National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that he's "not convinced" the COVID-19 pandemic developed naturally and has now called for an investigation on the Wuhan Institute of Laboratory, reports say.
The Blaze said Fauci was not confident that COVID "developed naturally" during an interview with Katie Sanders of PolitiFact, which was contrary to his earlier statements dismissing the likelihood of the Wuhan Institute of Virology creating COVID-19.
Fauci's interview took place on the second day of United Facts of America, a festival of fact checking according to its video uploaded in Poynter, last May 12 where PoliFact discussed various misinformation on the public health crisis. The event was sponsored by AmericaHealth Caritas and conducted via Zoom.
"No, I'm not convinced about that. I think that we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we find out to the best of our ability exactly what happened," Fauci said in reponse to Sanders who asked on the matter.
"Certainly, the people who've investigated it say it likely was the emergence from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could've been something else, and we need to find that out. So, you know, that's the reason why I said I'm perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus," he added.
Fauci's flip-flopping statements already affected his credibility negatively. The Blaze pointed out that a poll from The Convention of States Action and The Trafalgar Group showed that Americans' confidence on him has declined gravely.
The poll was conducted May 16-18 on 1,093 general election voters and showed that 42.2% responded their confidence on Fauci "decreased significantly" or "decreased" as compared to last year. While 26.1% said their confidence on him remains the same or "unchanged," a 9.1% said their confidence in him "increased," and 13% "increased significantly."
Fauci's statements during the United Facts of America interview is a surprising development to Kentucky Senator Paul Rand's constant arguments on the pandemic. Paul alleged after the Senate Hearing with Fauci last week that the latter was "culpable" for the entire pandemic due to documents showing the National Institutes of Health funded "gain of function research" that was done in the Wuhan Institute. Rand's accusations echo an investigation earlier in March that reveal Fauci is actually linked to the Wuhan laboratory experiments.
During the hearing, Paul grilled Fauci during the Senate Hearing where the latter denied funding of such sort. Paul eventually raised the need to investigate the NIH funding. The World Health Organization actually absolved in February the Wuhan Laboratory as the source of the COVID-19 virus. But a group of scientists last week have raised the need to investigate on the matter thoroughly and with transparency.
Last month, President Joe Biden has signed an order that bans reference to the COVID-19 pandemic as the "Wuhan Virus" to avoid straining relationships with the Chinese Communist Party.
Meanwhile, The Blaze added that a report released by the House Intelligence Committee last week reveal that there is "significant circumstancial evidence" that suggest the COVID-19 virus came from the Wuhan laboratory, which is a possibility that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky believes.
