Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci today over funding risky “gain-of-function” research at the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology, then changing the definition after repeatedly denying it. Paul charged that the NIH changed the definition to “try and cover your ass, basically.”
Anthony Fauci was grilled once more by Sen. Rand Paul over Fauci’s funding of risky “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Many say this Chinese lab is the source of the coronavirus pandemic through his position as a decades-long healthcare bureaucrat,
Paul urged Fauci to accept responsibility for funding risky gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, and accused him of altering the National Institutes of Health definition of the term itself to “cover your ass.”
“What we are saying is that this was risky, type of research. Gain-of-function research. It was risky to share this with the Chinese, and that COVID may have been created from a not yet revealed virus. We don’t anticipate the Chinese are going to reveal the virus if it came from their lab. You know that but you continue to mislead,” Paul said.
“Yes, our civilization could be at risk from one of these viruses,” said Paul. “Experiments that combine unknown viruses with coronavirus that have as much as 50% mortality could endanger civilization as you know it, and here you sit, unwilling to accept any responsibility for the current pandemic,” the Senator charged, “And unwilling to take any steps to prevent gain-of-function research from possibly unleashing an even more deadly virus.”
.@RandPaul vs Dr. Fauci, Round 7: NIH "changed the definition [of "gain of function"] on the website to try to cover your ass, basically. That’s what you’ve done, you’ve changed the website to change the definition that doesn’t include the risky research that’s going on." pic.twitter.com/g70anl1tMP
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 4, 2021
“You continue to support NIH money going to Wuhan. You continue to say you ‘trust’ the Chinese scientists. You appear to have learned nothing from this pandemic. Will you today finally take some responsibility for funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan?” Paul asked.
Fauci, attempting to avoid the question, then said gain-of-function was a “nebulous term,” adding that they trying to give a “more precise definition” of the term when they deleted gain-of-function from the NIH website and replaced it with ePPP and “P3CO.” (READ MORE: NIH Quietly Changes Definition Of ‘Gain-Of-Function’ Amid Fauci, Wuhan Lab Scandal Fallout)
“We are aware that you deleted gain-of-function from the NIH website,” Senator Paul reminded Fauci. “So what you’re doing is defining away gain-of-function. You’re simply saying it doesn’t exist because you changed the definition on the NIH website. This is terrible, and you’re completely trying to escape the idea that we should do something about trying to prevent a pandemic from leaking from a lab.”
“What you’ve done is changed the definition on the website to try to cover your ass basically. That’s what you’ve done. You’ve changed the website to change the definition that doesn’t include the risky research that’s going on,” Senator Paul said.
