Quote:A new “joint WHO-China study” into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China, claims that the theory that the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan to be the least likely theory out of four possible theories — however, U.S. officials are casting doubt on the report.

The report claims that the most likely scenario was that humans contracted the coronavirus through an animal and that the lab leak theory was “extremely unlikely.” The report contends that the most likely theory is that a bat infected another animal which then infected a human.

“The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis,” The Associated Press reports. “The report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China.”

However, top former and current U.S. officials are raising doubts about the credibility of the report, and some believe that the lab leak is the most likely theory.

Jamie Metzl, former NSC official in the Clinton administration and member of a WHO advisory committee on genetic engineering, told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the WHO’s trip to China was “not” an investigation and that China essentially conducted all the investigations. Metzl pointed out potential issues with the theory that the pandemic had a natural origin, saying that there would have likely been “some kind of evidence of an outbreak” between southern China, where bats that carry very similar strains of the novel coronavirus are located, and Wuhan, where the pandemic was first detected. Metzl suggested that the pandemic could have come from the lab in Wuhan.

Metzl joined more than two-dozen other signatories on a WHO letter earlier this month in demanding that the international community put in place a team to investigate the origins of the pandemic because the efforts so far “do not constitute a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation.”

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield, a virologist, said in a recent CNN interview that he believes that the pandemic started in a lab in Wuhan and that it escaped. “I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human. And at that moment in time, the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human to human transmission,” Redfield said. “Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonotic to human, it takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a CNN interview that aired on Sunday that the Biden administration has “real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that report, including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped to write it.” Biden National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last month that the Biden administration had “deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the Covid-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them.”

David Asher, the State Department’s former lead investigator who oversaw the Task Force into the COVID-19 virus origin, told Fox News earlier this month that he not only believes that the coronavirus escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology, BSL-4 lab, but he believes that the Chinese military was conducting bioweapons research at the lab.

Fox News’s report noted that Asher has worked for Republican and Democrat administrations on “some of the most classified intelligence investigations for the State Department and Treasury.”

“Motive, cover-up, conspiracy, all the hallmarks of guilt are associated with this. And the fact that the initial cluster of victims surrounded the very institute that was doing the highly dangerous, if not dubious research is significant,” Asher said. Asher said that he believes that the Chinese stopped engaging in biodefense research around 2017 and started to research bioweapons.

Fox News reported:

The Chinese, according to Asher, stopped talking publicly about the research into coronavirus “disease vectors which could be used for weapons” in 2017, at the same time its military began funding the research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“I doubt that that’s a coincidence,” Asher said.

After his interview with Fox News, Asher told The Australian that the pandemic could have potentially started when the Chinese were developing a vaccine for the coronavirus and that it escaped at that time. The Australian reported:

He said US intelligence that has now been declassified, along with information from public sources, has credibly confirmed that three workers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell sick in early to mid-November 2019, prior to the official start of the pandemic.

Their illness was consistent with both COVID-19 and influenza and, in his personal assessment, was the likely cause of the outbreak.

“There were multiple staff members who did have to go to hospital and appeared to have had conditions of COVID-19,” he said. “You don’t normally go to the hospital with influenza, especially a cluster of people. This is the most probable source of the outbreak.”

When asked by The Australian whether the U.S. government was investigating if the coronavirus could have been a bioweapon, Asher responded, “Yes.”

“There is a high probability the Chinese government was engaged in a weaponization effort at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutes involving coronavirus research,” Asher said. “Whether offense or defense, which is almost impossible to tell, it was 100 per cent undeclared and that is a serious violation of the Biological Weapons Convention and the WHO International Health Regs — to the extent it spilled out and over somehow.”

China has a history of poor lab safety standards, lab leaks, and U.S. diplomatic cables from 2018 warned of serious safety issues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was studying bat coronaviruses. The left-leaning New York Magazine published a lengthy report that made a convincing case that the coronavirus pandemic originated from a lab leak.

