Fauci's track record a 'total failure' as he leaves government role: Dr. Marty Makary
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary on the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' biggest mistakes in COVID response as Dr. Anthony Fauci prepares for retirement.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci prepares to retire from government employment Saturday, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary argued the nation's leading immunologist leaves behind a record of "failure" in Washington following the COVID-19 pandemic.
"His track record on running NIAID, our National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is that of a total failure," Makary said on "Fox & Friends" Friday.
Fauci served as chief medical adviser to President Biden during COVID-19 but has faced scrutiny over his handling of the national response to the virus.
"People forget that he was the head of our National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the report card on that agency is pretty bad after this pandemic. Now, people are angry with Dr. Fauci for his changing recommendations," Makary said.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"Really, it's just a symptom of a much larger and deeper problem. And that is the failure of this agency to do prompt research quickly to answer the big controversies in real-time."
Despite pushback from critics over his wavering guidance on masks, vaccines and the virus itself, Fauci said he has no regrets from his time in government.
"I'm the first to admit I'm far from perfect. But when you say do over, you know, I really can't see something that I would do completely over," Fauci said during an interview with the Washington Post earlier this month.
While Fauci may not admit any regrets, Makary argued decisions such as downplaying the role of natural immunity in battling COVID were "unethical."
"If you look at what they did not study, it is amazing the list of things that they did not study with all of their funding, $6 billion and the vast laboratory facilities and staff that they had at Dr. Fauci's leadership. They did not study masks and boosters in young people and natural immunity and vaccine complications and Paxlovid in vaccinated people. Yet they spent $1.2 billion on long COVID, which has yielded nothing," Makary told host Joey Jones.
In addition, Makary highlighted research in the medical field surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccines which he says Fauci and the NIH dismissed, including research from the Journal of the American Medical Association looking at the mRNA vaccine found in breast milk, myocarditis from the vaccine and natural immunity.
"What does it say that the top three discussed and circulated research studies of the year were studies that Dr. Fauci either downplayed or did not fund in any part of the NIH?" Makary questioned.
House and Senate Republicans including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have vowed to hold investigations into the origins of COVID-19 as well as hold Fauci accountable for the pandemic response.
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Makary credited Fauci for being "helpful" and "well-intended" on warning Americans of the dangers of COVID-19, calling the doctor a "gentleman who loves his country," but said Fauci's leadership at the NIAID was "a failure of science."
"So many times when Dr. Fauci said the science changed, the reality was that it was not done," he said.
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