"We are making available the upgraded vaccine that is proving to be more effective for the new strains of the virus. It has been available in the United States for a week already, where there has been a 7 percent increase in hospitalizations and a 12 percent increase in deaths. It is important to get this vaccine. The new vaccines are capable of defeating the new forms of COVID-19. The currently available vaccine has a very good chance of defeating the current strain of the virus and its variants: experimental data show that the updated vaccines have good coverage on the new variants". These are the words of Anthony Fauci, among the world's leading experts on infectious diseases and adviser to the last seven presidents of the United States of America, who participated yesterday in the program "In mezz'ora", on Italian TV broadcaster Rai Tre. "There is a general trend toward anti-science and anti-authority. Political polarization prevents people from basing themselves on scientific data," Fauci added, "So people attack scientists. In the United States I have been the target of extremist groups. We live in a phase where falsehoods are being normalized. Over the decades, vaccines have saved hundreds of thousands of lives: it is anti-historical to be against vaccines. I have a motivation behind me that has never left me throughout my career. I have been Director of the Institute for Infectious Diseases for almost 40 years. My mission, my goal is to protect and safeguard through science and public health the health of Americans and indirectly also safeguard the health, welfare and safety of the world by dealing with health internationally". "Even though I was being attacked, I felt that I was preserving my professionalism by fulfilling my duties to the citizens, not to a particular president or political party," he concluded, "I felt it was my duty to disagree with and be attacked by the President of the United States in performing my function. I never thought for a moment about quitting".