“There’s evidence certain scientists have found … that there was adeno­virus present in the sequences posted publicly,” Asher said. “Adenovirus means that there was a vaccine present for COVID-19; that could indicate that this was a bio-defense project putting a vaccine together. People don’t normally develop a vaccine for something they are working on. That doesn’t make any sense … to develop a vaccine in advance for something that would never see the light of day makes it sort of ridiculous but is totally consistent with a biological weapons program. They develop an antidote.”

Former Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger confirmed during a CBS News interview last month much of what Asher later said.

“If you weigh the circumstantial evidence, the ledger on the side of an explanation that says that this resulted from some kind of human error, it far outweighs the- the side of the scale that says this was some natural outbreak,” Pottinger said. “We have very strong reason to believe that the Chinese military was doing secret classified animal experiments in that same laboratory, going all the way back to at least 2017. We have good reason to believe that there was an outbreak of flu-like illness among researchers working in the Wuhan Institute of virology in the fall of 2019, but right- immediately before the first documented cases came to light.”

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Quote:GENEVA (AP) — A joint World Health Organization-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The findings offer little new insight into how the virus first emerged and leave many questions unanswered. But the report does provide more detail on the reasoning behind the researchers’ conclusions.

The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis — a speculative theory that was promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump among others. It also said the role played by a seafood market where human cases were first identified was uncertain.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, said he would like to see the report’s raw information first before deciding about its credibility.

“I’d also would like to inquire as to the extent in which the people who were on that group had access directly to the data that they would need to make a determination,” he said. “I want to read the report first and then get a feel for what they really had access to -- or did not have access to.”

The report, which is expected to be made public Tuesday, is being closely watched since discovering the origins of the virus could help scientists prevent future pandemics — but it’s also extremely sensitive since China bristles at any suggestion that it is to blame for the current one.

Matthew Kavanagh of Georgetown University said the report deepened the understanding of the virus’s origins, but more information was needed.

“It is clear that that the Chinese government has not provided all the data needed and, until they do, firmer conclusions will be difficult,” he said in a statement.

Last year, an AP investigation found the Chinese government was strictly controlling all research into its origins. And repeated delays in the report’s release have raised questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew its conclusions.

“We’ve got real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that report, including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped to write it,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent CNN interview.

China rejected that criticism Monday.

“The U.S. has been speaking out on the report. By doing this, isn’t the U.S. trying to exert political pressure on the members of the WHO expert group?” asked Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.

Still, suspicion of China has helped fuel the theory that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus was first identified. The report cited several reasons for all but dismissing that possibility.

Full Coverage: Coronavirus pandemic
It said that such laboratory accidents are rare, that the labs in Wuhan were well-managed and there is no record of viruses closely related to the coronavirus in any laboratory before December 2019.

The report is based largely on a visit by a WHO team of international experts to Wuhan. The mission was never meant to identify the exact natural source of the virus, an endeavor that typically takes years. For instance, more than 40 years of study has still failed to pinpoint the exact species of bat that are the natural reservoir of Ebola.

In the draft obtained by the AP, the researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood for the emergence of the new coronavirus. Topping the list was transmission from bats through another animal, which they said was likely to very likely. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread to humans from the packaging of “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely.

That last possibility was previously dismissed by the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but researchers on this mission have taken it up again, further raising questions about the politicization of the study since China has long pushed the theory.

While it’s possible an infected animal contaminated packaging that was then brought to Wuhan and infected humans, the report said the probability is very low.

Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, said even that “very low probability” was an overstatement. “There’s no compelling evidence of people actually being infected through packaging,” he said, calling the theory “far-fetched.”

Woolhouse said it was possible the source of COVID-19 might never be identified.

“The emergence of a new (disease) is always a sequence of unlikely events,” he said. “It’s hard to be definitive and rule anything out.” But he said most scientists agree that bats are the most likely source.

Bats are known to carry coronaviruses and, in fact, the closest relative of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in bats.

The report said highly similar viruses have been found in pangolins, a scaly anteater prized in traditional Chinese medicine, but scientists have yet to identify the same coronavirus in animals that has been infecting humans.

The AP received the draft copy on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn’t clear whether the report might still be changed prior to release, though the diplomat said it was the final version. A second diplomat confirmed getting the report too. Both refused to be identified because they were not authorized to release it ahead of publication.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged he had received the report over the weekend and said it would be formally presented Tuesday.

