EDITORIAL: Fauci deserves applause for 50 years of service

Aug. 24—The nation owes Dr. Anthony Fauci a deep debt of gratitude. For that matter, so does the rest of the world.

Fauci, the face of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic for much of the past three years, announced his plans to retire from public life at the end of the year. The 81-year-old said he wants to spend his time traveling and writing, among other things.

Even if the coronavirus hadn't emerged in March of 2020 — and we all fervently wish it hadn't — Fauci had long ago cemented his place as an American hero. His is a legacy that spans more than five decades.

Lyndon Johnson was president when Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968. He became director of its infectious disease branch, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in 1984, when the AIDS epidemic first entered the public consciousness. Ronald Reagan was president. (Fauci would serve under seven presidents in all.)

At first, Fauci clashed with activists over the slow pace of AIDS research and treatment. Eventually, he became a trusted ally, counting among his proudest achievements his work with President George W. Bush in creating PEPFAR, a global program to combat AIDS that is credited with saving 21 million lives. Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, called him a "hero."

That achievement would not have come to pass had Fauci not developed the resolve to rise above the political turmoil that often accompanied the viruses and diseases he was charged with confronting.

"He was there for us in the '80s when AIDS was still a big question mark," said Cliff Morrison, who worked in San Francisco General's AIDs ward at the beginning of that epidemic.

The physician and immunologist, he said, was a level-headed partner who worked to get federal resources to places where they would do the most good.

"There was lots of paranoia," said Morrison. "He was the voice of reason."

Fauci has been the public face of the response to most, if not all, of the challenging outbreaks of the last 40 years. In addition to his groundbreaking work on AIDs, he led NIAID's response to the 2001 anthrax attacks and the biodefense research that followed, the 2009 swine influenza pandemic and the outbreaks of the West Nile, Ebola, and Zika viruses. He juggled his demanding job with treating patients, including some with Ebola.

Then came COVID-19, and Donald Trump. Fauci, a respected scientist awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 by President George W. Bush, found himself mocked and derided by an anti-science president who seemingly cared little for the effects of the coronavirus past its effects on his political prospects.

To be sure, there were missteps at the beginning of the outbreak, including Fauci's confusing messaging on the efficacy of masks. But he was an engaged, experienced hand in a time of crisis — and one who seemingly was contradicted at every turn by a president who once suggested ingesting bleach as a way to combat the virus. Still, he did not shirk his duty, doing his best to counter Trump's disastrous messaging while simultaneously leading his agency's response to a global pandemic.

"I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down," he told Science Magazine when asked how he dealt with Trump's anti-science outbursts, later saying, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to undermine the president. But there is something that's called reality."

He clashed with other Republican officials, and has endured death threats aimed at him and his family. He had hoped to step down after Trump left office, but President Joe Biden asked him to help right the response to the pandemic.

"So I stayed on for a year, thinking that at the end of the year, it would be the end of COVID, and as it turned out, you know, that's not exactly what happened," Fauci said. "And now it's my second year here, and I just realized that there are things that I want to do."

After more than 50 years in public service, he's earned that right.