Anthony Fauci, the country's top disease expert, appeared to reiterate recent statements that attacks on him are essentially attacks on science.
Axios, citing The New York Times writer Kara Swisher's podcast, "Sway," quoted Fauci defending his record on Covid-19.
"It is essential as a scientist that you evolve your opinion and your recommendations based on the data as it evolves...and that's the reason why I say people who then criticize me about that are actually criticizing science," Fauci said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also said in a recent interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the recent criticism he faced is "attacks on science."
America's top infectious disease specialist has fiercely reacted to mounting right wing criticism and conspiracy theories surrounding the disclosure of thousands of his emails under freedom of information laws.
"'Fauci has blood in his hands' - are you kidding me?" Joe Biden's chief medical adviser asked in an interview with The New York Times on Monday. "Here's a guy whose entire life has been devoted to saving lives, and now you're telling me he's like Hitler? You know, come on, folks. Get real."
Critics have focused on Fauci's suggestion against wearing masks early in the pandemic. Others have focused on a series of partially redacted emails from Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, who contacted Fauci to praise him for his leadership and ask him to join in an online Q&A.
He described the email conversation with Zuckerberg as "about as friendly and innocent of an email as you could possibly imagine," and labeled criticism of the correspondence as "total conspiracy theory and total flight of fantasy."
In May, Biden announced that he had instructed the U.S. intelligence community to conduct a more thorough investigation into the virus's origins, "including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident."
Fauci is still skeptical of reports that Covid-19 was created by a laboratory leak in Wuhan.
