(NewsSpace.com) – During the global health crisis, Dr. Anthony Fauci came under some serious scrutiny. Where he was once the go-to, the face of the US government’s response to the pandemic, he quickly became a target as information came to light about gain-of-function research and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID’s) perceived ties to China. Now, a nonprofit newsroom is raising the flag on money the agency received during lockdowns.
OpenTheBooks.com bills itself as “an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism highlighting waste, fraud, corruption, and taxpayer abuse.” It has sued the federal government to gain access to data not publicly available in the vein of transparency. According to Adam Andrzejewski, the organization’s founder, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) received $710 million in 2022 and 2023 combined. The money was paid by healthcare and pharmaceutical companies for third-party royalties.
Andrzejewski says this is the biggest two-year average of payments in the last decade. Previously, it averaged around $5 million, “an increase of more than 175 times.” Of the $710 million paid to NIH, 97% of the funds, or $690 million, went to the NIAID.
Among the highest payers are China National Biotech Group and Changchun BCHT, both Chinese state-owned vaccine developers. According to Andrzejewski, this poses a conflict of interest because, at the time, there was an investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Several governmental agencies have now admitted it likely came from China, despite the Asian country’s denials.
The report by OpenTheBooks.com notes that “vaccine developers are licensing patents from the NIH,” but there’s a lack of transparency as to what the actual patents are. The organization is determined to get to the bottom of the issue to determine whether the payments were just regular licensing fees or if there’s a more sinister connection. Fauci left the NIAID in 2022 after serving across seven presidential administrations spanning four decades.
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