“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase, and I think we might be there already,” Fauci said.
QUICK FACTS:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said in a recent interview that he’s considering stepping down from the position he’d held since 1984, The Epoch Times reports.
- Fauci was asked during the March 18 podcast whether he was mulling retirement or transitioning to a less-demanding job.
- “I certainly am because I’ve got to do it sometime,” Fauci said, adding “I can’t stay at this job forever, unless my staff is going to find me slumped over my desk one day. I’d rather not do that.”
WHAT ELSE FAUCI SAID:
“I have said that I would stay in what I’m doing until we get out of the pandemic phase, and I think we might be there already,” Fauci said. “If we can stay in this, then we’re at a point where I feel that we’ve done well by this but I don’t have any plans right now to go anywhere, but you never know.”
“I unfortunately am somewhat of a unidimensional physician-scientist-public health person. When I do decide I’m going to step down—whenever that is—I’m going to have to figure out what I’m going to do,” Fauci said. “I’d love to spend more time with my wife and family, that would be nice.”
BACKGROUND:
- Dr. Fauci, 81, was appointed to his position in 1984 during the Reagan administration, Epoch Times notes.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) recently tried to get support for a measure that would eliminate the NIAID and create three new institutes in its stead, calling Fauci a “dictator-in-chief.”
- “No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,” Dr. Paul said.
