Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, revealed during an interview Wednesday his daughter was “saddened greatly” by the death of her boyfriend’s 32-year-old brother from COVID-19.
During a livestreamed interview hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and moderated by CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, Fauci was asked whether he knew anyone in his personal life impacted by the coronavirus.
“The answer is yes, but one in particular, my youngest daughter’s boyfriend’s brother is a 32-year-old,” Fauci said, adding the brother died despite being young and healthy.
He said the man died due to complications related to cardiomyopathy with an arrhythmia.
Though COVID-19 infections are generally less severe in younger patients, reports over the last year of some outliers prove the virus can be unpredictable and lead to fatal outcomes for individuals who appear youthful and healthy.
“You don’t want to overwhelm the general public, but you want them to at least understand that you’re dealing with real suffering, and real disease, and real loss in the form of death of loved ones … there has to be motivation enough for at least most of the people to adhere to the public health issues and public health recommendations that we make,” Fauci said.
Later during the virtual Q&A forum, actress Octavia Spencer joined the conversation to ask Fauci about trusted information sources regarding the COVID-19 vaccine’s efficacy and safety information.
“How do we amplify the [trusted] voices,” Spencer asked Fauci.
Fauci said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine approvals are conducted independently of the previous stage trials, adding he would take the vaccine if approved by the FDA.
“I think the authority should be the United States Food and Drug Administration,” Fauci said.