'Your World' on Ukraine war, Dr. Anthony Fauci exclusive

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Fauci says he's unconcerned about fame

Dr. Anthony Fauci opens up about his celebrity and controversy on 'Your World.'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," March 25, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right on top of a president in Poland right now getting a firsthand look for himself at Ukrainian refugees and the refugee crisis that has now grown to close to four million Ukrainians seeking shelter at another place, any place but Ukraine, Poland accepting the overwhelming majority of those refugees.

What we have offered Poland to help them out, as well as the latest on what has been a far more violent turn in Russia's military attack on Ukraine, why some call it almost inhuman. We're on top of that latest development.

And we're also on top of how all of this is reverberating worldwide, amidst a commitment on the part of Western nations to once and for all rid themselves or their dependence, not only on Russian oil and energy sources, but maybe any source that owes to an enemy.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is YOUR WORLD.

So much going on. We have got you covered with FOX team coverage. We have got Jeff Paul in Lviv. We have also got Peter Doocy traveling with the president in Warsaw.

We begin with Jeff.

Jeff, how are things looking there?

JEFF PAUL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Neil, Russian forces might be essentially stalled right now, but they are still shelling and bombarding several key Ukrainian cities.

And because of this near-nonstop assault, many Ukrainians who vowed to never leave their country are now being forced out. And you look at cities like the coastal town of Mariupol, and it really comes down to survival for people right now. They're essentially being cut off from the rest of the world. They have no food. They have no water. Other resources are very scarce, and they're really not being allowed to leave in any sort of safe manner.

We're also getting some new information surrounding a theater that was bombed last week. Officials in Mariupol believe an estimated 300 people were killed as they were trying to shelter themselves from Russian attacks.

This was the theater that had an enormous inscription of the word "Children" written in Russian on the outside, in the hopes of preventing it from being targeted. Ukrainians we have spoken with don't understand why Putin continues to target innocent people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATARINA, 80-YEAR-OLD GRANDMOTHER WHO FLED UKRAINE rMD-IN_(through translator): If he will find militaries, that's one thing. But what about people? Why is he torturing the people?

If I had the ability, I would cut him piece by piece and look into his eyes. He's a beast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We're also getting some dramatic new video from just outside of Kyiv. It reportedly shows the aftermath of a Ukrainian fuel base used for Ukrainian defense.

Russian forces claimed to have destroyed it using cruise missiles. But, as it stands, we're learning from different Defense Departments in the West, that many Russian forces are now being pushed out of key locations throughout Kyiv. They're taking a defensive position and Ukrainian forces are now on the offense as they push those enemy soldiers out -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Jeff Paul, thank you very much, my friend. Be safe.

Now to Peter Doocy traveling with the president, who had a chance to meet with soldiers, also some refugees, as he addresses a crisis that has now, well, let's say, gotten out of control.

What's the latest, Peter?

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, the latest is that a White House official is telling us here in Warsaw that there has been no change to the president's strategy.

He is not going to send U.S. troops into Ukraine, which is why it was curious when he was talking to U.S. troops today about what they're going to see when they go to Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone. They have a lot of guts. And I'm sure you're observing it. And I don't mean just their military, which is -- we've been training since back when they -- Russia moved into the -- in the southeast -- southeast Ukraine.

But also the average citizen, look at how they're stepping up. Look at how they're stepping up. And you're going to see when you're there. And you -- some of you have been there. You're going to see. You're going to see women, young people standing -- standing the middle of -- in front of a damn tank, just saying: "I'm not leaving. I'm holding my ground."

They're incredible. But they take a lot of inspiration from us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: President Biden is also talking today about increasing liquid natural gas imports from the U.S. to Europe, so they can stop buying so much Russian oil.

But there is a problem with that. It would take between two and five years to build terminals on both sides of the Atlantic to transport that kind of liquid natural gas. That is according to a report in The New York Times.

There was another problem today, and it appeared to me with the president's lunch. While he was dining with members of the 82nd Airborne, he took a big bite of pizza with jalapenos, and it made his eyes water and he appeared to be bothered by it for hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Excuse me.

When I was visiting our troops, and they had pizza pie with hot peppers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: The president ping-ponged around Poland. He is on the ground here in Warsaw. Now he is done for the night. We expect him to meet with some refugees who have fled next door in Ukraine to here at some point tomorrow -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Peter Doocy, thank you very, very much.

