On Tuesday, Democrats from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic issued a report in response to the final findings of the Republican-led panel, stating that the subcommittee had “failed” to clarify the origins of COVID-19 and had instead “fueled extreme narratives.”
The Republican panel released its concluding report on Monday, asserting that the COVID-19 virus likely originated from a lab leak, a theory they consistently defended during their investigation.
Former NIAID director Anthony Fauci is accused by Republicans of trying to suppress the lab leak theory and funding risky research
Additionally, the Republicans accused Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of attempting to suppress the lab leak theory and alleged that the National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research that could have contributed to such a leak.
A spokesperson for the Democrats on the subcommittee criticized the Republican report, calling it a reflection of “two years wasted on political stunts” rather than a focus on preventing future pandemics.
They emphasized that Republicans prioritized extreme investigations that disparaged scientists and public health officials, diverting attention from addressing former President Trump’s ineffective COVID-19 response.
In their report, Democrats contested and analyzed several of the Republican claims, arguing that GOP members had not provided any insights into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. They dismissed the criticisms against Fauci as being “baseless to frivolous.”
The report pointed out that both zoonotic origins and lab accidents remain plausible explanations for the virus’s emergence. “Today, a zoonotic origin and lab accident are both plausible, as is a ‘hybrid’ scenario reflecting a mixture of the two,” the report explained.
It noted that all previous epidemics and pandemics, as well as nearly all prior outbreaks, have had zoonotic origins, while acknowledging that a lab origin for SARS-CoV-2 is still a credible possibility.
There was, however, bipartisan consensus on certain instances of misconduct. Echoing findings from the Republican report, the Democrats highlighted David Morens, a senior advisor at NIAID, for behavior considered “unbecoming” for someone in his position.
Democrats also agreed that EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organization responsible for distributing federal grants for infectious disease research before the pandemic, had failed to adequately oversee the work of its grant recipients, particularly the research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In their conclusion, Democrats stated, “During the 118th Congress, Select Subcommittee Republicans have failed to prove their spurious allegations.” They asserted that the Republicans did not provide new information regarding the origins of SARS-CoV-2, but instead perpetuated unfounded attacks on Dr. Fauci and other public health officials, further undermining public trust in the scientific community.
