Remarks from a virologist calling out former National Institutes of Health leaders—Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci—have sparked renewed interest on Capitol Hill about the government’s handling of COVID-19.
Virologist Simon Wain-Hobson, a professor at the Paris-based Institut Pasteur, accused Fauci and Collins of “professional failure” in the COVID-19 pandemic and the lead-up to it when speaking in March to more than 100 NIH officials.
“Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins are guilty of offenses far worse than ‘professional failure,’” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told The Daily Signal.
“They were clearly involved in a purposeful cover-up of their support for and funding of dangerous gain-of-function research that more than likely produced the coronavirus and allowed them to unleash their mRNA injection on an unsuspecting global population,” Johnson added.
Fauci, Collins, and other NIH officials have denied conducting gain-of-function research or that such research led to the COVID-19 pandemic. The term “gain-of-function” describes a risky research process of making a pathogen more dangerous or contagious for the purpose of studying a response.
Paul D. Thacker, an independent journalist and former Senate staff investigator, first reported on his Substack, The Disinformation Chronicle, on the private remarks by Wain-Hobson to NIH officials.
The virologist’s remarks should be reviewed, Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., a doctor who was a member of the former House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said.
“I’ve continually said that questions regarding the origins of COVID-19 and gain-of-function research should always be addressed with transparency and seriousness,” McCormick told The Daily Signal. “If a respected virologist like Simon Wain-Hobson raises concerns about past leadership at NIH, those concerns should be carefully reviewed.”
“Early publications associated with NIH leadership, including Dr. Fauci, shaped the initial narrative and may have limited broader scientific debate,” McCormick continued. “Transparency and accountability at the NIH are essential for public trust. The whole point of science is to have robust debate, and the minute you sterilize that debate, it is no longer science.”
Collins is the former director of the National Institutes of Health. Fauci is the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
During his remarks, Wain-Hobson pointed to a 2011 Washington Post commentary by Fauci and Collins that defended controversial research.
“We can’t have the safety of society being dictated without discussion,” Wain-Hobson said. “I think that was a professional failure.”
He further accused the American Society for Microbiology of “obfuscating” how dangerous gain-of-function research is. The society did not respond to inquiries for this story.
After retiring, Fauci became a professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and a professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy. The Daily Signal contacted the media relations office at Georgetown University to seek comment from Fauci. The Daily Signal also contacted Leading Authorities Inc., a speaking bureau that books Fauci for public speeches. No one responded by publication time.
The Daily Signal also reached out for this story to the Harry Walker Agency, which books Collins’ speaking engagements; to AAE Speakers, which lists Collins as one of their speakers; and to an email address still listed for Collins on the NIH website. No one responded by publication time.
