When Dr. Anthony Fauci and Ted Koppel, a Sunday Morning special employee, first met in front of the camera, remote interviews were something new, and the nation was fixated on a global epidemic called HIV-AIDS. Koppel, at the time of ABC’s “Nightline”, asked Fauci, “How optimistic are you about some vaccine?”
“Two vaccines are in phase 1 trials to determine safety, but if we’re lucky it won’t be well into the 1990s to get a vaccine. At least it won’t be until 1995,” he replied. .
Even 33 years ago, Fauci had a wide national following, but especially among AIDS activists who were often very critical; and he had not yet inspired videos, T-shirts, coffee mugs, or suggestions for impending holiness, as he has recently done.
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“Oh my goodness,” said Fauci, when he was shown a very sacred portrait of himself. “My nuns in Our Lady of Guadalupe in Brooklyn would turn in their graves if they saw that!”
There are also other types of Fauci artifacts:
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And then there’s a July 22 Sinclair Broadcasting video, “America This Week,” in which a former chronic fatigue syndrome researcher, Dr. Judy Mikovits, claimed, “I believe Dr. Fauci made the coronaviruses.”
“You know, Ted, I think this is a dramatic example of the divisions in our country,” Fauci said. “We’ve had complete bias and put aside scientific facts and evidence. And a certain part of the country believed the hoax aspect, the fake news aspect.
“The other half longed for clarity, longed for facts, longed for truth. So, for better or worse, for some reason I became a symbol that was unrealistic. Just like Saint Anthony. You know, it’s a little bit , ok, great, but that’s not the reality.
“On the other hand, I’ve had people threaten my life because I’m talking about public health measures,” Fauci said.
Couple said, ‘We have a video of you and your wife walking with a security detail. Has it come this far? ‘
‘Yes. Yes. It has come this far. I’ve created such hostility that I always have to have federal agents, armed federal agents, with me. ”
“Have your children been threatened?”
“I must tell you, I am not afraid of myself, of myself,” said Fauci. ‘But what really bothers me is the harassment, constant harassment of my three daughters. The fools, you know, know who they are, know where they live, know their phone number, know where they work. It pisses me off. “
Couple said, ‘Let’s talk about us, America. Here we are, we have 4% of the world’s population. There have been two million deaths worldwide. If we had had our share, we would have had 80,000. ‘
“Turn right.”
“That’s a lot … we have five times that number. ”
“Turn right.”
“We’ve been a big failure, Tony.”
‘Uh, huh. Yes. The reasons for that, Ted, I don’t think I can put them all into words, but some of them strike me because I’ve been through them. You cannot have mixed messages. You cannot have the politicization of public health messages. I mean, the idea that wearing a mask became a political statement or not? That makes it more difficult to implement a good public health measure. ‘
Couple said, “You have a very expressive face. And there is a moment – you know right away what I’m talking about – in the White House press room. I want you to finally reveal what happened during that briefing. “
“Well,” said Fauci, “the one I think you got is when we were in that situation where we’re talking about hydroxychloroquine”:
President Trump: “It might work, it might not work. I feel good about it. That’s all, just a feeling. You know, smart guy.”
“And he was up there talking and I, I think I went like this (raises hand).”
“Yes.”
“I did it instinctively. And I just said to myself: Oh my God!, and unfortunately that became the image that went round the world. “
Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
“People have come to a point where they don’t understand this about President Trump: he can actually be an extremely charming man,” Koppel said.
‘Yes. You’re right, ”said Fauci. “He is a charismatic person. I got along very well with him. But I did not enjoy correcting obvious misrepresentations in the fields of medicine and science.”
Fauci: I’m not quite sure what the president was talking about …
‘That, I think, annoyed his staff, his loyal staff, in some ways even more than it annoyed him. So then things started to go in the wrong direction. ‘
President Trump: “He has this high approval score. So why don’t I have a high approval score with regard to respect – and the administration – with regard to the virus?”
So the relationship got a little ragged. And then when I saw him in the Oval Office, he pretended everything was okay.
And then we had that famous time when people called ‘Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci! Sang. and he said, “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. I think I will.”
President Trump at a November 1 meeting: “Don’t tell anyone, but let me wait until after the election. He’s been wrong many times. He’s a nice man, but he’s been wrong many times.”
Koppel asked, “With more consistent leadership, we could have saved many lives. Is that a fair statement?”
“Yes, I think so,” Fauci replied. “I mean, I think if we had the public health messages – from the top to the people in the trenches – were consistent, things could have been different. In fact, I’m pretty sure they are different.”
It is a measure of Tony Fauci’s durability that he just assumed a new title at the age of 80 and worked for Joe Biden – his seventh president – as his chief medical adviser.
“What we’ll see in the coming months is much more of a coordinated, synergistic partnership between the federal government and the states,” Fauci said. “So I think we’ll see a reversal in our attitude when the federal government and states start working together a lot more, instead of ‘you’re on your own.’
‘Yeah, but I mean, you’ve already talked and you’ve experienced your own regret, the poison of bias out there. That won’t go away, Tony. “
“Well, no, it isn’t. What, we have an average of about 200,000 to 300,000 infections a day; about 3,000 to 4,000 deaths a day? I mean, you have to look at those numbers and say,” We have to do something else. ‘”
Koppel said, “Your first big challenge is getting the vaccines in your arms.”
“Right now things are getting better; but they are going to get much better, because President Biden has made it very clear that this is his top priority. You know the goal that has been set, which I think is fully achievable, is to get 100 million people vaccinated in the first 100 days … primary and boost. “
“In 100 days?”
“Yes Yes.”
“Do you realize you are preparing for disaster if you don’t reach that goal?” Couple asked.
“Of course, and that was one of the things that was kind of refreshing in one of the first briefings we had with President Biden and Vice President Harris, is that he said, ‘We can have setbacks. But you know when that happens what “Are we going to do it? We are not going to point fingers. We are not going to blame the people. We are not going to hide anything. We will be completely transparent and honest and we are going to try to fix it.”
“We’ve had four years, Tony, of – from the top – undermining trust in all of our institutions: the intelligence agency, the FBI, the media, science. That’s a pandemic of its kind, isn’t it? ‘
“Yes,” said Fauci. And we have to fix it. We have to. Because the land is at stake. ‘
Do you have any idea how to get started? There is no vaccination for it. ‘
‘No, there is no vaccination. But I think perhaps we should continue to show by example that being united is much, much better than dividing. Because division has really failed. I mean, it has failed us in every way. ‘
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Story produced by Dustin Stephens. Editor: Steven Tyler.