PoliticoCoronavirus: how pair of anti-vaccine activists sparked a #FireFauci furor

After Trump gave the hashtag a retweet, the fringe, conspiracy-laden movement was ready with a replacement: ‘Dr Shiva’

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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr Anthony Fauci speaks as US President Donald Trump listens during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:57pm, 14 Apr 2020Updated: 3:57pm, 14 Apr 2020

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Tina Nguyen on politico.com on April 13, 2020.

When US President Donald Trump retweeted a call to fire Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday night, he jolted a fringe conservative movement that viewed the boost as an acknowledgement of their cause.

And the #FireFauci gang was ready with a replacement: Dr Shiva Ayyadurai.

Ayyadurai, or “Dr Shiva” as his fans call him, is a controversial scientist and long-shot Massachusetts Senate candidate who is pushing a variety of claims that range from dubious to medically disputed to outright false. He has argued that a strict vitamin regimen can prevent and treat the coronavirus – an unsubstantiated view at odds with the medical community and existing research. And he claims Fauci is a deep-state plant hell-bent on “forced and mandatory vaccines” to support “Big Pharma” – a claim for which there is no evidence.

Yet Ayyadurai, who is not a medical doctor, has the imprimatur of several degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an online fan base among the people leading the movement to oust Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert. That includes DeAnna Lorraine, who suddenly ended up in the spotlight after Trump retweeted her call to #FireFauci. Lorraine, a former challenger for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s seat who has regularly retweeted QAnon conspiracies, is using her new-found perch to stump for Ayyadurai.

“What I’m suggesting is [Trump] just brings in other additional experts who aren’t just pro-vaccine, who don’t have anything to gain, financially or otherwise, from pushing vaccines on us,” Lorraine said in an interview.

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} After Trump gave the hashtag a retweet, the fringe, conspiracy-laden movement was ready with a replacement: ‘Dr Shiva’

After Trump gave the hashtag a retweet, the fringe, conspiracy-laden movement was ready with a replacement: ‘Dr Shiva’