Dr Anthony Fauci is charging sky-high fees for speaking engagements as the controversial figure reaps the rewards of his pandemic-era fame.
The former White House Covid doctor commands between $50,000 and $100,000 for up to an hour's work, according to a listing on the website for the agency Leading Motivational Speakers that has since been scrubbed.
Despite his huge fee, Fauci is scheduled to give the commencement address to the Yale School of Medicine on May 22 - though it is unclear how much the college is paying him.
The 81-year-old recently retired from his post as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he had been receiving the highest salary of all government employees at more than $480,000 annually, more than what the President makes.
Dr Fauci - whose net worth is estimated at more than $12 million - became a highly divisive figure during his pandemic response. Critics slammed him for exaggerating the effectiveness of vaccines to boost uptake, flip-flopping on face masks and pushing for lockdowns.
Pictured above is Dr Anthony Fauci delivering the Class Day Remarks as part of Princeton University's commencement events. It is unclear how much he was paid for the address
Dr Fauci's speaking fees were available on Leading Motivational Speakers as recently as Monday
Dr Fauci's speaking fees were available on Leading Motivational Speakers as recently as Monday.
But there was outrage on social media when a staffer for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted a screenshot of the listing with the caption: 'SERIOUSLY???'
His information appears to have been removed, with a search for his name on the site now yielding no results
Substack journalist Jordan Schachtel criticized the listing on Twitter, writing: ‘Follow The Science… Starting at 50k an hour.’
Meanwhile, former Trump campaign staffer Kingsley Cortes wrote: ‘The gift that keeps on grifting.’
Fauci FINALLY admits he got key Covid guidance wrong
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Dr Fauci was initially a revered figure and widely cited infectious disease expert — seen as a safe pair of hands in the face of a new, unknown pathogen and dubbed 'America's doctor'.
But his credibility has taken a hit since the height of the pandemic.
Among his most notable mistakes during the pandemic was an early recommendation to the public against wearing masks in public places, saying they had little benefit.
He later admitted downplaying masks so that Americans did not rush to buy them and risk a shortage for healthcare workers.
Dr Fauci was also a key orchestrator of widespread lockdowns throughout the pandemic. Countless businesses followed his guidance and were forced to shut their doors in the spring of 2020.
When Omicron subvariant began to hit in November last year, Dr Fauci did not immediately rule out another lockdown, saying at the time that Americans had to be willing to do 'anything and everything' to fight it.
And millions of Americans were turned off by his perceived arrogance when he made statements like, ‘Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science.'
He made a full-throated rebuke in 2020 of theories that Covid-19 had escaped or been purposely released from a lab in Wuhan, China where scientists had been tinkering with highly dangerous pathogens such as coronaviruses in a type of research called ‘gain of function.’
In April 2020 he dismissed the theory as a 'shiny object that will go away', and later brushed aside claims from other top experts as an 'opinion'.
But he has since backtracked in the face of public scrutiny for not including perspectives outside of mainstream science. He said in July last year that he and fellow virologists ‘have an open mind’ to the lab leak theory, though ‘it looks very much like this was a natural occurrence.’
Dr Fauci’s net worth is estimated to have grown $5 million from 2019 through 2021, during the pandemic, according to a government watchdog group.
What did Fauci get wrong? From telling people not to wear masks to claiming vaccines stopped infections
Dr Anthony Fauci is due to step down from his position as one of America's top infectious disease advisors at the end of this year.
Below are listed some of his key blunders when the virus struck
Don't wear masks, do wear masks
As global concern for Covid was surfacing in March 2020, Fauci told Americans that there was 'no need' to wear a face mask.
He said they may only help people 'feel a little better', and 'might even block a droplet' — but would not provide good protection.
Less than a month later, he was forced into an embarrassing climbdown after it emerged the virus spread via droplets in the air.
Dr Fauci later insisted he advised people not to wear masks to ensure there were enough available for hospitals and healthcare centers.
Covid did not come from a lab
Dr Fauci has also repeatedly insisted that Covid did not leak from a lab in China.
He called the theory a 'shiny object that will go away', and brushed aside claims from other top experts as an 'opinion'.
Dr Fauci has now backpedalled, saying instead that he keeps an 'open mind' although insisting that it remains 'most likely' that the virus spilled over from animals to humans.
Two jabs will stop you catching Covid
When the Covid vaccine roll-out was in full swing, Dr Fauci said the immunity from shots made doubly-vaccinated people a 'dead end' for the virus, and even suggested they may no longer need to wear masks.
Schools shutdown
Schools were closed from March through to August 2020, something Dr Fauci later expressed regret about.
But he said last month that he 'should have realized' there would be 'deleterious collateral consequences'.
Children are now bearing the brunt of the US's tripledemic, after lockdowns left them without proper immune defense.
Funding Wuhan lab
In 2014, Dr Facui's agency issued a $3.7million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, which some allege was used to support gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
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