Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, appeared to claim credit for the decision to quickly develop vaccines against COVID-19 on Sunday - in comments that are sure to anger Donald Trump.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the comment in an interview with CNN for a special, diving into the details of America's pandemic response.
'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.
Fauci's remarks seemed to gloss over the key role played by pharmaceutical companies and Operation Warp Speed - the Trump administration's program to manufacture, test and deliver vaccines to the public in record time.
Trump, who has frequently expressed frustration with Fauci publicly, touts Operation Warp Speed as a key achievement of his presidency, and says he pushed the program forward even when Fauci was dismissive of it.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, has appeared to claim credit for the decision to quickly develop vaccines against COVID-19
Trump, who has frequently expressed frustration with Fauci publicly, touts Operation Warp Speed as a key achievement of his presidency and described Fauci as a naysayer
In a formal statement earlier this month, Trump said: 'I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) 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!' he added.
Indeed, Trump has often accused Fauci of nay-saying, pointing to statements Fauci made early in the pandemic that vaccines typically take years to develop.
Jason Miller, a close advisor to Trump, responded to a DailyMail.com article about Fauci's vaccine remark with scorn, tweeting: 'If it were up to Fauci we still wouldn't have a Covid vaccine.'
Operation Warp Speed was a public-private partnership initiated by the Trump administration to facilitate and accelerate the development of COVID vaccines.
Fauci was one of the lead members of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force, and President Joe Biden subsequently appointed him as chief medical advisor. He had no formal role in Operation Warp Speed.
Fauci has never been publicly named as a key figure in the development of vaccines or in Operation Warp Speed, which operated separately from the Coronavirus Task Force.
Trump has directly claimed credit for vaccines, previously saying: 'I hope everyone remembers... that if I wasn't President, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for 5 years'
Throughout the pandemic, Fauci has been eager to give interviews, seeming to revel in the title 'America's Doctor' that the media bestowed on him.
Like Fauci, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta seemed to overlook the role that Operation Warp Speed and pharmaceutical companies played in the development of the vaccines.
'The life-saving and record-breaking vaccines that Dr. Fauci oversaw were a giant success for 'The Doctors' and for science and for the world,' Gupta said in a voiceover for the special.
The CNN special featured interviews with six medical doctors who played key roles in America's pandemic response, including Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Robert Kadlec, Dr. Robert Redfield, Dr. Stephen Hahn and Dr. Brett Giroir.
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