Website Shift
The Trump administration has replaced the federal site, which previously offered resources on vaccines, testing, and treatments, with a hub promoting the lab leak theory as the origin of .
This change coincides with significant cuts to Covid funding and grants, marking a shift in focus towards the lab-based origin narrative and away from previous pandemic management and resource distribution.
Political and Scientific Controversy
The lab leak theory, now central to the new website's content, has gained traction among some right-wing media and politicians, despite a lack of consensus in the scientific community favoring a natural spillover event.
Criticism targets former officials like , amid allegations of suppressing the lab leak theory. However, many independent scientists and a 2023 editorial in the support the natural origin theory.