Security personnel watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Credit: THOMAS PETER
Chinese researchers may have started developing two Covid vaccines in November US Senate report says 2019, before the outbreak officially began, US Senate report says.
Allegations presented in a 300-page document, which concluded that the pandemic was most likely the result of a laboratory leak and was the result of a "research-related incident" in Wuhan.
The theory that Covid-19 passed from animals to humans in the market no longer deserves the "presumption of credibility".
The report claims that Chinese researchers apparently started developing at least two Covid vaccines at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in November 2019, meaning that SARS-CoV-2 must have been present in WIV prior to the known outbreak. . pandemic".
The claims further support the lab leak theory and support accusations that China covered up early cases of the outbreak.
The 300-page report released by Axios was the full version of a 35-page summary released in October by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
It said: "The Covid-19 pandemic was most likely the result of a research incident.
"New information that has become public and independently verifiable may change this assessment.
" However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin is no longer questionable, or a presumption of accuracy.”
The report stated that proponents of the natural transmission theory «should provide clear and convincing evidence»; for their argument.
He concluded: «Most information supports the plausibility of a research-related incident that was likely unintentional as a result of biosecurity failures during vaccine-related research.»
p> No evidence to support natural distribution.
U.S. scientists and intelligence are divided over whether the pandemic originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology [WIV], which collected and processed bat viruses, or from natural spread in a Wuhan market that sells live animals.< /p>
The report says there were «anomalies». between Covid-19 and other diseases that are naturally transmitted from animals to humans.
Three years later, no important evidence has been found to support natural spread.
They added that there was no spread of the virus in many places and many times, as would be expected if this were the cause.
The report also noted that the type of bats carrying the nearest virus to Covid-19 lived more than 1,000 miles from Wuhan.
However, more than 200 coronaviruses were collected in the lab, and employees were photographed handling bats in inadequate protective gear, the report said.
The scientists were involved in research aimed at preventing future pandemics and were looking for funding. to create coronaviruses, it said.
The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, January 2020, at the center of the controversy over origin of Covid-19. Photo: Dijk Kang
The report said: “The study-related incident is consistent with early [Covid-19] epidemiology showing the rapid spread of the virus in Wuhan, with the earliest calls for help coming near the original WIV campus in downtown Wuhan. .
In short, human error, mechanical failure, animal bites, animal escapes, inadequate training, insufficient funding, and pressure to produce results can leak virulent pathogens, which can in turn infect animals and people and lead to release. virus from the laboratory"
No final conclusion
However, the report does not contain the "final" conclusion about the origin of the pandemic.
It stated: “More information is needed to arrive at a more precise, if not definitive, understanding of the origins of… and how the Covid-19 pandemic began.
"Governments, leaders, public health officials and scientists involved in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and working to prevent future pandemics should strive for greater transparency, participation and accountability in their efforts"FBI Director Christopher Wray said last month that Covid «most likely» leaked from a lab in Wuhan.
Mr Wray said: "The FBI has been currently assessing what the cause of the pandemic is most likely a potential Wuhan lab incident."
The US Department of Energy also concluded that a lab leak was the most likely cause, although with #34;low confidence& #34;.
The Department of Energy oversees a network of 17 U.S. advanced biology laboratories.
Meanwhile, the CIA is reportedly still undecided between lab leak and natural transmission theory.
Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, said last month that there was «no definitive answer». bye.
He said: “Some elements of the intelligence community have come to conclusions on one side, some on the other, and some have said they simply don’t have enough information to be sure."
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