Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, appeared to shrug off some of his harshest critics — even those who threatened him — in a trove of emails obtained by The Washington Post. At one point last April, he told his friend, top Chinese health official George Gao, that "all is well despite some crazy people in the world" after Gao expressed concern that Fauci was "being attacked." The Post also notes that the "emails do not show him directly criticizing Trump," despite their (to put it mildly) conflicting opinions on how to approach the COVID-19 pandemic. At times, it seems, Fauci was actually more uncomfortable with the public adoration he was receiving.
In one email exchange from March 2020, when Fauci was first emerging as a public figure and unwittingly accruing a sizable fan base, a colleague at the National Institutes of Health forwarded Fauci a Post article with the headline "Fauci socks, Fauci doughnuts, Fauci fan art: The coronavirus expert attracts a cult following." In his reply, Fauci called the attention "truly surrealistic." "Hopefully it all stops soon," he wrote, later adding in another note that "it is not at all pleasant, that is for sure." Read more at The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Not there yet: The frustrations of the pocket AIFeature Apple rushes to roll out its ‘Apple Intelligence’ features but fails to deliver on promises
-
George Foreman: The boxing champ who reinvented home grillsFeature He helped define boxing’s golden era
-
WHCA rejects White House press seating grabSpeed Read The White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bid to control where journalists sit during press briefings
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influenceSpeed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreadsSpeed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozensSpeed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study findsSpeed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cowsSpeed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study findsSpeed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addictionSpeed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
