Republican Sen. Rand Paul clashed once again with Dr. Fauci, this time specifically over vaccine approval committees allegedly getting paid royalties. Paul posted a video of the exchange on Twitter and the following text: “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.”
WATCH the video:
CSPAN noted the following in their video description: “Sen. Rand Paul: “If I give you ten, or if I give a patient ten mRNA vaccines, and they make protein each time or them make antibody each time, is that proof that we should give ten boosters?” Dr. Anthony Fauci: “No. I think that is somewhat of an absurd exaggeration.” Later in the exchange, Sen. Rand Paul: “Everybody on the vaccine committee, have any of them ever received money from the people who make vaccines? Can you tell me that?” Dr. Anthony Fauci: “Are you going to let me answer a question? Soundbite number one. Are you going to let me answer a question?”
Rand Paul continued pushing Dr. Fauci for more answers, even though Fauci was sick at the time and still answering via video chat. Rand Paul wanted to know why there seems to be a lack of transparency, in his opinion, about possible royalties linked to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where Fauci worked for so many years.
Paul said to Fauci: “Over the period of time from 2010 to 2016, 27,000, royalty payments were paid to 18,000 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 18,000 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?”
Fauci said: “You know, I don’t know as a fact, but I doubt it.”
Paul further said: “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?”
Fauci responds: “According to the regulations, people who receive royalties are not required to divulge them even on their financial statement, according to the by 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. And the average per year was $191.46.”
Paul tried to get more information, but it’s unclear if there’s much else to tell. Paul said: “It’s all redacted and you can’t get any information on the 18,000 scientists… So we want to know whether or not people got money from the people who made the manufacturing of vaccines.”
Photo: screencap of YouTube video by CSPAN.