“All hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies,” he said at a news conference.

The report is inconclusive on whether the outbreak started at a Wuhan seafood market that had one of the earliest clusters of human cases in December 2019. Research published last year in the journal Lancet suggested the market may have merely served to further spread the disease rather than being its source.

The market was an early suspect because some stalls sold a range of unusual animals — and some wondered if they had brought the new virus to Wuhan. The report noted that animal products — including everything from bamboo rats to deer, often frozen — were sold at the market, as were live crocodiles.

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Quote:Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance – which collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology or coronavirus-related research – hosted Dr. Anthony Fauci for several speeches.

EcoHealth’s Twitter account contains a picture of Daszak – whose Chinese Communist Party research and financial ties have been extensively documented by the National Pulse – smiling next to what they call the “incomparable” Dr. Fauci in 2016.



The 2016 tweet also contains the hashtag “#EHAEvent,” which coincides with three other tweets from the same day referencing an event where Dr. Fauci spoke about the Zika virus. At the time, Dr. Fauci was the head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) – a title he still holds in addition to Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden.

“Thanks to everyone who joined us last night in D.C. for our Zika talk, and special thanks to Dr. Fauci for a terrific presentation. Dr. Fauci demonstrated perfectly why it’s so important to put more resources toward disease prevention efforts,” the group’s Facebook page captioned the same picture of Daszak and Dr. Fauci.



The March 30th event – ‘Zika virus: A Pandemic in Progress” – counted Daszak as the primary presenter and Dr. Fauci as a special guest, according to the invitation:



The EcoHealth Alliance website also reveals the organization hosted an event – “A special free screening!” – on November 15th, 2016 that featured Dr. Fauci as a speaker.



Another link dated to 2016 containing the following picture of Dr. Fauci has been scrubbed from the EcoHealth site, prompting users with a “403 – Forbidden” message”:

The unearthed relationship between Dr. Fauci, Daszak, and EcoHealth Alliance is sure to complicate the fact that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sent millions of taxpayer dollars to fund EcoHealth’s research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Despite criticisms prompting the NIH to withdraw federal funding from the group, the NIH reinstated a $7.5 million grant to the group in August 2020.

The type of research conducted by the group in tandem with the Wuhan Institute of Virology prompted concern among NIH officials for its role in COVID-related research, as outlined in a letter by NIH’s Deputy Director for Extramural Research Dr. Michael Lauer.

Dr. Lauer announced the suspension of NIH grants to the group, which saw its studies engineer the “highly specific doorway into the human body” as COVID-19, as a response:

“It is our understanding that one of the sub-recipients of the grant funds is the Wuhan Institute of Virology (‘WIV’). It is our understanding that WIV studies the interaction between corona viruses and bats. The scientific community believes that the coronavirus causing COVID-19 jumped from bats to humans likely in Wuhan where the COVID-19 pandemic began. There are now allegations that the current crisis was precipitated by the release from WIV of the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. Given these concerns, we are pursuing suspension of WIV from participation in Federal programs.”

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Quote:Jamie Metzl, a former NSC official in the Clinton administration and a member of a WHO advisory committee on genetic engineering, told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired on Sunday night that the WHO’s recent trip to China was “not” an investigation and that China essentially did all the investigating.

“I wouldn’t really call what’s happened now an investigation. It’s essentially a highly-chaperoned, highly-curated study tour,” Metzl said. “Everybody around the world is imagining this is some kind of full investigation. It’s not. This group of experts only saw what the Chinese government wanted them to see.”

“We would have to ask the question, ‘Well, why in Wuhan?’ To quote Humphrey Bogart, ‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, why Wuhan?’ What Wuhan does have is China’s level four virology institute, with probably the world’s largest collection of bat viruses, including bat coronaviruses,” Metzl continued.

“While they were there they didn’t demand access to the records and samples and key personnel,” Metzl said. “It was agreed first that China would have veto power over who even got to be on the mission. … On top of that, the WHO agreed that in most instances China would do the primary investigation. And then just share its findings with these international experts. So these international experts weren’t allowed to do their own primary investigation.”

