A taxpayer watchdog that targets U.S. health agencies sued the U.S. National Institutes of Health, seeking emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), dating back to 2013.
“I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for publicly standing up and stating that the scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from a bat-to-human spillover, not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,“ Daszak wrote to Fauci last year, according to the emails that were released to several media outlets through a FOIA request this week. ”From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’ origins,”
Fauci, who at the time in April 2020 said that evidence revealed that the virus spread via animal-human-transmission, responded by saying: “Many thanks for your kind note.”
The CCP has denied claims that the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and has often said the virus was transmitted first to humans at a wet market by a yet-to-be-disclosed animal.
“Taxpayers have a right to know what the NIH knew about how its money was being spent at the Wuhan animal lab, and what NIH knew about a potential lab leak in late 2019 and early 2020,” Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at the White Coat Waste Project, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Transparency and accountability at home and abroad are critical in the quest to identify the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent another outbreak.”
White Coat Waste’s lawsuit is seeking NIH and NIAID funding applications, NIH’s and NIAID’s communication with EHA, disbursement records, and other communications.
The NIH and NIAID were not involved in providing funding for “gain-of-function” research into viruses, Fauci told a congressional hearing last month and confirmed NIH earmarked $600,000 for the Wuhan Institute of Virology over a five-year period to study coronaviruses and provided the funding to EHA.
“That categorically was not done,” he said during the hearing.
The Epoch Times has reached out to NIAID for comment.