In another boon for SA’s scientific community, Dr Salim Abdool Karim, who leads the government’s group of advisors on Covid-19, has received one of the biggest awards in science: the 2020 John Maddox Prize.
This year it was shared between Dr Karim and the US chief scientist on Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci. Fauci is a highly respected scientist, and came to global prominence when he pushed back against former US President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 denialist policies early in the pandemic. Sharing a prize with Fauci is a pretty big deal, and it’s also kind of sweet as the two are already friends.
The prize is handed out by UK-based NGO Sense about Science, in honour of scientists who “promote sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so”.
Both men have profoundly affected how people on both sides of the Atlantic now understand the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s great to see our very own Dr Karim getting the recognition he deserves.
This brief was originally published in The Wrap here.