President Trump is now meeting with Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, significantly less than he used to, according to Fauci himself.
Fauci spoke in a new interview with Stat News published on Monday and was asked if Trump speaks with him often about the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. Fauci's response? A flat "no."
He went on to explain that about a month ago, he was meeting with Trump four times a week after meetings of the coronavirus task force. But "the task force meetings have not occurred as often lately," Fauci said, and "certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased."
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Reports emerged last month that the White House was planning to scale back the coronavirus task force, only for Trump to say the task force would actually continue "indefinitely." At the same time, CNN recently reported the task force has "been sharply curtailed," seeing its "formal sessions reduced from three per week at the start of May to one per week now." An administration official told CNN this is because "you don't need a decision every day," adding, "we're monitoring things." The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 recently surpassed 100,000.
Fauci also spoke in the Stat News interview about the potential dangers of rushing to reopen too soon, saying that when he sees images of people who are "very, very close to each other, I do get concerned." And when it comes to the search for a vaccine, he reiterated his belief that having doses ready by the end of the year is "aspirational" but "certainly doable."
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