Health Care — Fauci says he isn’t planning on retiring

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Anthony Fauci has put to rest any speculation that he might be retiring, saying he plans to continue working even after he leaves his government position behind. 

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Fauci: ‘I’m not going to retire’ 

Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, clarified on Tuesday that he does not plan to retire, though he has been considering when he will step down from his current government position. 

After Politico on Monday published an interview with Fauci, 81, in which he said he did not expect to stay on in his current position by the end of Biden’s current term, a frenzy of media speculation arose around the veteran immunologist’s potential retirement. 

Speaking at The Hill’s “Future of Health Care Summit,” Fauci said definitively that he is not retiring. 

For the record: “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,” Fauci told The Hill contributing editor Steve Clemons. 

He said that he had been asked if he would continue working for the federal government if former President Trump won in the 2024 presidential election. Trump is widely expected to announce his intentions for the 2024 election later this year. 

• “I said a very innocent but true thing. I said whether it’s Donald Trump or it’s Joe Biden’s second term, I don’t intend to be in my current position in January of 2025,” Fauci said. 
• Fauci’s future: “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.” 

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CDC panel OKs Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee on Tuesday unanimously voted to recommend the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, giving a green light to a fourth shot to fight the virus.   

Limited impact: The Novavax vaccine is not expected to play a major role in the U.S. vaccination campaign, given that it is intended for the initial doses, not as a booster, and most people have already received their initial vaccinations. 

Will it sway some unvaccinated? Some hope that it could play a role persuading the vaccine-hesitant…