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WHO Inquiry Into COVID-19 Origins 'Compromised by Politics', Say Scientists Awaiting Overdue Report
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WHO inquiry into COVID-19 origins 'compromised by politics', say scientists awaiting overdue report - World News , Firstpost [firstpost.com]:
The joint team didn't have the mandate, independence, or accesses required to perform a full and unrestricted investigation, they wrote.
A team of experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on a mission to trace the origins of the
epidemic, intend to scrap an eagerly-awaited interim report of their mission to China. This comes amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation, along with an open letter from an international group of scientists who are demanding for a new probe, according to a Wall Street Journal report [wsj.com]. The open letter [nyt.com], signed by 26 distinguished academics from around the world, outlines that the WHO-led investigative report was compromised by the inherent limitations of operating under the control of Chinese authorities.
The scientists elaborate on why the investigation report might be perceived as unreliable by the scientific community, saying, "the joint team did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses" to perform a full and unrestricted investigation into the many SARS-CoV-2 origin hypotheses proposed. These theories including a natural spillover from an animal source, as well as a laboratory/research-related incident in which the pathogen escaped a controlled setting.
The letter goes on to point out nine fundamental problems that undermine the investigation. The joint investigation "falls short of the mark", the scientists said, adding that it was essential for the international community that a full and unrestricted investigation be organized. The letter describes a detailed layout of what the investigation ought to address – from the multidisciplinary nature of the investigating team to the range of reports they should have unrestricted access to. The WHO being an international agency that relies on the collaboration of its member states, the scientists said, is limited in what it can achieve in an investigation of this kind.
Highlighting the scale and impact that
has had on people's lives and livelihoods, economies, education and health care, the researchers elaborated on the need for an "absolutely thorough and credible" investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Without it, the world runs a risk of being unprepared for a possibly worse pandemic in the future, they said.
