“Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing”, Fauci told CNN. “I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles, are so set against it and don’t like what you and I say, namely in the world of science, that they actually threaten you.”
Fauci spoke during an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta at a forum sponsored by Harvard University.
Fauci speculated that his explanations of coronavirus science and steps needed to control the pandemic likely upset those who are inclined to push back against authority and apply that same skepticism to science.
Meanwhile, the health expert said in an interview with Reuters that the production of coronavirus vaccines will likely reach tens of millions of doses in the early part of 2021 and a billion doses by the end of the year.
He added that he has not been under any pressure from the US government to announce a successful vaccine close to the 2020 presidential election to improve President Donald Trump's re-election chances.
According to the disease expert, health regulators have promised "they are not going to let political considerations interfere" with the approval of a novel coronavirus vaccine and that "safety and efficacy" will be the primary considerations.
"I hope, and feel it's possible, that by the time we get through 2021 and go around for another cycle that we'll have this under control", he stressed.
In July, Fauci said that the coronavirus crisis had the potential of reaching the level of the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed between 50 million and 100 million people, according to various estimates.