Metzl noted that if the animal-to-human theory is correct, then there likely would have been outbreaks in southern China where the bats that are believed to be carriers of the novel coronavirus — or very similar coronaviruses — were found in caves previous years.

“There was a direct order from Beijing to destroy all viral samples and they didn’t volunteer to share the genetic sequences,” former Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger said. “There is a body of research that’s been taking place conducted by the Chinese military in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has not been acknowledged by the Chinese government. We’ve seen the data. I’ve personally seen the data.”

When asked why the Chinese military was in the lab, Pottinger said that officials are not sure but that it was “a major lead that needs to be pursued by the press, certainly by the World Health Organization.”

“Beijing is simply not interested in allowing us to find the answers to those very pertinent questions,” he said. “They were doing research specifically on coronaviruses that attach to the ACE2 receptors in human lungs just like the COVID-19 virus,” adding that that fact was “a pretty potent bullet point when you consider that the place where this pandemic emerged was a few kilometers away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

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Quote:One member of the World Health Organization investigative team said the WHO took the word of Chinese lab workers about the possibility of COVID-19 originating through a Wuhan lab escape, as a new WHO-China joint report concluded it was unlikely and didn’t need further study.

Trump and Biden officials have said the Chinese government worked to thwart investigations into the origins of the virus, which has killed 2.78 million people worldwide, and both administrations have cast doubt on the manner in which the joint WHO-China study had been conducted in early 2021.

Peter Daszak, the leader of the EcoHealth Alliance, which steered at least $600,000 in National Institutes of Health funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat virus research, has defended China’s coronavirus response and previously criticized the Biden administration for being skeptical of the WHO-China report. He dismissed the lab leak theory during a 60 Minutes appearance with Lesley Stahl on Sunday.

“For an accidental leak that then led to COVID to happen, the virus that causes COVID would need to be in the lab. They never had any evidence of a virus like COVID in the lab. ... Not prior to the outbreak, no. Absolutely. No evidence of that,” Daszak claimed.

“We met with them. We said, ‘Do you audit the lab?’ And they said, ‘Annually.’ ‘Did you audit it after the outbreak?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Was anything found?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you test your staff?’ ‘Yes.’ No one was —“ Daszak said, before being interrupted by Stahl.

“But you're just taking their word for it!” she exclaimed, and Daszak didn’t deny it.

“Well, what else can we do? There's a limit to what you can do, and we went right up to that limit,” Daszak said. “We asked them tough questions. They weren't vetted in advance. And the answers they gave, we found to be believable — correct and convincing.”

WUHAN LAB'S 'BAT LADY' DENIES US INTEL ON COLLABORATION WITH CHINESE MILITARY

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Donald Trump, said COVID-19 likely originated through an accidental escape from the Wuhan lab and hinted this occurred following gain-of-function research there.

"I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathology in Wuhan was from a laboratory. Escaped,” Redfield said, adding that "it’s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker.”

The Associated Press reported on Monday that a final draft of the WHO-China study concluded a Wuhan lab leak was “extremely unlikely.” The report said a jump from bats to another animal to humans was most likely, and the outlet said the WHO team proposed more studies into each area but the lab leak hypothesis. The new report “said such laboratory accidents are rare and the labs in Wuhan working on coronaviruses and vaccines are well-managed” and “also noted that there is no record of viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 in any laboratory before December 2019 and that the risk of accidentally growing the virus was extremely low.”

But State Department cables in 2018 warned of biosecurity problems at the Wuhan lab, and lab researchers “conducted experiments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its closest sample to SARS-CoV-2 (96.2% similar),” a State Department fact sheet released in mid-January contended, adding that the lab “has a published record of conducting ‘gain-of-function’ research to engineer chimeric viruses.”

“The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses,” the State Department fact sheet read, claiming that the Wuhan lab “has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017." Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Washington Examiner in March that was “a high-confidence assessment."

