REVEALED: Doctor working for US government visited Wuhan lab and raised safety concerns TWO YEARS before the pandemic hit
- Dr Ping Chen was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases office in China when she went to Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017
- She wrote a report the following month in which she expressed her worries about the laboratory and the staff working in it.
- The FBI believes Covid-19 'most likely' originated in a 'Chinese government-controlled lab' and supporters of the theory have pointed at the Wuhan facility
A doctor working for the US government visited the Wuhan facility which has faced questions over the origins of Covid-19 and raised safety concerns almost two years before the start of the pandemic.
Dr Ping Chen was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) office in China when she went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in October 2017.
She wrote a report the following month in which she expressed her worries about the laboratory and the staff working in it.
'It is clear to me by talking to the technician that certainly there is a need for training support,' Dr Chen wrote in the memo seen by The New York Post.
The FBI believes Covid-19 'most likely' originated in a 'Chinese government-controlled lab' and supporters of the theory have pointed at the WIV - but there is no evidence to prove this claim.
'I think the institute would welcome any help and technical support by NIAID,' Dr Chen wrote about the Wuhan laboratory.
Senator Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, is seeking more information about the concerns the doctor previously raised.
He believes a State Department cable from 2018 which referenced Chen and other scientists' misgivings about the WIV was more pointed.
'[D]uring interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted that the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,' it read.
Some of Dr Chen's private concerns about the Wuhan facility have previously been documented.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) were pressured for more information by Johnson and Senator Rand Paul in 2021.
They got their hands on a redacted copy of Chen's report and were allowed an in camera review of it.
However, Johnson was frustrated by the large number of redactions in the version of the report he was handed.
The health department later admitted that now all of the redactions were made due to national security concerns.
'In the public FOIA document, HHS redacted Dr. Chen’s entire report claiming that it contains privacy and deliberative information,' Johnson said in a letter to the head of the HSS and National Institutes of Health on Thursday.
'It seems apparent that the only reason that HHS redacted this information was to hide the report’s contents from the American people.
'Perhaps HHS did not want the public to fully understand the fact that NIH and NIAID officials were aware of safety concerns at the WIV dating as far back as 2017.'
Those who believe the 'lab leak' theory have suggested the pandemic started at the WIV where 'gain-of-function' research on bat coronavirus was performed, with some of it funded by the US taxpayer.
The HHS told Congress on Tuesday that the Wuhan facility would no longer receive US government support until at least July 2033.
It pointed to the laboratory's failure to comply with government regulations.
Senator Johnson, who is the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has demanded an interview with Dr Chen.
He is also calling for unredacted copies of her 2017 report, her private communications on it and other material relating to the WIV.
'HHS and NIH continue to obstruct my oversight efforts. It is unacceptable that HHS and NIH had Dr. Chen’s report in its possession and only provided a slightly-less redacted version for my staff to review in camera,' he said.
Johnson sent a letter with those demands to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and NIH acting director Lawrence Tabak.
Almost seven million people have died due to coronavirus around the world, with 1.1 million deaths in the US.
Dailymail.com has contacted the HSS and NIAID for comment.
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