NY COVID Czar Attended Drug-Fueled ‘Lockdown Sex Parties’ While Crafting Policy To ‘Force’ Vaccinations

Dr. Jay K. Varma, New York City’s former top public health advisor during the pandemic, was caught on camera bragging about attending drug-fueled sex parties and dance events, even as he instructed millions of New Yorkers to stay home and socially distance. The bombshell revelations have sparked outrage across the city, with politicians and residents alike accusing the former official of blatant hypocrisy.

The footage, released Thursday by conservative podcaster Steven Crowder, shows Varma, who served under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, detailing his pandemic escapades, which included hosting a sex party in a hotel room and attending a massive underground dance party beneath a Wall Street bank.

“I had to be kind of sneaky about it,” Varma admits in the video, speaking casually to a woman off-camera. “I was running the entire Covid response for the city.”

At the time, public health officials in New York, like those in cities and countries around the world, were frantically seeking to contain the virus and Covid’s rising death toll by encouraging people to wear masks and avoid large gatherings. New York City schools were abruptly closed beginning in March 2020. Indoor dining in restaurants was forbidden. Masking indoors in public places was mandatory. –NYT

“I’m gonna make it really fu*king hard to be unvaccinated,” Varma told his undercover date. “I actually was the one who convinced the Mayor to make it a mandate[vaccine].”

BREAKING: Former @NYCMayorsOffice Covid Czar Dr. Jay Varma Admits He ‘Forced’ Vaccinations on Public by Making Their Lives “Uncomfortable”

“I’m gonna make it really fu*king hard to be unvaccinated.”

“I actually was the one who convinced the Mayor to make it a mandate[vaccine].”… https://t.co/ttZ77QdU2k pic.twitter.com/ftFDB0poxp

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 19, 2024

In a statement, Varma didn’t dispute the authenticity of the recordings but claimed they had been “spliced, diced and taken out of context.” He admitted attending three gatherings between August 2020 and June 2021, while advising millions to limit their interactions.

“I take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,” Varma said, attempting to downplay the scandal. But the damage was done. The video shows Varma casually describing the events, including a sex party he and his wife hosted with up to 10 people — technically within legal limits for indoor gatherings at the time — and a dance party with over 200 people in a hidden Wall Street venue.

Critics Slam

“This was the public health expert for the city while it was shut down – he was busy having sex parties,” fumed City Councilman Robert Holden, a Democrat from Queens, calling for an investigation. “It’s alarming, especially with so many first responders, city workers, and everyday New Yorkers losing their jobs.”

Joseph Borelli, the Republican minority leader of the City Council, echoed the outrage: “I recall being treated like a pariah for pointing out the obvious at the time — that so many of our so-called leaders were just making up illogical rules as they went along,” Borelli told the Times. “Still, even I couldn’t have predicted how full of it they actually were.”

Several lawmakers fumed over the newly released footage, with Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Queens) telling The Post it showed the “perverse corruption” of the de Blasio administration.

“This guy was running around living like a drug-fueled Caligula, mandating that ordinary New Yorkers suffer in lockdown and lose their livelihoods while he throws himself parties that could make a rock star blush,” Ariola said.

“Dr. Varma’s pathetic attempt to impress a date further revealed what we all knew — that the ‘leaders’ who shut down businesses, told us not to celebrate Thanksgiving, and fired workers for not taking the vaccine, have always been absolutely full of s–t,” added Councilmember Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). –NY Post

Varma’s outings have drawn comparisons to other high-profile cases of political hypocrisy during the pandemic, such as Boris Johnson’s infamous lockdown parties in the UK and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s elite dinner at the French Laundry. But in New York, where Covid-19 hit harder than almost anywhere else in the world, Varma’s transgressions are being seen as especially egregious.

A spokesman for Varma, Chris Vlasto, sought to defend the disgraced doctor, claiming that the Wall Street dance party took place in June 2021, after Varma had left his official position at City Hall and transitioned to a part-time consultancy role. Vlasto was mum on the August 2020 hotel party, however, where Varma said he and his wife hosted eight to 10 guests.

“I stand by my efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated against Covid-19,” Varma said in his statement, pushing back against what he described as a smear campaign from “right-wing extremists” aimed at discrediting public health.

The scandal couldn’t come at a worse time for the city’s already embattled public health apparatus. Varma, who had played a key role in shaping the city’s vaccine policies — including barring Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving from playing in New York for refusing the shot – is now being accused of living by a different set of rules during the pandemic.

Some city workers, fired for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates, are now demanding that their cases be reexamined in light of Varma’s behavior.

Varma has since moved on to the private sector, taking up a role as a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and serving as the executive vice president at SIGA Technologies, a pharmaceutical company. De Blasio, who had previously praised Varma’s pandemic leadership, remained silent, declining to respond to multiple requests for comment.