On February 11th, 2020 Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) invited Fauci to a meeting funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her intent was to “building global partnerships and collaborations”. She stated “As head of an agency that would play an important role in addressing this new viral outbreak, either by undertaking, or funding research, or both, I take great pleasure in inviting you to this meeting”
On April 2nd, 2020, Fauci received a “connection request” from Bill Gates calling for “coordination among the various primary funders” and states that Fauci will “take on a central role in coordinating [BARDA’s] funding,”