As reported by the New York Post, on Wednesday, Lawrence Tabak, the acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), confirmed during congressional testimony that officials at the NIH hid crucial information about early genomic sequences of the COVID-19 virus on orders of Chinese scientists.
We heard this took place but now it’s confirmed.
It was probably hidden because the genomic sequence might have helped determine whether or not the pandemic began with a leak from the Wuhan lab.
The Representative asked why they did what the Chinese communists wanted. Tabak said he “freely” admits the communication “could have been improved.”
“There’s no question that the communication that we had about the sequence archive – Sequence Read Archive – could have been improved. I freely admit that,” Tabak stated. “If I may, the archive never deleted the sequence, it just did not make it available for interrogation.”
“So wait, you have the information still?” Beutler then asked.
“We have the information,” Tabak confirmed. [but it’s hidden]
“Anybody who submits to the Sequence Read Archive is allowed to ask for it to be removed,” the NIH official went on to say. “And that investigator did do that. But we never erase it.”
“So you don’t have the information anymore?” Beutler asked in a follow-up question.
“We do…w never erase the information. We keep it,” Tabak replied.
“So they were able to withdraw public viewing of it?” the congresswoman asked.
“That’s correct,” he responded.
They HID IT! It’s still HIDDEN.
Fascinating exchange at the House this morning with NIH Acting Director Lawrence Tabak about the deletion of early COVID sequences at the behest of Chinese scientists.
NIH archives data hidden from public view on a tape drive.@jbloom_lab pic.twitter.com/4UrPm3btL7
— Emily Kopp (@emilyakopp) May 11, 2022
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