REVEALED: Dr. Fauci told Bill Gates that he was 'enthusiastic' about the federal government teaming up with billionaire's foundation for 'synergistic and collaborative' pandemic response

  • New emails show Fauci and Gates spoke on the phone on April 1, 2020
  • They apparently discussed ways Gates could assist in funding vaccines
  • Gates Foundation and feds later teamed up on 'COVID detection algorithm'
  • Fauci expressed enthusiasm for 'collaborative' and 'synergistic' partnership
  • Emails offer glimpse behind the scenes of public-private partnership 
  • Gates representatives even sat on a key NIH working group on vaccines 

By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

Newly released emails have revealed Dr. Anthony Fauci's enthusiasm for partnering with Bill Gates to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, shedding light on the federal government's close work with the billionaire.

Fauci, the top medical advisor to the White House, referred to a April 1, 2020 phone call with Gates in an email exchange with an executive at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

'As I had mentioned to Bill yesterday evening, I am enthusiastic about moving towards a collaborative and hopefully synergistic approach to COVID-19,' Fauci told Emilio Emini, the director of the Gates Foundation's tuberculosis and HIV program.

The exchange was part of a new tranche of 3,000 emails released on Friday by the anti-vaccination group ICAN, which obtained them through a public records request several days after other Fauci emails were released by media outlets.

Anthony Fauci
Bill Gates

Fauci, the top medical advisor to the White House, referred to the April 1, 2020 phone call with Gates in an email exchange released on Friday

Fauci emailed Emilio Emini, the director of the Gates Foundation's TB and HIV program

Fauci emailed Emilio Emini, the director of the Gates Foundation's TB and HIV program

Both Fauci and Gates have been the target of unfounded, and frequently ludicrous, conspiracy theories, which are not at all evident in the correspondence.

What they do show is Gates' unusual level of access to top government officials, including Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infections Diseases (NIAID).

Through his lavish philanthropic spending, the billionaire Microsoft founder has established himself as a de facto global public health authority, though he is neither a doctor or a scientist.

The Gates Foundation has committed at least $1.75 billion toward the global effort to fight the pandemic -- a sum that opened doors at the highest levels of government. 

Following Fauci's phone call with Gates, the Gates Foundation executive Emini emailed him to follow up and ask 'how we can coordinate and cross inform each other's activities.'

Gates Foundation executive Emilio Emini (above) emailed Fauci to follow up after the call and ask 'how we can coordinate and cross-inform each other's activities'

Gates Foundation executive Emilio Emini (above) emailed Fauci to follow up after the call and ask 'how we can coordinate and cross-inform each other's activities'

'There's an obvious need for coordination among the various primary funders or the focus we need to have given the state of the pandemic will become lost through uncoordinated activities,' wrote Emini.

Emini also expressed personal concern for Fauci, writing: 'I see you on TV almost every day, and although you continue to have considerable energy, I am seriously worried about you. The nation and the world absolutely need your leadership.' 

Fauci responded warmly in an email at nearly 2am, saying, 'I will try to engage as much as I can given my current circumstances.'

Fauci offered to connect Emini with two of his top aides to set up a call with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) which funds advanced research in vaccines and therapeutics.

The Gates Foundation's partnership with BARDA resulted in at least one joint funding project.

In June 2020, Evidation Health announced that BARDA and the Gates Foundation were financing an effort to 'develop an early warning algorithm to detect symptoms of COVID-19.'

It's unclear whether the warning system was ever launched, and Evidation issued no further statements on the project after the initial announcement.

Other emails released on Friday make it clear that the Gates Foundation remained actively involved in the NIH's pandemic response.

NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins (above) wrote that 'we have Gates reps on our ACTIV (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) working groups'

NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins (above) wrote that 'we have Gates reps on our ACTIV (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) working groups'

On April 21, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins wrote that 'we have Gates reps on our ACTIV (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) working groups.'

The ACTIV working group was a public-private partnership to develop a coordinated research strategy for prioritizing and speeding development of the most promising COVID treatments and vaccines.

In addition to government officials from a number of agencies, the working groups included representatives from academia, philanthropic organizations, and numerous biopharmaceutical companies.

