August 6, 2026
AVAC vehemently opposes the decision by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt for his refusal to answer questions during last week’s hearing on the COVID-19 response. Certain members of the committee have made clear their intentions to pin the shortcomings of the U.S. response to COVID-19 on others by blaming and dragging renowned government scientists and public health practitioners such as Dr. Fauci through politicized proceedings without any evidence and using conspiratorial conjecture.
“Dr. Fauci is a public health pioneer, who has saved more lives than anyone sitting in the Senate today. He has dedicated his life to public service. Because of Tony Fauci, science has moved faster, lives have been saved and communities are more engaged in every phase of infectious disease research,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s Executive Director. “He is a leader, partner, ally, advocate, and friend to those who care about advancing science and ending infectious diseases in the US and around the world. The Senate must end this clear waste, fraud, and abuse of government oversight powers and taxpayer money being used to advance baseless conspiracies and politically target career public servants.”
In a letter submitted to the committee in support of Dr. Fauci, AVAC urged the committee to recognize the deep history of partnership that Dr. Fauci has forged with the HIV/AIDS community; one that has resulted in numerous biomedical innovations, domestic and international programs that have ultimately saved millions of lives – guided by the steady hand of Dr. Fauci, through numerous Presidential administrations and Congresses, regardless of political make up.
“Dr. Fauci dedicated his career to investigating and finding solutions to novel viruses and got involved with HIV at a time when AIDS was taking the lives of some of the most vulnerable, marginalized communities across our nation,” added Warren. “Throughout his career, Dr. Fauci has blazed a trail of trust-building and honest dialogue – especially with those who disagree with him.”
The latest attempt by the Senate committee to weaponize governmental oversight powers further obfuscates the shortcomings of the nation’s pandemic preparedness, especially in light of the current administration’s dismantling and defunding of the very public health and research infrastructure Dr. Fauci helped construct in his years of service with bipartisan support. Distrust in public health and issues of vaccine scepticism continue to rise as the government attempts to relitigate Dr. Fauci’s role in the COVID-19 response, instead of tackling urgent needs of healthcare access and global health security. The decision to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt places him in the hands of a Department of Justice that has been charged with pursuing perceived enemies and critics of this administration – threatening public servants like Dr. Fauci further exacerbates the brain drain of apolitical scientific experts choosing to leave or completely forgo public service careers in fear of simply following the evidence, just as Dr. Fauci has in his nearly 40-year career.
AVAC calls on Congress to halt this harassment of Dr. Fauci, whose career, track-record, and devotion to public health research and development has changed the very course of the public health at home and abroad.
“These specious attempts to relitigate Dr. Fauci’s role in the national response to COVID-19 are nothing more than the latest example of waste, fraud, and abuse of power in Washington, which is harming Americans by continuing to obscure flaws and gaps in our country’s medical countermeasure and pandemic response capabilities,” added Warren. “If the Senate cares about making this country safer they will end the targeting of scientists and public servants, reverse the cuts to publicly funded science, stand up against unlawful disruption of long-standing international research partnerships and the wanton destruction of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and erosion of PEPFAR programs. AVAC calls on the Senate to stop the distractions and get back to the work of protecting public health.”