Dr Antony Stephen Fauci, Director to the US National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the current Chief Medical Advisor to
President Joe Biden, has called for continuing cautionary measures against
COVID-19 such as wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing and sanitisation
since the early days of infections in the United States.

While numbers in the country grew meteorically in the
following months of 2020 and situated US to be the most COVID-19 affected
country in the world – with 31.6 million confirmed cases at the time of writing
this report – Fauci’s presence in the country as a voice of caution has been persistent,
and found resonance after January, 2021 in the current US President, Joe Biden.

Also read: COVID-19 is airborne but that does not mean outside air is contaminated: Expert

From mending ties with the World Health Organisation (WHO),
a UN-body regularly ignored and eventually exited by the previous president Donald
Trump, to accelerating the vaccination process and announcements to take calls
such as whether to continue using the debated Johnson & Johnson vaccine,
Fauci’s role in the Biden administration’s coronavirus response has been a key
one.

From being given the role of Chief Medical Advisor to
briefing Biden about relaxing safety guidelines for vaccinated citizens, the
partnership between the current President and his CMA goes back a long time, beginning
in the Barack Obama administration back in 2009, during the harrowing H1N1
swine flu epidemic.

Also read: Anthony Fauci predicts Johnson & Johnson vaccine clean chit

Able to voice his opinion without reluctance, one of Fauci’s
very recent stands has been his clear-cut opposition to delaying the second
dose of vaccination in order to administer the first dose to as many citizens
as possible.

The idea, on the other hand, has found support from lawmakers
and health experts alike, including two of Biden’s former health advisory team
members, Zeke Emmanuel and Michael Osterholm.

Fauci’s opposition has seemingly worked, as it resulted in
the Biden administration rejecting the calls for a delay.

“I don’t know that I agree with every judgment Tony makes,
but if I had to pick a horse who’s had really good judgment and you said,
‘You’ve got to have someone driving this car, who do you want,’ he would be the
person.

Also read: 50% of all US adults administered with at least one dose of COVID vaccine: CDC

“He’s seen HIV, he’s seen Zika, he’s seen Ebola. He’s got
more experience. He’s a person who’s demonstrated he can learn and grow.”,
Emmanuel was quoted by Politico as saying regarding Fauci’s stand against the
delay.

‘PTFOTV’ (Put Tony Fauci on TV) was reportedly a term coined
by members of the Obama administration at the time of the swine flu epidemic to
highlight the importance of putting Fauci in front of the citizens as a
reassuring, trusted face, a move Biden seems to have employed yet again as President.