Several social media users have claimed that America’s top immunologist and chief medical advisor to the US president, Dr Anthony Fauci, has been fired after the country allegedly admitted that COVID-19 was "man-made". The claim is being shared with a video of a US Congresswoman talking about the "Fire Fauci Act".
However, we found that Dr Fauci is still the chief medical advisor to the president and the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. We also didn't find any news report where the US government has confirmed that coronavirus was man-made. However, it must be noted that an investigation into the origins is underway.
CLAIM
In the video along with the viral post, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about introducing the ‘Fire Fauci Act’ (Bill) in the House of Representatives.
The video was shared with a caption that read, “Dr Fauci sacked. US admits virus is man-made. Dr Fauci becomes the first wicket to fall in USA administration. Though slightly late.”
The post is massively viral on Facebook with the same caption.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Screenshot/Facebook)
WHAT WE FOUND
We looked for news on Dr Fauci being fired but we couldn't find any such report. We were also unable to find a report that said that the US government had admitted that COVID-19 was man-made.
WHAT IS FIRE FAUCI ACT?
We then looked up "Fire Fauci Act" and found that the viral video was a part of Greene's press conference held on 15 June. Greene and some other lawmakers held a press conference to introduce the "Fire Fauci Act" (Bill) that seeks the removal of Dr Fauci as head of the NIAID. The press conference was telecast live on Fox News' Facebook page.
According to the proposed bill, the lawmakers sought to reduce the salary of the NIAID Director to 0 dollars, remove Dr Fauci from the post and appoint a new director who will be confirmed by the Senate. The bill is yet to be passed.
The NIAID website still refers to Dr Fauci as its director. Moreover, during a press briefing held on 4 June in the White House, US President Joe Biden said that he was "very confident" in Dr Fauci when asked if he still believed in the latter.
Dr Fauci, who has served under several US presidents, was also the Chief Medical Advisor to former US President Donald J Trump. Calls for his resignation and subsequent sacking rose soon after his emails were made public. Based on the emails, conspiracy theorists claimed that Dr Fauci knew about the pandemic before everyone else and didn't do anything about it, despite there being no proof to that effect.
HAS US SAID THAT COVID-19 WAS MAN-MADE?
The latest press briefing from President Biden on the origins of COVID-19 was held on 26 May where Biden said that the US had not "reached a definitive conclusion" and informed the media that he has asked the Intelligence Community to investigate the origins of COVID-19 and report back to him in 90 days.
“As of today, the US Intelligence Community has coalesced around two likely scenarios but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question,” he said.
A day later, the the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told Reuters, "The US Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios."
The two scenarios are the virus emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or a a possible laboratory accident.
Evidently, the claims that Dr Fauci was fired and that the US admitted that COVID-19 was man-made are both false.
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