During a conference call on Feb. 1, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins implored a group of esteemed international scientists to produce a paper that would discredit the lab leak theory of COVID-19’s origins.
Twice during the call, Fauci prodded Dr. Kristian Andersen, a Danish evolutionary biologist, to lead the effort.
In a subsequent email obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Collins urged the swift production of the paper. In his view, the absence of a strong case for a “natural origins” theory of COVID-19 would allow ”the voices of conspiracy to quickly dominate, doing great potential harm to science and international harmony.”
In another subsequent email, Andersen remarked that the purpose of the paper was to dispel the “crack pot theories” of lab leak proponents.
The result of their conspiracy was a paper published in Nature Medicine in March 2020 titled “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2.” It argued against the plausibility of a laboratory origin of the virus.
Considered by many to be among the most consequential scientific papers of the 21st century, “Proximal Origin” profoundly influenced public discourse, public policy, and was used as leverage for one of the most insidious crackdowns on free speech in American history. And according to a growing number of experts and institutions, its conclusions were dead wrong.
The motives of the individuals involved in perpetrating this historic disinformation campaign are varied. Fauci and Collins appeared to have wanted desperately to divert attention away from the NIH’s role in funding risky gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the lab from which COVID-19 is thought to have leaked following a biocontainment incident in late 2019.
It would seem Fauci perjured himself during congressional testimony on the matter in 2021 by stating that “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” This was flatly contradicted by NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, who recently testified to Congress that the NIH did, in fact, fund gain-of-function research at the WIV through the shady nonprofit organization EcoHealth Alliance. It stands to reason that Fauci had something important to hide that influenced his leadership of the pandemic response from the beginning.
Andersen’s motives for penning the paper appear more straightforward: four days after the publication of “Proximal Origin,” Andersen received an $8.9 million research grant from Fauci’s department. If this isn’t quid pro quo, it’s one hell of a coincidence. In exchange for his credibility and cash, Andersen appears to have supplied Fauci with a “scientific” paper made up of predetermined findings. (Never short on gall, Fauci proceeded to cite the paper during press conferences as if it were independent scientific evidence.)
The legacy media and social media companies shored up the communications end of this historic caper. Establishment media figures were eager to frame the COVID-19 origin story within the lame narrative confines of resistance journalism. Unhappy with the way former President Donald Trump pronounced the word “China,” legacy media journalists hastily proclaimed the lab leak theory “debunked” and smeared its proponents with venomous glee. Reputations were tarnished and careers were ruined.
MSNBC host Chris Hayes, for example, called the lab leak theory a concoction of the “right wing” and declared that the virus “was not man-made. … That is not a possibility.” Years later, Hayes offered the partial concession that “there’s a kernel of truth to the idea that some folks were too quick to shut down the lab leak theory.” (“Some folks” like you, Chris?)
Then there was Apoorva Mandavilli, the lead COVID-19 reporter for the New York Times, who tweeted in May 2021 her hope that “Someday we will stop talking about the lab leak theory and maybe even admit its racist roots. But alas, that day is not yet here.” One wonders, has the day yet arrived for Mandavilli to issue an apology?
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This kind of rhetoric afforded social media companies the cover necessary to label lab leak speculation as “misinformation,” and even ban accounts that questioned the official narrative. It has since come to light that the Biden White House successfully pressured Facebook to censor posts that argued in favor of the lab leak theory.
If the public is ever to regain trust in the science establishment and news media, a truth and reconciliation commission regarding our nation’s pandemic response must be convened and responsible parties must be held to account. The perpetrators in government and media would like to move on from the question of COVID-19’s origin as quickly as possible. But until we get to the bottom of this, the issue isn’t going anywhere.
Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.