All right, to Lieutenant General Richard Newton, a U.S. Air Force former assistant vice chief of staff for the Air Force.

General, great to have you back with us. We're learning almost by the hour, especially today, how Russian forces are responding to these what they call speed bumps along the way.

But, obviously, Ukrainians have touched a nerve here. And their response to these Russian forces might bring out the sadistic nature or more of it in their attacks. Does that concern you?

LT. GEN. RICHARD NEWTON (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, good afternoon, Neil.

It's -- you use the term touch a nerve. I think, frankly, the Ukrainian forces have really shifted the movement momentum, certainly around Kyiv and Kherson and so forth. Mariupol is still under significant siege. But it certainly has touched a nerve of Putin and his military generals, because, astonishingly, they have done remarkable work on the battlefield in Ukraine, obviously.

Now, what that will do is, that will -- again, Putin will escalate. And, unfortunately, the results of that escalation will be against more, again, harsh tactics against the Ukrainian civilian populace. And so that's what we can expect in the coming days, if not weeks.

CAVUTO: So, General, when we look at where this battle is going, I mean, everyone always rightly focuses on Kyiv, the capital.

But the fact of the matter is that those Russian soldiers have had a devil of a time getting much closer than some neighborhoods in the outskirts of Kyiv. But it's increasingly getting to be the concentration for Vladimir Putin right now. But his strategy is now more than a month old. This is not where he thought he would be at this point.

But it looks like he could get desperate. And every time he gets desperate, either a hospital is attacked, a theater is bombed, a shopping mall is taken out. In other words, civilian targets then become the priority. Are you worried about that?

NEWTON: Absolutely worried about that.

And, as you mentioned, as he is backed into a corner, the brunt of that fury is against -- against the civilians. And he will, again, raise the terror level against civilian targets because he is bogged down and he is off his timeline. And he's, again, very short on supplies and so forth.

The only thing in his toolkit up to that point is to reach in for more indiscriminate bombing and terror against civilians, especially in the urban areas. Kyiv remains the center of gravity for the conflict moving forward. But he is bogged down. He hasn't really even completely encircled Kyiv at this point.

In fact, with the Russian soldiers now dug in vs. on the move, and Ukraine now is taking advantage of that, but as well as striking back and actually moving forward against some of the Russian forces that had previously been in a better position.

CAVUTO: I'm wondering what you make as well of the NATO response to these tensions growing in Ukraine and fears that this could spill over. They're obviously going to beef up a troop presence, not only in Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, but, in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria.

The U.S. will play a significant part in most of those, if not, in the end, all of those. What do you think of that?

NEWTON: Well, I think the U.S. is obviously going to play -- continue to play a leading role in that.

And, as you noted, along that eastern flank or that north-south corridor, if you will, from the Baltics down to Romania, Bulgaria area, we have really strived to stiffen our positions there from a NATO standpoint. Four more emergency brigades had been put in place in places like Hungary and in Romania and Bulgaria and so forth, I believe in Slovakia as well.

But, again, we cannot flinch at this point. Again, the momentum, I believe, has shifted over to Ukraine. This is where the U.S. and the NATO forces need to show resolve. We need to stiffen our spine. We need to rather than think in terms of a -- perhaps a successful conclusion that would -- perhaps in a chess match, where we really talked about winning, talk about giving Zelenskyy the tools and the capabilities.

And that's one more point, Neil. This is absolutely essential that, as we're starting to see that momentum shift in Ukraine, especially around Kyiv and elsewhere, this is where it's absolutely essential that we provide him all the tools and capabilities, in my view, leading up to, say, MiG- 29s, S-300s, surface-to-air missile capabilities, and continue that resupply, so that he can still find those successes in the battlefield.

CAVUTO: General Newton, thank you very much.

Very good seeing you, General Richard Newton, focusing on a tide that might be turning in Ukraine.

Before we go here, I just want to draw your attention to what was going on in the oil markets today. Out of nowhere, we got news that a Saudi oil facility was bombed and attacked, wave after wave by a Houthi missile. Those Houthi missiles, of course, the Houthis are -- they have been in a longstanding fight with Saudi Arabia, one time coming very close to attacking the royal kingdom itself.

But, bottom line, they were at it again. The guard that took hold of things, calmed things down. The attack, while significant, is not apparently disrupting plans for Saudi Arabia to host a Grand Prix event tomorrow, even though this attack occurred but 10 miles away.

