The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has reportedly paid millions to Chinese STEM entities since 2012. Dr. Anthony Fauci directs the institute, which is a subagency of the National Institutes for Health (NIH).
According to an analysis of federal data by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Fauci awarded $6.6 million in taxpayer-funded grants to the Chinese, including operations at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The spending data were obtained and analyzed from USASpending.gov which records NIAID grants. Last week, Fauci spoke to Congress and denied funding gain-of-function studies at the WIV.
Fauci told Senator Rand Paul, “I have never lied before Congress, and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you were referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain of function.” To which Paul replied, “This is your definition … ‘scientific research that increases the transmissibility among animals is gain of function.’ They took animal viruses that only occur in animals, and they increased their transmissibility to humans. How you can say that is not gain a function?” Again, Fauci denied the WIV’s study was gain-of-function.
Judicial Watch recently obtained government records showing NIAID gave $826k to the lab for bat coronavirus research. New reports regarding the WIV have raised speculations regarding the origins of COVID-19. When asked if the pandemic may have been deliberately unleashed, the Biden administration said they “haven’t ruled out” that possibility.