Fauci says increasing transmissibility of animal virus to humans is NOT 'gain of function'

On 20th July 2021, Senator Rand Paul (a qualified doctor) challenged Dr Anthony Fauci over his earlier assertion before Congress that the NIH has never funded gain of function research at the Wuhan lab.

Um, it clearly has.

Watch Fauci doing his best to squirm out of it...

Senator Rand Paul: “You take an animal virus and you increase its transmissibility to humans – you’re saying that’s not gain of function?”

Dr Anthony Fauci: “That is correct."

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Majority transcript:

Senator Rand Paul (SRP): “On your last trip to our committee, on May 11th, you stated that the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” And yet gain of function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr Shi (Dr Shi Zhengli, 'Bat Lady') and was funded by the NIH.”

<paper delivered to Fauci>

“In this paper, Dr Shi credits the NIH and lists the actual number of the grant that she was given by the NIH. In this paper, she took two bat coronavirus genes – spike genes – and combined them with a SARS-related backbone to create new viruses that are not found in nature. These lab-created viruses were then shown to replicate in humans. These experiments combine genetic information from different coronaviruses that infect animals, but not humans, to create novel, artificial viruses that are able to infect human cells. Viruses that, in nature, only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans. This research fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause in 2014 to 2017 – a pause in funding of gain of function.”

“Dr Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist from Rutgers [University], described this research as: ‘The Wuhan lab used NIH funding to construct novel, chimeric SARS coronaviruses able to infect human cells and laboratory animals. This is high-risk research that creates new, potential pandemic pathogens that exist only in the lab, not in nature. This research matches – indeed, epitomises – the definition of gain of function research, done entirely in Wuhan, for which there was supposed to be a federal pause.’”

“Dr Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11th … ?”

Dr Anthony Fauci (DAF): “Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff, up and down the chain, as not being gain of function…

SRP: (interrupting) “You take an animal virus and you increase its transmissibility to humans – you’re saying that’s not gain of function?”

DAF: “That is correct, and, Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially: you do not know what you are talking about.”

SRP: “This is your definition, that you guys wrote: ‘Scientific research that increases the transmissibility among manimals is gain of function.’ They took animal viruses that only occur in animals and they increased their transmissibility to humans. How you can say that is not gain of function…it’s a dance, and you’re dancing around this because you’re trying to obscure responsibility for 4 million people dying around the world from a pandemic.”

DAF: “If the point that you are making is that the grant that was funded as a sub award from Eco-Health to Wuhan created SARS-CoV-2 – that’s where you are getting, let me finish – “

<verbal kerfuffle>

SRP: All the evidence is pointing that it came from the lab and there will be responsibility for those who funded the lab, including yourself.”

DAF: “I totally resent the lie that you are now propagating, Senator, because if you look at the viruses that were used in the experiments, that were given in the annual reports, that were published in the literature, it is molecularly impossible…”

SRP: (interrupting) “No-one’s saying those viruses caused the pandemic. What we’re alleging is that gain of function research was going on in that lab and NIH funded it – you can’t get away from it, it meets your definition, and you are obfuscating the truth.”

DAF: “I am not obfuscating the truth…. I wat everyone to understand that if you look at those viruses – and that’s judged by qualified virologists and evolutionary biologists – those viruses are molecularly impossible to result in SARS-CoV-2…”

SRP: (interrupting) “No-one’s saying they are - no-one’s saying those viruses caused the pandemic – we’re saying they’re gain of function viruses because there were animal viruses that became more transmissible in humans and you funded it…”

<SRP’s time for questioning has ended, but DAF is allowed to respond>

DAF: “…And you are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals – I totally resent that – and if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you.