Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US President, took complete credit for vaccine development against COVID-19. "This is the best decision I ever made" said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. H was speaking to CNN, elaborating on America's pandemic response.
Six medical doctors who played vital roles in America's pandemic response – Antony Fauci, Deborah Birx, Robert Kadlec, Robert Redfield, Stephen Hahn and Brett Giroir -- took part in the CNN's special featured interview aired on March 28. Speaking during the interview, Fauci completely overshadowed the work of pharmaceutical companies, Trump's Operation Warp Speed and claimed credit for developing the vaccine in record time.
Fauci's Intervention
"When I saw what happened in New York City, almost over-running of our healthcare systems, and that's when it became very clear that the decision we made on January 10 to go all out and develop a vaccine, may have been the best decision that I've ever made with regard to intervention as the director of the institute," Fauci said.
This is in contrast to Trump's claims of Fauci being dismissive of vaccine development. Trump has repeatedly slammed Fauci publicly for not supporting Trump's vaccine development decisions. Fauci in his earlier interviews was quoted as saying it typically takes years to develop vaccines.
Earlier this month, Trump had said: "I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 Vaccine that if I wasn't president, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful shot for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!'
US Major Supplier of COVID-19 Vaccines
During the interview, Fauci also explained how US is helping other countries with vaccines. "We are playing a major role in helping other countries get vaccination. We have the $4 billion pledge that we have going into this. We've joined COVAX. We have given away surplus types of vaccines to Mexico and to Canada. And we will be certainly seriously considering more."
Though Fauci was one of the leading members of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force, he was not given any role in former president initiated Operation Wrap Speed that was formed to accelerate work on developing vaccines. In January, Fauci had said that vaccine may be less effective against new mutated coronavirus.
In fact, Trump has always avoided naming Fauci as an important person in terms of developing vaccines. However, after Joe Biden took charge as the President of U.S, he appointed Fauci as chief medical officer. Trump has not reacted to Fauci's claims yet.
