{"id":1472485,"date":"2022-05-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1472485"},"modified":"2022-05-12T08:01:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T12:01:06","slug":"nih-director-admits-agency-concealed-early-covid-genes-at-request-of-chinese-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nih-director-admits-agency-concealed-early-covid-genes-at-request-of-chinese-scientists\/","title":{"rendered":"NIH Director Admits Agency Concealed Early COVID Genes at Request of Chinese Scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnih-director-admits-agency-concealed-early-covid-genes-at-request-of-chinese-scientists%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1472485&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>National Institutes of Health acting director Lawrence Tabak confirmed to lawmakers Wednesday that US health officials concealed <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/10\/10\/the-lab-leak-theory-is-now-almost-certainly-proved-and-other-commentary\/\">early genomic sequences of COVID-19<\/a> at the request of Chinese scientists \u2014 but insisted the data remains on file. <\/p>\n<p>Tabak told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the NIH \u201celiminated from public view\u201d the data from the pandemic epicenter in Wuhan, China, before adding that researchers can still access it via an archaic \u201ctape drive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vanity Fair <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2022\/03\/the-virus-hunting-nonprofit-at-the-center-of-the-lab-leak-controversy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently reported<\/a> that the\u00a0information was hidden in response to a request from Chinese scientists, despite potentially resolving whether the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or passed naturally from animals to humans.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) asked Tabek to explain why US officials would comply with such a request.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no question that the communication that we had about the sequence archive \u2014 Sequence Read Archive \u2014 could have been improved. I freely admit that,\u201d Tabek said. \u201cIf I may, the archive never deleted the sequence, it just did not make it available for interrogation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/lawrence-tabak-nih-director.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption>Lawrence Tabak, acting director of the National Institutes of Health, testifies on May 11. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo wait, you have the information still?\u201d Beutler followed up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the information \u2026 Anybody who submits to the Sequence Read Archive is allowed to ask for it to be removed,\u201d Tabak explained. \u201cAnd that investigator did do that. But we never erase it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you don\u2019t have the information anymore?\u201d Beutler asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do. We never erase the information. We keep it,\u201d Tabak clarified.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo they were able to withdraw public viewing of it?\u201d the congresswoman followed up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s correct,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOK, so researchers can apply to the NIH and get the information from you?\u201d Beutler asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the way that it was originally eliminated from public view, it was withdrawn, and that\u2019s the most difficult for people to access,\u201d Tabak replied. \u201cThe error that was made, and we found this out after a review of all of our processes, was it should have been suppressed. The distinction being that if it\u2019s withdrawn, it is kept archivally on a tape drive \u2014 old technology, but that\u2019s how it\u2019s done. But when it is withdrawn, it can still be accessed by accession number, and so researchers are able to access that information.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-institute-virology-china.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/wuhan-institute-virology-china.jpg\" alt=\"Security personnel keep watch outside Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization February 3, 2021.\" class=\"wp-image-22228796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-institute-virology-china.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-institute-virology-china.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-institute-virology-china.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Security personnel keep watch outside Wuhan Institute of Virology during the visit by the World Health Organization on Feb. 3, 2021. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Thomas Peter\/REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo the information is still there?\u201d Beutler summed up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s correct. The information was never lost,\u201d Tabak repeated.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>In a March 31 article, Vanity Fair reported that evolutionary biologist Jesse Bloom discovered last year that early COVID-19 sequences had disappeared from a federally run data repository.<\/p>\n<p>When Bloom raised the issue, he was reportedly ganged up on by a group of researchers assembled by then-NIH Director Francis Collins and infectious disease institute head Dr. Anthony Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>Bloom shared a draft academic paper with Collins and Fauci, who allegedly objected on a June 2021 Zoom video conference to Bloom\u2019s description of Chinese scientists \u201csurreptitiously\u201d removing the sequences. Fauci said the word was \u201cloaded\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/08\/congress-must-investigate-news-ecohealth-covered-up-yet-more-in-wuhan-lab\/\">implied a coverup<\/a>, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Evolutionary biologist Kristian Andersen, who was selected to participate on the call by Collins, allegedly told Bloom that the Wuhan team had a right to claw back early pandemic information and that it was unethical for Bloom to question it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-china-scientists-bat.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/wuhan-china-scientists-bat.jpg\" alt=\"A research group sent fecal and other bodily samples from bats they trapped in caves to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to search for coronaviruses.\" class=\"wp-image-22228793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-china-scientists-bat.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-china-scientists-bat.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/wuhan-china-scientists-bat.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Tabak noted that while the request for information to be removed was honored, it was not erased fully.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Andersen allegedly went so far as to offer to delete Bloom\u2019s article from a \u201cpreprint\u201d server \u201cin a way that would leave no record that this had been done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s government has refused to cooperate with an international investigation of the origins of the pandemic. The COVID-19 virus has killed about 1 million Americans since March 2020 and caused massive social, economic and educational disruptions.<\/p>\n<p>The US intelligence community said in an August report that it\u2019s possible the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, calling the theory<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/08\/27\/covid-origins-report-says-its-plausible-virus-leaked-from-wuhan-lab\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0one of two \u201cplausible\u201d explanations<\/a>\u00a0along with natural transmission from animals.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/anthony-fauci-lawrence-tabak-nih.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/anthony-fauci-lawrence-tabak-nih.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases left, takes his seat next to Lawrence Tabak.\" class=\"wp-image-22228786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/anthony-fauci-lawrence-tabak-nih.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/anthony-fauci-lawrence-tabak-nih.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/anthony-fauci-lawrence-tabak-nih.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Lawrence Tabak confirmed Wednesday that early genomic sequences of COVID-19 were concealed at the request of Chinese specialists. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>President Biden rarely speaks publicly about wanting China to be transparent about the origins of the pandemic. Former President Donald Trump, by contrast, has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/08\/04\/wh-wont-back-trumps-call-for-china-to-pay-covid-reparations\/?preview_id=19021310\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">demanded that China pay $10 trillion in\u00a0reparations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration is considering undoing some of Trump\u2019s tariffs on Chinese goods <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/09\/covid-origins-secrecy-wont-impact-lifting-china-tariffs-psaki\/\"> \u201cseparately\u201d <\/a>from US pressure for coronavirus transparency, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told The Post on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Documents published in September by\u00a0The\u00a0Intercept\u00a0revealed that US health officials\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/09\/covid-origins-gain-of-function-research\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">indirectly funded so-called \u201cgain of function\u201d research at\u00a0the\u00a0Wuhan lab<\/a> \u2014 including the modification three bat coronaviruses distinct from COVID-19 and the discovery that they became much more infectious among \u201chumanized\u201d mice when human-type receptors were added to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Institutes of Health acting director Lawrence Tabak confirmed to lawmakers Wednesday that US health officials concealed early genomic sequences of COVID-19 at the request of Chinese scientists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1472485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1472485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1472485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1472485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1472485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}