FACTS: Origin of COVID-19 (House Hearing: 3/8/2023)

From today’s hearing on “Investigating the Origins of COVID-19” by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic of the House Oversight Committee. Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) provided a quick list of what we know so far about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that killed million of people worldwide. Facts so far: [Emphasis added] Some say the virus came from nature—that, according to recent papers discussed in the New York Times, the science is “dispositive.” Some say it’s too unique, too primed for human transmission, that there is too much circumstantial evidence that points to COVID-19 coming from a lab. As well, in three years, there has been no track found to prove that COVID-19 evolved naturally from animal, or mammal, or tick, to become highly infectious in humans. The truth is—we don’t know the origins of COVID-19 yet for sure. We don’t have a smoking gun. Here’s what we do know, though— First, the science behind COVID-19: The genome of COVID-19 is inconsistent with expectations and is unique for its group of viruses. COVID-19 has both a binding domain optimized for human cells and a furin cleavage site – or a small part of the virus that makes it so infectious – that has never been seen before in SARS related viruses. In other words, COVID-19 has unique characteristics that made it very infectious to humans. These have never been seen before in any other viruses of its type. Most viral outbreaks are slow and small. CDC data shows SARS infected approximately eight thousand people worldwide and eight in the U.S. Similar with MERS, which infected approximately two thousand people worldwide. But COVID-19 was primed for human transmission. It has infected more than 750 million people worldwide. Dr. Redfield, one of our witnesses here today and a virologist, has even said he believes COVID-19 “had a detour from nature to be educated how to infect humans.” Second, the known research occurring in China: We know the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting gain-of-function research on novel bat coronaviruses by creating chimeric viruses – combining two viruses together to test infectivity – and infecting mice with these viruses. Work that former COVID-19 Task Force Coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx confirmed was, in fact, gain-of-function; contrary to the statements of Dr. Fauci. We have learned that the Wuhan Institute has poor biosafety and was conducting this research at only Biosafety Level 2 – described as the “Wild West,” by Dr. Jeremy Farrar, a virologist from the U.K., now chief scientist for the WHO. We have learned, through a leaked DARPA grant application, that with U.S. taxpayer backing, that the Wuhan Institute proposed inserting furin cleavage sites into novel coronaviruses – the same unique genetic aspect of COVID-19. And we know, according to a State Department Fact Sheet, that multiple researchers at the Wuhan Institute were sick with COVID-19 like symptoms in fall of 2019 – before the Chinese officially announced the outbreak. Third, concerning the actions of NIH and EcoHealth Alliance: Records show that The National Institutes of Health – while the U.S. was under a moratorium on gain-of-function research – exempted EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute from this ban. Records show that The National Institutes of Health allowed EcoHealth to conduct risky research on novel coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute without going through the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Department level review board. Records show that EcoHealth violated federal grant policy and failed to file its year five progress report for more than two years. Records show that EcoHealth violated the terms of its grant and failed to report an experiment that resulted in gain-of-function of a coronavirus at the Wuhan Institute. Fourth, for some reason that we do not yet know, leaders in the scientific community took action to attempt to convince the world that they should not take the lab leak theory seriously. Dr. Francis Collins stated he was more concerned with harm to “international harmony” than he was with investigating the lab leak. And Dr. Fauci said the lab leak was a “shiny object that will go away in time.” The President of EcoHealth, Dr. Peter Daszak, orchestrated a letter in The Lancet that called the lab leak a “conspiracy theory.” A statement that directly benefited Dr. Daszak himself. And four scientists, after a conference call with Dr. Fauci, completely reversed their position. Dr. Kristian Andersen said he found “the genome inconsistent with evolutionary theory.” And Dr. Robert Garry said he “really can’t think of a plausible natural scenario.” But a few days later published a paper saying the exact opposite. A paper, based on the new emails we released, claimed to be “prompted” by Dr. Fauci, himself. [https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023.03.05-SSCP-Memo-Re.-New-Evidence.Proximal-Origin.pdf] And fifth, the intelligence: FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed publicly that the FBI assesses COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan. And the Wall Street Journal reported the Department of Energy now also believes a lab leak is the most likely origin. These aren’t “run of the mill” agencies – the FBI used experts in biological threats and was reportedly supported by the National Bioforensic Analysis Center and the Department of Energy used its own Z Division – experts in investigating biological threats.

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