NIH Concedes It ‘Suppressed’ Wuhan Lab Genetic Data, But Disputes Watchdog’s ‘Deleted’ Label

Sequence data was removed from public access

Then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins holds up a model of the coronavirus as he testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee looking into the budget estimates for National Institute of Health (NIH) and the state of medical research, on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 26, 2021. Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) spokesperson is disputing a nonprofit watchdog group’s claim that the agency “deleted” genetic sequencing data on the CCP virus from a Chinese lab, although the same official acknowledged the data was “suppressed.”

“The headline says the sequences were deleted, which is inaccurate. They were not deleted. This is a really important point, and I’ve highlighted what did happen from what we provided to you earlier this week,” NIH Media Branch Chief Amanda Fine told The Epoch Times in a March 31 email.