NIH Director: Lab Theory Didn’t Get Attention It Maybe Should Have, But It Was on Mind of Me and Fauci

On Thursday’s broadcast of “PBS NewsHour,” NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins stated that the lab leak theory on the origin of COVID-19 “didn’t get nearly as much attention perhaps as it should have. I will tell you, it was always on my mind. I know it was on Tony Fauci’s mind.”

Collins said, “I think it was a confusing time back then [early 2020], Judy. First, let me say, I do think we need to get answers here. An investigation is very much needed.”

He added that back then, there was the theory that the virus was the result of bioweapons research, which wasn’t a viable theory, adding, “And so the idea that it was, on the other hand, a lab accident, where they were studying this virus, which maybe did occur in nature, but it got loose in the lab, that theory didn’t get nearly as much attention perhaps as it should have. I will tell you, it was always on my mind. I know it was on Tony Fauci’s mind. But none of us ran to the microphone to say, we need to worry about the fact that this could have been a lab leak. It — at the present time, we have no more data or less data to support that. Suddenly, it’s emerged in a lot of people’s minds as, oh, that’s the leading explanation.”

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