Video NIH's handling of COVID origins hurt the credibility of science: Dr. Robert Redfield Former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield joins 'America's Newsroom' to weigh in ahead of Dr. Anthony Fauci's testimony before the House on COVID origins and the government's pandemic response.
If we learned one thing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that the "experts" in charge of handling public health and infectious diseases did not live up to pre-pandemic expectations.
The widespread assumption, particularly among media outlets whose job it was to hold powerful people accountable, was that these "experts" were unassailable and nearly infallible. Whatever they said must be listened to, obeyed, without question or hesitation, because they said it.
That’s why, when they contradicted themselves, give inexplicable advice, or were proven wrong, the media refused to criticize them or point out their failings. Anthony Fauci went on "60 Minutes" and said that there were scientific reasons why masks don’t work. Then, a few weeks later and with no new science, said everyone should wear masks immediately. When asked about the contradiction, he came up with one of the worst explanations imaginable: that he lied about masks on "60 Minutes" in order to protect supply for healthcare workers. Even though no one ordering cloth face coverings on Amazon would be interfering with commercial suppliers providing surgical masks to hospitals.
The media, though, was content to let him get away with that obvious misdirection and post-hoc justification for his politically motivated flip-flop.
But that’s just one of many examples. And perhaps the most concerning, and discrediting, relates to how they handled their responsibilities to the public. Thankfully, there have finally been some consequences for treating their employers with disdain, dishonesty and contempt.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about the COVID-19 response in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
One of Anthony Fauci’s closest allies at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was Dr. David Morens, who served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022. Morens would help top, senior-level staff develop recommendations, policies and solutions for issues at the National Institutes of Health, as well as offering assistance on epidemiological studies and infectious disease planning in both agencies.
Importantly, during the pandemic, he was involved in compiling information from grant recipients and members of the expert community regarding the origins and nature of COVID-19.
Morens made the news when some of his emails were made public during inquiries about the origins of the pandemic. In one such email, he bragged about how he’d been taught to hide emails he didn’t want subjected to Freedom of Information Act requests.
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"I learned the tricks last year from an old friend, Marg Moore, who heads our FOIA office and also hates FOIAs," he wrote in the email. "i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear."
On Tuesday, Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced that Morens is facing indictment on several key charges, "Conspiracy against the United States, destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting."
"These allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most — during the height of a global pandemic," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement. "As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19. Government officials have a solemn duty to provide honest, well-grounded facts and advice in service of the public interest — not to advance their own personal or ideological agendas."
Dr. David Morens testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2024, regarding allegations about deleting emails related to COVID-19. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
That’s just the start of it. Prosecutors also allege that Morens worked with other co-conspirators to hide communications about one specific research grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When public outcry over the Wuhan lab and gain-of-function research increased, the indictment claims that Morens and co-conspirators purposefully moved government communications to private emails in order to hide them from the public. Those messages allegedly contained conversations about how to influence funding, the origins of the pandemic and other COVID research.
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When a specific grant was terminated over concerns that it could have led to the creation of the coronavirus, Morens allegedly said he would help restore it while publicly downplaying any discussion of the lab leak hypothesis.
It’s also alleged that Morens was offered gifts from a collaborator in exchange for these efforts, such as wine for his "behind-the-scenes shenanigans," which was then sent to his house in Maryland. The indictment claims that he allegedly found an "official act that he could perform to ‘deserve’ the gift, which was a scientific commentary in a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins."
He was also then offered up meals at high-end restaurants in Washington, D.C., New York and Paris, per the indictment.
What might be most surprising about these revelations is how unsurprising they are for those who followed the pandemic and top health experts closely. This alleged behavior fits perfectly into how they conducted themselves during the entire COVID-19 outbreak. They dismissed the lab leak immediately to the public, while privately admitting that it was extremely likely that the virus was altered by researchers.
They had conference calls on how best to counter public concerns about scientific research, eventually publishing a now-discredited paper in order to influence discussions about the origins of the pandemic. To put it charitably, they simply did not care what had actually happened, because they were more concerned with protecting themselves, their reputations, and their funding.
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That mentality then extended to virtually every COVID-related policy. They were dismissive of anyone without their credentials, even if those outsiders were proven correct. They worked to diminish and demonize anyone who criticized their policies, such as Fauci and then NIH-head Francis Collins labeling Dr. Jay Bhattacharya a "fringe epidemiologist."
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the NIH budget and medical research in Washington, D.C., on May 26, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty Images)
The entire incident with Morens was revealing because it exemplified how little top health experts cared about accurate scientific communication. Instead, they hid emails to protect their friends, published biased papers in scientific journals happy to help and cared more about protecting their status than getting to the bottom of a pandemic that fundamentally changed the world.
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That’s one of the real lessons of the pandemic: all too often those in charge were not acting in anyone’s best interest but their own. The "public" health profession all too often cares more about protecting their private benefits and political party than accuracy, honesty and transparency. They acted like they were above the peasants they’re supposed to work for and protect. Because that’s precisely how they felt.
It’s about time someone faced some consequences for it.
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