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Alina Chan Profile picture
Alina Chan
@Ayjchan
Scientific Advisor at Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard 🧬 Co-author of VIRAL: the search for the origin of Covid-19 📖 A dangerous young investigator 🕵🏻‍♀
64 subscribers
Jan 9 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
No punches pulled piece on #OriginOfCovid by @ianbirrell

"The pandemic revealed the arrogant and contemptuous behaviour of leading scientific figures, aided by prominent academic journals, patsy journalists and weak politicians."
unherd.com/2025/01/chinas… @ianbirrell I suggest one correction @ianbirrell please replace 'despite' with 'because of':

WHO "hired Sir Jeremy Farrar, despite the former Wellcome Trust boss’s exposure as a central player in... branding any suggestions Covid could have come from a laboratory as conspiracy theory."
Jan 5 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
5 years ago, the authors of Proximal Origin wondered where the pandemic virus had been transmitting *intensely* so that it gained a furin cleavage site and passed it on.

One said, "No way the selection could occur in the market. Too low a density of mammals." #OriginOfCovid Image Until today, there has been no reported sign of intense transmission of the virus in animals prior to the detected outbreak in Wuhan.

Investigators, including one Proximal Origin author, searched fur farms in China - no sign of any SARS-like virus.
nature.com/articles/s4158…
Jan 1 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"5% chance that H5N1 starts a sustained pandemic in humans in the next year. 50% chance that H5N1 starts a sustained pandemic in humans in the next twenty years..."

I invite @slatestarcodex to estimate the chances of a lab-based flu pandemic by 2025!
astralcodexten.com/p/h5n1-much-mo… @slatestarcodex For consideration, only 4 projects have been flagged by NIH for HHS review since 2017.

One project, funded till 2020, proposed creating ferret transmissible H5N1.

One project, proposed in 2024, was not funded by NIH so no info was made public.
aspr.hhs.gov/S3/Pages/Resea…Image
Dec 23, 2024 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Peter Daszak, who partnered with the Wuhan lab that likely caused the pandemic and is being debarred by HHS, continues to chair @NASEM_Health's forum on microbial threats.

Daszak's forum is hosting @theNASEM workshop on the future emergence of pathogens.
nationalacademies.org/event/43921_01… @NASEM_Health @theNASEM The event disclaimer and website make no mention of Daszak's involvement in this event or any conflicts of interest. Image
Dec 22, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
In 2020, leading virologists deceived a @nytimes journalist, resulting in NYT dropping the lab leak hypothesis.

Years later, these virologists continue to deny their perfidy while attacking experts like @sigridbratlie who call out their deception.
telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/0… @nytimes @sigridbratlie At the @USFHealth Covid meeting, natural #OriginOfCovid proponents exalted one of these virologists.

Thankfully @ewinsberg read out the slack messages of these virologists which completely contrasted with their public stance.
Dec 22, 2024 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I gave a 15min talk on a likely laboratory #OriginOfCovid at @USFHealth's @HdxAcademy meeting on hotly debated Covid topics earlier this month. The exchange with natural origin proponents and Q&A are worth watching. The recording is available now: digitalcommons.usf.edu/usfcovid/2024/… @USFHealth @HdxAcademy The meeting covered other topics including lockdowns, vaccines, and public health messaging. I left the meeting with my mind changed on one topic - a sign of high quality scientific exchanges on issues that remain unresolved.
Nov 27, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
National Academy of Sciences president @Marcia4Science says "NAS stands ready, as it always has, to advise the incoming administration."

How does @theNASciences plan to advise the new gov on #OriginOfCovid and research that can start pandemics?
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… @Marcia4Science @theNASciences In Feb 2020, @theNASEM convened 3 of the most highly conflicted experts to advise the US gov on #OriginOfCovid

They were Peter Daszak & Ralph Baric who collaborated with the Wuhan lab, and Kristian Andersen who published Proximal Origin. nationalacademies.org/news/2020/02/n…
Sep 15, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Accidentally swore and got bleeped on my live interview with On Point @MeghnaWBUR while discussing why lab #OriginOfCovid must be investigated and why scientists must not lie or obfuscate the truth for political reasons.
wbur.org/onpoint/2024/0… @MeghnaWBUR Meghna did an excellent job putting the arguments of natural #OriginOfCovid proponents to me so I could refute them directly in the interview.

The scientific evidence does not support a double spillover of the virus at the Wuhan market.
Jun 19, 2024 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
I respect Dr Fauci's decades of service in gov. Being in charge during a pandemic is no small challenge & no one can lead for so long without making mistakes. However, it needs to be said that Dr Fauci has not surrounded himself with wise & honest people regarding #OriginOfCovid These are the virologists & experts he trusted on #OriginOfCovid

In their private messages in early 2020, they mocked other virologists for not being able to predict their own lab leaks & misled a @nytimes journalist asking about a potential lab origin.
Jun 19, 2024 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Dr Bob Garry admitted we don't know what viruses were studied in Wuhan labs. The papers he cited in support of natural #OriginOfCovid have been thoroughly refuted (see below).

