Dr. Fauci Isn’t Going Anywhere Until There's a Cure for HIV
This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Dr. Anthony Fauci reassured George and the rest of us that he will stay on his job until the COVID-19 fight is over.When I spoke to him this week, and knowing his love for baseball, I asked Fauci if the Washington Nationals called and offered him the job of general manager, would that prompt him to leave the National Institutes of Health where he’s been for over 40 years?He laughed, and said, “I gotta tell you, in another life, I would definitely want to be more tightly connected to sports, particularly my favorite sport, baseball.
But I’m staying where I am because of the unfinished fight we have with COVID, and also because of the unfinished fight we have with HIV and AIDS.”While there has been so much focus on COVID-19 during the last two years, Dr.
Fauci wanted me to be sure to emphasize, in the strongest terms possible, that he has “not pulled back one bit, and not in the least, on his enthusiasm, passion, and efforts toward HIV/AIDS.”“This is very personal to me,” he explained.Fauci is heartened by the fact that as of today there are better treatments, preventions, and hopes for a vaccine, and for these reasons, he’s not taking his foot off the gas pedal. “Look how far we’ve come, and though we have more work to do, we now have an injection available that some HIV-positive folks can get every seven months that will keep them undetectable, and long-acting PrEP injectable that works better than Truvada.”I asked Fauci if injectables are the future. “Absolutely.
We’ve gone from a cocktail of pills to one or two pills taken twice a day, to one pill a day, and so yes, things are progressing whenever you get injectable.
