Dr. Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul had a contentious exchange at a Senate hearing yesterday. The gist - Sen. Paul said the NIH funded 'gain of function' research (say what!) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and Dr. Fauci emphatically denied it.
PolitiFact then ran a non-fact check interview with Dr. Fauci in which he denied it again.
But - awkward moment - in a Feb 2021 Fact Check, PolitiFact noted as an aside that, per MIT biologist Kevin Esvelt, the NIH had funded gain of function research at the WIV. In that article they exonerated Dr. Fauci of a broader claim, that he had funded research that directly led to the COVID-19 virus.
The Team Fauci spinners will be earning their paychecks today. Let's dive in.
First, Dr. Fauci's denial to PolitiFact:
Fauci told Paul at the hearing that the senator was "entirely and completely incorrect" as the NIH has never funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.
Fauci reiterated his stance Tuesday afternoon during a conversation with PolitiFact’s Katie Sanders as part of the United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking.
"That’s actually preposterous," Fauci said. "It was just unfortunate that he said that. It was said in an accusatory way that just made no sense and was not based on any fact at all."
Now, watch Dr. Fauci try to shift the goalposts:
"In a very minor collaboration, as part of a subcontract of a grant, we had a collaboration with some Chinese scientists," Fauci said. "He conflated that … therefore we were involved in creating the virus, which is the most ridiculous, majestic leap I’ve ever heard of."
Well, no. Unlike the February dust-up, Sen. Paul wasn't accusing Dr. Fauci of funding development of the COVID-19 virus. Axios has a good excerpt:
- PAUL: "For years, Dr. Ralph Baric, a virologist in the U.S., has been collaborating with Dr. Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Virology Institute, sharing his discoveries about how to create superviruses. This gain-of-function research has been funded by the NIH. ... Dr. Fauci, do you still support funding of the NIH lab in Wuhan?"
- FAUCI: "With all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect. The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
Here is the PolitiFact piece from February which explained that yes, the NIH funded gain of function research at the WIV but no, there is no proof they funded COVID-19 research or that COVID-19 emerged from a lab. Different issues:
MIT biologist Kevin Esvelt reviewed a paper that appears to have been published with financial assistance from the grant. According to Esvelt, certain techniques that the researchers used seemed to meet the definition of gain-of-function research. But he told PolitiFact that "the work reported in this specific paper definitely did NOT lead to the creation of SARS-CoV-2" because the genetic sequences of the virus studied in the paper differ from that of the new coronavirus.
...
Both the NIH and EcoHealth Alliance have denied that a grant to the Wuhan lab funded gain-of-function research, though a scientist told us that one paper published with assistance from the grant seems to describe techniques similar to gain-of-function.
Well, then. The NIH denied it so we're all good?
Here is the paper in question, which acknowledges funding from the NIH. The bit on recombining genes and testing the lab creations for infectivity is excerpted below.
Does Team Fauci wants to insist this is not gain of function research? Given the partisan divide emerging on this, maybe hair-splitting will suffice. But I am pretty sure the no-GMO crowd, many of which live on the left, would consider this sort of gene manipulation to be of great concern.

And do note: Nicholas Wade, formerly of the NY Times, Science and Nature points an accusing finger at Dr. Fauci and the NIH funding process. As does Nicholson Baker in NY Magazine.
ERRATA:
C-SPAN has tape and transcript of the Paul/ Fauci exchange. A snippet:

Nicholas Wade on Dr. Fauci and the NIH / NiAID:

Enough for now.
UPDATE: This Newsweek fact check explains a 2015 paper with Dr. Ralph Baric of UNC - says the gain of function work was done in North Carolina. Seems overly legalistic and ignores the 2017 paper.
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