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 honor 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.

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