David Robertson

Historian of science/medicine. Intrigued and appalled by the response to covid-19. Opinions my own.

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

Our piece just out at BMJ on the history of respiratory pandemics and why endings are never clear cut.

'pandemic closure is better understood as occurring with the resumption of social life, not the achievement of specific epidemiological targets.'

https://t.co/JocpBUgnQx

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@Ayjchan @Rebecca21951651 @MarionKoopmans I don’t recall ever hearing any more about this, but in 2020 National Geographic claimed that American scientist/physician Michael Callahan was informed about “the appearance of a strange new virus” in *November* 2019.

https://t.co/f1mFUVN9vy

[Muriel Blaive, PhD @MurielBlaivePhD]

Pleased to share that the recordings from the conference Care, Control, and Biopolitics: Reckoning with Covid Governance are now available online.

The archive includes Toby Green's keynote lecture as well as all panels and discussions from the conference. Most recordings are available in audio, others in video format. Unfortunately the PowerPoints could not be preserved.

All links can be found in my Substack post below:
https://t.co/XMyABZ2hKb

@toby00green @MilanHanys @blujuliette @MaxFromMax @LMucchielli @casertron3000 @marina_aksenov @VecchTweets @LitStarling @AndrasBozoki1 @Dr_Tad

[Richard H. Ebright @R_H_Ebright]

"A team led by Sandhya Dhawan from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand noted that there had been roughly 70 infamous lab leaks since the 1900s and expected there to be even more in the future, which threaten the globe."

https://t.co/XvI7CnJA5a

[Rebecc@ ███████ @Rebecca21951651]

"We are all smart enough".....to put our conspiracy to circumvent FOIA.......... into FOIA-able emails! 😂🤣

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@Rebecca21951651 It’s okay because David Morens - who, between drinks, is a bit of a tech savant - is besties with “Marg the FOIA lady” who taught him how to delete emails so that they are unFOIAable 😂

[The Seeker @TheSeeker268]

The last few days have been somewhat remarkable in terms of accountability on COVID origins, the cover up, and the broader issue of dangerous pathogen research.

- David Morens was indicted for concealing key documents and conspiring with EHA.
- Ralph Baric was served a Notice of Suspension and Proposed Debarment.
- Tulsi Gabbard is investigating US-funded biolabs in more than 30 countries.
- A CIA whistleblower now says Fauci influenced the Agency’s assessment, despite most CIA scientists concluding the virus came from a lab.

These are the absolute low-hanging fruits.

What the public actually needs is the underlying studies, analyses, and intelligence that drove IC's lab origin assessment. If the whistleblower is right, some of that material may already be sitting on Gabbard’s desk awaiting release, and hopefully, it sees daylight soon.

But Morens could not have run a multi-year scheme to dodge FOIA and transparency laws on his own, without it being known at least at some higher level. And there is already evidence that Fauci organised the "Proximal Origin" paper outside official channels, communicated through a private Gmail account, and worked to shield Daszak and EHA - all points raised in Morens’ own emails. Why is he still untouched?

Then there’s Francis Collins, the man who directed the gain-of-function research policies, relaxed it's scope, and is on record discussing ways to "put down" what he called a "very destructive conspiracy," and hoping that Proximal Origin paper would settle it. Why is Collins rarely mentioned when accountability is discussed?

Daszak was debarred from federal funding, but that’s about it. Much of his EHA team, along with partners at USAID and elsewhere haven't even been scrutinized more closely. Same goes for the Proximal Origin authors and other conflicted scientists and officials. Somehow they still get to keep their jobs.

If this were some routine police investigation, the evidence already in public view would be enough to serve court warrants, and justify a far more aggressive inquiry. Instead, years later, groups like @USRightToKnow are still fighting in courts, lawsuits after lawsuits, for scraps of information.

Yes, we are far from where things stood a few years ago. But it's wild that while the Trump admin has publicly embraced lab origin yet simultaneously treats it like a minor inconvenience, throwing up just a flashy website and some headlines instead of delivering any real accountability and reform.

