Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the top U.S. public health officials during the coronavirus pandemic, told members of Congress on Tuesday that school closures sponsored by his agency have left children in harm's way. He said he was “not convinced” that he had lost the ability to learn.
The former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director made a surprising confession on the second and final day of a 14-hour closed-door interview before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, according to two committee members. did.
“He says he's not yet convinced that there was learning loss. In his view, it's still debatable,” said Rep. Michael Cloud, a member of the committee. (R-Texas) told the Post.
“I think [if] “If you ask any parent, they'll tell you it's had a huge impact on their child's development,” Cloud added.
Fauci, who was a member of former President Donald Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force and served as President Biden's chief medical adviser until he leaves office at the end of 2022, has adhered to strict social distancing, mask-wearing and lock-down measures. He has repeatedly called for the downfall, but has frequently denied responsibility for the fallout.
“Show me the schools I've closed and the factories I've closed. Not once. I've never done that,” he said in April 2023, when asked about his support for “heavy-handed” policies, according to The New York Times.・Told the magazine.
“I issued public health recommendations that mirrored those of the CDC, and people made decisions based on that,” he said. “But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or another.”
Cloud said Fauci showed “an uncanny ability to forget what happened or find a way to avoid any responsibility for the impact” during marathon sessions.
“They say, 'Oh, the district made that decision,' and wash their hands of any responsibility.” But districts are exposed to lawsuits if they don't follow guidance from the federal government. I know that,” Cloud added.
Statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education in September 2022 show that reading scores among 9-year-olds have plummeted to their lowest point in 30 years over the course of the pandemic, and math scores have fallen for the first time in half a century. Tracking.
Tensions also flared over Fauci's refusal to discuss his role in funding gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, with members of the House Novel Coronavirus Committee telling reporters that former NIAID He said doctors continued to use alternative definitions of the term to avoid controversy. .
“I think he's toying with the semantics of the term, and I think it's clear that the lab in Wuhan was doing gain-of-function research,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-S.C., another committee member. (New York) told the Post.
“I told someone today that it was like Bill Clinton debating what 'is',” Cloud said of Fauci's evasion.
“They were looking at what the different definitions were. That's why even when this issue was going on, there was one definition on the NIH website, but Mr. Fauci and the NIAID… “When we were talking about it, we were operating under a different definition,” he said. said Morgan Griffith (R-Va.).
Griffiths added that he believed Fauci's previous testimony to Congress was true “because it makes it clear that there are different types of acquisition of capabilities.”
Fauci had claimed “I don't remember” in response to more than 100 questions from committee members the previous day, but on Tuesday morning, as he entered the hearing room surrounded by Capitol Police officers and lawyers. He refused to talk to reporters.
Fauci has repeatedly denied lifting a moratorium on funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan and then sought to cover it up and avoid accountability in Congress in response to requests for comment from the Post. I ignored it.
His lawyers, two privately appointed and two provided by the federal government, responded to The Post's request for questions with “no questions, no answers.”
House Novel Coronavirus Select Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) told reporters whether SARS-CoV-2 escaped from a lab or was naturally transmitted from animals to humans. Determining which remains a top priority for himself and other committee members, Fauci said, “Be open to both theories.''
“I had the opportunity to work on science with Dr. Fauci and be able to compare things like natural versus maybe made in a lab,” Wenstrup said. “And I think it really opened up that there needs to be further discussion on this, and he agreed with that. So I think that was a positive.”
“After spending a lot of time in restraint, he said it was possible,” Malliotakis also said. “And he acknowledged that cooperation from China is needed to further investigate the lab leak theory.”
House Coronavirus Subcommittee Ranking Member Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), who slipped out of the hearing room through a back door to avoid speaking to reporters, released a scathing statement about the hearing late Monday night. He criticized the Republican Party's efforts as “politically driven.” fishing expedition. ”
He did not appear for any part of Monday's hearing, but another committee member, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), told reporters that the transcript of the interview was “not factual. “It helps us understand the details,” he said. The decision to question Fauci was “highly political.”
The Department of Energy and the FBI have both determined that a lab leak is the “most likely” explanation for the coronavirus, but other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, have been unable to reach a consensus. .
internal government records and Fauci's personal email Potentially dangerous experiments on SARS-like viruses were conducted from 2014 to 2019 with the support of a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the Manhattan-based EcoHealth Alliance. It showed that he was aware of that.
Additional records obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic also show that the former NIAID director coordinated with then-NIH Director Francis Collins to silence dissent about the virus. Possible leak from a Chinese laboratory.
in Email February 1, 2020Fauci said that researchers at Wuhan University, who are also receiving U.S. grants, are “working on gain-of-function experiments to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the adaptation of bat viruses to human infection.” “It is known,” he said, expressing concern.
Fauci told the committee that he should not have stated as a “fact” in the email that gain-of-function experiments were being conducted in Wuhan.
Dr. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, told the Post: us government policy It was introduced to protect the public from a pandemic that originated in a laboratory. ”
“In attempting to deny that he violated U.S. government policy by claiming to favor a different definition of 'gain of function' and a potential pandemic pathogen, Mr. “It's exactly the same as a terrorist who tries to deny that he or she has violated the law,” Ebright said. “I prefer a different definition of terrorism.”
Documents obtained by the House Coronavirus Committee also revealed that Fauci's NIAID instituted a government-wide moratorium on gain-of-function research from 2014 to 2017 and greenlit tests in Wuhan.
“Mr. Fauci admitted today that they had no oversight…even no safety inspections,” Malliotakis said of his time at NIAID. “Why would you part with millions of dollars? [worth of grants] Without proper scrutiny of these organizations or scrutiny of national security concerns?
“They have abdicated their responsibility to ensure that this money is used appropriately and safely,” she added.
Last September, the Department of Health and Human Services barred the Wuhan Institute of Virology from receiving further funding from the United States.
