Dr Anthony Fauci awarded honorary fellowship by RCPI

Dr Anthony Fauci told the virtual awards ceremony that vaccines bring great hope.

The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) has awarded chief medical adviser to the president of America Dr Anthony Fauci an honorary fellowship in recognition of his "unrelenting commitment to science".

The fellowship, which is the highest award in the college, is reserved for world leaders in medical science and those who have made an exceptional contribution to society.

RCPI president Professor Mary Horgan, a specialist in infectious diseases, said it was a huge privilege to welcome Dr Fauci, who has been a prominent figure in public health for 50 years.

“Dr Fauci has long been a highly inspirational figure for medical professionals and scientists around the world, and for me personally, both during my time in the US, and here in Ireland," Prof Horgan said.

'Outstanding work'

“Having trained and worked in the US as an infectious disease specialist myself from 1990-1997, I witnessed Dr Fauci’s outstanding work in overseeing the development of a research portfolio that transformed another pandemic, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, from an inevitably fatal infection to one where infected individuals can, with appropriate treatment, have a normal life expectancy."

RCPI president Professor Mary Horgan said it was a huge privilege to welcome Dr Fauci, who has been a prominent figure in public health for 50 years. Picture: Hazel Coonagh

Speaking during the virtual awards ceremony about the current Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Fauci said vaccines bring great hope.

“Although we need to continue to be cautious because this virus has surprised us continually with various surges over the last year to fourteen months ... there is light at the end of the tunnel, particularly now that we have vaccines that have been proven to be highly efficacious and safe," he said.

"To me this is going to be, as we call it, a real game-changer in what we've done. We're starting to see in countries that have just even begun to implement the distribution and implementation of vaccine programmes that there is clearly a diminution in hospitalisations and deaths.”

Dr Fauci paid tribute to research scientists and frontline doctors who have worked throughout the pandemic.

The major overwhelming success story in this very tragic and difficult outbreak has been what basic biomedical and clinical research has given us. It has been unprecedented in the history of medicine."

He also highlighted the necessity in communicating the importance of public health restrictions and vaccinations to the community.

'Unfortunate controversy'

"There has been so much unfortunate controversy, and particularly in the United States unfortunately, where a lot of the public health measures have been politicised. Where wearing a mask or not assumes a political connotation or whether or not you congregate indoors at bars and restaurants becomes a political statement," he said.

"We need to reach out to people who have reluctance and hesitancy about getting vaccinated. Vaccination is essential to the control of this outbreak and even today, we still have people in the United States who think that this is a hoax and that it's fake news and it's just people making things up with conspiracy theories."

He added: "So we really do need to reach out as best we can to get people to appreciate the importance of following public health measures, as well as getting vaccinated."