Experts said today the appointment of Dr. Jeremy Farrar, a leading infectious disease physician who was knighted in 2019, said it was a “grave, unforced error.”
Experts have called for the World Health Organization’s new chief scientist to be axed after more evidence showed he censored the Covid lab leak theory.
dr Jeremy Farrar will take up his new six-figure position at the global health authority in the second quarter of this year after stepping down as director of the London-based not-for-profit organization Wellcome Trust.
But new emails uncovered by House Republicans put Britain’s infectious disease doctor at the center of a lab leak cover-up and fueled fresh criticism of the WHO’s appointment.
They show he directly edited a scientific paper written in February 2020 to refute the theory that Covid may have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
On the day this paper, titled “Proximal Origin,” was first published, emails also show that Dr. Farrar pushed through a crucial change that cast even more doubt on the theory – although he privately expressed concerns that the virus is man-made.
‘Sorry for the micromanagement/microediting! But would you be willing to change one sentence?” asked Dr. Farrar in the email chain. He asked for the word “unlikely” to be replaced with “unlikely” in a statement about the leak at the lab.
The tweaked sentence then read: “SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to have originated from laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.”
Experts have today warned against naming Jeremy Farrar as the World Health Organization’s chief scientist. He has previously dismissed the lab leak hypothesis about the origins of Covid as a “conspiracy theory”. (Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where Covid may have escaped)
The above email excerpt shows that Dr. Farrar made at least one direct edit of the Nature Medicine article that was not attributed to him. It was unveiled by House Republicans yesterday
In light of the new revelations, several experts have called for the appointment of Dr. Remove Farrar from the WHO.
dr Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told : “In this context, the appointment of Dr. Farrar to the WHO’s chief scientist, a big, unforced mistake.
“WHO would do well to review and revoke the appointment.”
The US has long been one of the largest sources of funding for the World Health Organization, providing between $200 million and $600 million annually over the past 10 years. In 2020-2021, it was the third-largest funder behind Germany and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, having invested around $693 million.
dr David Livermore, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia in the UK, also said the agency might want to reconsider the move.
He told this website: “There must be concerns about the appointment of Dr. give Farrar.
“He first privately speculated on the origin of a laboratory leak for Covid. But then he added his signature to an infamous Lancet letter attempting to debunk the lab leak theory.
“If he is to lead the WHO, it would be for Dr. Farrar advisable to commission investigations into Covid’s origins that are entirely independent of the organization’s hierarchy, including himself.”
Robert Moffit, an expert on the origins of Covid who has written on the subject for the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation, said Dr. Farrar should not take on the role at WHO in light of the new emails.
“I don’t think he should take the job,” he told . “He should refrain from making such a statement until this matter is resolved and made public.”
“We don’t want someone taking over WHO who … can refrain from taking a stand on all these issues [on Covid origins] are tidy.’
Rand Paul, a physician and Republican Senator for Kentucky, told that he also opposed the appointment of Dr. Farar was.
He said: “Jeremy Farrar, the guy who then publicly scorned the lab leak theory, although privately admitted he was still 50-50 on the lab leak, should not be responsible for the WHO or any investigation into the origins of Covid be.”
Emails leaked last year show that Dr. Farrar has privately expressed concern that Covid may have leaked from a lab in February 2020.
he said dr Anthony Fauci and his colleagues that it is 50:50 between a laboratory leak and natural origin.
But in the weeks that followed, Dr. Farrar to have a dramatic change of heart and put his name under a letter in the Lancet denouncing the lab leak hypothesis as a “conspiracy theory”.
The statement, signed along with 26 other scientists, said: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories that suggest Covid has no natural origin.
“Conspiracy theories do nothing but fuel fear, rumor and prejudice that threaten our global cooperation in the fight against this virus.”
dr Livermore also expressed concern about Dr. Farrar to Dr. Peter Daszak, the zoologist who has been criticized for funneling millions of US tax dollars into the Wuhan lab to fund controversial bat-coronavirus research.
dr Daszak was then accused of leaning on colleagues to deflect blame from the facility as Covid spread. He also directed the letter in the Lancet.
dr Richard Ebright (left) and Dr. David Livermore, both microbiologists, have concerns about the appointment of Dr. Farrar voiced in the World Health Organization
Farrar’s lab leak interference and flip flops:
February 4, 2020: After Dr. Farrar set up a conference call on the origin of Covid, he famously told colleagues that he was 50-50 between contracting the virus of natural origin and being released from a lab.
On the same day, while emailing about the origin of Covid, he also described the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) as “wild west,” in an apparent reference to its lack of infection control and oversight.
February 8, 2020: Dr. Kristian Andersen, a scientist on the phone, sends an email saying they are working to disprove the lab leak hypothesis.
He said: “Our main work over the last few weeks has been focused on disproving every type of laboratory theory.”
This was surprising since he was Dr. Fauci said in an email in January that some aspects of the virus made him wonder if he had been tampered with.
February 12, 2020: Scientists on the call request publication of the Proximal Origins article in Nature Medicine, which rejects the laboratory leak theory.
An email sent by its lead author, Dr. Kristian Andersen suggests it was sent by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Farrar was prompted.
He wrote: “Prompted by Jeremy Farrah [sic]Tony Fauci and Francis Collins… [we] have worked through much of the (mainly) genetic data to generate agnostic and scientifically sound hypotheses about the origins of the virus.’
