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SENATOR Rand Paul (R-KY), warned Dr. Anthony Fauci and all federal government health officials that, should Republicans win the Senate, they will be held accountable for the royalties they received from Big Pharma during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul, who worked as an ophthalmologist for two decades, believes that Biden administration health officials approached the COVID-19 vaccination emergencies in the wrong way, since they did not take into account whether people had been previously infected and thus developed natural immunity.
The Republican senator implied that this could pose a conflict of interest.
During a new public hearing before the Senate last Wednesday, September 14, Paul confronted Anthony Fauci about changes in his views on the urgency of vaccination. The congressman showed a 2004 interview in which Fauci stated that the best vaccination is infection in the case of influenza.
In today's hearing, I showed a video of Dr. Fauci claiming natural immunity is "The most potent vaccination."
Fauci tried to use the corporate media to defend himself, but words don't lie. pic.twitter.com/8iP4wShqnJ
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) September 14, 2022
The Republican asked Fauci why he did not apply the same logic when evaluating COVID-19 vaccination criteria.
“Currently, antibody surveys show that 80 percent of children, approximately 80 percent of children, have had COVID, and yet there are no guidelines coming from you or anybody in the government to take into account their naturally acquired immunity,” the senator said, clarifying that COVID-19 mortality rates are similar to influenza.
When the senator asked Fauci why in 2004 he embraced and professed “basic immunology” with respect to the flu vaccine and did not do so now in relation to COVID-19, the official said he had “never denied that there is the importance” of prior infection, but that vaccination provides “extra” safety.
Fauci dodges responsibility
Following Fauci’s vague answers, the senator, who has been relentless against Fauci in the past, insisted that members of the government’s vaccine committee have not disclosed whether they made a profit from the companies that developed the COVID-19 vaccines. So, he warned that could change after the November midterms.
“We’ve been asking you and you refused to answer whether anybody on the vaccine committees gets royalties from the pharmaceutical companies,” Paul told Dr. Fauci.
"I tell you this when we get in charge, we're going to change the rules. And you will have to divulge where you get your royalties from, from what companies, and if anybody on the committee has a conflict of interest, we're going to learn about it. I promise you that." pic.twitter.com/k0O6wVmLNt
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) September 14, 2022
“I asked you last time, and what was your response? We don’t have to tell you. We’ve demanded them through the Freedom of Information Act. And what have you said? We’re not going to tell you.'” Paul pressed. “But I tell you this, when we get in charge, we’re going to change the rules and you will have to divulge where you get your royalties from, from what companies, and if anybody in the committee has a conflict of interest, we’re going to learn about it. I promise you that.”
Fauci responded by trying to take the heat off himself. “They are not my committees,” he told Paul, and indicated that the responsibility for the federal government’s health committees was with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Fauci did not respond to Paul’s claims about his transparency or his personal relationship with pharmaceutical companies.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.