US pandemic expert Anthony Fauci is currently under the scanner for his controversial leaked e-mails. Republican lawmakers and prominent conservatives are collectively making efforts to get him fired following the release of an email showing the doctor believed "face masks don't work against COVID-19" when the Coronavirus crisis was in its early stages last year.
On February 28, 2020, a woman e-mailed Anthony Fauci with the subject line: "URGENT" when the US government's top scientist was already under tremendous pressure due to the health threat in the country and political pressure by the Trump administration.
Fauci replied to an email from Sylvia Burwell, presumed to be the same Sylvia Burwell, who was the health and human services secretary in the Barak Obama administration for three years. Burwell's mail to Fauci was about wearing face masks while traveling, to which the top US medical expert told Burwell that she need not wear a mask during an upcoming trip as she was going to a very low-risk location.
Fauci claimed store-bought masks were for the infected to prevent further spread of the novel Coronavirus to people who aren't infected, rather than protecting uninfected people from getting the infection.
Hundreds of leaked emails covering the period from January to June 2020 have been obtained by The Washington Post and BuzzFeed News through the Freedom of Information Act, revealing how Dr. Fauci dealt with government health officials, reporters, and celebrities during the initial stage of the COVID-19 crisis.
"It's time to fire Fauci! Emails that have been released now under the Freedom of Information Act show two very important things: 1. FAUCI has been lying 2. I've been right all along," United States Senator Rand Paul tweeted.
Meanwhile, Fauci, who is currently President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, said collaborations are necessary with the Chinese to detect the origin of the deadly virus after one of his leaked emails was to the director of China's CDC, George Gao.
Mark Zuckerberg's Email To Fauci
Mark Zuckerberg also exchanged emails with the top US medical adviser over Facebook's plans for a coronavirus "information hub." Zuckerberg asked whether the social media company could provide resources to accelerate COVID vaccine testing and also requested Fauci for an informative Q&A video on COVID-19, which could be useful for the public.
