Forbes | During an interview with CNN Thursday, Fauci was asked about an exchange he had with a British disease expert who worked with the lab in question—the Wuhan Institute of Virology—in April 2020.
The email exchange was made public after the Washington Post and Buzzfeed News obtained Fauci’s messages through a FOIA request and published a trove of them this week.
In the exchange, Fauci thanks the zoologist and head of the controversial virus research nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, for commending him for publicly dismissing the lab-leak theory.
Fauci on Thursday called it “nonsense” that Republicans have latched on to the emails, claiming he was not saying anything then that he would not say now.
“I have always said . . . that I still believe the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human,” Fauci maintained.
Fauci said he was going to keep an “open mind” about the possibility of a lab leak, but still believed animal-to-human transmission was most likely.
Crucial Quote
“From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’ origins,” Daszak wrote in April 2020, according to emails published by Buzzfeed. “Many thanks for your kind note,” Fauci responds.
Key Background
Fauci has been accused of shifting his stance on the possibility of a lab leak. Most scientists continue to believe the virus began in the wild, where it was transmitted to a human, but many health experts, including Fauci, are now forcefully calling for a more rigorous investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last month, a group of 18 prominent scientists published a letter in Science referring to both the lab-leak theory and the zoonotic spillover as “viable” until they collect sufficient data, while the Wall Street Journal reported details of a U.S. intelligence report that found several researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized with Covid-like symptoms in November 2019, weeks before the disease was first identified. The WHO’s initial investigation into the origins of the pandemic found it “extremely unlikely” that the virus escaped from a lab, but the origins of the virus are yet to be concluded.
What To Watch For
Last week, President Joe Biden announced intelligence agencies have “coalesced around two likely scenarios” for the origin of Covid-19, including the lab-leak theory and wildlife-to-human spread, and called on officials to “redouble their efforts” to come to a conclusion on the virus’ origin over the next 90 days.
Chief Critic
Republicans have criticized Fauci over his link to Daszak and EcoHealth. The National Institute of Health previously provided funding to EcoHealth for pandemic research, which worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The grant to EcoHealth was canceled last year by the Trump Administration. “The truth is out,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Fauci’s emails show he suspected early last year that Covid-19 possibly leaked from the Wuhan lab—yet he stayed silent. This is a major cover-up. We need a full congressional investigation into the origins of Covid-19.”
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