
In 2021, Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) got into a heated exchange over whether the National Institutes of Health funds gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"For years, Dr. Ralph Baric, a virologist in the U.S., has been collaborating with Dr. Shi Zhengli from the Wuhan Virology Institute, sharing his discoveries about how to create superviruses. This gain-of-function research has been funded by the NIH,ā Paul said. āDr. Fauci, do you still support funding of the NIH lab in Wuhan?"