Dr. Anthony Fauci’s former department “misled” Congress with its plans to create a Frankenstein monkeypox virus that had pandemic potential, according to a new report.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), along with the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), presented plans to create a more transmissible and lethal strain of Mpox in 2015, when Dr. Fauci was still in charge.
Plans to create a deadlier, highly contagious pathogen were given the green light, but those involved repeatedly lied to lawmakers, claiming the research had never been approved.
Amid concerns that Covid-19 could have arisen from similar US government grants in China, the Mpox research came to light in late 2022 after NIAID scientist Dr. Bernard Moss, make public discussed The risky experiments.
His announcement raised major concerns among experts and led to an investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released the results of its year-and-a-half investigation this week.
He report called the actions of HHS, NIAID and NIH “unacceptable and potentially criminal,” adding that the agencies repeatedly “obstructed and misled the committee” about whether the risky experiments had been approved and conducted.
Fauci looks sad at a congressional hearing earlier this month
The researchers added: ‘HHS and NIH repeatedly told the Committee that…the experiments had not been “formally proposed” or “planned,” had never been approved or conducted, and were not currently under consideration.
“(These) repeated claims were false.”
They also said that the NIAID, a branch of the NIH, should not be trusted to conduct this type of research: ‘The main conclusion drawn at this point in the investigation is that the NIAID cannot be trusted to oversee its own research. of pathogens responsibly.
“It cannot be relied upon to determine whether an experiment with a potential pandemic pathogen or an improved potential pandemic pathogen poses an unacceptable biosafety risk or a serious threat to public health.”
Monkeypox, which is in the same family of viruses as smallpox, causes a rash and flu-like symptoms and caused a global outbreak in 2022, infecting tens of thousands of people.
There are two types of monkeypox virus: Clade I, which causes serious illness and has killed up to 11 percent of people in previous outbreaks, and Clade II, the type that caused the 2022 global outbreak. These infections They are more transmissible but less serious. and almost 100 percent of people survive.
In October 2022, Dr. Moss revealed that a team of scientists wanted to insert genes from the more dangerous Clade I Mpox into Clade II, creating a hybrid strain that could have been deadlier and more contagious.
The researchers said this would be classified as gain of function, which is research that can result in more deadly and transmissible viruses and is believed to be behind the creation of Covid-19.
It was estimated that the new Mpox virus would have had a mortality rate of up to 15 percent and a reproduction rate of 2.4, meaning that one sick person could infect more than two other people.
At this rate, the hybrid strain would have had pandemic potential.
In October 2022, Dr. Bernard Moss revealed that a team of scientists wanted to equip the Clade II Mpox with genes from the most dangerous Clade I strain.
The report comes on the heels of Dr. Fauci’s recent testimony about the origins of Covid, which some government agencies believe was risky gain-of-function research that took place in China and was funded by the US, including the NIAID.
Dr. Fauci has maintained that his agency was not involved in GOF experiments in China, but the lack of transparency around the Mpox research calls into question how trustworthy the word of HHS, NIH, and NIAID is.
The scientists said their experiments would have revealed how different genes make monkeypox more deadly and spurred the development of better drugs and vaccines.
But the modified virus posed “an exceptionally high risk” to the public if it were accidentally leaked, according to Dr. Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The Maryland team argued that their work did not involve “improving” a pathogen because they sought to swap out natural mutations rather than create new ones, meaning the hybrid could not be more deadly than existing clades.
But the news still surprised experts and Americans, as they expressed concern that such research was still taking place in the US despite fears that similar practices may have started the Covid pandemic.
Despite its approval, researchers maintain that the work was never carried out, but the report states that “HHS has repeatedly refused to produce any documents substantiating this claim.”
The above shows the different characteristics of the different clades of monkeypox.
The Maryland team’s work was led by NIAID scientist Dr. Bernard Moss at the agency’s headquarters in Bethesda (pictured).
The research was approved by the NIH’s Institutional Biosafety Committee in June 2015, seven years before the House Energy and Commerce Committee first asked about the experiment.
The committee’s report said that while the project was approved, it is not known if the work was ever carried out, but because the research was given the green light, the experiments could have been carried out any time between 2015 and May 2023. , when the NIH “effectively revoked” the approval.
The committee is now seeking additional evidence from HHS, NIAID and NIH to confirm that the risky experiments were never performed.
Dr Ebright told this website after the first news broke: ‘A laboratory-generated monkeypox virus… more lethal and as transmissible as the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans would potentially nullify protection from vaccines and would likely spread beyond places currently at risk. populations to the general population.’
Monkeypox can be transmitted by contact with infected animals or by close contact with an infected person. There is no FDA-approved treatment for Mpox, only therapies to control symptoms, but there is a vaccine to protect against it.
In the United States, an outbreak of Mpox began in May 2022 as part of a broader global outbreak arising from the Clade II strain endemic to West Africa.
The CDC reports that as of January 2024, the most recent data available, there have been 32,000 cases of monkeypox in the US, with 58 deaths. Globally, there have been 95,900 cases since the outbreak began.
While the committee launched its investigation in October 2022, the agencies repeatedly refused to answer questions.
And lawmakers did not receive documents to examine until March 2024, “after subpoena threats forced” the agencies to provide them, ultimately confirming that the experiments had been approved.
Following their findings, the researchers recommended establishing an oversight board to review NIAID-funded research on dangerous pathogens and moving final approval for GOF research from NIAID to another entity.