Daszak defended his spot on the joint mission despite his connection to the Wuhan lab, saying, “I’m on the WHO team for a reason. And, you know, if you're going to work in China on coronaviruses and try and understand their origins, you should involve the people who know the most about that. And, for better or for worse, I do.”

Stahl pressed him on whether the Chinese government was trying to limit the information that the WHO could get access to, but Daszak defended the Chinese government’s heavy presence on their trip.

“Well, that wasn't our task to find out if China had covered up the origin issue. … We didn't see any evidence of any false reporting or cover-up in the work that we did in China,” Daszak claimed, adding that “there were Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff in the room throughout our stay. Absolutely. They were there to make sure everything went smoothly from the China side.”

Over the weekend, WHO-Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that "all hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies from what I have seen so far.” On Monday, he said the report will be shared with member states Tuesday when there will be a briefing by the WHO investigative team.

Matt Pottinger, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, stressed during his own 60 Minutes appearance that China had engaged in a cover-up, saying, “There was a direct order from Beijing to destroy all viral samples — and they didn't volunteer to share the genetic sequences.” He also said intelligence showed that scientists at the Wuhan lab “were doing research specifically on coronaviruses that attach to the ACE2 receptors in human lungs just like the COVID-19 virus.”

“There is a body of research that's been taking place conducted by the Chinese military in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has not been acknowledged by the Chinese government. We've seen the data. I've personally seen the data,” Pottinger said, adding that he still didn’t know why the military was at that lab. “It is a major lead that needs to be pursued by the press, certainly by the World Health Organization. Beijing is simply not interested in allowing us to find the answers to those very pertinent questions.”

Pottinger admitted this wasn’t smoking gun evidence but said it was still important.

“It's circumstantial evidence. But it's a pretty potent bullet point when you consider that the place where this pandemic emerged was a few kilometers away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Pottinger said, adding that “the one thing that I wish the WHO had done is to pick up their megaphone and start screaming through it to demand that China be more transparent, that it open its border to allow American CDC officials and other experts from the WHO and around the world to come investigate and to help.”

The Associated Press said it had gotten the draft report from a diplomat from a WHO member state who said it was the final version.

The report contended that “the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link.” Intermediary species such as pangolins, minks, and cats were suggested as potential carriers.

“No firm conclusion therefore about the role of the Huanan market in the origin of the outbreak, or how the infection was introduced into the market, can currently be drawn,” the report admitted. A number of early cases were traced back to the Wuhan seafood market, but a number of even earlier cases did not appear to be linked to the wet market at all. The report contended that animals such as frozen bamboo rats and deer, along with live crocodiles, were sold at the market, but it did not provide evidence connecting animals to the outbreak.

The report also noted China’s heavily promoted theory about the coronavirus circulating through the handling of frozen food, though it cast doubt on the idea that that was how the outbreak started.

“While there is some evidence for possible reintroduction of SARS-CoV-2 through handling of imported contaminated frozen products in China since the initial pandemic wave, this would be extraordinary in 2019 where the virus was not widely circulating,” the study concluded.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cast doubt on the report during a Sunday appearance on State of the Union on CNN when asked about holding China accountable for its COVID-19 cover-up.

“There’s a report coming out shortly by the World Health Organization — we’ve got real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that report, including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped to write it — but let’s see what comes out in that report,” Blinken said. “But we do need to have both accountability for the past, but I think our focus needs to be on building a stronger system for the future.”

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Crickets today on that 60 minutes report.

lol @ the "Joint WHO-CHINA" report. Everyone with any common sense knows that is a farce.

(03-29-2021 02:11 PM)VA49er Wrote:  lol @ the "Joint WHO-CHINA" report. Everyone with any common sense knows that is a farce.

Anyone with any sense at all doesn't need multi-million dollar investigations into its origins, they instinctively know it originated in a lab in China.

(03-29-2021 03:26 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(03-29-2021 02:11 PM)VA49er Wrote:  lol @ the "Joint WHO-CHINA" report. Everyone with any common sense knows that is a farce.

Anyone with any sense at all doesn't need multi-million dollar investigations into its origins, they instinctively know it originated in a lab in China.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

― George Carlin

Quote:An expert promoted by U.S. corporate media to discredit Dr. Robert Redfield’s assertion that COVID-19 “escaped” from a Chinese lab has extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party, The National Pulse can exclusively reveal.

