Anthony Fauci has been charged by lawmakers with engaging in a "cover-up" as a result of recent intelligence leaks about the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he has consistently been honest in his work.
The former chief medical advisor to the president, who frequently represented the federal government's response to coronavirus, has previously testified that the United States never supported research to modify viruses in a lab but has since been accused of trying to conceal indirect American funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
It comes after reports from two U.S. intelligence agencies that they think COVID-19 was caused by an accident in a Chinese laboratory rather than by the virus crossing over from an infected animal. The government's response to the pandemic has come under renewed scrutiny as a result of the discoveries.
Previously, Fauci faced criticism after it was revealed that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he had served as a key official from 1984 until last year, had awarded the U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance a $3.7 million grant in 2014, of which $600,000 was sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to research bat coronaviruses.
He consistently refuted allegations made by members of Congress that the money had been used for "gain-of-function" research, which aims to improve viruses in order to predict their evolution. The Wuhan Institute of Virology did not contain the virus that triggered the pandemic, according to Peter Kaszak, a virologist and the CEO of EcoHealth, who spoke to CNN in April 2020.
Republicans on the coronavirus pandemic subcommittee published a memo on Sunday accusing Fauci of coordinating the release of a study that would cast doubt on the lab leak hypothesis. According to Fauci, this is "wrong and misleading." He said this in a statement to Newsweek.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a member of the Republicans, stated on Fox News on Tuesday that Fauci was behind "an intricate cover-up," which Paul said he had done because "ultimately he would have liability."
When Newsweek contacted Fauci for a response, he chose not to expressly address Paul's assertions.
Fauci declined to answer when Anderson Cooper asked him on CNN the next day whether he thought Congress was interested in the truth.
However, he added: "The most important thing we've got to do is stick with data and science, be transparent, and be honest—which I have been very much so literally for the entire 50 years that I've been at the NIH and the 38 years that I directed the [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]."
The prevailing opinion among intelligence analysts and scientists appears to remain that COVID-19 likely spread into the human population by jumping the species barrier from livestock in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a wet market in Wuhan.
But a growing number of intelligence agencies have adopted the theory that the virus may have spread into humans from a nearby lab—a claim the Chinese government has repeatedly refuted.
According to sources who had reviewed a recent secret document, the Wall Street Journal claimed on February 26 that the U.S. Department of Energy had determined with "low confidence" that the deadly virus may have originated from a mistake at a lab in Wuhan.
FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that the organization "has for quite some time now determined that the roots of the pandemic are most likely a probable lab mishap in Wuhan" in an interview with Fox News on February 28
He clarified that he was talking about "a potential leak from a lab under the supervision of the Chinese government." The virus is thought to have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
According to Rebecca Grant, a national security analyst at IRIS Research, "I'm confident it spilled out of that lab," she previously told Newsweek. "That may have been an accident, or someone could have thrown the garbage out incorrectly."
Fauci said that his evaluation of the data led him to conclude that the lab leaks theory was unlikely, but he had "an open mind" about the possibility.
According to him, scientific research on the virus's origins should be thorough, continuing, and open-minded. He said this in an interview with Newsweek. "It is still my objective today."
Updated on March 8th, 2013 at 8:52 a.m. ET to include Anthony Fauci's response.
Comments
Post a Comment