Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sun editorial:

All those who stand up for science should find Fauci’s award rewarding

Dr. Anthony Fauci

Alex Brandon / AP

In this April 22, 2020, file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the new coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House.

The awarding of the $1 million Dan David Prize to Dr. Anthony Fauci this week was not only a well-deserved honor for Fauci, it was a victory for science and humanity.

The prize, one of three annual awards issued by the Israel-based Dan David Foundation, credited Fauci for “courageously defending science in the face of uniformed opposition during the challenging COVID crisis.” The awards committee further praised Fauci for “speaking truth to power in a highly charged political environment.”

Indeed, he did. In refusing to bow to political intimidation from the White House and the Republican Party’s abhorrent undermining of coronavirus protections, Fauci offered an admirable display of personal integrity and protected untold numbers of Americans from the disease.

Just think how the situation might have unfolded if he had thrown up his hands and walked away. Imagine the GOP gaining unfettered control of the response without Fauci and his team to counter lies and misinformation with scientific fact.

Another Clorox injection, anyone?

Keep in mind, too, that Fauci’s courage went beyond enduring some mean-spirited tweets and calls for his firing. The 80-year-old and his family received direct death threats, and in one instance he received an envelope that emitted a puff of powder when he opened it. That incident prompted a hazmat response to his office.

Further, Fauci was the target of a steady stream of threatening remarks on social media among anti-maskers, opponents of pandemic-related closures, anti-vaccine conspiracists, and so forth. And all the while, right-wing media and politicians never stopped fueling the hatred.

It was obscene, unfair and completely irresponsible from a health standpoint. Fauci came into the last presidential administration having served five previous presidents — three Republicans and two Democrats. There was nothing partisan about him or his message, yet the right turned him into a piñata.

“It was the harassment of my wife, and particularly my children, that upset me more than anything else,” Fauci said during an August 2020 interview with The New York Times. “They knew where my kids work, where they live. The threats would come directly to my children’s phones, directly to my children’s homes.”

In that same interview, Fauci said that although his wife had broached the subject of him leaving his position, he never considered stepping down.

“When people just see you standing up there, they sometimes think you’re being complicit in the distortions emanating from the stage. But I felt that if I stepped down, that would leave a void,” he said. “Someone’s got to not be afraid to speak out the truth.”

So true. Fauci is a role model for public health officials, and for anyone serving in a nonpartisan position of public leadership. In keeping his focus squarely on the people he was responsible for protecting, he’s been a ray of inspiration and strength during the dark days of the pandemic.

Now that he is serving under an administration that embraces science, we’re eager to see how much more quickly the nation can progress in its recovery. President Joe Biden made exactly the right call in asking Fauci to stay on in his position.

Fauci isn’t the only health official who deserves a prize this year, not by a long shot. The millions who emulated him by standing up for the public — the policy influencers, the researchers, the technicians, the front-line personnel who put their health and safety on the line to care for others, and many more — all are to be commended. But it’s uplifting to see Fauci, as a leading representative of that group, being honored with his new award.

The many Americans who followed the guidance of Fauci and his team — who recognized that the sacrifices they asked us to make were the key to protecting each other — can all take a little pride and joy in Fauci’s prize.

Not every story ends with the good guy winning out. This one did.