There’s a moment in the new PBS documentary about Dr. Anthony Fauci when someone holds up a handmade sign at a protest reading, “Dr. Fauci, You Are Killing Us.” It says something about Fauci that it’s not initially clear when that sign was waved in anger — in the 1980s as AIDS made its deadly rise or in the 2020s with COVID-19 vaccine opponents.

“American Masters: Dr. Tony Fauci” offers a portrait of an infectious disease scientist who often became a lightning rod as an adviser to seven presidents. Fauci hopes it can inspire more public servants like him.