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Top Chinese COVID-19 scientist protests lab eviction
Insights from Yanzhong Huang, Guokr, and the Associated Press
The News
One of China’s leading coronavirus researchers has staged a sit-in protest outside his Shanghai lab after reportedly being kicked out, state media reported Tuesday.
Virologist Zhang Yongzhen is widely credited as the first scientist to sequence the SARS-Cov-2 virus genome, an essential step to understanding the virus and making vaccines to combat it. But Zhang, who continues to research similar viruses, has seemingly been sleeping outside his lab in recent days.
Authorities said they informed the lab it would have to close due to construction and gave the scientist two days to move everything into another facility. But Zhang, in a now-deleted Weibo post, claimed that a student informed him about the “eviction,” not the authorities, and that the other lab did not have the proper containment equipment and security needed to safely work with highly contagious and risky viruses.
It is unclear whether Zhang is still outside the Shanghai lab, and on Tuesday he told the Associated Press it was “inconvenient” for him to talk publicly about the protest. Meanwhile, state authorities have prevented most media from getting near the lab.
But Zhang’s rare protest underscores the tense dynamic between the Chinese government and the public health officials and scientists who study COVID-19. China has repeatedly said it supports transparent research into the origin of the virus and is committed to sharing the data with the world, but observers outside China argue that has not been the case.
SIGNALS
Zhang’s protest reveals a disconnect between science and Chinese society
Zhang has said that if China’s politics interfere in research, it could drag down China’s broader scientific ambitions. “I hope that [students getting access to cutting-edge facilities] won’t be interrupted,” Zhang told the WeChat science blog Guokr, adding that older scientists can teach students the perseverance needed to pursue scientific discoveries. Zhang has a high reputation in China as the first scientist to decode the genome of the novel coronavirus, Seton Hall University global health researcher Yanzhong Huang told Semafor, but it’s “too early to gauge what the impact [of his protest] is going to be on the public opinion” in China. Unlike the US, COVID-19’s origins are rarely talked about in China, but initial reactions suggest people are “shocked” that such a famous scientist is taking a stand, Huang said.
As China quells research into COVID-19’s genesis, theories swirl
Since the pandemic began, China has discouraged the country’s scientists investigating COVID-19 by shutting down labs, forcing out foreign researchers, and banning Chinese scientists from traveling abroad, including to attend scientific meetings and to present research. “The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has gone dark in China,” according to the Associated Press, while scientists described a “willful blindness” that leaves the world more vulnerable to future pandemics and undermines upcoming World Health Organization pandemic treaty talks scheduled for May. The information black hole is also fueling speculation abroad about the virus’s origin. Documents obtained by the AP reveal that Chinese health authorities were investigating a potential COVID-19 outbreak at a Wuhan wet market weeks before WHO officials were aware of the problem. And The Wall Street Journal reported in January that a Chinese lab had sequenced the virus weeks before Zhang claimed to do so.
Some Republicans are still convinced Fauci is to blame
Dr. Anthony Fauci — the immunologist who became the public face of Washington’s response to COVID-19 during the Trump and Biden administrations — has agreed to publicly testify before a House panel in June when he is widely expected to be grilled on COVID-19’s origins. This is not the first time for Fauci: Republicans including Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky) claimed Fauci was untruthful during previous testimony, an allegation Fauci denies. While Democrats have largely praised his leadership during the pandemic, some Republicans in Congress have continued to amplify discredited theories suggesting Fauci helped to create the COVID-19 virus and covered up its origin in a lab. The theory is based on National Institutes of Health records that show the agency helped fund coronavirus research at a Wuhan lab that had security issues, which one researcher told The Intercept showed the US needed an “overhaul of biosafety oversight.”
