Fauci on the 'very, very upending' experience of the last 2 years: 'It has shaken me a bit'

As the nation rapidly approaches year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci — President Biden's chief medical adviser and leader of the nation's pandemic response — is still wrapping his head about the "surrealistic" experience of the last two, The Washington Post reports.

"I would say I'm in a state of chronic exhaustion," the doctor, who reportedly hasn't had a day off since the beginning of the madness, told the Post. "But it's not exhaustion that's interfering with my function," he added, apparently fearful his words would get twisted by mal-intentioned pundits.

For Fauci, who acted as architect of the AIDS relief program under former President George W. Bush, the politicization of the coronavirus and the attacks against him as a public health official are both novel and confounding, he told the Post.

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"It is very, very upending to live through this," the 81-year-old said. "I'm trying to get the right word for it."

"It has shaken me a bit," he added.

Even his friends and peers have their concerns.

"I do worry about him," said former director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins.

"Being two years into this, and being at the tip of the spear — it takes a certain person to be able to persevere through that," remarked Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "It's almost like asking someone to run a marathon every day of their life."

"He's always had complete bipartisan support, up until COVID," added AIDS activist Peter Staley, "who once picketed NIH and is now a dear friend of Fauci's," the Post writes.

"It's flat-Earth time," Staley said. "Nothing makes sense." Read more at The Washington Post.