The NIH finally admits it funded Gain of Function research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, despite Dr. Fauci’s denials

In July, US Senator Rand Paul accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying to Senate about the NIH funding of the Gain of Function (GoF) research in Wuhan, China. During the hearing, Dr. Fauci maintained his innocence saying that  NIH did not fund the research work. You can watch the video of their exchange here.

Fast forward three months later, The NIH finally admits they funded gain of function research on bat coronaviruses, contrary to Dr. Fauci’s claim earlier this year. In a letter (below) to Representative James Comer, NIH corrected the untruthful assertions by NIH Director Collins and NIAID Director Fauci that NIH had not funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

The NIH went on to assert that GoF research couldn’t have caused the pandemic because humans evolve at the same rate as viruses. Feeling vindicated, Senator Rand Paul said in a tweet, “I told you so” doesn’t even begin to cover it here:

“I told you so” doesn’t even begin to cover it here: https://t.co/9JFn85I24i

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 21, 2021

In 2012, Dr. Anthony Fauci argued in a paper that the benefit of Gain-Of-Function (GoF) research into bat virus “was worth the risk.” The research involves scientists extracting viruses from the wild and engineering them to infect humans in order to study potential therapeutics including vaccines.

In the paper, Dr. Fauci wrote:

“In an unlikely but conceivable turn of events, what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic? Scientists working in this field might say — as indeed I have said — that the benefits of such experiments and the resulting knowledge outweigh the risks.”

The research was later funded by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, according to a piece from Newsweek Magazine titled: “Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab with U.S. Dollars for Risky Coronavirus Research.” In the article, Newsweek wrote:

“But just last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.”

Newsweek went on to say that Dr. Fauci played an important role in promoting GOF research. Below is how Newsweek explains it:

“In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7 million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.”

Below are the screenshots of the NIH letter to Congress.