Oil prices lifted up on this news, Saudi Arabia, of course, a huge oil player, but, again, not as high as they had been, still around 113 bucks a barrel, and concerns it could go still higher if there's more volatility in the royal kingdom.

We will stay on that, also stay on Europe's plan right now to get more natural gas, more oil in general, not from the Russians, but increasingly from us, and pave the way for energy independence. Now, where have we heard that before?

After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, Vladimir Putin is already saying a move on the part of the Western nations now to make themselves energy-independent and cut off exposure to Russian gas supplies and even oil supplies risks them being penalized in the interim, that he's going to go after unfriendly nations, which is pretty much the entire world at this point, maybe save China and India, and saying that, if they want to buy natural gas or oil in the meantime, they're going to have to do so in rubles.

Now, there's a lot of devil in the details there in how they go about that.

But let's go right now to Edward Lawrence, following all of this in Brussels.

A lot of this is going to prove easier said than done for these leaders, right?

EDWARD LAWRENCE, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Yes. No, exactly.

And, in fact, on that ruble point, the European Union said, no, it's written in the contract that it has to be either U.S. dollars or euros in order to have that transaction, natural gas and oil.

It's interesting. They formed a task force this morning. President Joe Biden and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that this task force is aimed at getting the European Union off of natural gas from Russia by the end of the decade. They're shooting for the next five years, which is 2027. But they're trying by the end of the decade.

You would think this would be a good idea, good news for the United States, we will produce more here. But in the joint statement, it actually says that the U.S. will keep the current regulatory framework that we have. They will act expeditiously on that framework, but keep the current framework to try and get more natural gas to the European Union.

In fact, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, says they found three ways in the short term to surge that natural gas here. One is to open up more ports in the European Union that can take natural gas from the U.S..

Two is to divert current shipments that are out there going to other countries to the European Union. And the third in this is to get Qatar to come in behind that and give extra natural gas to those countries that we're taking from to give to the European Union.

So nothing in the joint statement, though, about increasing the production, just about transitioning faster off of fossil fuels.

CAVUTO: Yes. Yes, but it takes time, to your point.

Edward, thank you very much.

Edward Lawrence following all those developments.

You have heard a lot this week, in the meantime, about what we do if Russia all of a sudden starts using chemical weapons. A message from a Ukraine Parliament member holed out in the country and ready to fight the good fight: No matter what the threat, we're still here.

He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: You know, there's still a vax mandate in New York City, but not for entertainers and not for some big athletes. A double standard from Mayor Adams?

We will get the read and reaction from Dr. Anthony Fauci next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, as we enter the second month of the war in Ukraine, signs that maybe the Ukrainians are turning the tide, as unlikely as that seemed little more than four weeks ago.

What's going on?

The read from Andrii Osadchuk. He is a Ukrainian Parliament member coming to us from Ukraine.

This seems unthinkable and incredible just on the face of it. But what's going on? Tell us what's happening.

ANDRII OSADCHUK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: It's a full-scale war.

And the most probably special thing for you, that, Ukrainians, they're not afraid. So, we are fighting with Russians. We're (AUDIO GAP). So we burned their tanks. For the moment, they lost almost, I think, 600 tanks already in Ukraine, 1,600 armored vehicles.

So the losses of Russia is huge. But unfortunately, the other side of the success of Ukrainian army is that mad dog Putin is attacking more and more of civilians, of citizen villages. So they're using cruise missiles. They use jet fighters. And it's quite difficult for us to be fully protected from the sky. But, despite that, by the way, we burned -- we shut down more than 100 jet fighters and 100, I think, 30 attacking helicopters.

So, the bottom line, it is a full-scale war, which all of you have seen only in Hollywood movies before. But it is reality of Europe today. Ukrainian people are fully united fighting with the fascist resume of modern Russia.

We are doing extremely well from the military point of view. But, as any big war, we have huge losses on the ground, mostly from civilians. At the moment, we know for sure that Putin killed much more civilians than Ukrainian soldiers. And the only option how it may develop further is to beat Putin on Ukraine, if nobody wants this war to be extended further.

And the only way how to do that is two simple things. Ukraine require more weapons, because each tank which we burn, it's our resources and Western resources. So we need more weapons to be efficient with -- in the fight with Putin on the ground.

And the West shall unite in economical war against Russia. For the last decades, Russian empire was fully integrated to the West. Russia was consuming billions of U.S. dollars from the West. And now it's not a big deal to kill Russian economy.

