BREAKING: my months-long @VanityFair investigation on #COVID19 origins is live. Interviews w/ over 40 people, review of hundreds of pgs. of U.S. gov't docs. incl. internal memos, meeting minutes, email correspondence, found.... vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t… /1
Conflicts of interest, in part from large US gov't grants supporting controversial virology research, known as "gain-of-function," hampered U.S. gov't investigation into #COVID19 origins, and legit. questions on #LabLeak hypothesis, at every step. /2
In a 12/9/20 @StateDept meeting, officials say they were explicitly told by colleagues not to explore Wuhan Institute of Virology’s gain-of-function research, because it would bring unwelcome att'n to U.S. gov't funding of it. /3
In internal memo, Thomas DiNanno, then acting ass't secretary of @StateDept Arms Control, Verification, Compliance bureau documented his team was "warned...“not to pursue an investigation into the origin of COVID-19” because it would “‘open a can of worms’ if it continued.” /4
Four former State Dep't officials told @VanityFair they were repeatedly advised not to open a "Pandora's box." DiNanno said: “smelled like a cover-up, and I wasn’t going to be part of it.” /5
How much U.S. taxpayer $$ went to Wuhan Institute of Virology? On her CV, a lead researcher Shi Zhengli listed U.S. gov't support of more than $1.2 million over 5 years: $665,000 from @NIH; $559,500 from @USAID. /6
Former @CDCgov director @redfield_dr got death threats from fellow scientists after telling CNN he believed #COVID19 had lab origin. “I was threatened and ostracized because I proposed another hypothesis,” Redfield told @VanityFair. /7
Personal note: reporting this story has been like an Escher drawing. Each time I thought I'd gotten to top of the staircase, it turned again. Had to peel away conspiracy theories/racist insinuations from legit. concerns, of which there are many. /8
An amazing @VanityFair crew worked countless hours to land this story.🙏to my fabulous editor @mike_hogan, tireless fact checkers Brendan Barr & Dale Brauner, @lili_pike for terrific reporting & impeccable Chinese translation, @radhikajones for green light & more. /10
Lastly, if you're reading this thread, and have real info re. COVID origins, Wuhan Institute of Virology, etc., please DM me for Signal. /End
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BREAKING: Out today, our 2-year @statnews investigation into a Mount Sinai research study called Living Brain Project (LBP), which biopsies brain tissue from living patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) to make new disease discoveries 🧵👇/1statnews.com/2024/05/01/bra…
STAT's reporting found Mount Sinai researchers made statements to patients and regulators that 8 neurosurgeons - 4 consulted by @US_FDA/4 interviewed by STAT - contend were untrue or ambiguous, when they said brain biopsies resulted in no greater tissue loss than standard DBS. /2
“To say that a DBS procedure involves the routine sacrifice of even a small block of cortical tissue is completely untrue…. It’s crazy to say that,” Kim Burchiel, head of division of functional neurosurgery at @OHSUNews told us. /3
Exclusive: for my latest in @VanityFair, I reviewed closed-door testimony that University of North Carolina coronavirologist Ralph Baric gave to @COVIDSelect in January. /1vanityfair.com/news/story/ral…
Amid ongoing Qs re. #COVID19 origins, Baric's testimony has been of intense interest, due to his collaborations with Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists. He spoke to Congressional investigators extensively about WIV's poor biosafety protocols. /2
Prior to pandemic, he warned WIV's lead coronavirus researcher to shift research to a more secure BSL-3 lab, which she did not do. Because they continued unsafe research at BSL-2, "You can't rule" out a laboratory accident as COVID-19 origin, he testified. /3
Sources have asked what I think of new @USRightToKnow post: @EcoHealthNYC aimed to get @DARPA grant $$ 4 risky coronavirus work, by concealing that some would be done w/ low safeguards at Wuhan Inst. of Virology, not in NC as purported. A 🧵👇 /1
1st: h/t to @emilyakopp for persisting on #COVID19 origins. The story is toxic to most news outlets due to (false) claims that it's somehow right-wing/anti-science to investigate how upwards of 10-million people died. Only a small band of journos continues to actually report: /2
squaring public claims against private actions, prying loose records, digging into what US & Chinese govts knew when. Each story brings insults/abuse. @JamesCTobias @sarahknapton @ianbirrell @joshrogin @zeynep @thedeadhandbook @wstrobel @SharriMarkson /3pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/wuh…
EXCLUSIVE: My latest @VanityFair special report uncovers an almost decade-long trail of warnings issued by @ENERGY to @NIH, other gov't agencies, about risk that US-funded biology research could be misused by overseas partners. /1vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/c…
In mid-2019, just months before pandemic, Dep. Energy Secretary @dan_brouillette warned @NIAIDNews official coronavirus research it was funding at Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) risked being misappropriated by China for military use. /2
Energy Dep't concerns were longstanding. In 2016, @ENERGY warned US gov't agencies that advanced genetic engineering techniques could be misused, and shared classified proposal to ramp up safeguards. NIH director Francis Collins dismissed concerns as "science fiction." /3
NEW: My latest @VanityFair special report tells the inside story of a skirmish over early #SARSCoV2 data from Wuhan market bet. 2 leading scientific teams: China & international. China's former CDC director George Gao spoke extensively w/ vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/r… /1
@VanityFair, sharing some of most extended remarks to a Western media outlet since the pandemic’s onset. He says #COVID19's origin remains unknown and no possibility, including lab leak, can be ruled out: “I think everything's possible." /2
Gao says the fraught origins-debate politics are thwarting answers: “Once the scientists can do free science, we might get the answer. But now, everything is politicized.” I interviewed 50 people for this story, and obtained numerous new emails, texts + other records. /3
A Florida statewide grand jury launched by DeSantis is now investigating whether @moderna_tx and @pfizer made false claims for profit about the efficacy of #COVID19 vaccines. It will report results in Jan. 2024, potentially in time to influence GOP primary voters. /2
“The worst-case scenario is if it becomes a litmus test in the [presidential] primary,” says @SaadOmer3. “Then all bets are off.” New data from @SurgoVentures shows the deep influence of anti-vax sentiment in GOP base. /3