Emerging in a video while in isolation, the federal government's top infectious disease expert answered questions made by the Kentucky Republican about transparency in the National Institutes of Health in an exchange Thursday that quickly grew heated.
“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?"
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"I don't know as a fact, but I doubt it,” Fauci shot back. Paul continued to urge him.
"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?"
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Fauci explained that federal regulations do not demand people to reveal royalties for their financial statements under the Bayh-Dole Act but did point out some of the royalties he obtained from 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.
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The doctor at one point joked, "Soundbite number one," during a barrage of questions from Paul, in which the doctor struggled to get a word in.
Paul continued to shoot the doctor with questions about royalties, pressing "it's all redacted," but was eventually cut off by Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) because he went over his assigned time.
Earlier in the exchange, Paul requested 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.
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“I think that is somewhat of an absurd exaggeration,” Fauci shot back before citing statistics about deaths and results in Israel.
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.
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