Rand Paul and Fauci are arguing over whether the bat coronavirus research in Wuhan was "gain of function" according to the NIH definition. That's somewhat besides the point of whether the research is risky or not (it is).
Fauci: “I do not have any accounting of what the Chinese may have done and I am fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China.” Wow.
Fauci: "The NIH and NIAID categorically has not funded gain of function research to be conducted in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” Paul points out that many scientists argue the research was gain-of-function even if the NIH didn't define it as such.
.@PeterHotez says on CNN there's "no evidence" for a lab accident theory (which isn't true) and then says it doesn't matter anyway (which is crazy). @KateBolduan Rand is asking legitimate questions and Fauci is responding in a lawyerly fashion.
@PeterHotez @KateBolduan Fauci says he supports any and all investigations in China but he hasn't said he supports investigation the relationships between the Wuhan labs and US organizations like NIH and NIAID. But those investigations have already begun: washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…
The narrow question of whether NIH funded "gain of function" research in Wuhan is just one piece of the puzzle. As the NIH just admitted, we don't know what else these Wuhan labs were doing.
https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/1392096145300676608?s=20
This Rand Paul/Fauci exchange shows two things: 1) Fauci is still resisting any legitimate examination of NIH and NIAID relationships with the Wuhan labs. 2) This issue getting politicized even more, which is a tragedy, so both parties must come together to press for answers. END
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