Published on 17 Jun 2022 by FACTSWOW Team
As announced by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the Health Resources and Services Administration's National Center for Health Statistics, has tested positive for Coronavirus-19, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden.
According to NIH, Fauci, 81, has received two booster shots and is fully vaccinated. The agency said that President Biden and other top government officials have not recently been in contact with him due to mild symptoms.
In addition, Fauci, who has led the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) since 1984, received a positive result from a rapid antigen test and is expected to return to his job at the NIH once the negative impact comes back, the agency said on Thursday.
From the beginning, Fauci has played a key and often contentious role in coordinating the nation's response to the pandemic, advising President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic more than two years ago, but he never contracted the virus.
As President Biden's COVID-19 Response Team took over the presidency, Fauci's name became more familiar, as he appeared in the early days of the public health emergency alongside Trump at in-person briefings at the White House and in online briefings conducted by his COVID-19 response team.
Fauci often sparred with Republican senators in his appearances on Capitol Hill over mitigation measures, including the requirement for mask wearers and testing. In January, he told a Senate panel that threats and harassment had occurred because of his public profile.
An alleged hit list and weapons found in a car belonged to a California man arrested in Iowa in late 2020. The man, who sent threatening emails to Fauci and former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, also pleaded guilty last month.
The dean of the University of Virginia's School of Medicine joins a long list of government officials who have tested positive for COVID-19 despite vaccinations and boosters, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and various members of Vice President Biden's Cabinet.
