DR ANTHONY Fauci appeared to take credit for the development of the Covid vaccine on Sunday – making no mention of Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed.
Fauci told CNN the jab was the “best decision I’ve ever made” – just weeks after Trump claimed the fast coronavirus vaccine production was thanks to him.
As of late March, three companies – Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – have been approved for emergency-use authorization of Covid-19 vaccines.
Speaking with CNN’s correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta in the documentary COVID WAR: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out, Fauci took credit for the vaccine production in the midst of the pandemic.
Gupta asked Fauci if there was a certain point when he realized a vaccine would be key in the fight against the virus.
“When I saw what happened in New York City, almost overrunning of our health care system, it was like, ‘Oh my goodness,'” Fauci said.
New York City was the global epicenter of the pandemic last spring.
“And that’s when it became very clear that the decision we made on January the 10th – to go all out and develop a vaccine – may have been the best decision that I’ve ever made with regard to an intervention as director of the institute,” the infectious disease expert added.
Fauci has been the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
In a statement earlier this month, Trump took credit for the Covid-19 vaccine being fast-tracked.
“I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful “shot” for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all,” he claimed.
Trump’s use of the term “China Virus” to refer to Covid-19 has been slammed as “racist” by critics.
In the CNN interview, Dr Deborah Birx said she had “very uncomfortable, very difficult” call with then-President Trump after publicly warning about the severity of the pandemic.
Birx said the call came after she appeared on CNN in August and warned people about coronavirus spread.
She added that “all the doctors” on the White House coronavirus task force have received death threats.
Birx’s revelations emerged in the documentary COVID WAR: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out, which aired on CNN at 9pm on Sunday.
The doctor told CNN correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta the report got “horrible pushback” and that “everybody in the White House was upset” about the appearance.
Birx said she brought “clarity” to the public about the pandemic.
After her appearance, she said she got a call from then-President Trump himself.
“It was very uncomfortable, very direct and very difficult to hear,” Birx revealed.
Gupta then asked her if she were threatened during her phone conversation.
She responded that the call was “very uncomfortable.”
In her August interview with Dana Bash, Birx warned people that the pandemic was shaping up to be drastically different than the early days in March and April.
“It is extraordinarily widespread,” Birx said of virus spread while on CNN.
“It’s into the rural as equal urban areas. And to everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus.
“And that is why we keep saying, no matter where you live in America, you need to wear a mask and socially distance, do the personal hygiene pieces,” she added.
Trump had received criticism from some experts throughout his presidency for his response to the pandemic, with many alleging he downplayed the severity of the virus and did not take enough action against it.
Birx later revealed how she and the other members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force were sent death threats.
In the early days of the pandemic last year, it emerged that Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had been forced to increase his security due to sinister threats against his life.
Birx continued: “All the doctors received death threats. My daughters got the same rude text messages. I mean, you can’t even imagine what those text messages looked like.
“A lot of sexual references, saying, ‘The country would be better off if you were dead.’ ‘You’re misleading the country.’ ‘Your tongue should be cut out.'”
In another clip from the interview, Birx said that many of the US Covid deaths could have been prevented.
“Of the approximately 100,000 deaths that came from the initial surge of the virus, we have an excuse,” Birx said in the teaser clip.
“All of the rest of them in my mind could have been mitigated or decreased substantially,” she added.
As of Sunday evening, the US has confirmed more than 28.7million cases of coronavirus, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
More than 515,000 Americans have died from the virus.
In a previous interview with CBS’ Face The Nation, Birx claimed someone was making “a parallel set of data and graphics that were shown” to Trump.
Birx revealed in November she would be retiring after she could “be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in.”