Dr. Ian Lipkin was quoted by outlets including CBS and USA Today as a means by which to “debunk” Dr. Redfield’s explosive claim linking the virus to a Chinese lab.

“We should be moving away from finger-pointing,” Lipkin told CBS after adding there is “no evidence to suggest that it was created in a lab.”

While the corporate media is keen to promote Lipkin’s claims – indistinguishable from the Chinese Communist Party’s COVID-19 narrative – they failed to report his decades of ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Dr. Lip Service.
In 2016, Lipkin received the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, presided over by Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping.

The award is “China’s top science honor for foreign scientists, and, as quoted in a Columbia University press release, Lipkin said “It solidifies my relationship with dear friends and colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, and with the people of China” – all of which are wholly-owned and operated Chinese Communist Party entities.

A 2020 Columbia University press release notes “the government of China honored Ian Lipkin with a medal recognizing his profound impact on their country,” adding that he “has worked closely with scientists and officials in China.”

The medal, issued from several Chinese government bodies including the Central Military Commission, read “Celebrating 70th Anniversary,” and commemorated the anniversary of Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of the country.

A summary of his professional experience reveals he even “consults” for the Chinese Communist Party and has lectured and accepted grants from Chinese state-run scientific bodies:

He continues to consult with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Science, and the Ministry of Health. He has also served as a consultant for a climate change program at Beijing Normal and as a visiting professor at Beijing University. Last year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences awarded funding for a collaborative project between CII and Sun Yat-Sen University in zoonotic diseases. […] Since 2003, Lipkin has presented more than 20 lectures in China, notably including the inaugurations of the Institut Pasteur de Shanghai in 2004 and the Beijing Center for Infectious Diseases two years later.

“Lipkin’s academic efforts in China focus on mentoring young Chinese scientists and encouraging China-born scientists abroad to return home for positions in diagnostics and discovery at China’s Centers for Disease Control, Institut Pasteur, and Wuhan Institute of Virology. He also serves as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee member of the Joint Center for Global Change Studies at Beijing Normal University,” a summary adds.

Lipkin had also appeared on several studies, including those focusing on H5N1 and hepatovirus, both funded by Chinese Communist Party research grants.

Lipkin has also given several interviews to state-run Chinese news outlets including China Global Television Network, where he insisted “I have so many friends in China, in universities, and in government that I can help people to talk to one another and work together.”

“Renowned epidemiologist Walter Lipkin lauds China’s transparent and professional approach against coronavirus outbreak,” reads a headline from the state-run outlet Global Times.

Fauci & Daszak.
In addition to earning awards, praise, and cash from the Chinese Communist Party, Lipkin has also been praised by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“If scientists are lucky, they’ll identify one novel virus in their whole life. Lipkin really stands out from the crowd,” Fauci remarked in a New York Times article. “The scientific aspects of how it unfolded were excellent, a testament to the fact that Ian Lipkin was heavily involved,” praised Fauci in a separate review of a movie Lipkin consulted for.

Lipkin, bizarrely, while serving the Chinese Communist Party, also serves as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Center for Research in Diagnostics and Discovery. Dr. Fauci is the head of the NIAID, and Lipkin’s department has received multiple rounds of multi-million dollar funding since 2014.

“Toward the end of the second cycle of the award, I was asked by Anthony Fauci, Harold Varmus, and Francis Collins to examine the reports of new retroviruses linked to CFS,” Lipkin said in a speech.

Another conflict of interest presents itself between Lipkin and Peter Daszak, a scientist comparably compromised by the Chinese government and World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 investigator. At least 20 studies list Lipkin and Daszak as co-authors,

Lipkin has also worked on National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIAID-funded research with Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance group.

“This discovery is the result of an extraordinarily productive partnership between the government of Liberia, CII, EcoHealth Alliance, and UC Davis. It builds on years of investment and methods established under the auspices of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in biodefense and emerging infectious diseases,” Lipkin remarked concerning a joint effort to study Ebola.

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