American immunologist Anthony Fauci, adviser to the presidency of the United States on the pandemic, said Thursday that he was relieved not to have to contradict Donald Trump.
The day after Joe Biden's inauguration, the director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases made his return to the White House press room.
Very present in the face of journalists at the start of the pandemic, he had been kept away in recent months by the Republican administration.
“I've always said everything, and it sometimes created problems for me,”
he admitted.
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"Some comments made me uncomfortable because they were not based on science,"
continued the 80-year-old expert, who enjoys great popularity in the country.
He said he was particularly embarrassed by the support given in March by Donald Trump for hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that has proven to be ineffective against the virus.
"I took no pleasure in contradicting the president,"
he assured Thursday.
"And we didn't really feel like we could speak out without facing repercussions."
“The idea of being able to come here, talk about what we know, the evidence, the science, is a liberating feeling”.
