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1) Guest essay by NIH Infectious Disease Researcher names former boss Tony Fauci for misleading the nation; calls for end to dangerous gain-of-function virus studies that likely caused #COVID pandemic.

"For too many years, scientists have sold the public on a lie." pic.twitter.com/yBu3yxf5tm

— Paul D. Thacker (@thackerpd) May 4, 2025

1) Guest essay by NIH Infectious Disease Researcher names former boss Tony Fauci for misleading the nation; calls for end to dangerous gain-of-function virus studies that likely caused #COVID pandemic.

"For too many years, scientists have sold the public on a lie."

2) Fauci promoted paper by @scrippsresearch's Kristian Andersen to downplay lab accident. This paper was fake b/c it did not examine a common lab process called "serial passaging".

Fauci promoted this paper to the public, right under Trump's nose tinyurl.com/4wwbj69m

3) Andersend and authors of “Proximal Origin” paper ignored serial passaging, so they didn’t “disprove” a lab origin for COVID.

I have no idea how ignoring something so obvious could make it pass peer review and get published in a prestigious journal like @NatureMedicine. 

4) But after Andersen published the paper that Fauci used to deny the possibility of a lab accident, Fauci threw millions at Andersen with a new CREID grant.

5) Fauci later admitted under oath that Andersen sent him multiple copies of the "Proximal Origin" paper. But he denied understanding it.

If Fauci didn't understand the paper, why did he promote at a White House briefing?

6) Kristian Andersen's co-author, Tulane University's Robert Garry helped ghostwrite and early essay to downplay the possibility of a lab accident. This appeared in the journal Emerging Microbes & infections.

“Don’t want to be cited in as having commented prior to submission".

7) NIH science officers and research academics have a symbiotic relationship. Academics depend on NIH funding to build careers, while NIH officers rely on these same scientists for groundbreaking studies that expand NIH’s influence.

There is no oversight. 

8) Instead of government oversight of academic research, we have a system that rewards allegiance and mutual advancement.

We must end gain-of-function studies and realign research priorities to serve public safety and protect lives—not gamble with them. 

9) Read essay at @DisInfoChron and please subscribe tinyurl.com/4wwbj69m

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