Former director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield was reportedly sidelined from discussions about the coronavirus pandemic after he warned Dr. Anthony Fauci that COVID-19 may have originated from a lab, according to a Vanity Fair investigation.
Redfield, a virologist who headed the CDC between 2018 and 2021, urged Fauci to “vigorously investigate” not only a possible natural origin of COVID-19, but the possibility that it had originated in the Wuhan Institute Virology (WIV) and was accidentally released, according to Vanity Fair. Redfield said from that point forward, he was excluded from discussions about the origin of the virus.
A handful of virologists shouldn’t have a monopoly in the media on the complex question of whether the pandemic was ignited by virology research.
Especially in light of the bullying described here.https://t.co/3LZjKcfac2
— Emily Kopp (@emilyakopp) April 1, 2022
“Their goal was to have a single narrative,” he told Vanity Fair. He said he hadn’t even been aware that there were further discussions about the origin of the virus until after they occurred. (RELATED: Former CDC Director Says WHO Too ‘Compromised’ To Lead COVID-19 Investigation In China)
Redfield was one of the first major public officials to throw support behind the lab-leak theory, saying in March 2021 he believed the virus emerged from the WIV. Redfield has previously described being “sidelined” within the scientific community and threatened for expressing support for the theory.
According to emails uncovered by Vanity Fair through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, Fauci collaborated with other government officials and top scientists to suppress the spread of the lab leak theory from the earliest days of the pandemic.