February 17, 2020: After reviewing the Proximal Origins paper, Dr. Farrar for an editing of the text.
Despite this request, he was not named on paper.
When he asked to change the language, he said, “Sorry for micromanaging/microediting! But would you be willing to change a sentence?
“Aus: SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to have originated from laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.
“To: SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to have originated from laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.”
February 19, 2020: Farrar, along with 26 other scientists, signs a letter in the Lancet dismissing the lab leak theory as a conspiracy.
It said: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories that suggest Covid has no natural origin.
“Conspiracy theories do nothing but fuel fear, rumor and prejudice that threaten our global cooperation in the fight against this virus.”
The letter was from Dr. Peter Daszak, who was accused of tricking colleagues into shifting blame away from the WIV.
March 17, 2020: Proximal Origins of Covid paper appears in Nature Medicine, which also aims to dismiss the lab leak theory.
dr Farrar was not named on the paper.
June 9, 2020: Farrar promotes an article by Dr. Daszak in the Guardian captioned: “Ignore the conspiracy theories: Scientists know Covid wasn’t created in a lab – worth reading as always @peterdaszak”
June 21, 2021: The Lancet is forced to publish an addendum to its paper dismissing the lab leak hypothesis as a conspiracy theory.
It had previously stated that its authors had no conflicting interests. But in the aftermath, the relationship of Dr. Daszak added to the WIV.
July 17, 2021: Farrar is credited with another article in the Lancet dismissing the lab leak theory.
One passage reads: “We believe that the strongest evidence from new, credible and peer-reviewed evidence in the scientific literature is that the virus evolved in nature, while proposals for a laboratory leak source of the pandemic remain without scientifically validated evidence.” ‘that are directly endorsed in peer-reviewed scholarly journals.’
July 22, 2021: Dr. Farrar’s book, Spike, is published.
He wrestles with the lab leak hypothesis in the book, concluding that it will never be possible to completely rule it out.
However, he adds, “But the simplest explanation remains the most likely: nature plus bad luck.”
The journal was forced to admit a conflict of interest regarding the paper and the relationship of Dr. Reveal Daszak to WIV.
She had previously stated that “there were no competing interests”.
In June 2020 also Dr. Farar divided An article Daszak wrote for the Guardian read: “Ignore the conspiracy theories: Scientists know Covid-19 wasn’t created in a lab – worth reading as always @peterdaszak.”
He also tacitly assisted scientists in writing the Proximal Origin Commentary in Nature Medicine, published in March 2020, in which the authors stated that they “do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.”
dr Farrar was never named in the paper, but this week’s report from House Republicans noted that he had made direct changes to the paper.
In an email from Dr. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, he thanked Dr. Farrar for his commitment.
“Thank you for looking after this newspaper,” he wrote. “Rumours about bioweapons are now circulating in China.”
dr Farrar replied: “Yes I know, and in the US – why so keen to get out asap. I will urge nature.’
At the WHO, Dr. Farrar will be responsible for the entire science department as chief scientist and scientific spokesperson for the agency.
Established in 2019, the science department brings together evidence of improving people’s health in all 194 WHO member countries.
During the Covid pandemic, it worked to bring together information about the virus, its treatment and prevention. The Science Division says online it’s also involved in “fighting the infodemic of misinformation.”
Two major US agencies – the FBI and the US Department of Energy – are now saying Covid has escaped from a lab in Wuhan, although they do so with “low confidence”.
The director of the FBI also said last week that the theory was credible, saying that the “origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential laboratory accident in Wuhan.”
And a Senate bombshell report in October concluded that Covid “most likely” leaked from a Wuhan lab.
There is no direct evidence that Covid has leaked from the Wuhan lab yet.
But the research facility — world famous for its work on bat coronaviruses — is less than 10 miles from an animal slaughter market where the first human case series was pooled.
Some experts also claim that Covid’s unique spike protein that it infects humans with has traits of human engineering.
China has deleted databases and records from the lab and repeatedly denied access to scientists studying the origin of the Covid pandemic.
The US funneled millions into the Wuhan lab through the organization EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based group that funds global research into viruses. It will be given by Dr. Daszak directed.
A January report by the U.S. Office of Inspector General found that the National Institutes of Health — which awards these funds to EcoHealth — was not properly monitoring their use.
A particular concern is that the WIV may have conducted “gain-of-function” research without receiving proper approval.
The highly controversial and potentially dangerous research is heavily regulated in the US and can only be conducted in laboratories with the strictest security protocols.
The WIV has previously had issues with following the proper protocols for this type of research.
A US Senate report in October pointed to several biosecurity cases
Nonetheless, many scientists still support the zoonotic origin argument as the most likely origin of Covid.
dr Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia in the UK, said he felt the evidence still pointed much more strongly towards the Huanan seafood wholesale market.
“For most of my career I have been involved in investigating the causes of infectious disease outbreaks and the nature of such investigations rarely provides absolute proof of cause,” he said. “Most of the time it’s weighing the probabilities.”
“Regarding the Covid outbreak, the balance of probabilities is very strong against it being a lab leak and in favor of it being linked to the Huanan Fish Market.”
The World Health Organization and the Wellcome Trust have been asked for comment.