In a surprising turn of events, recent documents from the US Department of Health and Human Services have uncovered that Chinese virologist Dr. Lili Ren had successfully isolated and mapped the structure of COVID-19 at least two weeks prior to Beijing’s official acknowledgment of the virus. This revelation raises questions about the early stages of the pandemic and the potential impact on global response and vaccine development.
The obtained documents indicate that on December 28, 2019, Dr. Ren uploaded almost the entire sequence of COVID-19 to a US government-run database. Strikingly, Beijing presented similar information to the World Health Organization on January 11, 2020. This two-week gap could have played a crucial role in shaping the world’s response to the pandemic and expediting the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Ren attempted to publish her findings on GenBank, a platform operated by the US National Institutes of Health. However, her work was never published on the site, as it was deleted due to technical issues unrelated to the scientific merit of her submission.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, in response to potential interference concerns, threatened to subpoena the Department of Health and Human Services. Subsequently, documents exposing the early COVID-19 sequencing details were released, highlighting Dr. Ren’s case as the earliest known instance of a Chinese researcher’s COVID sequencing work being deleted after submission to GenBank.
Committee Chairs Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Brett Guthrie, and Morgan Griffith stressed the need for further investigation into the knowledge of Chinese and US health officials during the early days of the pandemic. They expressed concerns about the legitimacy of information provided by the Chinese government and the potential impact on global scientific understanding.
The Chinese Embassy refrained from commenting on the incident but maintained support for China’s response to the pandemic. A spokesperson emphasized that China’s COVID response policies are science-based, effective, and consistent with the country’s national realities.
The committee’s findings have sparked a call for greater transparency and oversight into research grants to foreign scientists, with a focus on strengthening America’s biosafety practices. As policymakers work to better prepare for future pandemics, the investigation aims to shed light on the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and address concerns about the allocation of taxpayers’ dollars and the operation of public health agencies.
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