Did RFK Jr. just expose the massive kickbacks the NIH gets from the Moderna mRNA vaccine?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : RFK Jr. Exposed NIH Kickbacks From Moderna Vaccine!
People are sharing a video clip from a Dr. Phil interview, in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr) claimed or suggested that the NIH is getting kickbacks worth billions of dollars from the Moderna mRNA vaccine!
The Vigilant Fox / Erin Elizabeth / jamiemcintyre :
Dr. Phil Outraged as RFK Jr. Exposes NIH Kickbacks from Moderna Vaccine
Not only does the NIH own half of the Moderna shots, raking in billions of dollars, but 4 to 6 high-level deputies under Fauci pocket a staggering $150,000 a year forever from it.
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Truth : RFK Jr. Did Not Expose NIH Kickbacks From Moderna Vaccine!
This is yet another example of fake news created or promoted by anti-vaccine activists, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : NIH Is Not Getting Kickbacks From Moderna
Let me start by pointing out that the NIH isn’t getting kickbacks from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Unsurprisingly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. never provided any actual evidence to back up his claims.
The truth is – the NIH is merely asserting its intellectual property rights to licence technologies used in the creation of the Moderna mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. This is no different from how commercial companies licence out their technologies for other companies to use in their own products.
As Axios pointed out way back in June 2020, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) often invents basic scientific technologies that it licences out to pharmaceutical companies. As the NIH Director then, Dr. Francis Collins said in May 2020, “We do have some particular stake in the intellectual property” behind the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna ultimately licensed two technologies developed at the NIH for use in its mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. By the end of 2021, seven other pharmaceutical companies (including BioNTech) also paid royalties for using the same techniques in their COVID-19 vaccines.
This isn’t a kickback / bribery. It is basic common sense to licence NIH technologies to commercial companies, instead of letting them use them for free! What exactly is wrong with that?
Does RFK Jr. prefer that the NIH let Moderna use those technologies for free??? Why should Moderna not pay NIH for the work done by its researchers???
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Fact #2 : US Government + Taxpayers Benefit From Moderna Vaccine!
It is ludicrous to claim or suggest that the NIH is receiving kickbacks from Moderna, because those patents that NIH licences out belong to the US government. The NIH also explained this in its statement three years ago:
NIAID scientists created stabilized coronavirus spike proteins for the development of vaccines against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Recognizing the importance of these novel immunogens, NIAID has sought patents to preserve the government’s rights to these inventions and to provide incentive for commercial partners to invest the capital and resources needed to advance their development, commercialization, and public use as vaccines.
The US government owns those patents, and not the individual inventors working at the NIH. After all, the research was funded by the US federal government. Ultimately, the US government and taxpayers benefit from the licensing of NIH technologies to Moderna.
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Fact #3 : NIH Inventors Benefit From Their Hard Work
This isn’t the first time Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that top NIH officials are being paid $150,000 a year for life for the Moderna mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. Back in March 2021, RFK Jr. made similar claims in a NewsGuard interview.
The Moderna vaccine—his agency owns half, but six of the top guys who work for him own pieces of that patent, so they will each get $150,000 a year for life for every patent that they own.
However, he never provided any evidence – then or now, that Dr. Anthony Fauci, or any top NIH official, are actually receiving $150,000 per year from the Moderna mRNA vaccine patents.
The truth is – the $150,000 per year figure is the official limit on royalty that any scientist may receive from all inventions while working at the NIH. As NIAID spokesperson Jennifer Routh explained in February 2021:
[In NIH licensing agreements,] the first $2,000 of royalties received under a license go to the inventor, and then at least 15 percent thereafter per year are shared with the inventors as a group under that license. Inventors are capped at $150,000 per year per person from all licenses. Very few NIH inventors receive that amount.”
In other words – even if an NIH scientist invents ten groundbreaking drug that makes BILLIONS each for the NIH, he/she is only entitled to $150,000 per year for all ten drugs.
While it is plausible that the six NIH scientists listed in the two patents used by Moderna and other pharmaceutical companies may receive $150,000 per year, there is still no evidence that they actually received that much.
But to be clear – the only people getting this royalty money are the scientists whose names are listed in the patent applications, and simply “top NIH officials”.
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Fact #5 : Patent Protection Only Lasts 20 Years
In the video, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that NIH officials would receive $150,000 per year forever – not only during their lifetime but also their children’s.
That is rather absurd as patent protection generally lasts only 20 years in the United States. There won’t be a need to licence for any pharmaceutical companies to licence those two patents from the NIAID / NIH for future mRNA vaccines after patent protection expires 20 years later.
In other words – those inventors in NIH can only expect to receive royalty payments for a maximum of 20 years, not forever…
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
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