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Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Do recently published grant documents prove that Anthony Fauci misrepresented the purpose of US funding for virus research in China?

By Jacob Alabab-Moser
NO

The Intercept recently published grant documents detailing the National Institutes of Health’s funding of bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The publication stated that the documents do not implicate NIH official Anthony Fauci in lying about the research. Nor do they show that the research might have led to the origin of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The Intercept noted that the documents “do not make clear whether Fauci read them,” although the staff at the NIH agency he runs “did know about the research.”

Scientists interviewed by The Intercept disagreed about whether the grant, made to the Wuhan Lab through an intermediary nonprofit in 2014, actually enabled so-called “gain of function” research. A White House spokesperson reiterated that the “NIH has never approved any research that would make a coronavirus more dangerous to humans.”

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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