THE ORIGIN
"The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" publication was produced by scientists with expertise in viruses and infectious disease transmission. As with any scientific publication, it is based on the best evidence avilable at the time.
A scientific theory stands until new evidence disproves it.
1.
The "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" publication concludes with a statement that coronavirus could only have arisen through biological evolution in either of two ways: zoonotic tranmission (animal to human via a possible intermediary), or mutation of existing coronaviruses common in humans.
2.
There is no indication that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had studied viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 or artificially modified coronaviruses before the COVID-19 pandemic (Holmes et al., 2021). No-one pushing the "Lab Leak" narrative has provided proof to the contrary.
3.
When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. One year later, the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like covid-19. 3 Months before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump stopped funding the Predict project, which had identified 160 potentially dangerous coronaviruses.
4.
Long COVID, which affects an estimated 44.69-48.04 million people in the U.S. (as of Jan 2025), is an ongoing public health concern that will continue to grow as SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread. The current number of Long COVID cases could end up costing society at least $2.01-$6.56 billion. In March 2025, President Trump pulled funding from The Office for Long COVID Research and Practice, effectively closing it.
5.
The "Lab Leak" theory conviniently avoids evolution, because evolution is contrary to MAGA conservative Christian beliefs. It also hurls blame back onto China in the midst of a bitter trade war, entirely of President Trump's making.
Dr Anthony Faucci
Fauci has been described as "a consistent spokesperson for science, a person who more than any other figure has brokered a generational peace" between the two worlds of science and politics. In March 2020, he predicted that the infection fatality rate for COVID-19 would likely be close to 1%, which was ten times more severe than the 0.1% reported rate for seasonal flu.
Outspoken
As Trump campaigned to mostly unmasked, tightly packed crowds at rallies across the country ahead of the 2020 election, then Head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr Anthony Faucci, appeared on 60 minutes. Among the many statements and warnings he made, one in particular infurated President Trump. Faucci stated, "When you have a million deaths ...globally, you cannot say we are on a road to essentially getting out of this". At the same time, President Trump had publically claimed that America had "turned a corner". Faucci had failed Trump's loyalty test, and he would be made to pay.
Ecohealth Alliance
EcoHealth Alliance is a global nonprofit leading scientific research into the critical connections between human, animal and environmental health. As early as 2004, EcoHealth's president, Peter Daszak, all but predicted Covid-19 on 60 Minutes. EcoHealth Alliance worked in Australia to assess the risk of Hendra virus, a lethal virus harbored by fruit bats. Early Covid treatments like Remdesivir and Molnupiravir were studied against viruses that EcoHealth Alliance identified.
The NIAID
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is a government agency that conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. The NIAID funded some of the research EcoHealth Alliance did with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the years before Covid-19. When the Chinese outbreak went global, speculation of the pandemic's origins were rife, and this is where the "Lab Leak" narrative began. Dr. Fauci served as NIAID Director from 1984 to 2022.
"these were people that actually loved our country"
- President Trump, on QAnon and The Proud Boys that led the Jan 6 insurrection.
THESE LUNATICS
PARDON
The witch hunt
Rightwing media outlets pounced on the NIAID and Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the lab leak theory on Covid's origin was assigned villains. President Trump ordered the NIH to immediately cancel EcoHealth's grant, the only time in history when the White House has overruled the peer-review process at the NIH. The narrative was heavily pushed by the Republican far right, and conspiracy theorists within and beyond its ranks.
Chiiii-na
In late 2018, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Michael Lauer, sent out emails to around 100 institutions asking them to investigate their use of goverment funds - especially in relation to Chinese Insitutions. Four years later, 246 scientists targeted in the letters for having the most vague connection with any Chinese Instution, had been fired.
Trade war
The renewed and fervent promotion of the Lab Leak narrative has little to do with evidence. It continues to be pushed by the far-right, and those prone to conspiracy theories - including the new head of Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It has now become another weapon in Presdident Trump's trade war against China, and a manifestation of his personal vendetta against Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Distrust
An ABC News/Washington Post survey conducted in October 2020, in the aftermath of Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, found that two-thirds of registered voters said Trump failed to take appropriate precautions against the coronavirus. 62% said they distrusted what he says about it, and just 21% said the virus was under control.
A study, released in April 2020, found that Fauci was chosen by 45% of those surveyed as a trustworty source of information, while participants' "own state's governor" was cited by 35%, and President Donald Trump by just 20%.