The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, said former United States President Donald Trump pressured him into endorsing unproven COVID-19 remedies amid the health professionals' apparent dismissal of the Wuhan lab-leak theory.
Collins was on an interview with "Fox News Sunday", which was on his last day as the director of the NIH after being in the position for more than a decade. During the discussions, the official avoided questions about his efforts to discredit the lab-leak theory during the early stages of the pandemic. He reiterated his view that the most plausible explanation of the health crisis was an animal-to-human transmission.
Endorsing COVID-19 Remedies
"I'm really sorry that the lab leak has become such a distraction for so many people because frankly, we still don't know. There is no evidence really to say. Most of the scientific community, myself included, think that is a possibility, but far more likely, this was a natural way in which a virus left a bay, maybe traveled through some other species and got to humans," said Collins, Fox News reported.
The medical professional also claims that former President Trump and his allies have previously tried to make him endorse various remedies against the coronavirus infection that has yet to be proven effective and safe. The list of treatments includes hydroxychloroquine, a drug that gained popularity due to the Republican businessman's endorsements.
Trump allegedly also tried to get Collins to fire the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is serving as the head of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The NIH director said that he had a "talking to" by the former president; however, he also stated that he stood his ground and would have left his post if Trump forced him to endorse unproven COVID-19 remedies.
Collins said that he tried all that he could to stay out of any form of political or partisan debates, arguing it was no place for medical research. The NIH director said he was not willing to compromise scientific principles to keep his job, CNN reported.
Omicron Variant
The outgoing NIH director also warned the United States of a potentially devastating outbreak of the coronavirus due to the new Omicron variant. Collins's warning comes as the new variant continues to spread quickly across the region.
Collins warned that if Americans do not take the current coronavirus situation seriously, they could see up to one million infections per day. During an interview, the medical professional said that there was no room to be complacent with the health crisis.
While the NIH director acknowledged that residents were tired of the entire situation, he warned that the virus was not showing signs of slowing down. He said that the virus has continuously changed itself and mutated every couple of months, with the discovery of new variants that are more contagious than previous ones.
The Omicron variant is found to have the ability to easily evade immune protection and booster shots. However, medical professionals said that infected individuals are less likely to experience severe symptoms or become hospitalized, NPR reported.
