In an unusually frank statement, the United States’ embattled top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, expressed hopes that the US would resolve its conflicts with the World Health Organization. 

Fauci, an expert on the White House Coronavirus taskforce and director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in an interview with ABC News. The candid interview follows on the heels of a rash of criticism aimed at him by allies of President Donald Trump, as well as indirect jibes by Trump himself, who has not met with Fauci for the past month.

“They are an imperfect organization, they have made mistakes, But i would like to see the mistakes corrected, and for them to be much more in line with the kinds of things we need… So I hope this kind of tension between the US and the WHO, somehow or other, ultimately gets settled in a favorable way. Because the world does need a WHO,”  said Fauci in an interview with ABC News.

Fauci, who has advised six presidents as head of the NIAID, has been weathering increasing attacks from Trump allies, including some calling for his resignation. But the infectious disease veteran told The Atlantic that the “problem [of the pandemic] is too important” to consider resigning.

“I just want to do my job. I’m really good at it. I think I can contribute. And I’m going to keep doing it,”  Fauci told The Atlantic.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Dan Scavino most recently posted a political cartoon deriding Fauci’s comments against in-person school reopenings in the fall, among other issues. The Trump administration has been pushing schools to reopen with in person classes in the fall, and the President has complained that the US Centers for Disease Control recommendations cautioning against full reopenings are too strict. 

While WHO had no comments on Fauci’s comments per say, the agency did speak out about school reopenings. WHO experts on Monday warned against using school reopenings as “political football.”

“ We can’t turn schools into yet another political football in this game. It’s not fair on our children,” WHO Health Emergencies Executive Director Mike Ryan said on Monday. “So we have to look at this carefully, in light of the transmission in any given country or any given setting. And we have to make decisions that are based in the best interest of our children, either their education interest or their health interest.” 

Image Credits: National Institutes of Health, Dan Scavino Jr..