The National Institutes of Health, while Dr. Anthony Fauci was director of its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was funding gain-of-function research to mutate the avian flu at least 10 years before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday on Newsmax.
“The NIH has funded research to mutate the avian flu to make it more transmissible through the air and among mammals,” the Kentucky Republican said on “National Report.” “This is very, very dangerous research.”Paul’s comments came after President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order limiting gain-of-function research, which he and many others say enhanced the pathogens for the virus causing COVID, with the pandemic occurring as a result of the virus from a research laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Paul also said he agrees with Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who told Newsmax in March that there were grants at U.S.-based labs to perform gain-of-function experiments, including on bird flu, even though Redfield said he didn’t know if the funds were spent.
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