Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US and chief medical officer to the president, said that he will retire by the end of President Joe Biden’s term. 

Fauci, who has served the federal government for more than five decades, has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984. Politico reported that the 81-year-old has set a deadline to quit. 

Also read: How the Joe Biden administration plans to fight the Omicron BA.5 subvariant

Anthony Fauci served under seven different presidential administrations. He was the face of United States’ efforts against the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. He was in both former President Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s response teams. 

Recently, when the BA. 5 variant of the coronavirus was discoverd, he addressed the country. Speaking to CNN’s John Berman, Fauci warned all citizens, saying no one is safe. 

The top medical expert said that the BA. 5 variant is of great concern to him and the time requires everyone to wear a mask indoors once again for a number of reasons.

Also read: Omicron BA.5: Are Americans in danger from new subvariant? Fauci explains

“Well it has what we call a transmission advantage over prior variants. You know, we have gone through BA.1, BA.2, different numbers — BA.2.1, now we have BA.5, which  (is) clearly because (of) its ability to evade immune response from the vaccine or from people who have been previously infected,” Dr Fauci said. 

He has been involved in friction with Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether his department within the National Institute of Health funded gain-of-function research.

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In the Bethesda, Maryland campus of the NIH, Fauci admitted that the United States will be living with coronavirus for quite some time.

“We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have COVID anymore,’ then I will be 105. I think we’re going to be living with this,” he said.