2023 that the NIH shifted from clarification on the clade II subclade in the transfer experiment to a denial that such a transfer was proposed or seriously pursued.
October 31, 2022, Letter from E&C Republicans
On October 31, 2022, Committee Republican Leaders, sent a letter to the NIH, raising basic oversight questions about this project, spurred on in-part by the MPXV discussion in the Science magazine article.[1] A few days earlier, Committee Republican Leaders had sent a similar request for information to Boston University about an experiment involving a hybrid of different Sars-CoV-2 strains that had received media attention.[2] Boston University cooperated with this request, and, in a matter of weeks, voluntarily provided background information, documents, and a staff briefing, assuaging many of the initial concerns about the safety of its MPXV experiments. In contrast, the NIH refused to respond to the initial letter and chose to continue to be non-responsive to follow-up efforts from staff through the end of 2022.
February 8, 2023, Hearing Titled " The Federal Response to COVID-19"
On February 8, 2023, the Subcommittees on Health and on Oversight and Investigations held a joint hearing.[3] Dr. Lawrence Tabak, then Acting NIH Director, testified on behalf of the NIH. During the hearing, Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger asked Dr. Tabak questions about the MPXV research. Dr. Tabak appeared poised to deliver a scripted response that had been prepared in writing before the hearing. Unfortunately, the Congresswoman’s allotted time for questioning expired as he began to answer, so she asked him to submit the answer in writing. As of the date of this report, the NIH has refused to provide copies of Dr. Tabak’s prepared statement despite the Congresswoman’s request and subsequent requests from Committee staff. Questions for the record are routine
- ↑ Letter from The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican Leader, et al, H. Comm. on Energy & Commerce to Lawrence A. Tabak, Acting Director, National Institutes of Health (Oct. 31, 2022), https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/e-and-c-republicans-question-nih-over-experiment-using-more-lethal-monkeypox-virus-listed-as-federal-select-agent.
- ↑ Letter from The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican Leader, et al, H. Comm. on Energy & Commerce to Robert A. Brown, President, Boston University (Oct. 25, 2022), https://d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/10_25_22_Boston_U_ebbb7d1b25.pdf?updated_at=2022-1205T15:47:22.524Z.
- ↑ The Federal Response to COVID-19: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Oversight & Investigations of the H. Comm. on Energy & Commerce, 118th Cong. (2023), https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20230208/115351/HHRG-118-IF02-20230208-SD004.pdf.
19
