The White House on Friday launched a new website titled "Lab Leak: True Origins of COVID-19," redirecting the federal government's COVID.gov domain to promote the theory that the virus responsible for the global pandemic originated from a Chinese laboratory. The shift marks a significant reframing of the federal government's stance, aligning the official COVID-19 portal with conclusions previously advanced by Republican-led investigations in Congress.
The new site outlines a five-point case suggesting the virus emerged from a mistaken release at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Among the claims: the virus "possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature," that all early cases stem from "a single introduction into humans," and that the lab's researchers were reportedly ill with "COVID-like symptoms" in fall 2019. The page also states, "If there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn't."
The site prominently features a photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, alongside a copy of President Joe Biden's 2024 pardon "for any offenses." It accuses Fauci of manipulating early scientific consensus on the virus's origin by influencing a 2020 research paper that leaned toward a natural origin. "The accusation being circulated that I influenced the scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false, and simply preposterous," Fauci testified in June 2024.
The change comes amid heightened scrutiny over gain-of-function research, federal pandemic response measures, and mounting Republican demands for greater transparency. The White House page echoes conclusions from the GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, whose final report in December alleged "obstruction" by federal agencies and called for expanded oversight of disease research.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary appeared to defend the shift in a Fox News interview Friday, saying, "The entire nightmare of COVID for three-plus years was likely entirely avoidable, had we not [been] messing with Mother Nature in a way that they should not have."
Critics noted that while several U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the Department of Energy, have acknowledged the lab leak as a possible origin with "low confidence," most maintain there is no consensus. A 2023 declassified intelligence assessment found divided views, concluding that the virus was not engineered as a bioweapon and that Chinese leadership likely lacked foreknowledge of the outbreak.
The redirected website also takes aim at policies enacted during the pandemic, criticizing mask mandates, school closures, and the Department of Health and Human Services for allegedly impeding Congressional investigations. The page features links to the subcommittee's report and documents addressing the government's response.
The Biden administration last year issued new guidelines for enhanced oversight of gain-of-function research, scheduled to take effect in May. But several former Trump administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have pressed for a complete ban on such studies.
China has repeatedly denied the lab leak theory, with officials maintaining the country has supported efforts for global transparency and calling U.S. allegations "groundless." The World Health Organization continues to state that all hypotheses remain on the table, and a definitive origin may never be confirmed.
