Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation this weekend and discussed the emergence of the omicron variant and the threats it may or may not possess. During the conversation with host Margaret Brennan, the conversation turned to mounting criticism of Fauci in recent months. He claimed that any criticisms of him were, in essence, attacks on science. Fauci repeated that all of his recommendations were based on science.

“So it’s easy to criticize [me], but they’re really criticizing science because I represent science,” Fauci said. “That’s dangerous. To me, that’s more dangerous than the slings and the arrows that get thrown at me. I’m not going to be around here forever, but science is going to be here forever. And if you damage science, you are doing something very detrimental to society long after I leave. And that’s what I worry about.”