Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday that the Trump administration responded to the coronavirus pandemic by hitting the “accelerator in every aspect.”
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) asked Fauci, “Has anybody in this administration ever asked you or any member to take the foot off the gas of trying to find a cure or any type of counter measure?”
“No, Senator, not at all,” Fauci said. “As a matter of fact, we at NIH, as you know, have right from the very beginning put our foot right on that accelerator in every aspect, including the development of vaccines and therapeutics.”
“And as I described my opening statement, we actually started that in January, literally days after the virus was known and its sequence was published,” Fauci continued. “So no, I have never been told by anyone to hold back on the development of any countermeasure or any basic research project that we’ve been involved in.”
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