Newly obtained documents from the US Department of Health and Human Services have revealed that Chinese researcher and virologist Dr. Lili Ren isolated and mapped the structure of COVID-19 at least two weeks before the Chinese government officially acknowledged the virus. The documents highlight that this early sequencing work could have played a crucial role in shaping the global response to the pandemic and expediting COVID-19 vaccine development.
Dr. Ren uploaded almost the entire sequence of COVID-19 to a US government-run database on December 28, 2019, while Beijing provided similar information to the World Health Organization on January 11, 2020, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal.
The two-week gap between Dr. Ren’s submission and the official acknowledgment by Beijing raises concerns about potential delays in sharing critical information that could have influenced the early stages of the pandemic response.
Dr. Ren’s attempt to publish the virus information on GenBank, a platform operated by the US National Institutes of Health, faced hurdles. Her work was never published on the site and was deleted after she failed to address technical issues unrelated to the scientific merit of her submission.
These revelations surfaced after the House Energy and Commerce Committee threatened to subpoena the Department of Health and Human Services, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability in understanding the early days of the pandemic.
Committee Chairs Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) called for further investigation into the knowledge of both Chinese and US health officials during the initial stages of the pandemic.
“This significant discovery further underscores why we cannot trust any of the so-called ‘facts’ or data provided by the CCP and calls into serious question the legitimacy of any scientific theories based on such information,” they emphasized. “The American people deserve to know the truth about the origins of SARS-CoV-2.”
The Chinese Embassy refrained from providing a direct comment on the incident but stood by China’s pandemic response and the information it shared globally.
A spokesperson stated, “China has kept refining our COVID response based on science to make it more targeted. China’s COVID response policies are science-based, effective, and consistent with China’s national realities. They can stand the test of history.”
As the revelations raise questions about the handling of early COVID-19 information, the international community remains vigilant in understanding the origins and responses to the global health crisis.
Sources By Agencies
