Adam Dick

Last week, it was reported that Anthony Fauci, the director of the United States government’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor for President Joe Biden, was chosen to receive a Dan David Prize. Included in the award is a one million dollars payment, ten percent of which is set aside for scholarships to be given out at Fauci’s direction while the rest is available for Fauci to use as he pleases. As made clear in the announcement of Fauci’s selection for the prize associated with Tel Aviv University in Israel, Fauci was chosen for the prize because of his decades of “public health” work, including related to coronavirus, as a US government employee.

Upon hearing about the prize awarded to Fauci, an obvious question arises: Is it legal for Fauci to accept it? There must be some strict rules governing third parties giving money to US government employees, especially when that money is given because of how a US government employee does his job. Such payments can be used to reward an employee for taking actions the third party desires or to encourage the employee to take certain actions in the future. A big concern is that third party payments to government employees can buy influence.