Today, a @WSJ story disclosed that US Dep't of Energy has concluded #COVID19 "most likely arose" from a lab leak, citing classified intel recently provided to @WhiteHouse and key congress members. Some thoughts on where this revelation leaves us: 🧵👇 wsj.com/articles/covid… /1
It does not mean #COVID19 necessarily came from a Wuhan lab. Rather, it underscores the need for ongoing investigation into an open question: did #COVID19 spill over from an infected animal at a Wuhan market, or result from an accidental lab leak? @WHO has long been clear: /2
Both hypotheses remain possible. Any claim that the question is settled, in either direction, is untrue. But as I first reported for @VanityFair back in June 2021, Qs about a lab leak were sidelined early on inside the US gov't: vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t… /3
Any serious researcher who has delved into #COVIDorigins - and not just taken at face value that natural spillover origin is settled science - can readily see important Qs needing further investigation. Was Wuhan Institute of Virology conducting risky research with inadequate /4
safeguards/depleted expertise? Did US scientists working w/ Chinese scientists inadvertently transfer expertise or resources, that led to unintended consequences? Did US fail in regulating a grant system that may have funded risky or dual-use research? vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/n… /5
Were some of the early assertions of a market origin being made by scientists with undisclosed professional & financial interests: vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/t…. Terrific reporting on this topic has been done by @fastlerner @MaraHvistendahl @jimmytobias and others. /6
#COVIDorigins has become a 3rd rail, leaving responsible journos with steep hill to climb: to strip away vile conspiracy theories w/ no factual basis (COVID19 as a Fauci-made bioweapon); while contending w/ claims that animal origin is case-closed, no need to look further. /7
Asking whether US scientists/funding agencies have full picture of what occurred at Wuhan Institute of Virology is not to say that scientists there are evil, corrupt, or lying. But are they free to discuss the details about research taking place there? /8 @zeynep
Today's @WSJ story by @@mgordonwsj and Warren Strobel underscores that the lab leak hypothesis is a legitimate one that demands continued investigation. /End

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More from @KatherineEban

Oct 29, 2022
EXCLUSIVE: @VanityFair/@ProPublica special report from inside Senate #COVID19 origins investigation. @jeffykao + I got 100s of pages of Senate research findings, 500+ documents from inside Wuhan Institute of Virology, consulted CCP experts: vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/c… 🧵👇 /1
Our 5-month investigation offers most detailed picture of critical months before #COVID19 outbreak: intense scientific pressure at WIV, mounting safety issues, undisclosed documents referencing Nov. 2019 biosafety incident there. Same story, also here: propublica.org/article/senate… /2
.@GOPHELP released its report on COVID origins yesterday: bit.ly/3fh4LpC. Only 35 pgs., it concludes SARS-CoV-2 “more likely than not" came from research incident. The report omitted a 236-page analysis from @StateDept analyst who unearthed explosive WIV docs. /3
Read 18 tweets
Mar 31, 2022
BREAKING: my @VanityFair investigation into @EcoHealthNYC, @NIAIDNews transparency and debate over #COVID19 origins is live. Vanity Fair obtained over 100,000 internal EcoHealth Alliance documents including meeting minutes, internal emails, reports. vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/t… /1
The documents - most predate pandemic - shed light on the world @EcoHealthNYC operated in: one of murky grant agreements, flimsy NIH oversight and pursuit of gov't grants by pitching increasingly risky global research. /2
For years, @EcoHealthNYC cultivated gov't officials at @cosmos_dc cocktail events, where EcoHealth pres. @peterdaszak worked to share podium w/ Fauci. "Cultivation events" were "great way to increase our visibility to federal funders," Daszak told his board. /3
Read 10 tweets
Dec 23, 2021
Breaking: Pleased to share my @VanityFair special report on @WhiteHouse deliberations over #COVID19 rapid testing. In an October 22 meeting, the administration got a detailed 10-pg plan to ramp up rapid testing to "prevent holiday COVID surge." vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/t… /1
Central to that plan, presented by @TheCOVIDCollab, @RockefellerFdn + others, was a "Bold Plan for Impact," namely: "Every American Household To Receive Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays/New Year." /2
The @WHCOVIDResponse rejected the idea as impossible to scale, given the limited manufacturing capacity at that time, and opted for "small ball" initiatives instead, @StevenCOVIDdoc, who was at the Oct. 22 meeting told me. /3
Read 6 tweets
Oct 22, 2021
My latest @VanityFair story: on significant @NIH admission that the agency funded risky #coronavirus research by @EcoHealthNYC and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/n… /1
In July hearing, Fauci denied to @SenRandPaul such research took place: "I totally resent the lie you are propagating." @NIH spokesperson tells me Fauci had been "entirely truthful," and had not yet seen @EcoHealthNYC report spelling out that research. /2
Yet @EcoHealthNYC says it sent research data to @NIH in 2018. Pointing to reporting "irregularities," @DavidRelman tells me this is "another chapter in a sad tale of inadequate oversight, disregard for risk, and insensitivity to the importance of transparency." /3
Read 6 tweets
Sep 9, 2021
Breaking: my @VanityFair special report is now live, a deep dive into "Operation Warp Speed on steroids," the Biden Administration's lurching effort to vaccinate the world. vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/h… /1
With roiling conflict between @WHCOVIDResponse and health agencies, an official says delays led "tens of millions" of people overseas to go unvaccinated. An Administration official calls the critics "ankle biters."
/2
As MDs and states pushed to donate surplus doses overseas, U.S. vaccines are getting wasted. An internal @COVID19 report update pegs vaccine "wastage" at 34 million doses. /3
Read 6 tweets
Jun 3, 2021
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
Read 11 tweets

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