Who Really Should Have Been The Person Of The Year 2020?

 Person of the Year

By Aryan Mukherjee


Millions dead, billions affected. A pandemic that has vitiated the world, a bat that was not to be eaten, a social massacre of racial slurs and despotism, and a political insurrection that has caused the United States of America to literally fall off. These are just some of the elements that have made up what is arguably the worst year in history, and Times Magazine was tasked with deciding on who should be the Person of the Year, a reputable title born from an annual tradition taken up by this magazine, signifying that person’s importance both historically and politically that year. The basis under which Times magazine chooses their Person of the Year is on how much they have affected the news and our daily life that year, as well as how their commitment will make an impact on the years to come. In the year 2020, Times Magazine chose Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be the persons of the year, an erroneous decision no doubt. In fact, the one who should truly be person of the year is Dr. Anthony Fauci, due to his invaluable guidance given through the Covid-19 pandemic, persistence through the barriers and hurdles he faced, and the amount of work he put in to make sure healthcare workers delivered vaccines and proper medical treatment to people.


2020 was a hurdle no doubt, but if it weren’t for Dr. Anthony Fauci, people would be a lot worse off. According to ourpublicservice.org, “Actress Kristen Bell virtually presented the Federal Employee of the Year award to Dr. Fauci, calling him “America’s doctor” who has offered the public “a prescription for calm reassurance and practical information, especially during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.” In addition, according to the NIAID, “He oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.” This not only shows the extensive amount of nourishment he has handed over to the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but also illustrates the amount of backhand experience he has had regarding viruses, which makes him a perfect candidate for Person of the Year, due to his professional input on the biggest newsbuster of the year- Covid-19. Now, how does this help our nation in the years to come? Even though Covid-19 might only seem like a problem for 2020 and partially 2021, the long-lasting effect of it will most likely never die off, and studies show that wearing a mask, social distancing, and every other trauma brought forth for Covid-19 will become the new normal whether we like it or not, so Dr. Fauci will be more of an emblem of hope, a substantial figure in helping our country lessen the burden on all of our shoulders.


Now, being the leading medical officer of the president of the USA himself was not an easy job. There were countless times where the president and his followers attempted to undermine Dr. Fauci, to make it seem like the information he was giving out had errors seeped into it, and most importantly, to make it seem like Dr. Fauci wasn’t a credible source of information. However, did this bring him down? Did this demotivate him and cause him to stoop down? No it did not, because leaders and most people that earn their position in life never give up. According to a NYT article, “Dr. Fauci — who has not had direct contact with the president in more than five weeks even as the number of Americans with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has risen sharply in the Southwest — slipped back into the West Wing to meet with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, while his allies denounced what they called a meanspirited and misguided effort by the White House to smear him.” This shows just how much, despite the aid he has given to the country and the capitol, Mr. Fauci was undermined and tyrannized by the President and his staff. However, despite these forthcomings and harassments, Dr. Fauci realized that “ Over time, he has learned to navigate the collisions between politics and health. That has never been more difficult than in this administration, but Dr. Fauci has recognized that to remain effective, he must navigate Mr. Trump’s mercurial moods and contempt for expertise.” He manages to form a sort of companionship with the president, and back on his feet again, continues with his day to day job, to advise and inform the country with as much credible information as he can, showing that with a bit of determination and adaption,  he was able to overcome an elaborate plot to get him kicked out of his own job for no reason whatsoever, and get back on his feet to continue benefiting the lives of other. Those are the qualities that a Person of the Year must have, and those are the qualities Mr. Fauci portrayed in the year 2020, as well as will portray in all of the years to come.


Finally, Dr. Fauci fits in as the perfect candidate for Person of the Year because of what he did to ensure healthcare workers were getting their jobs done, as well as the labor he put forth to get the vaccine in and out of factories as quickly and efficiently as possible. According to npc.gov, Dr. Fauci has helped over 200,000 healthcare workers sustain their jobs, over 10,000 doses of vaccines delivered, and has been the quintessential factor of why the vaccines are out so early. If we take a look at other viruses, they have a history of taking on long and complicated vaccines, and it is astonishing to believe that one man has diminished the number from 10 years to just 1. It really is spectacular, the rate at which the vaccines are going, and it is almost guaranteed that without him, the process, and primarily the motivation to go forth with the process, will be delayed periodically. And doctors, pediatricians, vaccinationists and more are not people that exist only in 2020, but will be here all the time, and with the subtle nudge by Dr. Fauci in the right direction, those people can continue doing what they do best- all year every year.Thus, due to the enormous benefits and deep aid to each and every healthcare worker there is, as well as his bump in the right direction in coming clean with a vaccine, should have indubiously earned him the title of Person of the Year.


However, it can be argued that the immense civil services Dr. Fauci did for our nation was all a part of his job, a job he was laboriously tasked with. That may indeed be true, but just with frontline healthcare workers, it is Dr. Fauci’s choice whether or not he would take on these tasks, and despite the hurdles, despite the grievances he had to deal with, Dr. Fauci still went back to the grind and worked to do what he felt right for the country. According to Dr. Suzan Welch from the nbc news platform, “Even though it was his job and he was obligated to help us, Dr. Fauci has gone above and beyond his usual standards to ensure that the country stays safe during these treacherous times.” There have been plenty of leaders in the past where when worse comes to worst, the crack under the pressure and end up leaving, and those people have had jobs half as demanding as Dr. Fauci. So even though his obligations to the country back up his motives, it was completely his choice to do what he had to do, and he still did it.


To sum things up, Dr. Fauci has given a profusion of guidance to the country during one of the hardest pandemics to ever brush over it, he has pushed past countless hurdles and never given up, and finally, has pushed healthcare workers over to the finish line, as well as been the pivotal reason a functional vaccine is delivered so soon. With the world in a crisis like never seen before, millions of people’s loved ones lost in a political gamble taken by an incompetent president, and hope disintegrating like the ashes of a burnt down house, a beacon of hope is potent in order to make people’s life meaningful again, and Dr. Fauci is just that beacon of hope people desire oh so much. So despite what others have done, despite the empowerment and aura you feel from other candidates, Dr. Fauci should have been selected for the Person of the Year 2020.

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