Dr. David Morens, senior advisor to the former Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, testified that he did not explore the lab-leak hypothesis as a potential origin of COVID-19. This admission came during his testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup highlighted this in a press release, noting Morens’ lack of investigation into scientific evidence suggesting a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
Morens, in his interview, stated that he did not consider any scientific evidence for a potential lab leak or an engineered virus. However, he maintained his belief that COVID-19 originated from an animal and was transmitted to humans. Morens also acknowledged his close friendship with EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak.
EcoHealth Alliance has been involved in sending taxpayer-funded grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research, and has previously downplayed the potential risks of such research.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, has been assessed by both the FBI and the Department of Energy as likely stemming from a lab.
Dr. Fauci was aware of gain-of-function research happening at the Wuhan lab prior to the pandemic. He appears to have orchestrated a campaign to discredit the lab leak theory early in the pandemic, as reported.
In his testimony before the select subcommittee, Fauci conceded that the lab leak theory is not merely a conspiracy theory. Wenstrup stated that Fauci acknowledged the legitimacy of the lab leak hypothesis, which had been often suppressed. Wenstrup also noted that the social distancing recommendations during the pandemic ‘sort of just appeared’ and were likely not based on scientific data.
Morens is currently on leave from his position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) following the release of private emails by the COVID subcommittee. These emails revealed that he used a personal email account to avoid public records requests. Morens denied deleting any material related to the origins of COVID-19 and forwarding records to his private email to evade scrutiny.