During a Senate health committee hearing Thursday that focused on the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that members of vaccine committees who ultimately decide on whether vaccines should be approved for use “are not required to divulge” whether they receive royalties from the drug companies who manufacture them.
I asked, "Can you tell me if anyone on the vaccine approval committees ever received money from the people who make vaccines?"
Fauci : "People who receive royalties are not required to divulge them." pic.twitter.com/a0YIm2jfvZ
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 16, 2022
Paul stated:
The NIH [National Institutes of Health] continues to refuse to voluntarily divulge the names of scientists who receive royalties and from which companies. Over the period of time from 2010 to 2016, 27,000 royalty payments were paid to 1,800 NIH employees. We know that, not because you told us, but because we forced you to tell us through the Freedom of Information Act. Over $193 million was given to these 1,800 employees. Can you tell me that you have not received a royalty from any entity that you ever oversaw the distribution of money in research grants?
“Um, well, first of all, let’s talk about royalty – “Fauci proceeded to digress from the question.
Paul:
No, that’s the question. Have you ever overseen or received a royalty payment from a company that you later oversaw money going to that company?
Fauci:
You know, I don’t know as a fact, but I doubt it.
Paul:
Here’s the thing is, why don’t you let us know? Why don’t you reveal how much you’ve gotten and from what entities? The NIH refuses. Look, we asked them. We asked them, the NIH, we asked them whether or not, who got it, and how much. They refused to tell us. They sent it redacted. Here’s what I want to know. It’s not just about you, everybody on the vaccine committee. Have any of them ever received money from the people who make vaccines? Can you tell me that? Can you tell me if anybody on the vaccine approval committees ever received any money from – ?
Fauci:
Soundbite number one … are you gonna let me answer a question?
Okay, so let me give you some information. First of all, according to the regulations, people who receive royalties are not required to divulge them, even on their financial statement according to the Bayh-Dole Act. So let me give you some example. From 2015 to 2020, I, the only royalties I have was my lab and I made a monoclonal antibody for use in vitro reagent that had nothing to do with patients. And, during that period of time, my royalties ranged from $21 a year to $7,700 a year and the average per year was $191.46.
“It’s all redacted. It’s all redacted and you can’t get any information – “the senator concluded before his time was called by committee chairman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).
Earlier in June, five Republican senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee demanded answers from the NIH about royalty payments made by third parties to NIH employees, noting in a letter to NIH Director Lawrence Tabak that “the agency has taken no action to disclose such payments to the public at large.”
A Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) revealed that Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, received 23 royalty payments between 2009 and 2014.
According to the same FOIA, Francis Collins, who led NIH from 2009-2021, received 14 royalty payments from 2009 to 2014.
The government recommends a booster for children despite Fauci admittedly not having any evidence to support their decision.
"That's not science. That's conjecture. And we should not be making public policy on it." pic.twitter.com/fbZgBgN85Q
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 16, 2022
Regarding the federal government’s recommendation that anyone over age 5 receive a COVID booster shot, Paul also asked Fauci whether he is aware “of any studies that show a reduction in hospitalization or death for children who take a booster.”
“Right now, there is not enough data that has been accumulated, Sen. Paul, to indicate that that’s the case,” Fauci responded. “I believe the recommendation that was made was based on the assumption that, if you look at the morbidity and mortality of children within each of the age groups – “
“So, there are no studies,” Paul pressed, “and Americans should all know this – there are no studies on children showing a reduction in hospitalization or death with taking a booster,” the senator emphasized.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rand Paul” by CSPAN.
