A former National Institutes of Health official testified to a Senate committee on Thursday that the agency did not suppress inquiries into the origins of COVID-19, even as Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioned her about private emails suggesting otherwise.
Carrie Wolinetz, who was the chief of staff for then-NIH Director Francis Collins during the pandemic, answered questions from members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about federal oversight of risky virus research.
The most heated moment of the hearing began when Hawley pressed Wolinetz about a March 2020 journal article written by several scientists that attempted to invalidate the Chinese lab leak theory of COVID-19’s origins. He cited emails obtained by Congress showing that NIH officials were in contact with the authors and reviewed the article before publication.
