Fauci on His Criticism: 'Not Running a Popularity Contest' — 'I'm a Scientist'

During a Friday interview on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed the change of his popularity over the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fauci pushed back against the “noise,” saying he was “not running a popularity contest. The infectious disease doctor pointed out he was a scientist and his focus was public health.

[Relevant portion beginning around the 13:50 mark]

“You know, you talk about people put data out like he’s this now popularity. I’m not running a popularity contest for myself. I’m a physician. I’m a scientist. And I’m a public health person,” Fauci advised. “The only thing I care about, Neil, is helping to preserve and protect the health of the American public, and indirectly in that regard since we’re a leader in the world, protecting the health and the safety of the entire world because that’s what we do. That’s what I’ve done for the 50 years I’ve been a physician and for the almost 40 years that I’ve been the director of the institute. So, whether people on one side or the other like me or don’t like me, that’s not relevant to me.”

He continued, “What I do is … focus on my job, and that is to get us out of this pandemic, which has already killed 780,000 Americans. And I think all that other stuff, Neil, is noise when they say they like him, they don’t like him, some people are in favor of him or not. That is really meaningless stuff. My job is the health of the American public, and that’s the only thing I focus on.”

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