(PatriotSpotlight.org) – Dr. Anthony Fauci has passionately defended his actions during the pandemic in a congressional testimony. The erstwhile director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), delivered his controversial statement on Monday.
Fauci became the most prominent public health official in the U.S. during the height of the pandemic response in 2020 and has been slammed for his decisions, especially over claims the virus emerged from a Chinese lab leak which he denied.
Fauci slammed accusations that he was complicit in a cover-up to hide the real cause of the pandemic and said he had always left that question to experts who later said there was zero evidence the disease was manipulated claiming it had emerged in nature.
Fauci’s testimony comes as part of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which is looking back over 30,000 pages of documents from Dr. David Morens, Fauci’s ex-senior adviser. The subcommittee’s probe has exacerbated anxieties that Fauci and other higher-ups at the NIH officials deliberately concealed the truth about the pandemic’s cause.
In his opening comments, Fauci praised collaborative work to uncover the genesis of the virus, recalling a call with top virologists, in which the lab leak theory was considered. Fauci also spoke on the divisive issue of NIH grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), at the apex of lab leak hypotheses. He firmly rejected claims that any research backed by such grants could be linked to the creation of the virus. Fauci claimed that the bat viruses studied at WIV under these grants were genetically distinct from SARS-CoV-2 and that it would have therefore been impossible for them to be manufactured into SARS-CoV-2.
Fauci also spoke candidly about the emotional impact of the events and controversies surrounding him, with threats being made to his own family. Despite the pressures, he maintained his commitment to scientific integrity and transparency. The debate over the pandemic continues to rumble on and provoke intense responses from all sides of the political debate.
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