Chris Lange, FISM News

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A Senate committee has concluded that there is “substantial evidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and that the aggressively promoted hypothesis that the outbreak occurred naturally “no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee minority oversight staff released an interim report on Thursday indicating that evidence uncovered in its ongoing probe into the origins of COVID-19 supports the theory that the virus outbreak was the direct result of a leak at a taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research lab in Wuhan, China. 

The probe focused on the “two dominant theories on the origins of the virus,” including “a natural zoonotic spillover” and “a research-related incident,” according to a press release from the committee.

The report notes that expert analyses of the theory that the virus developed naturally revealed that the epidemiology of the outbreak of COVID-19 “differs from previous natural zoonotic spillovers.”

Initial reports that the virus originated from accidental animal-to-human contact were dismissed in the report, which noted that “none of the animals at the market when it was closed, in the market’s supply chain, or in China’s animal farming industry were infected with SARS-CoV-2.64,” which the report notes is “a significant variation from multiple precedents from previous natural zoonotic spillovers.” 

The report then pivots to the lab leak theory. It begins by detailing documented evidence of six known separate biosafety failures that occurred at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2019 and 2020. The rapidity with which China was able to expedite its vaccine development program in comparison to other countries responding to the pandemic is also noted.

“A research-related incident is consistent with the early epidemiology showing rapid spread of the virus in Wuhan, with the earliest calls for assistance being located near the WIV’s original campus in central Wuhan,” the report states. 

The lab leak hypothesis is further supported by evidence that the first-known human infections in Wuhan exhibited “low genetic diversity,” which the report says indicates that “an infected researcher … is the likely primary source of the virus in Wuhan.” It also notes with significance that there were zero reported incidents of any animal infections “pre-dating human COVID-19 cases.”

“Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident,” the report concludes. “New information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment. However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.”

White Coat Waste Project Senior Vice President Justin Goodman said the report further substantiates a massive effort to conceal the pandemic’s origins, beginning with Fauci, according to a Just the News report. The watchdog group monitors federal funding of animal research labs.

“Once again, an authoritative Congressional report has concluded that taxpayer-funded gain-of-function experiments on animals in Wuhan likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic,” Goodman said. “Yet, nearly 3 years into the pandemic, the white coats responsible for probably causing and covering up this global disaster — including Anthony Fauci, EcoHealth Alliance, and the Wuhan lab — have not been held accountable and the NIH continues to brazenly and recklessly bankroll dangerous animal experiments to supercharge coronaviruses with little oversight.”

The lab leak theory was heavily censored by the media and Big Tech as “misinformation” at the height of the pandemic. FISM previously reported that a federal judge last week put Fauci and other top Biden officials on notice that they will be required to testify in a lawsuit alleging that they colluded with Big Tech companies to censor COVID-19 information that challenged their assertions, at the behest of the Biden administration.