Sanctions which have been implemented until today is good, but not enough at all. You need to do more. You need to cut all business ties with Russia, because each dollar which is going to Russian economy, it's the fuel for the war. It's the energy to kill our kids, our women and our men.

So, that's why, if you want to change the security system of the world, if we want to change the rules in modern Europe, if you want to stop this evil, everyone shall pay. We pay with the lives of our kids, women and men. The West shall pay just with the dollars which you will not make having business with Russia.

CAVUTO: Got it. Andrii, thank you very, very much. Please be safe.

But it is a remarkable turn of events. We're keeping an eye on it.

And to Andrii's point here and sort of ending all business ties, more and more companies today doing just that.

Another development we're going to explore later on in the show is what's happening with some of the most loyal allies of Vladimir Putin. Six prominent ones have already bolted, not only from him, from the country.

That's coming up, as is the latest COVID variant that has a lot of people concern. What's going on with the spike in cases in China and in Europe and now in the United States?

Is Dr. Anthony Fauci worried? I will ask him. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, just when we're ready to take the mask off, a new variant is taking off.

We don't know how dangerous it is. We do know it's led to a dramatic spike in cases in China, in Europe, particularly Italy, and now here, even in the Big Apple, in New York City. It's called BA.2.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser, here now to explain if this is a big deal and we have to worry.

Doctor, good to see you again.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you, Neil. Good to see. I'm glad to see you back in full action again.

CAVUTO: No, thank you for that.

Let me ask you, Doctor, about this BA.2. Should we worry about it?

FAUCI: Well, we'll look at its characteristics, and we could make that determination.

It's got a transmission advantage over BA.1, which is the classic, original Omicron, not a multifold advantage, but a percentage advantage, which means that, over time, it likely will be the dominant variant.

Worldwide, Neil, it's already about 91 percent of all the recognizable isolates. And in the United States, it's creeping up, 30, 40, in some parts of the country, 50 percent or more. It does not appear to be any more serious when it comes to complications, like the need for hospitalization and advanced disease. And it doesn't appear that it escapes immune protection any more or less than the original Omicron.

So, the only distinguishing feature is that it's more transmissible, which is accounting for the spikes that we're seeing throughout the world, including in the European Union and the U.K.

CAVUTO: So, now we have been in the process of de-masking everywhere. There's a push even on the part of airline executives to ask the government to end this requirement that you have to wear masks on planes or in airports.

What do you think of all that? Are we doing it too soon, about right, no need for panic? How would you describe it?

FAUCI: Well, certainly, I don't think there's a need to panic, Neil.

The idea about too soon or not is really a judgment call. We know that, when you pull back -- the three factors that are causing the spikes that we're seeing in the European Union and worldwide are, as I mentioned a moment ago, the increased transmissibility advantage of this isolate, BA.2, the pulling back on some of the restrictions, particularly masking in indoor settings, and a general waning of immunity from people who've been vaccinated, as well as people who've gotten infected.

You have got to have a balance. We all want to return to a degree of normality. One of the things that's encouraging, certainly in the U.K. -- and if we do get an increase here, it likely will mimic what we see in the U.K. -- is that, although the infections are going up, there doesn't appear, at least in the U.K. data, to be an increase in hospitalizations with severe disease, certainly not an increased requirement or usage of intensive care beds.

And the all-cause mortality has not increased. So, it may be that an expected increase in cases when you pull back on some of the restrictions, particularly masking in an indoor setting. So, that's really not surprising, Neil.

The question is, will it have a major impact on severity of disease, which would be a problem, and then we'd have to reconsider what we want to do in response to that.

CAVUTO: As a New Yorker yourself, Doctor, as you're aware, Mayor Eric Adams in New York City has been getting a collective Bronx cheer for what some people say is a double standard on vaccinations, on lifting them for athletes and some entertainers, but not for everybody else.

How do you feel about that?

FAUCI: Well, Neil, that -- that's obviously a delicate situation in New York. I really don't want to be out there outguessing the mayor, who I'm sure is trying to do what's best for the city.

But he made that decision to pull back on the requirement for vaccination for certain entertainers and sports figures and some of the athletic teams. I mean, as you mentioned, there is a pushback on that, that that might be unfair to others.

But I'm not there on the ground in New York. I don't have a good feel for what the situation is. So, it really is a tough problem. So I'd rather not really comment on it.

