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Among the other proponents of gain-of-function research was one Anthony Fauci. In December 2011, he was the lead author—along with Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the NIH—of a Washington Post opinion piece headlined “A Flu Virus Risk Worth Taking.”
Alex Berenson • Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives
Having the activists on his side helped Fauci in another, more tangible way—the harder they pushed for funding, the bigger his research budgets became. In 1984, when he took over the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, it was the fifth-largest of the NIH’s departments, with a budget of $320 million. By 2005, its budget had incre
... See moreAlex Berenson • Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives

The view of proponents like Dr. Fauci carried the day. In December 2017, the NIH dropped its restrictions, enabling Baric and others to move forward with gain-of-function research if they chose.22 Of course, the Wuhan lab had never been subject to American rules. And documents released in September 2021 appeared to show that it had continued to wor
... See moreAlex Berenson • Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives
May 20: In an interview headlined “Leadership during Crisis,” Fauci tells the Washington Post, “I don’t think we should be that concerned right now about how long they’re effective. I think they will be effective long enough that we will get to the point where we are not going to be necessarily worrying about a surge.”21
Alex Berenson • Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives

In any case, Ferguson’s prediction for the flu proved even more incorrect than his mad cow estimate. A total of forty-three people died from the H5N1 flu in 2005, according to the WHO, meaning Ferguson was off by a factor of millions.17 Yet Ferguson only became more important in the years that followed.