Dr. Fauci was thrust into the role as the face of coronavirus response. This role was not unfamiliar to him, given his leadership through the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and subsequent experience with the threats posed by the Ebola and Zika viruses.
Dr. Fauci’s experience with HIV/AIDS research in the 1980s exemplifies both his leadership as well as his flexibility and willingness to listen. He won over LGBTQ+ activists angered by the slow pace of treatment research by fundamentally altering the government’s clinical trial methodology, and expanding enrollment in antiviral trials to include AIDS patients, people who inject drugs and others directly affected by the crisis.