My response to Garry's testimony was submitted into record. Key points ⬇️
hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/origi… A research-related #OriginOfCovid is plausible and even considered more likely by some experts and US intelligence agencies.
goodjudgment.com/wp-content/upl…
May 2, 2024 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Ralph Baric's interview with @covidselect reveals he was on the Feb 1, 2020 phone call with Farrar, Fauci, Collins and the Proximal Origin authors.

Did he reveal his plans from 2018 with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to put furin cleavage sites into SARS-like viruses?

oversight.house.gov/wp-content/upl…Image @COVIDSelect Baric said he forgot about the Defuse proposal & did not mention it at the Feb 1 call.

I believe Baric sharing Defuse would've prevented the publication of Proximal Origin and the use of it to dismiss a lab #OriginOfCovid in US gov and to the public. Image
May 1, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance testified he didn't know Wuhan Institute of Virology bred 🦇, studied pangolin samples, engineered viruses without leaving a trace, and continued to collect viruses after 2015.

So how does he know they didn't cause Covid?
Daszak said he didn't know if WIV had started experiments described in the Defuse proposal and 🚨had not even asked them🚨.

He only had virus sequences from samples collected up to 2015. He believed that the WIV would've shared more sequences from 2016-2019 if they had them.
Apr 22, 2024 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Those dismissing a lab #OriginOfCovid have had to make numerous concessions over the past 4 years.

We now know Wuhan scientists conducted risky experiments with novel SARS-like viruses at low biosafety & planned in 2018 to create viruses with the traits of the Covid-19 virus. We also know the data on early cases & Huanan market shared by Chinese scientists do not shed light on #OriginOfCovid

Proponents of natural origin continue to argue that it is the totality of evidence that supports their hypothesis but this could be said for lab origin as well.
Apr 18, 2024 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Freedom of speech is important in academia & science but difficult to navigate when it comes to politicized topics.

With #OriginOfCovid, some scientists, journals & reporters have competing interests & may be blamed if research they conducted, funded or glorified caused Covid. On Tuesday’s hearing, chief editor of Science said the scientific community contributed to politicization of Covid & it was wrong to paint 'lab leak' as a conspiracy theory.

There was widespread consensus, Democrat or Republican, that #OriginOfCovid remains unresolved.
Apr 11, 2024 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
The @BulletinAtomic Pathogens Project successfully unified experts from opposing ends of #OriginOfCovid, representing diverse disciplines & cultures.

The outcome was a set of practical and high impact recommendations that policymakers are taking note of.
thebulletin.org/2024/04/how-to… @BulletinAtomic Please see this thread for highlights from the report:
Apr 11, 2024 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Leaders of scientific funding agencies said Proximal Origin was a nice job. According to the lead author of Proximal Origin, Farrar, Fauci & Collins had advised and led them as they wrote the letter.

So why won't @NatureMedicine put these leaders in the acknowledgements?
Image The only scientist acknowledged in Proximal Origin arguably contributed much less than these 3 leaders.

He wasn't even at the Feb 1 meeting organized by Farrar where #OriginOfCovid was hotly debated and Proximal Origin was initiated.
Mar 19, 2024 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Serious question:
Is it acceptable for scientists to publish assertions that they know are not well supported by the available evidence? The first author told Nature they really, really wish they could refute a lab origin but it's just not possible given the data. They were rejected.

They then went to Nature Medicine, telling the editor they would make clear that #OriginOfCovid is natural.
Mar 18, 2024 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
What I think would be accurate reporting

2020: Some 🧑‍🔬 dismissed lab #OriginOfCovid as implausible/conspiracy theory. Journalists captured. Issue polarized. Mudslinging from both sides.

2021-: FOIA/subpoenas show 🧑‍🔬 went too far, misled journalists. Lab origin plausible/likely. 2024: Some 🧑‍🔬, including those who misled journalists on #OriginOfCovid and engaged in their own repeated harassment of scientists asking for fair investigation, complain to employers about harassment by scientists on side of lab leak.
Mar 16, 2024 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I believe that reporting on online harassment should be fair.

The latest piece by @jocelynkaiser does not point out the harassment that these dozen scientists filing a complaint have themselves engaged in towards other scientists like myself in the past 4 years. @jocelynkaiser I would also like to invite the employers of these dozen scientists to review their tweets directed at me and other scientists, and to let us know what their standards for ethical and professional behavior are.
Jan 28, 2024 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
If even more compelling evidence of a lab #OriginOfCovid emerges, how will the scientific community (scientists, journals, funders, journalists) correct for the silencing, intimidation and degradation of rare scientists who dared to speak out and ask for a credible investigation? I implore scientists, especially virologists, who are tenured and more established to please speak up on #OriginOfCovid

Think not only about the history books but also the risky lab research happening even right now around the world that places millions of lives at risk.
Jan 21, 2024 • 15 tweets • 4 min read
Defuse is compelling evidence for a likely lab #OriginOfCovid I believe lab leak should be the default hypothesis.

However, there is a gap in the publicly available evidence. We don't know what happened in 2018-2019 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Different people fill in that gap differently.

Some believe the Wuhan scientists gave up on the experiments in Defuse because they didn't get a bit of money from the US.

Others believe they followed through on those risky plans at low biosafety and caused the pandemic.