Thanks, Tony Fauci!

Looks like the right-wing nutjob GOP Congress is planning Benghazi-like hearings for Tony Fauci. If they follow through, they deserve our unalloyed contempt. Fauci is a national treasure.

"During the most difficult times of the AIDS and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics, Tony has been a model of calm, yet decisive, leadership despite often harsh criticism from those with different views. He has also advised the ID community, often through articles in JID and elsewhere, on what the NIAID research priorities would be on individual topics such as antimicrobial resistance, malaria, sexually transmitted infections, opioids and infectious diseases, tuberculosis, microbiota, HIV/AIDS, microbiota, and COVID-19 [7–14]. These efforts have helped shape grant preparation and submission for many investigators.

"Tony Fauci will leave his position as NIAID Director at the end of this year, having served in this role for almost 4 decades. He has successfully fought for (1) increased ID research budgets, (2) international efforts to contain diseases, (3) better scientific research both at basic and clinical levels, and (4) improved public health efforts at disease prevention. We can think of no one who has played a more central role in controlling and treating infectious diseases or who could have done a better job representing the world’s ID community. Tony will likely make more important contributions to the conquest of infectious diseases, and we look forward to working with him in these efforts. However, for the critical work done as NIAID Director, we say, job well done, thank you, and best wishes in your future endeavors."

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/226/11/1861/6849627?login=false