The former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) revealed in an editorial that his 'worst nightmare' came true with Covid and that he fears nothing was learned from a public health perspective during that outbreak to protect us.

Now that America has come out of the Covid crisis, he said his nightmare remains the same - another 'emerging pathogen of pandemic potential.'

The new challenge would be overcoming the lack of 'corporate memory', Fauci said, and not becoming 'complacent' when deaths 'fall to an "acceptable" level.'

He recounted that in his role at the NIAID, he would often be asked what keeps him up at night, or what his worst nightmare was.

He said that before January 2020, this was 'the possibility of the emergence of a brand-new pathogen, almost certainly a virus... capability of causing considerable morbidity and mortality.'

'For the past three years, we have all been living my worst nightmare,' he said.

The comment piece, published in Science Translational Medicine, included his key lessons from Covid that will help against the 'next inevitable pandemic.'

He applauded the 'accomplishment of having a safe and highly effective vaccine going into people's arms—resulting in millions of lives saved' and noted the contributions of Dr Drew Weissman and Dr Katalin Kariko, who laid the foundation of the development of highly effective mRNA vaccines against Covid.