Where Did Covid-19 Originate After All?

Source: CDC.gov.

New Investigative Report

Vanity Fair and ProPublica recently published a fascinating piece of investigative journalism on the so-called Covid-19 lab hypothesis: did the virus originate in a Wuhan lab rather than from animal-to-human transmission as commonly believed?

The authors spoke with researchers involved in a detailed investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak commissioned by the US Senate. Toy Reid, an expert on Chinese Central Party (CCP) communications, was a key contributor to that report.

Reid spent 15 months combing through dozens of bureaucratic dispatches available on the website of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). He unearthed several troubling findings.

First, Reid noticed a recurring pattern of complaints from WIV lab workers - in veiled bureaucratic language - about their lack of experience and the absence of standardized procedures when dealing with dangerous pathogens. Then, in November 2019, the WIV dispatches took a turn for the worse.

On November 19, senior safety director Dr. Ji Changzheng visited the WIV for an off-cycle training seminar. His prepared remarks described a 'complex and grave situation' and implied his instructions may have come from General Secretary Xi Jinping - the very top of the CCP.

Notably, the first case of Covid-19 officially confirmed by Chinese authorities took place in Hubei province - of which Wuhan is the capital - on Nov 17, 2019, just two days before Dr. Ji's unusual visit to the WIV.

Vanity Fair and ProPublica go on to question the speed with which the Chinese authorities were able to develop a Covid-19 vaccine. Experts canvassed by the article's authors believe China developed its vaccine on an unrealistically fast, 'if not impossible' timeline. Notably, these vaccine development efforts were led by military virologists rather than their civilian counterparts.

Two out of three Vanity Fair/ProPublica experts thought that the animal testing data reported by these military virologists in a February 2020 vaccine patent application implied the work would have to have started no later than November 2019. The official timeline proposed by the Chinese was deemed 'scientifically, technically not possible.'

There are other reasons to doubt the animal-to-human (or zoonotic) transmission hypothesis. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom (SARS), which spread throughout Asia during 2002-04, is thought to have originated from zoonotic transmission in a Yunnan food market. Consistent with that scenario, scientists identified multiple examples of other species infected with SARS within months of the initial SARS outbreak in humans.

In contrast, evidence of Covid-19 amongst animals in the Wuhan food market has been scant at best. Here is a direct quote from the Vanity Fair/ProPublica article:

"On Feb. 25, 2022, a team of researchers from China’s CDC published a preprint revealing that of the 457 swabs taken from 18 species of animals in the market, none contained any evidence of the virus. Rather, the virus was found in 73 swabs taken from around the market’s environment, all linked to human infections. And although some seafood and vegetable vendors in the market tested positive, no vendors from animal stalls did."

Based on these findings, the lab hypothesis has become the most plausible explanation for how Covid-19 descended upon the world three years ago.