‘Endangering the world’: Anthony Fauci, GOP senator Rand Paul in fiery clash over Covid origins

A top Republican Senator has clashed with Anthony Fauci over claims China experimented with viruses that would kill between 15 and 50 per cent of those infected.

A top Republican Senator has accused the Chinese government of experimenting with viruses that would kill between 15 and 50 per cent of those infected – “endangering the world” – in an fiery argument with Joe Biden’s top health adviser Anthony Fauci.

Senator Rand Paul, who has repeatedly accused Dr Fauci of lying about the extent to which the US government has funded risky “gain of function” research, said the Chinese lab in Wuhan at the centre of the debate about the origin of Covid-19 was “experimenting with viruses that have mortalities between 15 and 50 per cent”.

“Yes, our civilisation could be at risk from one of these viruses. It‘s incredibly risky,” he said. Estimates of the infection fatality rate of Covid-19 range from between 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

“The facts are clear. The National Institute of Health did fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan despite your protestation,” Senator Paul added, referring to a US government organisation that awards grants for research.

Dr Fauci, in a senate hearing to discuss a new US government recommendation to vaccinate children between 5 and 11 against Covid-19, said the senator was “egregiously wrong”, arguing the senator’s allegations didn’t meet the official definition of “gain of function” – a branch of virology that enhances or creates viruses.

“Gain of function is a very nebulous term … (that required) precise definition,” Dr Fauci said.

The NIH changed the definition of “gain of function” on its website in October, following months of accusations by Senator Paul, other senior Republicans and groups of scientists that US taxpayer money had found its way to the Wuhan Institute of Virology through various research grants.

Senator Rand Paul questions National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Picture: Getty Images

“There‘s the preponderance of evidence now points towards this coming from the lab and what you’ve done is change the definition on your website to try to cover your arse,“ Senator Rand said, calling once again on Dr Fauci to resign.

Officials, including the authors of a major US government report released last month, and scientists remain divided over whether the Covid-19 began from a lab leak.

MIT biologist Kevin Esvelt, writing in the Washington Post last month, said well-meaning research into learning how to respond to dangerous viruses by creating them must stop immediately.

“Like nuclear physics, with its potential for global catastrophe when put to destructive ends, the proliferation of pandemic biology ought to be considered a matter of international security,” he wrote.

Dr Fauci, an 80-year-old veteran of US science bureaucracy, has come under growing attack through the Covid-19 pandemic, including last week for allegedly approving cruel experiments on puppies.

The hearing on Capitol Hill came on a day the White House revealed the details of its nationwide vaccine mandate for the 84 million workers in businesses with more than 100 staff, which has sparked controversy and legal challenges from more than dozen states and civil liberties groups.

“While I would have much preferred that requirements not become necessary, too many people remain unvaccinated for us to get out of this pandemic for good,” the president said, flagging a January 4th cut off for workers to provide proof of vaccination to their employer or submit to mandatory weekly testing at their own cost.

Around 60 million Americans, concentrated in Republican and poorer parts of the country, remain unvaccinated despite being eligible.

Businesses who are caught employing unvaccinated workers face a $14,000 penalty per infraction.