Dr. Fauci’s Wife is Not Involved in Vaccine Approvals
The Claim
Dr. Christine Grady, who is married to Dr. Anthony Fauci, authorized emergency approval for the COVID-19 vaccines.
News posted on
Emerging story
This month, a range of social media posts began appearing on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook that claimed that there was a major ethical violation regarding the approval of the coronavirus vaccinations. These claims centered around Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wife, Dr. Christine Grady. They stated that every mainstream news outlet had failed to mention that Dr. Grady is the National Institutes of Health’s chief of bioethics and human subjects research and that she had “rubber-stamped” exceptions to drug and vaccine testing regarding coronavirus.
These claims then gained hundreds of interactions on social media. As of May 25th, social media accounts were still regularly repeating these claims.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation concludes that it is false to state that Dr. Grady, “rubber stamps” or is otherwise involved with approving the coronavirus vaccines.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of vaccine regulation in the U.S. Specifically, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research is the division responsible for vaccine approval, which begins with investigating ingredients in the vaccines and ends with testing their usability. Dr. Grady does not work for the FDA. Instead, she is the National Institutes of Health’s chief of bioethics and the head of its section on human subjects research.
It is also incorrect to state that the mainstream media has failed to report that Dr. Grady and Dr. Fauci are married. For instance, in July, 2020, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Grady conducted a joint interview with CBS Evening News, which appeared in InStyle and was reposted to FOX5 KVVU-TV’s website. In this interview, they discuss their relationship extensively. Their marriage has not been suppressed in the media.
Dr. Grady is involved in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, just not the vaccine approval process. Her responsibilities reflect her role in bioethics. As she told Elle Magazine, her role is focused on resource allocation, the safety of healthcare workers and similar ethical issues as they relate to coronavirus and its vaccines.
Additionally, the National Institutes of Health has responded to the Associated Press regarding Dr. Grady’s role in coronavirus vaccine approval, stating that there was none. Specifically, the organization said that she did not approve any of the vaccine research and had zero input into authorizing the emergency use of the vaccines.
Lastly, some of the sources of misinformation have claimed that Dr. Fauci and Dr. Grady’s marriage has created other ethical issues, such as that Dr. Grady has protected her husband’s position, or that the couple has earned millions of dollars from the development of the vaccines. Our research could find no evidence that either statement was factual.
