The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has finally admitted American taxpayer dollars funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Lab before the COVID-19 scamdemic.
“After years of falsehoods, health official ADMITS U.S. funded dangerous virus research at China’s COVID lab,” the cover of the New York Post read.
Today's cover: NIH official finally admits taxpayers funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan — after years of denials https://t.co/6rExweQU3H pic.twitter.com/ipL97LuyDC
— New York Post (@nypost) May 17, 2024
What used to be a ‘conspiracy theory’ is now front page news in mainstream media.
BREAKING: After years of denials, a NIH official, principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak, admitted to Congress that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the COVID pandemic.
— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) May 16, 2024
Anthony Fauci vehemently denied the NIH funded gain-of-function research in previous congressional hearings.
“Did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through EcoHealth [Alliance]?” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic asked NIH Principal Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak.
“It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research. If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did,” Tabak answered.
WATCH:
Did the NIH Fund Gain-of-Function Research in Wuhan? 🤔 @SenRandPaul pic.twitter.com/arlId1Vfcj
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 16, 2024
The New York Post reports:
The response comes after more than four years of evasions from federal public health officials — including Tabak himself and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr. Anthony Fauci — about the controversial research practice that modifies viruses to make them more infectious.
Tabak added that “this is research, the generic term [gain-of-function], is research that goes on in many, many labs around the country. It is not regulated. And the reason it’s not regulated is it poses no threat or harm to anybody.”
Dr. Bryce Nickels, a professor of genetics at Rutgers University and co-founder of the pandemic oversight group Biosafety Now, told The Post the exchange “was two people talking past each other.”
“Tabak was engaging in the usual obfuscation and semantic manipulation that is so frustrating and pointless,” Nickels said, adding that the NIH bigwig was resisting accountability for risky research that can create pathogens of pandemic potential.
“Instead of addressing this directly, Tabak launched into a useless response about how ‘gain-of-function’ encompasses many types of experiments,” he added.
In July 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) barred the Wuhan Institute of Virology from receiving federal grants for the next 10 years.
EcoHealth Alliance, whose mission statement declares it is “working to prevent pandemics,” had all of its grant funding pulled by HHS for the next three years on Tuesday.
NIH official finally admits taxpayers funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan— after years of denials https://t.co/ZdPsEFJEDh pic.twitter.com/JOZcSNb7du
— New York Post (@nypost) May 16, 2024
“Under the not-so-watchful eye of NIH, EcoHealth Alliance was allowed to facilitate gain-of-function research in China using taxpayer dollars. Today, NIH Principal Deputy Director Dr. Tabak will be asked to address this failure,” the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic wrote.
WATCH:
Under the not-so-watchful eye of @NIH, EcoHealth Alliance was allowed to facilitate gain-of-function research in China using taxpayer dollars.
Today, NIH Principal Deputy Director Dr. Tabak will be asked to address this failure.
Chairman @RepBradWenstrup's opening statement👇 pic.twitter.com/wFAEhLc0bV
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 16, 2024
“The National Institutes of Health ADMITS to serious shortcomings in grant awarding and grant oversight procedures that allowed EcoHealth Alliance to facilitate gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China,” the subcommittee added.
WATCH:
The National Institutes of Health ADMITS to serious shortcomings in grant awarding and grant oversight procedures that allowed EcoHealth Alliance to facilitate gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China.@RepMMM and @NIH agree: "Hindsight is always 20/20." pic.twitter.com/6y2nsDWkmX
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 16, 2024
From the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic:
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) opened today’s hearing titled “Overseeing the Overseers: A Hearing with NIH Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak” by highlighting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) decision yesterday to immediately implement a government-wide suspension on all funds allocated to EcoHealth Alliance (EcoHealth) and begin official debarment proceedings against the organization. This decision was partially based on evidence released in the Select Subcommittee’s interim staff report which detailed EcoHealth’s willful violation of its National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant and its facilitation of dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. During his opening remarks, Chairman Wenstrup noted that Americans have serious concerns regarding the processes in which NIH awards federal grants and conducts oversight of said grants due to its failure to protect the taxpayer from EcoHealth’s impropriety. The Chairman describes a series of conflicting testimonies related to late grant reporting, interactions with the WIV, and federal record keeping laws that must be addressed by Dr. Tabak today. The Select Subcommittee is committed to ensuring that NIH improves both its grant awarding processes and its oversight of federal grants before a future public health crisis begins.