CAVUTO: But just why couldn't it be for everybody, Doctor? I guess I'm saying, if you're going to not require vaccinations for athletes and entertainers, do the same for everybody else, or, if you are, include the athletes and the entertainers, be consistent.

FAUCI: Yes.

CAVUTO: What do you think?

FAUCI: Well, again, Neil, I don't want to be taking sides on that.

I think that the mayor had a difficult decision to make. As you mentioned when you introduced the topic, there's been a lot of pushback on that, because some are seeing it as unfair. You can understand that. But you also have to look at the mayor's side.

Again, it's a tough call. It's really a tough call.

CAVUTO: Yes, I guess he wants those for home games to be able to play fair, but, really, if we're doing something that helps the New York Mets, is that really a good idea?

But leaving that aside, Doctor, leaving that aside, when it comes to where we stand in this battle, last time we chatted, you talked about the idea that we might be treating this like we do the flu, a shot every year.

But now you have companies like Moderna and Pfizer talking about up to four shots, if you include a couple of booster shots. I mean, how far does this go? A lot of people are just confused.

FAUCI: Neil, we don't know.

We do know that the protection of a vaccination and a boost does wane. A study from the CDC in their VISION Network cohort showed that, following a third dose, when you look at around four to five months following the third dose, the protection against hospitalization wanes from about 91 percent down to 78 percent. And the data from Israel are even more dramatic than that.

So, the question is a reasonable question. Do you want to give a fourth dose at least to some subset of the population, likely the elderly, who generally don't have as robust an immune response as an otherwise healthy young person? The FDA is looking at those data really in real time right now.

There's also going to be another aspect to it. It's the immediate question of the waning that we're seeing now. Should we or should we not be making recommendations regarding a fourth shot, at least to some subgroup?

But then, probably, the broader question in the long run is, what about when we get to the late summer and early fall, when there will be a considerable duration of time following the third boost in so many people in the population? Will the immunity wane enough that you really would require for full protection to get that fourth boost?

And then the subsequent question is the broader one, is, how often would we have to do this? And, to be quite honest and candid, Neil, we don't know, because this is just new territory for us with this virus. And we don't know, after you get, for example, a fourth shot, will the durability be such that you don't have to get a shot, like we do with the flu, every year, or it might actually be required?

And I think it would really not be prudent for us to guess, because we don't know. We just have to take a look at the data and follow the cohorts and see if you have enough of a diminution in protection that you do get a serious spike in hospitalizations, again, particularly among people who are in the elderly group.

We know for sure that we absolutely need it for the immune-compromised. There's no doubt about that. So that's already settled. But for the rest of the population, it's a bit unclear.

CAVUTO: Yes. You talk about the immune-compromised. I'm in that subset of the population. I deal with it.

But it's funny, Doctor. When I returned after being out -- I was in the ICU dealing with a pretty serious bacterial infection and something that I certainly didn't expect, after being fully vaccinated, to get COVID twice, and the last time, again, quite severe.

Now, I'm not saying that to talk about me, but to talk about others who then questioned, well, if you have been vaccinated, Cavuto, and this happened to you, who's to say that it wasn't the vaccine that did it?

Now, of course, and I have talked to a lot of doctors. I get to talk to smart people like you who say that, because of that, it could have been a lot worse for me.

FAUCI: Yes.

CAVUTO: But, again, there is a sort of a dark side coming out, where a lot of people are saying the vaccine wasn't and isn't worth it, it's no good, it almost kills people.

And I'm just curious to get your response to that.

FAUCI: Yes.

Well, I think you know what my response is going to be, Neil. And I think you yourself know, you're sophisticated enough, that, if you had not been vaccinated, Neil, you and I may not be having this conversation right now, sadly.

CAVUTO: You're right about that.

FAUCI: I'm so glad that you are here and we're having this conversation.

But if you look at the data, the data really are crystal clear and speak for themselves. If you look at the general population, and look at hospitalizations and deaths, and compare the vaccinated with the unvaccinated, or, even more importantly, the vaccinated, plus boosted, with the unvaccinated, overwhelmingly, the hospitalization and deaths are among the unvaccinated.

You and several others in the population are in a different category, Neil, because, when you are immune-compromised, you really don't have the kind of natural response to a vaccine or even to a prior infection. And that's the reason why you're seeing us strongly recommend the boosters for people who are immune-compromised.

But the idea that the vaccine is causing harm here, the data overwhelmingly argue against that.

