COLUMBUS, OH — While running for president in 2023, Vivek Ramaswamy said if he had all the facts, he would not have taken the COVID vaccine. On the campaign trail for governor of Ohio, he’s accused his Democratic opponent Dr. Amy Acton, of spreading “COVID ideology."

But this week, while he vacations in Europe, he raked in millions of dollars thanks to an investment in COVID vaccine technology. 

Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and served as CEO until 2021. A Roivant subsidiary, Genevant Sciences, owns key patents used to deliver Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. It sued Moderna over pattern infringement, and won a $2.25 billion settlement, $950 million of which was due to be paid out by July 8. Ramaswamy owns about 7% of Roivant. The self-proclaimed COVID skeptic is handsomely profiting from the COVID vaccine. 

“This sums up exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is: someone who did everything he could to get rich off of the COVID pandemic,” said Innovation Ohio President Michael McGovern. “We can’t trust him to look out for Ohioans best interest because the only thing he seems to care about is looking out for himself and his own ambitions.”

During the pandemic, Ramaswamy supported vaccines and even advocated for a national COVID registry to sort people by immunity status. He even served as a COVID advisor for then Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, now a U.S. Senator. But when he ran for president a couple of years later, Ramaswamy paid a Wikipedia editor to scrub any mention of his previous work on COVID. Now, many of his ads attacking Acton center on her role in keeping Ohioans safe during the pandemic. 

“Vivek wants to have it both ways: attack Ohio’s COVID response in public, while quietly making millions,” McGovern said. “Vivek is a total fake, and Ohioans can see it.”