Rand Paul claimed that Anthony Fauci lied about US-funded gains of function research in Wuhan.
Fauci assured George Stephanopoulos that he didn't lie to Congress regarding the research on Sunday.
Francis Collins, Director of the NIH, stated that the Wuhan experiments didn't involve gain or function.
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During a Sunday interview with "Axios" on HBO, Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky. called for President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci to be fired. Fauci claims that he lied to Congress about US funded research at Wuhan Institute of Virology that involved gain of function experiments.
Paul claimed that Lawrence Tabak (principal deputy director at NIH) stated in a letter to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers last Thursday that viruses had "gained in function" in experiments with bat coronaviruses.
Gain-of-function research is defined by the NIH as any study that has the potential to increase the transmissibility or pathogenicity of pandemic pathogens (PPPs). Tabak's letter stated that the Wuhan research plan was not suitable for research involving PPPs. This is because bat coronaviruses have not been proven to infect humans.
The letter confirmed that mice infected by one type of bat coronavirus were more sick than mice infected by another variant. Tabak's letter did not mention "gain of function."
Fauci responded to George Stephanopoulos on Sunday's ABC's "This Week", saying that he disagreed with Paul and didn’t lie to Congress. Fauci stated that it was impossible for the bat coronaviruses being examined in Wuhan to become SARS-CoV-2. Tarak also confirmed this statement in his letter.
Fauci said to Stephanopoulos, "And yet, when people talk about gain in function, they make that implied which I find unconscionable. To say, well... maybe that research led SARS-CoV-2." "So, things are becoming conflated George, that shouldn't be.
The Washington Post reported last Wednesday that Francis Collins, Director of NIH, stated that the Wuhan experiments didn't involve gain-of-function research.
Paul made similar claims regarding gain of function research in July's COVID hearing.
Fauci replied to Paul at the time by saying, "Senator Paul. You don't know what you are talking about, quite honestly, and I want you to state that publicly." You don't know what you are talking about."
