As Republicans probe COVID’s origins, some see an attack on science; others say it’s long overdue

At the start of a hearing on COVID’s origins last month, Ohio Republican Brad Wenstrup said that the committee was not out to attack science.

“Let me be clear, I support global health research; I support work that will make the world safer,” Wenstrup said. “Our concern is that this research, and research similar, does the opposite — it puts the world at the risk of a pandemic.”

In the three-hour exchange that followed, Wenstrup and his Republican colleagues excoriated Dr. Peter Daszak, a scientist at the center of the debate around COVID’s origins. Daszak is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a group that, prior to the onset of the pandemic, conducted research on bat coronaviruses. Some of that work was done in conjunction with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese-government laboratory that many Republicans believe may have started the pandemic.

Daszak was taken to task by both Republicans and Democrats for failing to comply with the terms of grants issued to EcoHealth. As a result of the ongoing hearings, EcoHealth Alliance recently had its access to federal grant funding suspended — with an eye toward debarring them from receiving future funding. Both Daszak and EcoHealth say they will appeal the decision.

On Monday, the committee will hear testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became the public face of science during the pandemic. Committee members are expected to grill Fauci on EcoHealth and other aspects of pandemic decision-making. They will also ask about e-mail exchanges between Daszak and one of Fauci’s senior advisors, Dr. David Morens. A subpoena by the committee recently turned up embarrassing exchanges between Morens and