Dr. Jay Varma, New York City’s former COVID-19 response chief and one of the architects of the city’s strict lockdown measures, has been fired from his job at a major pharmaceutical company.
The dramatic fall from grace follows his admission that he hosted illegal drug-fueled orgies during the coronavirus lockdown and his use of heavy-handed tactics to force people to get vaccinated.
Varma, who served as a senior public health adviser under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, was caught on video bragging about hosting secret drug-fueled sex parties and attending underground raves even as he imposed strict restrictions on New Yorkers at the height of the pandemic.
The former coronavirus chief admitted he ignored the lockdown rules he imposed and said he had to “cover up” his reckless behaviour.
“I was heading up the city’s COVID response. We rented a hotel, we all brought Molly, we all brought Ecstasy. There were eight to 10 of us in a room. We were just like, naked with friends…” Varma says unashamedly in the undercover video.
“We went to this underground dance party in the basement of a bank on Wall Street. We were all dancing…”
“This was not COVID-friendly.”
“When I was on TV, I was always engaging in sexually deviant behavior…”
“The only way I could do this job for the city was to find a way to de-stress every now and then.”
clock:
BREAKING: Former New York City coronavirus chief secretly hosted drug-fueled sex parties during a global pandemic, says New Yorkers would be “outraged” if they found out because he was in charge of the city’s coronavirus response
Dr. Jay Varma, former Senior Public Health Advisor to the Mayor of New York City… pic.twitter.com/YrgniDUdFc
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 19, 2024
To make matters worse, Varma was also exposed as having boasted about “forcing” the COVID-19 vaccine on people and making life difficult for those who did not get vaccinated.
“They make people feel really uncomfortable if they’re not vaccinated,” Varma said in another undercover video. “You can’t go to a job, you can’t go to a restaurant, you can’t send your kids to school. They’re like, ‘Fuck it, I’m just going to get vaccinated.’ They’re forcing people to do it by making them feel really uncomfortable.”
clock:
Breaking News: Original @NYC Mayor’s Office Coronavirus chief Dr Jay Varma admits to ‘forcing’ people to get vaccinated by making their lives ‘uncomfortable’
“We’re going to make it really difficult to not get vaccinated.”
“I was actually the one who convinced the mayor to make it mandatory.[vaccine]”… https://t.co/ttZ77QdU2k pic.twitter.com/ftFDB0poxp
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 19, 2024
Despite the blatant hypocrisy of partying while ordering a lockdown, Varma sought to deny it, saying the video footage had been “edited” and taken “out of context” by “radical right-wing organisations”.
“In those private conversations which were secretly recorded and chopped up, chopped up and taken out of context, I mentioned events which happened four years ago. I worked at City Hall from April 2020 to May 2021,” Varma said. CBS News.
“During that time, I attended two private gatherings and I take responsibility for not using my best judgment at the time,” Varma said in a statement.
“Facing the greatest public health crisis of a century, our top priority is saving lives, and every decision made was based on the best available science to keep New Yorkers safe. I support efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated against COVID-19, and reject dangerous extremist attempts to undermine public confidence in the necessity and effectiveness of vaccines.”
But his public disgrace was too much for the pharmaceutical company where he worked, SIGA Technologies.
The company fired him on Monday, swiftly ending his role as executive vice president and chief medical officer. New York Post.
“On September 23, 2024, the SIGA Technologies Board of Directors terminated, without cause, Dr. Jay Varma from his position as the company’s executive vice president and chief medical officer, effective immediately,” the company said in an official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
His firing also extended to his position on the company’s board of directors.
