The Voice of Reason - An Exclusive interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci

By Mariana G. Briones

Dr. Anthony Fauci Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Dr. Anthony Fauci is one of the busiest men in the world today. As the Top U.S. infectious disease expert at an unprecedented time defined by COVID-19 his 18 hour days are filled with non stop crises, questions, challenges, interviews; and most recently hope.

Charming and impeccably dressed for our 8am interview Dr. Anthony Fauci joins us via interview Dr. Anthony Fauci joins us via Zoom from the NIH headquarters; sipping his morning espresso he shares his thoughts on how COVID-19 has afflicted minorities, the damaging effects of conspiracy theories, how he has adapted as the word has been redefined and when he believes we will finally be able to dance salsa again.

I begin by asking how his family dynamic and personal life have changed since the pandemic, and he is quick to share the unique trials of being Dr. Fauci. “There are two aspects of this. First it has been a compete disruption of my life which is entirely different now days because everything I do is a 100% COVID. I am here at the NIH half the day, the other half I am down at the White House with the president and vice president, and when I come back home I continue working until very late, I don't do anything else.” How does he decompress I ask? “This is seven days a week, there is no time to decompress, no social life involved in this, so I don’t have any problems with social distancing” he laughs.

“The other aspect that is very unique is that given the politicization and the divisiveness in which we live in, when I try to get a message across there are many people who are very vocal and very proactive in objecting to the public health measures we suggest” he continues. “People who are very extreme in their views, who are very anti me and anti the scientists who are working on solutions, to the point that my life has been threatened and my family has been harassed, and I never had anything like this happen to me in the last 40+ years in public health. So it has become very, very difficult. I have to have security with me literally every day. It is very unusual for a public health official to need this. Politicians yes, but public health officials? This is truly unprecedented.”

We weigh in on the role that social media has had in his predicament: “Social media can make something go viral very quickly” he reflects. “Someone can come up with a ridiculous conspiracy theory and all of a sudden it rockets around the world literally in minutes, and that is just extraordinary. The conspiracy theories that I am making a lot of money on vaccines, or that I am trying to kill people, or that Bill Gates and I are in cahoots trying to take over the world… I mean really crazy stuff.”

When I ask whether the NIAID data shows an imbalance regarding how COVID-19 has affected different population segments he responds: “There is no doubt that there is a substantial disparity on how all minorities have been affected, from African-Americans and Latinx to Native Americans, Native Alaskans and even Pacific Islanders. In the case of LatinX we find that most of the jobs they hold put them in what is called critical positions, because they are required to be outside interacting with people, as opposed to the likelihood that they would be sitting in front of a computer working virtually. I don’t want to completely generalize, but for the most part LatinX are in jobs that put them at a greater risk of getting infected.”

“On the other hand when they get infected they do have a greater risk of hospitalization”. He elaborates “If you look at the number of hospitalizations and deaths per hundred thousand, their rates are substantially greater than the population in general, specifically whites. So clearly there is a great disadvantage in the Latinx population regarding the complications that are associated with COVID-19, and this is likely due to a greater incidence of some of the underlying conditions that predispose you to a severe outcome. Everything from obesity to diabetes to hypertension, chronic renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and all of the conditions that you see in minority populations with more frequency. So it is a combination of both factors, but in my opinion it has to do a lot more with a higher risk of getting infected.”

There is now a global debate on the safety of vaccines, and the effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories are a real concern. “Historically, and this has been proven so many times with various diseases like smallpox, hepatitis or polio, the risk benefit of vaccination overwhelmingly favors the benefit, because fundamentally vaccines are really quite safe.” Dr. Fauci explains. “If you look at the number of lives that have been saved, the amount of suffering that has been avoided… the risks are really quite low. And the safety of the process can be exemplified with the Astra Zeneca setback. Back in September of 2020 their clinical trial with the University of Oxford was set aside after a British subject became ill. So there was one serious adverse event that was noted in a single person…and the entire clinical trial was put on hold. This is a very good example of the attention that is paid to the safety of these vaccine candidates.”

Still Latinos, as many communities, need to gain trust in trials and the vaccination process, and customized messaging is key “I think that we are getting better at engaging the Latinx community, whether it is outreach for clinical engagement at the community level, or through public service announcements at a national level. If you look at the enrollment of Latinx in clinical trials their representation approaches what the actual percentage of Latinos are in society, so we need to improve for sure, but we are relatively close.”

“Having members of the Latinx community in our staff, like Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, who is the Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, also helps us build trust and to be transparent with what we do.”

According to the CDC COVID Data Tracker, 33,382,705 cases have been recorded in the US as of June 20, 2021, and we are about to reach 600,000 deaths. So even though it is a hopeful sign that the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available to most Americans, the pandemic is not over. The Delta variant is now present in 47 states, and Dr. Fauci thinks we should remain vigilant, but optimistic. “I believe that if we have a good combination of public health measures and if enough people can be persuaded to get inoculated, we will continue to approach normality so that we can get back to the things that we used to know; like getting the economy back on track, getting employment back, having people move to interact socially the way we did before."

When I tell him that I miss dancing salsa he doesn’t miss a beat to cheer me up. “Just think that it will gradually get better, so that by the end of 2021 you can call me up and we can go salsa dancing together.”