First published at 21:55 UTC on December 26th, 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic transformed Anthony Fauci into one of the most famous men in America overnight. The vast majority of Americans had never heard of him before he was suddenly appearing on television every day at coronavirus press briefings.
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The coronavirus pandemic transformed Anthony Fauci into one of the most famous men in America overnight. The vast majority of Americans had never heard of him before he was suddenly appearing on television every day at coronavirus press briefings.
But Fauci has been around a long time. He’s been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He is the single highest-paid employee in the entire federal government, making $417,000 in 2019. That’s more than the president, more than any of our generals, more than the chairman of the federal reserve.
And Fauci wasn’t just sitting around, waiting for this virus to thrust him into the global spotlight. He had a career. As head of NIAID, Fauci controls more than $6 billion in funding for scientific research. That’s enough money that Fauci, for decades, has shaped the very direction of medical research. In a very real way, Fauci decides what research paths are pursued and which are ignored. He decides whether institutions flourish or decline, and whether individual researchers succeed or stagnate. For thirty-five years before coronavirus even happened, he was one of the most powerful doctors in the world. So, how did he use that power?
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