Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Newsmax Saturday that COVID-19 resulted from U.S.-funded gain-of-function research rather than a natural spillover event.
Redfield, now a senior fellow for biosecurity and public health policy at the Heritage Foundation, discussed disagreements within the White House COVID-19 task force on “Saturday Agenda,” reiterating his long-held belief about the virus’s origins.
“I always felt as a virologist that this virus did not go from nature into man and become one of the most infectious viruses that we have behind measles,” Redfield said.
“This virus had to be taught how to be highly infectious for humans, and that the most likely etiology — even back in January 2020 — was that it was a consequence of gain-of-function research in a laboratory and not a spillover event.”
He also criticized the scientific community for not being more open to the possibility that the virus originated in a laboratory.
“It’s disappointing that the scientific community wasn’t more objective about the reality of the origin of the virus,” he said. “I do think now the majority of people understand that the origin truly was a Chinese lab funded by U.S. taxpayers.”
“Hopefully, all of the intelligence agencies will be reviewing their analysis and changing their point of view,” he said. “The CIA recently has; the Department of Energy and the FBI have. I think all of them will unanimously come out and say that, in retrospect, this virus was a consequence of scientific experimentation.”
During the interview, Redfield highlighted other points of contention within the task force, including debates over herd immunity, vaccine mandates, and lockdowns.
“There were a number of people who felt that herd immunity would be operational here and would tell the president that when we got to 30, 40, or 50% infection or vaccine rates, the epidemic would be over,” he said. “The problem is, I was a virologist, and I tried to argue that for coronaviruses, herd immunity was not operational, and so that we were never going to get to herd immunity. It was a false premise.”
Redfield said he opposed the approach to vaccine mandates. “There was a strong, strong group of individuals who felt we had to mandate vaccines in order for the American people to be protected,” he said. “Again, I didn’t think that that made sense since the vaccine didn’t prevent infections.”
He also questioned the rationale behind widespread closures of schools and businesses. “I felt that it was reasonable to close, you know, a bar that had 100 people standing around drinking multiple beers with loud music, maybe curtail that, but I didn’t see any reason to shut down restaurants, etc.,” he said.
“This virus did not go from nature in demand and become one of the most infectious viruses that we have behind measles. This virus had to be taught how to be highly infectious for humans,” he added.
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