Interim Majority Staff Report presenting email messages and other communications between officials involved in early discussions regarding the origin of COVID-19.
"Executive Summary
On February 16, 2020, Dr. Andrew Rambaut, on behalf of himself and his co-authors, Dr. Kristian Andersen, Dr. W. Tan Lipkin, Dr. Edward Holmes, and Dr. Robert Garry, posted 'The Proximal Origin of SARS-Co V-2' on the website Virological. One month later, on March 17, 2020, 'The proximal origin of SARS-Co V-2' (Proximal Origin) was published in Nature Medicine.
Proximal Origin expressed two primary conclusions: (1) ' ... [COVTD-19] is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus,' and (2) 'we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.'
Since Proximal Origin was published, it has been accessed 5.84 million times. Further, it has garnered the third most attention of any paper of a similar age across all journals and the second most attention of any paper of a similar age in Nature Medicine. Finally, it has received the fifth most attention of any paper ever tracked.
This is one of the single most impactful and influential scientific papers in history, and it expressed conclusions that were not based on sound science nor in fact, but instead on assumptions. The question is why.
As of July 11, 2023, the Select Subcommittee has received more than 8,000 pages of documents from the U.S.-based Proximal Origin contributors and conducted five transcribed interviews-resulting in almost 25 hours of testimony. This report is the culmination of that work...
This is the anatomy of a cover-up...
The Critical Reception and Use of Proximal Origin
... Through its investigation, the Select Subcommittee learned that Proximal Origin was used to downplay the possibility COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak in Wuhan, China and that the NIH and NIAID were keenly aware of its publication, and in fact participated in its crafting...
Conclusion
On January 31, 2020, Dr. Fauci 'suggested' directly to Dr. Andersen draft a paper regarding a possible lab leak of COVID-19. Dr. Fauci warned that if Dr. Andersen determined COVID-19 was the result of a lab leak, then he would need to contact law enforcement. The next day, February 1, this time on a conference call with 11 international scientists, and included [sic] Dr. Collins and Dr. Tabak, Dr. Fauci again suggested drafting a paper regarding a possible lab leak. It was these two suggestions that prompted Dr. Andersen to begin drafting. A draft of what would become Proximal Origin was completed within hours.
The stated goal of Proximal Origin—the paper suggested and prompted by Dr. Fauci—was to 'disprove' the lab leak theory. Dr. Andersen stated that refuting a possible lab leak was how Proximal Origin got started. While the exact motives to want to downplay a specific theory are not clear, the authors' communications suggest they wanted to avoid blaming China and defend gain-of-function research. Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins were intimately involved throughout the process-so much so that the authors coined the phrase 'Bethesda Boys' to describe them.
The conclusions of Proximal Origin rest on three main arguments: (1) the presence of a non-optimal RBD and that RBD appearing in other viral sequences-particularly pangolins, (2) the presence or furin cleavage sites in other coronaviruses, and (3) the concept that any laboratory manipulation would have used an already published viral backbone. Each of these arguments is flawed and rests on unsupported assumptions...
After publication, Proximal Origin was used to downplay the lab leak hypothesis and call those who believe it may be true conspiracy theorists...
Proximal Origin employed fatally flawed science to achieve its goal. And, finally, Dr. Collins and Dr. Fauci used Proximal Origin to attempt to kill the lab leak theory."
This article is a work of the United States government. Such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and are therefore in the public domain.