Peter Hotez

I think it's because it didn't happen and there's no evidence for it, no scientific evidence for it.

Well, one of the things that I say there, as I said, you know, I know it's – and it is frustrating as heck.

And they were supposed to get rid of the wet markets after SARS-1 in 2002, and they didn't.

And there may be some cover-up because of that.

And –

And let's face it, the Chinese government hasn't been very transparent since the Qing Dynasty in the 1600s when they blocked all foreign commerce and it took the Brits in the Opium Wars to open it up.

So that's their playbook, and I guess it works for them.

But it breeds a lot of conspiracy theories.

And unfortunately, there's no evidence for lab leak or gain of function.

And as a result, it leads to attacking science and scientists, and it ruins our pandemic preparedness because now virologists are thinking twice about becoming virologists, and that really concerns me.

Yeah, absolutely, Eric.

And this is and of course, you're a role model for how to do it right.

I think no one does it better than you, Eric, in terms of really, you know, explaining what a scientist does.

And because not enough people know what we do, we're too often invisible.

And

I don't have a lot of evidence to support that.

I look to our colleagues at Research America, which is a policy group based outside of Washington, D.C.

They do these surveys every year, the American people, and they ask two questions.

Can you name a living scientist and can you name an institution where biomedical research is conducted?

And it turns out – and the numbers are pretty constant.