Former White House doctor Anthony Fauci will be questioned by Congress today about his handling of the Covid pandemic and his ties to a Chinese laboratory that was feared to have caused the outbreak.
DR. Fauci, 82, will appear before the House subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic for two seven-hour closed-door hearings on Monday and Tuesday.
The former official will face questions about his alleged efforts to end scientific debate over the lab leak theory, the idea that a genetically modified substance was created Coronavirus escape a Chinese laboratory.
Since his last appearance before Congress over a year ago, it has been revealed that Dr. During his time at the federal government’s top scientific research agency, Fauci oversaw federal spending on research into risky viruses.
He is also expected to be questioned about his failures with vaccination and mask mandates, as well as the long-term effects of lockdowns, which have included declining test scores and school performance, higher rates of serious diseases such as cancer and mental health problems. .
It is expected that Dr. Fauci’s closed-door testimony, like previous hearings, will be heated. In the past, Dr. Fauci clashed with lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, on his alleged cover-up of research funding for the feature and the Covid lab leak theory.
New emails dated February 1, 2020 show that Fauci admitted that “Scientists at Wuhan University are known to have worked on gain of function experiments to establish that molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses are involved in human infections. ” adapt, and that the outbreak originated in Wuhan.”‘
The closed hearings highlight dr. out. Fauci’s first visit to Capitol Hill since his retirement, and it’s expected to be heated.
Members of the subcommittee compiled “more than 200 pages of questions and about 100 pieces of evidence,” likely evidence such as private emails between Fauci and other scientists that show efforts to silence disagreement over the origins of the coronavirus.
The Subcommittee said Monday: “Serious work requires serious answers.”
The select subcommittee first requested a meeting with Fauci in February, but the timing was not agreed upon with Fauci’s lawyers until earlier this month, according to a committee letter sent last year.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the committee’s Republican chairman, said last fall: “It is time that Dr. Fauci needs to face the facts and address the many controversies that have arisen during and after the pandemic.”
The infectious disease expert appeared to silence the voices of those who claimed that the coronavirus that caused the global pandemic was the product of a laboratory leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In one such email from the former head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, to Dr. Fauci said in 2020 that the lab leak theory was being pushed by “fringe epidemiologists” and needed a “swift and devastating public cleanup.”
During a hearing in July 2021, Senator Rand Paul had a heated argument with Dr. Got Rand Paul. Anthony Fauci, as he again pressed the nation’s top immunologist on whether the US would fund research in Wuhan. Fauci replied, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dr. Fauci was accused of suppressing dissent that claimed the Covid pandemic was likely due to a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers were working to improve its function.
To date, no study approved by the United States or the World Health Organization has been able to rule out the lab leak theory. Amid criticism of the controversy, Dr. Fauci has since said he is keeping an “open mind” but stressed that it remains “highly likely” that the virus is transmitted from animals to humans.
The WIV has biolabs where scientists tinker with coronaviruses to either make them more transmissible to humans or make them more or less virulent — a type of research known as “gain of function.”
Senator Paul tells DM.com: “Probably” another pandemic will come from China
The next pandemic will “very likely” come from China because of the country’s risky virus testing, according to Senator Rand Paul, who said: “It’s worrying that they.” [China] keep doing it.”
Dr. Fauci emphasized to members of Congress in 2021 that his former department, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “has never and is not now funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
However, recently released emails dated February 1, 2020 show that Fauci admitted that “Scientists at Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain of function experiments to determine that molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses at infections in the United States.” People can be adapted and that the outbreak originated in Wuhan.’
Although the emails indicate that Dr. Fauci knew about the gain-of-function research in the lab, he never acknowledged that the NIH was funding it.
Proponents of the lab leak theory, including some members of Congress and government agencies, have pushed for a broader investigation into the origins of the pandemic, even going so far as to cut federal funding for the controversial EcoHealth Alliance research organization led by the British scientist Peter to investigate. Tie bag. , between 2014 and 2021.
The organization has outsourced taxpayer-funded grants to several laboratories, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The EcoHealth Alliance received $8 million in federal grants between 2014 and 2021, distributing it to eight research institutions, including WIV.
White Coat Waste, a watchdog group that calls for an end to medical animal testing and is a strong critic of EcoHealth, said Monday: “We’ve been working on this for years.” [Dr Fauci] indicted for abusing his authority to violate a federal ban on financing official profits, plotting a cover-up and repeatedly lying to Congress about it.
“Anthony Fauci is a textbook example of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, and taxpayers deserve answers and accountability for his role in recklessly funding and disrupting an adversary’s animal laboratory that likely used US funds to start a pandemic caused. American taxpayer.”‘
![Shi Zhengli [pictured left]Known as](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/01/08/15/79752657-12938761-image-a-1_1704727684962.jpg)
Shi Zhengli [pictured left]Known as “Batwoman” for her work tracking the animals’ viruses, she held meetings with EcoHealth in 2017
Dr. Fauci has long been one of the most sought-after experts on infectious diseases, especially given the rise of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s.
But in recent years he suffered a sudden downturn due to a misguided policy of closing cities and schools for long periods, with disastrous consequences that are now coming back to haunt him.
It began discouraging Americans from using face masks as part of guidance in early 2020, instead encouraging the public to keep as much limited protective equipment available for healthcare workers as possible.
However, he has since become a strong supporter of masking in public, despite questionable evidence that it actually makes a difference in preventing transmission and serious illness.
The meetings come amid rising numbers of new Covid hospitalizations and cases of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus threatening to overwhelm all hospitals again.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