The revelation of Fauci's communications with Gates come as the embattled White House advisor faces tough questions about his stance on the origins of the pandemic.

Fauci long insisted that the virus likely passed naturally from an animal to a human, dismissing the possibility of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

But previously released emails show that he was warned early on that a lab leak might be the true origin, and has reversed his stance as evidence accumulated in recent weeks.  

What Dr Fauci said in emails vs. what he said in public

Dr. Anthony Fauci's emails reveal the contrast between his public and private sentiments, showing what the top infectious disease expert said behind the scenes.  

The trove of emails obtained through public records requests and published on Tuesday by Buzzfeed and the Washington Post offers a rare glimpse behind the curtain as Fauci responded to the pandemic last year. 

Origins of COVID-19: Fauci was warned privately of lab leak possibility but dismissed it in public

Fauci's emails do not reveal his personal take on the theory that coronavirus escaped from a lab in China, but show that multiple experts warned him of the possibility. 

He received emails about this issue in January 2020, on February 21, 2020 and April 16, 2020

On April 18, 2020, Fauci received an email from the head of a research group which partners with the Wuhan Institute of Virology thanking him for publicly insisting that the evidence did not point to the lab as the source.

Last month - after mounting evidence supporting the lab leak theory - Fauci hedged, saying the origin is likely a natural occurrence, where it goes from an animal reservoir to a human. 

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Fauci said that he is 'keeping an open mind that it might be a lab leak' but dismissed the idea of bioengineering as 'far out'.

Working with China: Fauci was courteous to Chinese counterparts in private but critical in public

Fauci exchanged several emails in March and April of 2020 with George Gao, the head of the Chinese CDC. 

Fauci did not ask Gao any questions about the origins of the virus. 

In one exchange, Gao apologized for an article quoting him as saying that Fauci's then stance against public mask wearing was a 'big mistake'. 

'I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together,' Fauci replied. 

Less than a week later, Gao emailed Fauci again expressing his support amid the onslaught of attacks, saying 'Hope you are well under such a irrational situation.'

'Thank you for your kind note. All is well despite some crazy people in this world,' Fauci replied three days later. 

In public, Fauci was polite but critical of China for failing to disclose key information early in the pandemic. 

White House censorship: Fauci denied being 'muzzled' and said he always said what he wanted based on scientific evidence 

On March 1, 2020, Fauci responded to an email from a member of the public who expressed concern that he was being 'muzzled' by the Trump administration and offering to make an outcry.

'Please stay silent since I have not been muzzled,' Fauci responded. 'I will be on multiple TV shows tomorrow and was on FOX this AM. No one is censoring me.'

Publicly, Fauci also denied being 'muzzled' early in the pandemic, but once Trump left office suggested that he had been 'blocked' from certain appearances.

On January 23, 2021, just three days into President Joe Biden's term, Fauci appeared on Rachel Madow's MSNBC show, an interview he implied Trump's administration had denied. 

Hydroxychloroquine: Fauci expressed doubts in private and in public

Early on, Fauci expressed doubts about the immunosuppressive drug hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.

A small French study, which was not randomized for proper control, suggested that the cheap drug could help patients with severe COVID, and Donald Trump seized on the possibility to Fauci's dismay.

He said there's no data supporting this claim in emails on February 22, 2020, April 22, 2020 and May 1, 2020.  

In public, Fauci was also dismissive, dismissing the French study at a March 20, 2020 press conference as Trump looked on.

Masks: Fauci flip-flopped in private emails and in public

Fauci's evolving views on masks were just as evident in his private emails as they were in his public statements.

On February 5, 2020, Fauci said masks are 'really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection' 

Two days later, he delivered the same advice on CNN, saying 'A lot of people are wearing masks that don't need them.'

By late March, Fauci was changing his tune in public and private.

'There are some data from NIH that indicate that mere speaking without coughing elicits aerosols that travel a foot or two. If that is the case, then perhaps universal wearing of masks in the most practical way to go,' he wrote in an email on March 31, 2020.

He explained his reasoning in an interview with NBC one day earlier, saying asymptomatic individuals can transit the infection. 
White HouseCovid-19Bill Gates

Most watched News videos