Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) knew as early as January of 2020 that his agency was in fact funding gain-of-function research of novel coronaviruses in Wuhan, China where the global pandemic stemmed from. Gain-of-function research refers to making viruses more infectious or deadly for study in a laboratory. Fauci repeatedly played “semantic games around the definition of “gain-of-function research” during multiple hearing exchanges with Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.)” writes National Review.
In a newly released email that was obtained by the investigative public-health non-profit U.S. Right to Know, it was revealed that Fauci knew the extent of the Chinese coronavirus research before the pandemic broke out in the U.S..
The January 27, 2020, email received by Fauci consisted of talking points from an aide regarding Wuhan Institute of Virology research that was being funded by the disease division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Later that same evening, Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, spoke about COVID-19 at a press conference.
The email states “for the past 5 years,” the NIAID funded the gain-of-function research through the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which contracted the Wuhan lab. “EcoHealth group (Peter Daszak et al), has for years been among the biggest players in coronavirus work, also in collaboration with Ralph Baric, Ian Lipkin and others,” Fauci’s chief of staff Greg Folkers wrote to his boss and other public health officials.
National Review reports, “Folkers then went into detail, specifically regarding the research’s findings. With the financial backing of Fauci’s agency, approximately 10,000 bats and about 2,000 other mammals were sampled from 47 sites across the South China Sea, he wrote. This area was a prime location for discovering the closest relatives to SARS-CoV-2.”
In May 2021, Paul pressed the leading U.S. public health advisor on gain-of-function research. “Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Fauci replied.
Months later, a top NIH official admitted in an October 2021 letter that the NIH did fund gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, despite Fauci’s argument to the contrary. Now, the released email proves Fauci’s knowledge goes back to January of 2020, well before the deadly virus made its way through the United States.
