Anthony Fauci defends US funding for research at the Wuhan laboratory



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Dr Anthony Fauci defended the United States on Sunday by donating hundreds of thousands of dollars for research in a Wuhan lab studying whether bat coronaviruses could be transmitted to humans – claiming it would have been ” negligent ”not to do so.

“It was a… proposal that was peer reviewed and received a very high rating for the importance of why it should be done,” Fauci told CNN presenter Jake Tapper on “The State of the Union “.

“[The proposal was] to be able to go and investigate what was going on among the bat population because everyone in the world was trying to figure out what the original source of the original SARS CoV-1 was, ”he continued. .

The National Institutes of Health has allocated $ 600,000 to a nonprofit organization linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been at the center of laboratory leak theories about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic .

Dr Anthony Fauci
Dr Anthony Fauci said it was essential that the research take place in China since that is where SARS first appeared.
PA

Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, argued there was a need for more research.

The United States has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for research at a Wuhan lab studying whether bat coronaviruses could be transmitted to humans.AFP via Getty Images

“It was almost like if you weren’t continuing this research, you would be remiss because you were trying to figure out how you could prevent this from happening again,” Fauci said.

Fauci added that it was essential that the research take place in China since that is where SARS first appeared.

An aerial view shows the P4 laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been at the center of laboratory leak theories about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AFP via Getty Images

“If we started looking for bats in Secaucus, New Jersey, or Fairfax County, Va., It wouldn’t contribute much to the origin of SARS COV-1,” Fauci said.

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