Covid conspiracy theories were all true, US Congress says

Concerns about Covid-19's origins, lockdowns and social distancing, and the safety of rushed vaccines were not "fake news" or conspiracy theories, a major US congressional report has concluded

- Bryan Hubbard

Most of the so-called conspiracy theories that were voiced during the recent Covid-19 pandemic were correct, a US congressional committee has ruled after a two-year investigation into the country's response to the outbreak.

Yes, the virus did leak from a Wuhan laboratory, and the gain-of-function research was funded by US agencies; yes, social distancing and mask-wearing were pointless, and lockdowns did more harm than good. Yes, the Biden administration engaged in active censorship to stop any alternative voices from being heard, and, yes, the vaccines were rushed while adverse reactions were downplayed.

Other countries, including the UK, followed America's lead and engaged in most of the same strategies that have been condemned by the House of Representatives' Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

After holding 25 hearings and meetings, which included 30 interviews, and reviewing more than a million pages of documentation, the subcommittee released the After Action Review of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward. It's a damning indictment of the agencies and the people who oversaw the US Covid-19 response.

Dr Anthony Fauci, “America's doctor” and the former health adviser to the president, is at the center of the web of deceit, the committee concluded. He was aided by other players, including Dr Peter Daszak, whose EcoHealth Alliance charity was used to funnel funds from the National Institutes of Health to the Wuhan laboratory. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who allowed infected people into care homes, also played a role in exposing the most vulnerable to the virus.

There is a political element to the committee, which is primarily made up of Republicans, who endorsed many of the Republican Trump administration's actions at the start of the pandemic and condemned those of the Democratic Biden administration that followed.