CAVUTO: Yes, I mean, it's indisputable, but I can bang my head against a brick wall here. There's no politics here in this for me. I just want people to be safe. But I will leave that aside.

You recently had said, I believe in an interview on ABC with George Stephanopoulos about -- the issue of retirement came up. You're 81 years young. You weren't looking for that.

But I then started thinking about what could happen in the next few months, or if Republicans take control of Congress or the House and/or Senate. You would most likely be a target of hearings and them going after you.

Are you ready for that? Do you fear that? And do you think that you could handle that? Where are you on this?

FAUCI: Well, first of all, I have absolutely nothing to hide or nothing to be concerned about of anything that I have done.

So, I never have been, am not now, and will never be afraid of hearings done in good faith in oversight. I mean, obviously, if you looked at some of the hearings, they started off out of nowhere to be ad hominem attacks, without even asking a reasonable question.

And you have known that, and you have seen that, the clips of that, Neil. That's not in good faith, trying...

CAVUTO: Are you referring more to Rand Paul, your -- Senator Rand Paul, who has just said that you were deemed the dictator in chief on these matters?

FAUCI: Yes, or starting off the conversation by saying, are you -- how do you feel about being responsible for the death of five million people, which is absolutely preposterous and slanderous.

So -- but, anyway, your question is, my decision about career and what I'm doing about what my role would be is not at all influenced by any concern about hearings or attacks.

I get attacked now, and I continue to do my job. I have nothing to hide and certainly nothing to fear.

CAVUTO: So, if they were to subpoena you, Doctor, if they had control of the Senate and wanted these hearings, I mean, would you go?

FAUCI: Well, I always abide by the natural, lawful things. I mean, if one gets subpoenaed, one goes in front of the Congress.

CAVUTO: But you wouldn't avoid it, in other words, if it came to that?

FAUCI: Well, I'm not sure what you're asking.

I mean, I have never avoided anything that had to do with congressional oversight, and I have no intention of avoiding it.

CAVUTO: OK. So, if they were doing...

FAUCI: But that's not going to influence whether I...

CAVUTO: I'm belaboring a point. And I don't -- I don't mean to belabor this, but I just want to clear that, if they were to look into the origins of the virus, hold special hearings on that, and say, Dr. Fauci, we want you down here to talk about this, you would say?

FAUCI: I would do it.

But, Neil, I'm doing that already.

(LAUGHTER)

FAUCI: So, it isn't, what would I be doing? I'm doing that already. I have testified before multiple hearings. And I will continue to do that. So, this isn't anything new.

And, again, that has nothing to do with how long I stay in the government or not. It's completely unrelated.

CAVUTO: This whole shift -- when you first started, you were an international rock star. You had a -- you were featured in entertainment magazines. You crossed lines far from just a top doctor to a cult following.

And then the pendulum shifted, along with the increase in cases and the second doubts and questions about you.

Did you look at that and experience that and say, this has not been worth it?

FAUCI: No, Neil, I think you need to get a perspective from how I look at it.

I'm a physician. I'm a scientist. I direct a very important institute, one that has been responsible, for the most part, for the development of the vaccines that have saved millions of lives already.

I don't think about it in terms of being a cult person and everybody idolizing me, and being a controversial, polarizing figure, where other people do the kinds of things that we have been talking about, about attacking me.

Either end of that spectrum, to me, is irrelevant, Neil. My job is what's important. And that is -- which I have done for now almost 40 years as director of the institute, making my goal the preservation and the protecting of the health of the American people and, indirectly, the health of the rest of the world, because the United States plays such an important role.

So, the idea, when you're idolized or you're demonized, I mean, that's just a reflection of what's going on in society, and really has very little to do with what I am and who I am and what I do.

So, you may not believe it or appreciate it, but all of that other stuff is irrelevant. It's my job and what I do that's important.

CAVUTO: Dr. Anthony Fauci, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it.

FAUCI: Thank you, Neil. Thank you for having me.

CAVUTO: All right, keeping a close eye on the virus and the number of increasing cases, Shanghai Disney is going to remain close -- they don't know for how long -- in light of the spike there.

But they hope it will be very brief. We shall see.

More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, it's one thing for the price of food to go sky high, but what happens if there's no food at all, sky high or not? It's a legitimate issue that the White House has been raising lately, particularly the president

Hillary Vaughn on Capitol Hill on that.

Hey, Hillary.

