Collins told Fox News host Bret Baier Sunday that he was "not going to apologize" for remarks on Friday in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
"I did write that, and I will stand by that," Collins announced. "Basically, these fringe epidemiologists who really did not have the credentials to be making such a grand sweeping statement, were saying just let the virus run through the population and eventually then everybody would have had it and everything will be okay."
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Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died of COVID-19 on his watch. The most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers show more than 800,000 have lost their lives since the start of the pandemic.
Collins called for a "quick and devastating published takedown" of the three specialists pushing for a herd immunity plan, which echoes The Great Barrington Declaration.
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"So I'm sorry I was opposed to that, I still am, and I'm not going to apologize for it," Collins announced.
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Collins, who made the Fox News appearance on his last day on the job as NIH director, pushed back against stories that he was stepping aside because of his agency's alleged involvement in gain-of-function research in China. He argued that the theory COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab was a "huge distraction."
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In October of this year, he said that accusations surrounding the agency's involvement in gain-of-function research and the Wuhan Institute of Virology had "absolutely" nothing to do with his resignation.
"There is no evidence really to say. Most of the scientific community, myself included, think that is a possibility, but far more likely, this was a natural way in which a virus left a bat, maybe traveled through some other species and got to humans," Collins announced.
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Collins, a geneticist, and physician tapped by former President Barack Obama, will step down after more than a decade on the job. He took over the position in 2009.
Baier pointed to recent data out of South Africa that could point to milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizations from Omicron.
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"I am hopeful that that is an indication that while incredibly contagious, this virus may be a bit less likely to make people sick," Collins said, "and obviously that is something we have got to hope for, or our health systems are going to be overwhelmed."
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