Key events
Fauci to face questions from Senate Republicans over pandemic origins
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Senators are expected to question Anthony Fauci, the former veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), about whether the Covid-۱۹ virus began as a “lab leak” in a high-profile hearing later today.
Fauci, who served as a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden on the Covid-۱۹ pandemic, will give testimony as part of a longtime Republican investigation into the origins of the pandemic, led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Fauci will likely be quizzed about whether the Covid-۱۹ virus began as a “lab leak”, a claim virologists have argued is unlikely.
While Republicans have characterized their work as investigating “the origins of Covid-۱۹ and risky taxpayer-funded life science research”, scientists have characterized Paul’s investigation as “vilification and harassment” of Fauci, who led Niaid for ۳۸ years before retiring in ۲۰۲۲.
“For years, Americans were told a lab origin wasn’t just unlikely – it was dismissed outright by the very people funding and reviewing this research,” Paul, who chairs the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, where Fauci is scheduled to testify, said last week.
Fauci, who is ۸۵, served under seven US presidents and through numerous health crises, including the HIV crisis, Ebola outbreaks and the first coronavirus outbreak, called Sars-CoV-۱. He became a household name overnight when the Covid-۱۹ pandemic halted social life in ۲۰۲۰.
The “lab leak” theory has since gained significant traction in Republican circles. In just one example, the White House published a treatise on the theory in April ۲۰۲۵ that served as a rationale for defunding the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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