Letter to the editor: Dr. Anthony Fauci has earned our respect and gratitude

This is in response to the writer (a good friend of mine) of the Dec. 3 letter headlined "Dr. Anthony Fauci shouldn't be in a position of authority," who suggested that Dr. Fauci has no right to speak with authority on the COVID-19 pandemic. He accuses him of arrogance and grandiose paranoia.

Really? If anyone has ever earned our gratitude and respect, who more than Dr. Fauci? His basic and applied research over half a century has helped treat and control such conditions as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal illness, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika. His research into immunoregulation helped develop therapies for rheumatologic diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa and granulomatosis. This list goes on. His efforts have doubtless saved thousands of lives.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci has been a lone voice of reason and sanity in a world filled with misinformation and self-serving politicians. He kept his humility and sense of humor, even in the face of death threats.

I see patients every day and urge them to get vaccinated. Three months ago, four gentlemen refused the vaccine, despite my pleading. As of last week, one has died of COVID, another is on life support, a third on oxygen, and the fourth is slowly recovering after one month in bed.

Yes, Dr. Fauci is a virologist, and he is not omniscient. But COVID-19 happens to be a viral illness. So who are you going to listen to: Dr. Fauci or a junior senator from Kentucky with a big mouth and sterling medical credentials as a former ophthalmologist?

— Dr. James Rudick, Plain Township

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Letter: Dr. Anthony Fauci has earned our respect and gratitude