Dr. Anthony Fauci Undergoes Surgery for Vocal Cord Polyp

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is recovering after he recently underwent surgery to remove a polyp from his vocal cord. Fauci underwent the procedure Thursday morning, later confirming to CNN that he was out of surgery. According to CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Fauci had general anesthesia during the procedure and sent him a text message shortly after informing him that he was OK. Fuci has been advised by doctors to limit his speaking as he recovers.

Dr Anthony Fauci had an operation today to remove a polyp on his vocal cord. He had general anesthesia and texted me after to let me know he was doing ok. Doctors have advised him to curtail his talking for a while to allow his vocal cords to recover.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) August 20, 2020

Fauci, 79, revealed in April that he potentially had a polyp when speaking with the Economic Club of Washington, which noted that some people had observed his voice growing "raspy" amid the White House's daily press briefings. The Economic Club of Washington questioned if that raspiness was due to the length with which he was speaking.

"In December, unfortunately for me, I got influenza A, H1N1. I developed a tracheitis that gradually was getting better. And then came coronavirus, which had me briefing, at least in my mind, almost every congressman, every senator, every governor, and doing five, six, seven interviews a day that, when you get your voice damaged a little, your trachea," he said. "I probably have a polyp there – that's the only way you're going to make it get better is to keep your mouth shut."

Fauci became a well-known public figure this year after he was named a member of the White House's Coronanvirus Task Force. That position caused him to oftentimes face opposition from President Donald Trump, something that led to death threats against himself and his family including his children, he recently revealed. This week, Fauci was participating in a series of interviews and online events, speaking as recently as Wednesday, during which he spoke about a potential coronavirus vaccine during a video talk organized by George Washington University. According to Forbes, during the discussion, Fauci claimed that he did not foresee the U.S. mandating COVID-19 vaccines for the general public.