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Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Shared two words in response to news of unearthed emails from Dr Anthony Fauci.
Thousands of emails obtained by Buzzfeed News and hundreds more examined by the Washington Post via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show Fauci’s responses to criticism and praise as he worked on communicate the dangers of COVID-19 in the United States as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“I told you,” Paul wrote in a Tuesday tweet with the hashtag #firefauci.
He added in another tweet: “I can’t wait to see the media trying to get Fauci FOIA emails going.”
Paul has repeatedly criticized Fauci on social media and in interviews for his comments on herd immunity, wearing masks even after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and his rejection of a theory suggesting COVID-19 could come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China which has gained more credibility among members of the media in recent weeks despite early rejection of the idea.
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Paul also condemned Fauci’s assertion made at a May 25 congressional hearing that a $ 600,000 federal grant from NIAID did not directly fund the lab’s gain-of-function research, which involves modify a virus to make it more infectious in humans.
The grant went to a group called the EcoHealth Alliance, which then paid the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study the risk that bat coronaviruses could infect humans.
Francis Collins, director of NIH, said earlier in the hearing that the taxpayer-funded grant to EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology was not approved to conduct research on gain-of-office.
Some Republicans, including Paul, argue that the NIAID money under Fauci’s purview actually went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct gain-of-office research, which raises ethical concerns. safety and security, according to some politicians and scientists.
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“Fauci acknowledged that a gain-of-function super virus could escape a lab and cause a pandemic, but it’s worth it. His turnip should disqualify him from government service,” Paul wrote in a May 28 tweet. responding to Fauci’s comments during Hearing of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee.
Collins dismissed the so-called “lab leak theory” as a “conspiracy” in an April email to Fauci obtained by Buzzfeed.
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In an April 17 email obtained by the outlet, Fauci said the coronavirus mutations that led to COVID-19 are “fully compatible with a species leap from animal to human” instead. than a lab leak.
Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth, personally thanked Fauci for supporting ‘evidence’ that COVID-19 originated from an animal rather than the Wuhan lab on April 18, 2020, emails obtained by the Buzzfeed show .
“I just wanted to say a personal thank you on behalf of our staff and collaborators, for standing up publicly and declaring that scientific evidence supports a natural origin for COVID-19 from bat-to-human overflow. , not a lab release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, ”Daszak wrote to Fauci.
Security personnel gather near the entrance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by the World Health Organization team to Wuhan, China’s Hubei Province, Wednesday, February 3. 2021. (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)
He called the NIAID director’s comments “courageous”, saying they “would help dispel myths about the origins of the virus.”
“Thank you very much for your kind note,” replied Fauci.
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The NIAID director said at the House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on May 25 that he had no objection to an investigation into China’s early handling of the pandemic.
Fauci also said in emails published by Buzzfeed that store-bought masks would not be completely effective in preventing COVID-19.
In a February response to an emailed question about wearing masks while traveling by plane, Fauci said: “The masks are really meant for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to uninfected people. rather than protecting uninfected people from infection. “
He added that “the typical mask you buy at a drugstore is not really effective at preventing the virus from entering, which is small enough to pass through material.”
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“It could, however, offer a slight advantage in preventing large droplets from entering if someone coughs or sneezes on you,” he said, adding: “I don’t recommend you wear a mask, especially the more you run a very low location risk. “
The emails show Fauci’s shift in thinking and about-faces on some COVID-19-related topics between winter and spring 2020 when the virus first arrived in the United States and spring 2021 while the number of infections began to decrease significantly as more and more people received their vaccines.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President, addresses a group of interfaith clergy. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The director of NIAID has been hailed as a hero by some politicians and experts and criticized by others for disseminating conflicting information.
A May 23 Wall Street Journal report citing previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence documents that revealed that some of the Wuhan Institute of Virology workers who fell ill in 2019 required hospital care, adding weight to what some have dubbed it the “lab leak theory”.
The State Department acknowledged in January 2021 that “the United States government has reason to believe that several researchers within the WIV fell ill in the fall of 2019”. He revealed that they had exhibited symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 “and with common seasonal illness.”
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Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is one of China’s top virus research laboratories, has built an archive of genetic information on bat coronaviruses after the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and has been criticized for being transparent throughout the pandemic.
The Journal reported that the veracity of intelligence is debated by current and former officials. At least one of them told the newspaper that further analysis is needed since the evidence was provided by foreign contacts. Another source told the newspaper that the evidence appeared accurate and “was of an exquisite quality.”
The newspaper reported that China has denied any claims that the virus was somehow leaked from the lab. China on Sunday accused the United States of continuing efforts to “hype the lab leak theory.”
Fox News’s Tyler Olson, Edmund DeMarche, and Rich Edson contributed to this report.
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