White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday the China-dominated World Health Organization (WHO) would lead phase two of an investigation into the origins of the novel Wuhan coronavirus.
Psaki’s remark came in response to a reporter at a White House briefing who pressed Psaki on what groups would be charged with another investigation of the virus’ origin after the WHO’s initial report was undermined by its own Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Ghebreuesus admitted more research needs to be conducted after the WHO concluded from its initial investigation under Chinese oversight last year ruled the lab-leak hypothesis, written off as a conspiracy in U.S. media, was highly unlikely.
New reporting found several researchers fell ill with COVID-like symptoms at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) where “gain-of-function” research was conducted just prior to the first 2019 outbreak. Researchers were even hospitalized, implicating the lab-leak theory as more likely than bat-to-human transmission either in the wild or in a Chinese wet market.
“What role does the Biden administration think U.S. scientists or CDC scientists should play in that investigation?” a reporter asked.
“The WHO would be the body that would be overseeing a transparent, independent phase 2 investigation. That’s something we have strongly supported,” Psaki said. “That would require China finally stepping up and allowing access needed to determine the origins.”
Republicans have maintained skepticism of the WHO after the global health agency under overwhelming Chinese influence lied early on about the nature of the virus as evidenced in the tweet below. WHO amplified false pandemic data from China, manipulated by bad-faith communist actors.
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?s=20
After spending months tossing cold water on the Wuhan lab leak theory, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who circumvented a U.S. ban on supporting gain-of-function research by funding it in Wuhan, conceded Sunday he was “not convinced” the virus did not come from a lab.
