Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed Friday that he has agreed to become Joe Biden's chief medical adviser and that he'll continue his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he has held since 1984 and through six presidential administrations.
He also warned on NBC's "Today" that Americans haven't yet seen the post-Thanksgiving peak for coronavirus, and it's likely that there will be even more of a surge as Christmas nears.
"I said yes right on the spot," Fauci told "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie of Biden's offer.
Biden said in an interview with CNN that he'd asked Fauci to remain in the same role he held under several presidents, to be a chief medical adviser for him, and be part of his coronavirus task force team.
Meanwhile, Fauci said he's urging Americans to keep taking precautions against the spread of COVID, even with vaccines around the corner, as the post-Thanksgiving surge is still looming.
"Now is the time to hang in there," Fauci said. "Keep distances to the best possible way you can, avoid crowds and congregate settings, particularly indoors, and if you are indoors in that circumstance, always wear your mask."
"We really have to intensify our public health measures to try and blunt this trajectory, which is really significant," said Fauci. "It's a combination of getting into the winter, people spending more time indoors, a combination of the holiday season, people doing the normal wonderful things of congregating together at meals with friends and family."
Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield this week said there could be 450,000 people dead of COVID by February if nothing changes, but Fauci said there should not be a situation where people consider that inevitable.
"If you do the fundamental things are public health measures, you can blunt it," he said. "As we get into January, February and March, more and more people will be able to get vaccinated. So now is the time to hang in there and not give up."
Meanwhile, Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have said they'll get their vaccines publicly and Fauci said he'd like to see even more famous people lining up for the shots to encourage Americans.
"Having an extraordinarily efficacious vaccine, like we do have, for sure, 94, 95% efficacious, doesn't mean anything if people don't get vaccinated," he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.