Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has spent much of the coronavirus pandemic as the country’s pointman in the fight against COVID-19, had surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal cord on Thursday.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN tweeted Thursday morning that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, underwent general anesthesia but is doing OK.
“Doctors have advised him to curtail his talking for a while to allow his vocal cords to recover,” added Gupta of the 79-year-old.
Fauci spoke at a webinar on COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Brooklyn-born Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is one of the leading members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. But he’s been seen less frequently at President Trump’s press conferences on the pandemic after sometimes contradicting the president.
Fauci’s fame led him to throw out the long-delayed first pitch of the Major League Baseball season on July 23 as well as the doctor getting his own bobblehead doll.