After Politico first announced his retirement Monday, Anthony Fauci clarified a day later he does not plan on retiring anytime soon.
Rather than completely retire from working, Fauci said he plans to leave his current position by January 2025.
Fauci currently serves as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In the Politico interview, it was reported he would retire by the end of Biden’s current term.
“I don’t think there is anything else that I, Tony Fauci, can do except leave behind an institution where I have picked the best people in the country, if not the world, who will continue my vision.”
Speaking with The Hill at its Future of Health Care Summit, he said he would step down, not retire.
“I’m not going to retire. No, no, I’m not going to retire. I may step down from my current position at some time,” he said in the video.
Fauci is still considering when he will step down from his current government position before 2025.
Do you think Fauci should retire?
“What happens between now and then I have not decided, but the one thing I do know is that I have other things that I want to do in a professional way that I want to have the capability — while I still have the energy and the passion to do them,” Fauci told The Hill.
The news outlet posted a 10-minute YouTube video of two reporters discussing the news.
Fauci said neither the winner of the 2024 presidential election nor criticism from Republican lawmakers would affect his decision to leave.
“They’re going to try and come after me, anyway. I mean, probably less so if I’m not in the job,” he told Politico.
“I don’t make that a consideration in my career decision.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who has frequently sparred with Fauci in Senate hearings, responded to the doctor’s clarification Tuesday.
Excellent – because I look forward to ascertaining Fauci’s involvement in the cover-up of the lab origins of COVID — Under Oath! https://t.co/LHmpE8QuWs
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 19, 2022
This was not the first time Fauci had discussed leaving his job.
He told ABC’s Brad Mielke in March that retirement or stepping back were potential options for him when asked, the Post Millennial reported.
“I certainly have because I have to do it some time,” Fauci said.
“I can’t stay at this job forever, unless my staff find me slumped over at my desk one day. I’d rather not do that.”
