Conservative organizations are urging senators to oppose the Biden administration’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) nominee, who was endorsed by former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The American Principles Project (APP), a pro-family organization, wrote a letter Tuesday signed by a coalition of conservative groups demanding senators opposed NIH nominee Dr. Monica Bertagnolli ahead of her senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, the Daily Caller has learned. (RELATED: SEN. RAND PAUL: How Dr. Fauci And The Media Covered Up The Truth About COVID’s Origins)
READ THE LETTER:
“We urge all Senators to oppose President Biden’s nomination of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH),” the letter reads. Dr. Fauci advocated for Bertagnolli to run the NIH based on her academic history and leadership style, according to the Washington Post.
“She’s got the kind of personality that I think is important for the director of NIH,” Fauci said, The Washington Post reported. “She’s firm in her principles, but she is a very likable, easy to get along with, people person.”
“It’s not difficult to see some reasons why Fauci rates Dr. Bertagnolli so highly. She signed a letter in May of 2020 urging governments to implement mask mandates ‘in all public places, such as stores, transportation systems, and public buildings as soon as possible.’ If no mask was available, the letter helpfully proposed, people should be required to wear ‘a piece of cloth, a scarf, bandana, t-shirt, or paper towel’ over their mouths instead,” the letter continues.
APP, Independent Women’s Voice, Citizens for Renewing America, Students for Life and Tea Party Patriots are among the conservative organizations that signed the letter.
Bertagnolli was one of over 100 academics who urged masking in all public places during the onset of the Covid pandemic, based on research that had not been peer-reviewed.
Monica Bertagnolli’s (@NCIDirector) @NIH confirmation hearing scheduled.https://t.co/roaHAqoD7o pic.twitter.com/SUcyo0JjY5
— The Cancer Letter (@TheCancerLetter) October 16, 2023
Bertagnolli is the head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a position she started in October 2022, after she was a professor in the surgical oncology field at Harvard Medical School. She previously sat on the board of large prenatal testing company Natera, a firm that has come under scrutiny for incorrect positive test results for rare conditions, according to the New York Times.
An updated Cochrane Review analysis from January 2023 found little evidence masks helped prevent the spread of Covid-19 based on 78 randomized controlled trials (RCT) with more than 600,000 participants. A study taken in Denmark with over 3,000 participants measuring the effectiveness of masks at the beginning of the Covid pandemic was inconclusive.
Bertagnolli also opposed a plan kickstarted by the Trump administration to lower the cost of prescription drugs by capping prices at the levels in similar countries. The Most Favored Nation (MFN) model would have lowered the price of Medicare Part B drugs by adjusting the prices to those in countries part of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of at least 60% of American GDP per capita.
“Big Pharma companies, and Pfizer in particular, are likely thrilled about Dr. Bertagnolli’s nomination. Dr. Bertagnolli’s research has been underwritten almost exclusively by major pharmaceutical companies, including nearly $300 million from Pfizer between 2016 and 2022,” the letter adds.
She is the chair of the NCI equity council and frequently promotes NCI diversity initiatives on social media. The NCI offers numerous diversity training programs including partnerships to advance “equity” in cancer health.
“Simply put, Bertagnolli is a radical with a concerning record who will undoubtedly guide the NIH in a dangerous direction and continue to push an extreme left-wing cultural agenda on our health care system. We urge Senators to aggressively oppose her nomination,” the letter concludes.
Fauci stepped down from the NIAID in December 2022 with an estimated net worth of $9.25 million after more than five decades in government.