Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested in early 2020 that the FBI and MI5 might need to be warned about the possibility COVID-19 emerged from a Wuhan lab before publicly arguing shortly thereafter the virus most likely originated in nature.
Some scientists consulting with the U.S. government early in the pandemic believed COVID-19 originating from a lab in Wuhan was possible or even likely, but emails show Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins eventually worked to help shut the hypothesis down. New emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act shed further light on the saga.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ON COVID-19 AND CHINA AS FAUCI RETIRES
Fauci sent the newly public Feb. 1, 2020, email to Wellcome Trust Director Jeremy Farrar after speaking with Scripps Research professor Kristian Andersen. Fauci said he told Andersen that he and British virologist Eddie Holmes “should get a group of evolutionary biologists together to examine carefully the data to determine if his concerns” about a possible lab origin for COVID-19 “are validated.”
“He should do this very quickly and if everyone agrees with this concern, they should report it to the appropriate authorities,” Fauci wrote. “I would imagine that in the USA this would be the FBI and in the UK it would be MI5. It would be important to quickly get confirmation of the cause of his concern by experts in the field of coronaviruses and evolutionary biology. In the meantime, I will alert my U.S. Government official colleagues … and determine what further investigation they recommend.”
The same day, Fauci also sent an article that mentioned the Wuhan lab, EcoHealth Alliance, and EcoHealth founder Peter Daszak but that largely dismissed the lab leak as one of multiple “conspiracy theories.”
Daszak was a longtime collaborator with the Wuhan lab and steered hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIH funding to the Chinese institute. He dismissed the lab leak hypothesis in March 2021 when he admitted he took Wuhan lab workers at their word. Meeting minutes from discussions between lab scientists in Wuhan and the World Health Organization-China team reveal lab leak concerns were referred to as “myths” and “conspiracy theories.”
Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has long cast doubt on the idea that SARS-CoV-2 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and he has repeatedly insisted the NIH did not fund “gain of function” research at the Wuhan lab despite evidence showing U.S. tax dollars flowed to the Chinese institute for bat coronavirus experiments.
Collins also sent an email to Farrar and Fauci on Feb. 2, 2020, saying he was “coming around to the view that a natural origin is more likely” and alluding to the lab leak hypothesis as a “conspiracy theory.”
The NIH head then sent Fauci and other scientists an email on Feb. 4, 2020, saying, “I note that Eddie is now arguing against the idea that this is the product of intentional human engineering. But repeated tissue culture passage is still an option.” Collins meant Holmes said he didn’t believe COVID-19 was genetically engineered but that it still could have emerged through lab experiments.
Farrar replied, “Being very careful in the morning [sic] wording. ‘Engineered’ probably not. Remains very real possibility of accidental lab passage in animals.” He said he believed there was a 50% chance SARS-CoV-2 originated in a lab, while Holmes believed there was a 60% chance.
Collins said, “Yes, I’d be interested in the proposal of accidental lab passage in animals (which ones?).” Fauci then replied, “?? Serial passage in ACE2-transgenic mice.” And Farrar replied, “Exactly!”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The NIH director seemed stunned the Wuhan virology institute would conduct such experiments at a biosafety level two laboratory, asking, “Surely that wouldn’t be done in a BSL-2 lab?” Farrar then referred to it as the “Wild West.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an assessment last year saying that one U.S. intelligence agency assessed with “moderate confidence” that COVID-19 most likely emerged from a lab in Wuhan, while four U.S. spy agencies and the National Intelligence Council believed with just “low confidence” that COVID-19 most likely had a natural origin.
