‘We desperately needed data,’ Fauci said while accepting award from Israeli hospital, lauding Israel’s cooperation with the US during the coronavirus pandemic.
By World Israel News Staff
Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director and U.S. Chief Medical Advisor to the President Anthony Fauci praised Israel’s work with the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, lauding the Jewish state’s cooperation with the U.S. at an award ceremony over the weekend.
On Sunday, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center presented Fauci with the Sheba Champion of Global Health award at an event in Washington D.C.
“I am proud to present Dr. Fauci with this award recognizing his commitment to global health and significant contributions during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, Director General of Sheba Medical Center.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Fauci and his team, through their shared information and research, contributed to saving countless Israeli lives and enabled us to rollout our vaccine program.”
In accepting the award, Fauci highlighted his years of collaboration with Israelis.
“This award is particularly meaningful to me due to the respect I have for Israel and my Israeli colleagues who I have enjoyed successful collaborative work with for many years,” said Fauci.
“Our work with Sheba during the Covid-19 pandemic has been of the most productive interactions between our two nations, thanks to Sheba’s real time data, we were able to make key, informed policy decisions.”
The former NIH official lauded Israel’s cooperation generally with the U.S. during the pandemic, saying that “Israel did as much for the US as the US did for Israel during covid.”
“What we desperately needed was data in real time as to the evolution of the virus, the variants that were there, the impact or not of vaccination including of boosters, the impact of immunity and how long it last.”
“And unfortunately because of the fractured healthcare system that we have in this country, unlike what Sheba has allowed for Israel to have, we did not have that capability, and that was very disturbing,” Fauci said.
“And then a series of almost serendipitous circumstances brought us together in what I have to say was one of the most productive interactions of two nations in the entire covid-19 pandemic.”