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Updated June 12th, 2021 at 17:03 IST

Dr. Fauci dubs criticism against him as 'Attack on Science'; softens stance on China probe

Dr Anthony Fauci proudly dismissed the questions raised against him and defended himself as a leading official in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Reported by: Jitesh Vachhatani
Dr Anthony Fauci
Image Credits: AP/Pixabay | Image:self
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Underfire over his leaked thousands of pages of e-mails and the constant flip-flop of his stance over the COVID-19 origins probe, America's top medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci haughtily brushed off the criticism against him as 'attacks on science'. The 80-year-old 'medical marvel' who heads America's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) proudly dismissed the questions raised against him and defended himself as a leading official in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a recent interview with NBC News' Chuck Todd, Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed the growing criticism against him on various fronts, with many also demanding accountability and answers to suspicious fundings from the NIAID chief. Fauci downplayed the criticism against him, labelling it as 'preposterous and painfully ridiculous' attacks as he remarked, "Such attacks on me are, quite frankly, attacks on science."

"People want to fire me or put me in jail for what I've done -- namely, follow the science," Fauci said in the interview as he responded to the growing chorus demanding his resignation over the suspicion of NIAID funding Gain of Function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). In the same interview, Fauci once again softened his stance against China's role in the lab-leak of the SARS-CoV-2. 

Fauci, who is also the White House's Chief Medical Advisor, maintained that the possibility of a lab leak is highly unlikely. This is in contrast to Fauci's interview with PolitiFact, where he openly discredited the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 has developed naturally and that it made a jump from bats to humans in a wet market, as claimed. 

“You want to keep an open mind. It’s a possibility (lab-leak). I believe it’s a highly unlikely possibility, and I believe that the most important one, that you look at what scientists feel, is very likely that it was a natural origin,” Fauci said in his interview with NBC News while maintaining that he is 'very much in favour' of further investigation into COVCID origins. 

Dr Fauci's Flip-Flop

In a recent interview with PolitiFact, Dr Fauci discredited the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 has developed naturally and that it made a jump from bats to humans in a wet market, as claimed. The top medical expert had said that he is not convinced with the claims and that the investigation in China should continue. Maintaining that the notion that the Coronavirus emerged from an animal reservoir is a popular one, Fauci in the interview that was aired on May 12, had said that he is 'personally in favour' of any investigation that looks into the origins of the virus. 

Shortly before Dr Fauci himself became embroiled as a potential player in the debate over the possible origins of COVID-19, in March, in response to the views of former US-CDC director Robert Redfield (a Trump appointee) who espoused the idea that the virus was created in a lab and then escaped possibly by mistake, Fauci had said that it was only one of several theories. As per reports, Dr Fauci analysed the lab-escape theory being founded on the finding that the COVID-19 virus was already well adapted to infecting humans when it was first identified in earnest in late December 2019. However, he argued that by that time the virus had already actually been in circulation for a number of weeks and this was plenty of time to adapt itself for humans.

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Published June 12th, 2021 at 17:03 IST

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