Pandemic origins: NIH held meetings with Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers about COVID experiments in 2017

Pandemic origins: NIH held meetings with Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers about COVID experiments in 2017. The documents suggest that Shi Zhengli, a senior scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology also called "Batwoman," held a clandestine meeting with officials at the National Institutes of Health to gather support for her research on emerging bat viruses. The meeting took place in June 2017, shortly before the NIH lifted its moratorium on gain-of-function research in December 2017. The report revealed that Daszak arranged the meetings at NIH with the program officer overseeing his research there, Erik Stemmy. According to U.S. Right to Know, the highly redacted State Department cables that they obtained last year revealed that America possesses "Cyber evidence" of military "Shadow labs" at the WIV. A 2021 State Department fact sheet has also shown that even though the WIV is presenting itself as a civilian institution, the research institute has conducted classified research on behalf of the Chinese military as early as 2017. According to a declassified assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2023, the People's Liberation Army scientists have conducted virological research at the Wuhan lab, and the lab's civilian scientists have collaborated with scientists associated with the PLA. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the now-retired director of the NIAID, has taken part in a two-day written testimony to Congress on his knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic origins, his involvement in the alleged cover-up of the lab leak theory and the government pandemic response. Earlier reports suggest that before securing the NIH funding, the EcoHealth Alliance approached the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the technological branch of the Department of Defense, to finance Zhengli's research on bat virus experiments and vaccine development.