The National Institutes of Health (NIH) strategized behind the scenes to help former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci defend taxpayer-funded grants to Wuhan, China, for bat coronavirus research.
NIH officials created a PowerPoint for Fauci in October 2021 to help his defense of the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, according to documents released Monday by watchdog group Empower Oversight. EcoHealth Alliance’s partner organization, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, received significant scrutiny when the coronavirus pandemic originated in Wuhan, China.
The NIH created additional “flip-cards” with talking points Fauci could use to counter media scrutiny, the documents indicate. Independent journalist Paul Thacker first reported on the documents after Empower Oversight obtained them through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Fauci was particularly interested in op-eds published by the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times addressing the lab-leak theory of coronavirus origins. The Journal op-eds supported the lab-leak theory and the LA Times published a rebuttal of them. Lab Leak proponents believe Covid-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and spilled over into the nearby area.
“Thank you for all of your work in updating these flip cards for Dr. Fauci over the last week. At Dr. Fauci’s specific request we prepared a couple flip cards summarizing the recent Op Eds in the WSJ and LA Times on the origins of COVID-19 and we would appreciate your review,” an NIH official wrote to colleagues in an email chain about the flip-cards.
Fauci received the EcoHealth talking points right before the Intercept published an investigation of EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s risky experiments with MERS-Cov, a deadly coronavirus with a fatality rate as high as 35 percent. The Intercept’s story focused on a previously undisclosed EcoHealth Alliance report on a grant the nonprofit received to research the risks of bat coronaviruses, contradicting Fauci’s longstanding denials that the NIH did not fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
Gain-of-function research is a type of scientific experimentation in which viruses are made to be more deadly. An email released last year revealed Fauci was aware of the government funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab through its grants to EcoHealth. Fauci testified earlier this year and similarly denied the NIH-funded gain-of-function research.
At the start of the pandemic, Fauci orchestrated a scientific paper meant to discredit the lab-leak theory, and the hypothesis was widely discredited by news outlets and social media platforms as a result. Preliminary assessments by the FBI and Department of Energy have concluded the pandemic mostly likely originated from the Wuhan lab.
The EcoHealth report was dated August 2021, even though it covered the research period ending May 2019, and the NIH turned it over after a lawsuit by the Intercept. A letter obtained by Empower Oversight suggests EcoHealth Alliance proposed conducting the research on MERS and MERS-Cov in 2016, three years before the report, during a time when that kind of research was halted by the federal government.
NIH officials closely tracked media coverage by a range of outlets, including National Review, and created a “reactive statement” in October 2021 to respond to inquiries from reporters and congressional investigators, according to additional documents released by Empower Oversight.
The National Review article flagged by NIH staffers covered a letter to Congress by a senior NIH official who appeared to admit the U.S. government funded gain-of-function coronavirus research in Wuhan, China. The letter also indicated that EcoHealth Alliance failed to comply with its reporting responsibilities under its taxpayer-funded research grant.
EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak and NIH officials appeared to closely coordinate media communications as recently as last year, the Empower Oversight documents demonstrate.
“Please pass this information on to the people at NIAID who need to coordinate communications,” Daszak said to an NIH official in May 2023. His email attached a draft press release announcing an NIH grant renewal for EcoHealth research on bat coronavirus risk. Once Daszak and the NIH crafted the press release, it was published on May 8, 2023, and promised the experiments would not include any gain-of-function research.
“EcoHealth Alliance did not coordinate a media response with NIH regarding this story,” a spokesperson for the organization told NR regarding The Intercept story and the “flip-cards” for Fauci. National Review has reached out for further comment. The NIH did not respond to a request for comment.
Daszak is scheduled to testify publicly later this week in front of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. House lawmakers will likely grill Daszak on the research in Wuhan and his close relationships with Fauci and senior NIAID advisor Dr. David Morens.