For more information about our investigation, see our biohazards page. You can read our reporting here on the documents we have obtained so far from Freedom of Information requests. The documents are posted below in approximately the chronological order in which we received them. In July 2020, U.S. Right to Know began submitting public records … FOI documents on origins of Covid-19, gain-of-function research and biolabs
On February 11, 2020, Anthony Fauci met with American virologist Ralph Barici. A newly unearthed email provides a glimpse into what Fauci and Baric discussed.
EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak planned to continue coronavirus research unfunded after NIH suspended grant
EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak opposed the public release of Covid-19-related virus sequence data gathered from China as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) PREDICT program, according to emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know. The conversation in late April 2020 involved employees of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that has received millions … EcoHealth Alliance wanted to block disclosure of Covid-19-relevant virus data from China
A new maximum biocontainment lab in Kunming, China, was certified three years ago while remaining under-the-radar in the U.S. biodefense community, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show. China’s plans to build an ABSL-4 under the Institute of Medical Biology and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Kunming were previously known. But … U.S. Right to Know confirms a third maximum containment lab in China
Virologists pushed back on the possibility of tighter regulation of viruses tweaked in the lab to be more lethal at a public meeting Wednesday. An enhanced pandemic potential pathogen is a virus or microbe that has gained increased transmissibility — capacity to spread from person to person and reverberate throughout a population — or virulence … Virologists push back on more regulation of viruses made more lethal in the lab
A virologist who coauthored a paper marginalizing the lab leak theory did not disclose his ties to the research group at the center of it. Director of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity Ian Lipkin has often worked with EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based collaborator of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the group confirmed in … Virologist who tried to discredit the lab leak theory was once a ‘partner’ to EcoHealth Alliance
EcoHealth Alliance conducted field research for years in Southeast Asia, a region central to the origin of COVID-19, but some of the data appears to have been withdrawn from public view. EcoHealth Alliance, an American scientific organization that receives funds from several federal agencies, has come under scrutiny for its controversial work hunting for novel … Another missing database? EcoHealth project in Southeast Asia is under construction
The news that the chief American collaborator of the Wuhan Institute of Virology received renewed funding from the National Institutes of Health sparked indignation this week. Now, new documents may shed light on why NIH grantmakers are not exerting more caution. The watchdog that ensures the integrity of federal health programs closed a brief probe … Inspector general closed lab leak theory probe 21 months ago
EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak, the head of an organization involved in research that genetically manipulates coronaviruses, discussed hiding his role in a statement published last year in The Lancet that condemned as “conspiracy theories” concerns that the COVID-19 virus may have originated in a research lab, emails obtained by US Right to Know show. … Scientists discussed masking their involvement in key journal letter on Covid origins, emails show
Senior virus hunters requested nearly $300,000 in government-funded business class flights
This post describes documents of Colorado State University (CSU) Professors Rebekah Kading and Tony Schountz, which U.S. Right to Know obtained from a public records request. Kading and Schountz are virologists who study bat-associated pathogens in hot-spots across the world. They collaborate with EcoHealth Alliance, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Advanced … Colorado State University documents on bat pathogen research
Update 2.15.21 – Newly surfaced Daszak email: “No need for you to sign the ‘Statement’ Ralph!! ” Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know show that a statement in The Lancet authored by 27 prominent public health scientists condemning “conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin” was organized by employees of … EcoHealth Alliance orchestrated key scientists’ statement on “natural origin” of SARS-CoV-2
A multimillion-dollar bat coronavirus research grant, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was made public last week, revealing that researchers based in Wuhan, China had manipulated coronaviruses in ways that led to increased severity of infection, employing platforms that tested the ability of bat coronaviruses to use human receptors. The grant documents underscore … How NIH-funded research in China could have led to the COVID-19 pandemic
See our reporting on the origins of Covid-19 for updates on our investigation, and we are posting documents from our investigation here. Sign up here to receive weekly updates. In July 2020, U.S. Right to Know began submitting public records requests in pursuit of data from public institutions in an effort to discover what is … Why we are researching the origins of Covid-19, gain-of-function research and biolabs
The World Health Organization has proposed 26 scientists for a new group to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as future outbreaks. WHO plans to appoint members to the new Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) after a two week review to gather public opinion on the proposed … Public comments on the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) members
Last week, U.S. Right to Know reported that an influential statement in The Lancet signed by 27 prominent public health scientists about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 was organized by employees of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit group that has received millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer funding to genetically manipulate coronaviruses with scientists at the Wuhan … Scientist with conflict of interest leading Lancet COVID-19 Commission task force on virus origins
Newly obtained emails offer glimpses into how a narrative of certainty developed about the natural origins of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, while key scientific questions remained. The internal discussions and an early draft of a scientists’ letter show experts discussing gaps in knowledge and unanswered questions about lab origin, even as some sought to tamp … New emails show scientists’ deliberations on how to discuss SARS-CoV-2 origins
The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) ordered staff in January 2020 to “not discuss COVID-19,” according to a Guangzhou-based blogger’s social media post that is cited in a February 2020 U.S. State Department cable obtained by U.S. Right to Know. The WIV is at the center of debate surrounding the origins of … Wuhan lab director ordered staff not to discuss Covid-19, State Department cable says, citing blogger
This page lists documents in Professor Ralph Baric’s emails, which U.S. Right to Know obtained via a public records request. Dr. Baric is a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC). He has developed genetic techniques to enhance the pandemic potential of existing bat coronaviruses in collaboration with Dr. Zhengli Shi … Items from coronavirus expert Ralph Baric‘s emails