HILLARY VAUGHN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil, well, farms in Ukraine are being turned into battle fields, as Putin's war on Ukraine is tearing apart what's considered to be the breadbasket of the world.

Farmers cannot harvest the crops that they have or plant new ones. And that's a problem because Ukraine is a big supplier of the world's grain. That means wheat, corn, barley, even sunflower oil. And now President Biden is warning that food shortages are coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: With regard to food shortage, yes, we did talk about food shortages.

And it's going to be real. Both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHN: But that's a 180 from what the White House said on Monday, when they told FOX there's no need to worry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, we're not expecting a food shortage here at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHN: But Americans are already fed up with high prices for groceries.

A new FOX News poll out yesterday showed that 66 percent of registered voters disapprove with how Biden is handling inflation hitting store shelves. Some Republicans are pointing out that shoppers have been hit with sticker shock at the grocery store for months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): The president will try and point to the war in Ukraine as the...

QUESTION: The reason.

ERNST: ... the reason for inflation, for fuel prices, for food costs.

QUESTION: They're going to blame everything on Putin.

ERNST: Everything on Putin. But those costs have been going up for quite a while now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHN: And, Neil, if you thought a trip to the grocery store was expensive now, the U.N. Food Agency is warning that prices could rise significantly throughout the year, as much as 20 percent above these high prices that we're already seeing today -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Hillary Vaughn, thank you very much for that -- I think, Hillary.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: It is really disturbing news.

In the meantime here, have you heard about the prominent Russians, powerful Russians who are bolting from Vladimir Putin? Quite a few.

You will -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: I don't know if any of you know the Russian Central Bank chief.

Her name is Elvira Nabiullina. And if you see her in public venues, she's always wearing black. And a lot of people have been curious as to why. Well, she's protesting the war in Ukraine. And she's the Central Bank chief. She wanted to quit, but Vladimir Putin wouldn't let her quit. She's too valuable. She had a key role at trying to stabilize the Russian markets this week.

But he is tolerating her protest. A number of other prominent at least insiders in Russia have been following her, and she them, as more and more begin to bolt, not only from Vladimir Putin, but from Russia period.

Jackie DeAngelis has been following all this.

It's pretty fascinating, because, Jackie, it's a list that's growing, isn't it?

JACKIE DEANGELIS, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Neil. And it's good to see you.

Look, the stories are all different, but there's a central theme here. And it's that Vladimir Putin is losing friends. I want to start with the first one, Arkady Dvorkovich. He has stepped down from a Russian-backed foundation. He once was Russia's deputy prime minister. And he is currently the chairman of the International Chess Federation, yes, as in chess the game.

Now, after a Russian player was banned from international chess matches because of the war and a string of anti-war comments that he made, he came under scrutiny. He decided on his own he wanted to disassociate from Putin.

Then there's Anatoly Chubais. He resigned too. He was Putin's envoy to international organizations on sustainable development. He was also a leader of Boris Yeltsin's privatization campaign. He even recommended that Yeltsin hire Vladimir Putin. Now, he hasn't publicly commented on his resignation, but reports say that it is because of the war.

Next one, Liliya Gildeyeva. She was an anchor at Russia's state TV. She left because she started feeling this inner conflict over being a mouthpiece, if you will, for Russian propaganda.

Zhanna -- Zhanna Agalakova -- excuse me with some of these pronunciations - - was another state TV journalist. She left her position three weeks after the invasion as well. She said she just couldn't be a mouthpiece either for Russia any longer.

And then, of course, there was the Central Bank governor that you mentioned. She wanted to resign after the Ukraine invasion, but, so far, she hasn't really pulled the trigger. Reportedly, it was Putin himself who put tremendous pressure on her to stay, so that he could save face. We will see where this all ends up.

But you know the Russian oligarchs have been sanctioned by the United States. One hasn't, though, Roman Abramovich. Reports suggest that it was Zelenskyy who told the U.S., hold off on that one, because Abramovich might actually be a key go-between in peace negotiations.

So, a lot to unravel here, Neil.

CAVUTO: Yes, his bacon was saved just on that alone.

Jackie, that's fascinating, Jackie DeAngelis.

We're going to be exploring this a lot more on my Saturday show, "Cavuto Live," about the number of prominent Russians who have parted company with Vladimir Putin and why that, if you're Ukrainian and concerned about the war that won't end, that that's the kind of stuff that could end it.

We will see you tomorrow.

"THE FIVE" is now.

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