In his recent tweets, Elon Musk called USAID a “viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,” and alleged that they caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alluding to a conspiracy theory, Musk further pointed to “your tax dollars” and claimed that the agency funded bioweapon research, including Covid-19.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is likely to be confirmed as head of HHS, outgoing director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Jay Bhattacharya, incoming director of NIH, have all subscribed to similar beliefs.
Some Trump appointees and Republicans in Congress have also subscribed to the belief that Covid-19 is a genetically engineered bioweapon and USAID, the World Health Organization, and others were involved in a cover-up.
Scientists who spoke to WIRED said that the new administration has a vendetta against those accused of causing the pandemic, and are concerned that vital research is being dismantled and deleted.
The new administration has explicitly said it intends to curtail research on infectious diseases, ban a wide swath of virological work, and perhaps even prosecute those who created the Covid-19 pandemic.
