The emails obtained by the Empower Oversight group show a Wuhan University researcher submitted virus sequence information to the NIH's Sequence Read Archive in March 2020 - the same month the World Health Organization declared a pandemic and about two months after the virus was detected in Wuhan.
A few days later, the researcher submitted another request to withdraw the genetic sequence from the NIH database, according to the emails.
The NIH agreed to the researcher's request one day later, and asked for clarification on whether another submission should be deleted.
The emails were obtained after Empower Oversight sued the NIH under the Freedom of Information Act.
Additional emails show that the NIH directed reporters to more favorable coverage about the deletion.
"Off the record: we think this WaPo story does a good job characterizing the situation," NIH's Renate Myles wrote to a reporter at The Hill newspaper, directing the journalist away from a New York Times story because of its "Tone." "These documents raise several questions that need further investigation to answer fully," according to a report by Empower Oversight, founder by a former top staffer for Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley.
"Congress should press the NIH for answers on why it is stonewalling Senate inquiries and dragging its feet on basic transparency through FOIA." The group says one of the most disconcerting elements of the emails is evidence showing the NIH has refused to participate in a transparent process to examine data on the deleted sequences.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
National Institutes of Health deleted COVID info at Wuhan researcher's request, emails show
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