No serious guardrails or regulations have been put in place to stop this from happening again. No meaningful transparency reforms. No robust oversight framework for high-risk pathogen research. And, almost no one of real significance has been held meaningfully accountable.

Time matters here.

Documents go missing. Custody changes hands. Memories fade and the context erodes with time.

And the clock is ticking.

[Alina Chan @Ayjchan]

On May 7, the Department of Health and Human Services suspended Ralph Baric from receiving further funding.

Last spring, NIH froze Baric's ability to receive pay and UNC put him on administrative leave.
https://t.co/kYzVg6gsGP

[The Seeker @TheSeeker268]

So it’s official now. Ralph Baric, perhaps the world’s most famous coronavirologist (or infamous, depending on who you ask) has retired.

"Nancy Messonnier, dean of the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Maria Gallo, chair of the school’s epidemiology department, made the announcement by email to faculty and staff in the department on Tuesday... Messonnier and Gallo’s message did not cite a reason for Baric’s retirement."
https://t.co/0j3axrUdKB

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@MonaRahalkar Just to be clear: isn’t the context of this email stating that the project is NOT subject to the GoF regulations (i.e. it is not GoF)?

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@SohrabAhmari “The lab-leak theory has been endorsed by at least one agency in the US Intelligence Community — the CIA.”

Actually it has been endorsed by three: FBI, DOE, CIA. The CIA is just the most recent to come onboard.

[Jimmy Tobias @JamesCTobias]

I received new FOIA records from the Energy Department today re COVID: https://t.co/PZHQFu0A3X

[Joseph Marine @DrJMarine]

@LawrenceGostin No. The origin of covid is actually the most interesting and important scientific question in infectious disease. The fact that no one in the field wants to discuss it speaks volumes.

[Richard H. Ebright @R_H_Ebright]

"RealClearInvestigations learned that the federal government has quietly removed [EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology collaborator Ralph] Baric from all his NIH grants."

"RCI has also learned that UNC placed Baric on leave."

https://t.co/ZGM3ZbGYXH

[Paul D. Thacker @thackerpd]

EXCLUSIVE: NIH has removed virologist Ralph Baric from all his grants; UNC placed Baric on leave.

Senior HHS officials says UNC was complicit in starting the COVID pandemic.

“Baric designed the gun,” he said. “But the Chinese built it, and then they pulled the trigger.” https://t.co/VWcMkmkYuM

[Muriel Blaive, PhD @MurielBlaivePhD]

Pleased to share the program of our upcoming conference “Care, Control, and Biopolitics: Reckoning with the Covid Governance”, which will take place at the University of Graz on 28–30 April 2026. The meeting will bring together scholars from different disciplines to reflect on how the Covid era reshaped governance, public debate, and the relationship between care and control in contemporary societies.

I am particularly delighted that @toby00green will deliver the keynote lecture. As is well known here on Twitter, Toby has been instrumental in opening serious historical and intellectual debate about the wider significance of the pandemic, not least through his pioneering work on Covid as a world-historical crisis.

Toby is also convening a major conference at the British Academy in London this July, which continues and expands this emerging conversation from another perspective – so I am pleased to share that program, too! 😊

https://t.co/dkIrSD7ZwD

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@biotechonomics @Rebecca21951651 @loofymectin @Ayjchan @gadboit @ban_epp_gofroc @angoffinet “Your friends”? The people in this thread and elsewhere want the truth, not friendships.

I’d encourage you to write more openly about this subject. I’d certainly read it (I’ve missed it for some time, actually).

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@Bryce_Nickels

[Caitjan Gainty @therealcaitjan]

In 2019, I started the @healthy_scept project, funded by the @wellcome, and including some favourite colleagues, especially @agnesjuliet and @AmazzoneFuriosa. Thanks to @HurstPublishers it's finally in book form and available for (discounted) preorder. https://t.co/VgFVK1mn4F

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@IanSolliec

[David Robertson @equal_ibrium]

@IanSolliec Coupled with any scientist who disagreed with a mainstream claim being labelled “not an expert in the field” because, for example, they were “only” a virologist and not an evolutionary virologist, so had no insight into origins.