Is Nate Ward, who confronted Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser over the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, dead? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found Ward alive and still living in the District's eighth ward. "Nate Ward is not deceased, because you're speaking to him right now," Ward told Lead Stories in a phone call on July 31, 2026.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @dave_wanted account on X on July 30, 2026. It read:
He died
This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @dave_wanted on X.)
The post claiming Ward's death quoted another post (archived here) featuring a nearly two-minute Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) video clip posted by the @DschlopesIsBack account on X on July 28, 2026. It read:
Never forget this brave American citizen that turned down getting a Covid vaccine and called out Fauci right to his face on camera.
I still want to buy this man a beer!
The combined posts are embedded below:
He died https://t.co/Xc2DNPrSyK
-- Dave (@dave_wanted) July 30, 2026
A longer PBS video (archived here) that includes the encounter with Ward is on the network's website. In addition to PBS, The Washington Post (archived here) also reported the encounter between Fauci, Bowser and Ward.
Through a public records search, Lead Stories obtained Ward's phone number and called him on the afternoon of July 31, 2026. After Lead Stories explained that the PBS video of Ward talking with Fauci and Bowser was circulating online again, more than five years after it was recorded, and that the accompanying social media post claimed "he died," Ward responded:
I'm gonna be honest with you. Somehow, you reached the right person.
Ward was able to verify personal information, including the address where he talked with Fauci and Bowser at 2022 Naylor Road SE (see in the image below with Ward), that helped Lead Stories confirm his identity. The video only showed the address number, not the street name, but a Google Maps search (archived here) found the same building shown in the PBS video. The two images are below:
(Image sources: post by @dave_wanted on X and Google Maps.)
