A doctor employed by the US government conducted a visit to the Wuhan facility, which has faced numerous inquiries regarding the origins of Covid-19 and raised concerns about safety nearly two years prior to the beginning of the pandemic. Dr. Ping Chen served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) office in China when she visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in October 2017. In a memo discovered by The New York Post, Dr. Chen expressed her apprehensions regarding the laboratory and its personnel, stating, “By conversing with the technician, it is evident that there is a definite need for training support.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believes that Covid-19 ‘most likely’ originated in a ‘Chinese government-controlled lab,’ with proponents of this theory pointing towards the WIV. However, there is currently no evidence to substantiate this claim.
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is requesting additional information regarding the concerns previously raised by Dr. Chen. He believes that a State Department cable from 2018, which referenced Chen and other scientists expressing reservations about the WIV, was more explicit in its wording. The cable read, “‘During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted that the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.” Some of Dr. Chen’s personal concerns regarding the Wuhan facility have been previously documented. In 2021, Johnson and Senator Rand Paul pressured the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for more information. Eventually, they obtained a redacted copy of Chen’s report and were granted a private examination of it. However, Johnson expressed frustration over the extensive redactions present in the report he received. The health department later acknowledged that not all of the redactions were made due to national security concerns. In a letter to the heads of HHS and the National Institutes of Health, Johnson stated, “In the public FOIA document, HHS redacted Dr. Chen’s entire report, claiming that it contains privacy and deliberative information. It appears that the only reason for these redactions was to conceal the contents of the report from the American people.”
Those who support the ‘lab leak’ theory suggest that the pandemic originated at the WIV where ‘gain-of-function’ research on bat coronaviruses was conducted, with some of the funding provided by US taxpayers. On Tuesday, the HHS informed Congress that the Wuhan facility will no longer receive support from the US government until at least July 2033 due to its failure to adhere to government regulations. Senator Johnson, the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is demanding an interview with Dr. Chen. He is also requesting unredacted copies of her 2017 report, as well as her private communications regarding it and other materials relating to the WIV. Johnson addressed a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and NIH acting director Lawrence Tabak containing these requests. The death toll from Covid-19 stands at almost seven million worldwide, with 1.1 million deaths in the US. Dailymail.com has reached out to the HHS and NIAID for comment.
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