'Disgusting': White House calls out Elon Musk's criticism of top US health official Fauci

World’s top billionaire Elon Musk over the weekend did not hold back when he launched a series of attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s principal health advisor on Twitter calling for his prosecution. Musk, through memes, suggested that Fauci lied about the origins of coronavirus. White House, in response, said that “these personal attacks that we have been seeing on Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health officials are dangerous”.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said that the administration would continue to call out these “disgusting” remarks that “are divorced from reality”. Fauci has served under seven US Presidents, both Republican and Democrats and has given his entire career to public health service, vouch for the White House. "We should be thankful for his work on infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and Covid that has saved countless lives," added Jean-Pierre. 

Fauci, who said he planned to retire in December as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser and top US infectious disease official, has dealt with thorny questions around health crises from HIV/AIDS to avian flu and Ebola. The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven US presidents beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan and has had over 50 years of public service. Fauci headed the charge against Covid with his blunt assessments from the White House even under former US President Donald Trump. Fauci said he faced death threats and endured criticism from Trump due to his blunt approach. The United States leads the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million.

Musk leading attack of Republicans against Fauci 

As Twitter's owner Elon Musk criticised Anthony Fauci and called for his prosecution, he also mocked people who write their pronouns in their bio. Using his Twitter account with 121 million followers, Musk wrote, "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci". His tweet immediately garnered praise from Republicans.

Senator Rand Paul wrote, "Fauci’s resignation should not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic. He must be required to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the Wuhan lab leak. His policies destroyed lives."

Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut, criticised Elon Musk and said that he was mocking "marginalised" communities and promoting "hate" against them. Kelly also defended Fauci and said that he is a "dedicated public servant" whose only purpose was saving lives.

Musk defended himself by replying he "strongly disagrees". "Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracising those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone. As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo (in my opinion)," wrote Musk.