Former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins said last week that despite claiming in 2021 that the coronavirus lab leak theory was a “distraction” in 2021, it is actually reliable. was confirmed to members of Congress.
Collins acknowledged this Friday in a seven-hour private interview with the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, echoing testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the public face of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic response. .
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), shared key takeaways from his interview with Collins, saying he was Fauci's “boss.”
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National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee examining the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) budget estimates and the current state of medical research at the Capitol on May 26, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Sarah Silbiger Pool/Getty Images)
Fauci met with the subcommittee earlier this week and said the often-hyped lab leak hypothesis is not a conspiracy theory and that the policies and mandates he has pushed could increase vaccine hesitancy in the future. testified, Wenstrup wrote last Wednesday.
“Dr. Collins agreed with Dr. Fauci's concession that the COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis is not a conspiracy,” Wenstrup wrote Friday after meeting with Collins.
The congressman also said Collins “mined words” regarding the definition of gain-of-function research in an effort to hide NIH's involvement in funding the Wuhan research.
“This play on words mimics Dr. Fauci's prolific defense of his previous Congressional testimony in which he claimed that the NIH was not funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan,” Wenstrup wrote.
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National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins speaks at the Milken Institute's 21st World Congress held in Beverly Hills, California, USA on April 30, 2018.Reuters/Mike Blake (Reuters/Mike Blake)
According to the report, Collins told the subcommittee that Fauci invited him to attend a Feb. 1, 2020, conference call about the publication of “Proximate Origins,” which sought to denigrate and disprove the lab leak hypothesis. He told the subcommittee that this was the trigger for the incident.
“This testimony directly contradicts Dr. Fauci's previous statements and raises further concerns about the U.S. government's role in suppressing and slandering the lab leak hypothesis,” Wenstrup said.
In addition to returning to his earlier statements about the lab leak hypothesis, Collins agreed with Fauci that 6 feet of social distancing is likely not based on scientific data.
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WASHINGTON, DC – December 1: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President, provides an update on Omicron's COVID-19 variants during his daily White House press briefing. Announcement December 1, 2021 in Washington, DC. Today, the first case of the Omicron variant in the United States was confirmed in California. ((Photo by: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
Collins also reaffirmed previous statements attacking the Great Barrington Declaration, which encourages protection of vulnerable young and healthy Americans and limited restrictions.
In December 2021, after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released an email, Collins expressed deep concern about herd immunity strategies advocated by “fringe epidemiologists” and described three strategies as “quick and It became a hot topic after releasing an email asking for a “devastating public takedown.” Experts promoting a herd immunity strategy known as the Great Barrington Declaration.
He told Fox News' Bret Baier at the time that he would not apologize for his comments, arguing that hundreds of thousands of people would have died if the U.S. had followed this strategy.
“I certainly wrote it, and I stand by it,” Collins said at the time. “Essentially, fringe epidemiologists who are not qualified to make such sweeping statements are saying that if we just let the virus spread through the population, eventually everyone will get it and everything will be fine. That’s what I was saying.”
Collins' interview came after a House subcommittee held a 14-hour meeting with Fauci on January 8 and January 9 to discuss his influential role during the pandemic.
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Mr. Wenstrup's committee has been investigating whether government officials at the time, including Mr. Fauci, sought to cover up questions about whether the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
Republicans accuse these officials of promoting the natural origins theory to protect China.
FOX News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
