Fmr FDA Head Gottlieb: W.H.O. Should Investigate What China ‘Did or Didn’t Tell the World’ About Coronavirus

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to “commit” to investigating what China knew about the coronavirus as it spread around the country and into other parts of the world.

Gottlieb acknowledged there is “growing evidence” that in late January, China was lying about how the virus spreads, suggesting if Chinese leadership had more information than they were letting on, it could have “stymied the global response” to the disease.

“China was not truthful with the world at the outset of this,” Gottlieb stated. “Had they been more truthful with the world, which would have enabled them to be more truthful with themselves, they might have actually been able to contain this entirely, and there is some growing evidence to suggest that. As late as January 20, they were still saying that there was no human to human transmission, and the WHO was validating those claims on January 14, sort of enabling the obfuscation from China.”

He continued, “I think going forward, the WHO needs to commit to an after-action report that specifically examines what China did or didn’t tell the world, and how that stymied the global response to this.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent