Rematch: Paul confronts COVID-19-infected Fauci over royalty payments

Appearing via video while in isolation, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert fielded pointed questions from the Kentucky Republican about transparency in the National Institutes of Health in an exchange Thursday that quickly grew heated.

FAUCI TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

“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,” Paul said. “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?”

“I don’t know as a fact, but I doubt it,” Fauci fired back.

Paul continued to press.

“We ask them, the NIH — we asked them whether or not, who got it, and how much. They refused to tell us. They sent it redacted,” Paul said. “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?”

Fauci explained that federal regulations do not require individuals to divulge royalties for their financial statements under the Bayh-Dole Act but did detail some of the royalties he received to the senator.

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“So let me give you some examples. From 2015 to 2020, 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,” Fauci said.

The doctor at one point quipped, “Soundbite number one,” during a flurry of questions from Paul, in which the doctor struggled to get a word in edgewise.

Paul continued to pepper the doctor with questions about royalties, insisting “it’s all redacted,” but was ultimately cut off by Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) because he went over his allotted time.

Earlier in the exchange, Paul demanded evidence from Fauci that COVID-19 booster shots could stave off hospitalizations and death in people over the age of 5.

“If I give you 10 or if I give a patient 10 mRNA vaccines and they make protein each time or they make an amount each time, is that proof that we should give 10 boosters?” Paul asked.

“I think that is somewhat of an absurd exaggeration,” Fauci shot back before citing statistics about deaths and results in Israel.

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Fauci, 81, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden had previously received two booster shots.

Paul and Fauci have a long history of sparring with each other during committee hearings since the onset of the pandemic. Paul has accused Fauci of fearmongering regarding COVID-19, and Fauci has accused the senator of kindling the “crazies.”