TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Following the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on March 8, former U.S. National Security Council (NSC) official Jamie Metzl sat down with TVBS commentator Wenchi Yu to talk about the possible origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how understanding its roots could determine global health and safety in the future.
Although an extensive, in-depth investigation in China regarding these suspicions is impossible, Metzl remarked that many indicators indicate that the virus likely came from the same source.
"If I had just to guess–this is a pure hypothesis, [...] my guess is the Chinese government was doing secret research at probably at Wuhan Institute of Virology, maybe at the Wuhan CDC with a well-intentioned goal," he said, adding that "[the] goal was to develop perhaps vaccines and treatments for coronaviruses including a pan-coronavirus vaccine, which we're still trying to create."
He argued that the virus had existed long before the mass infection from Wuhan’s markets in October 2019.
He also emphasized the importance of understanding how the virus came to be to ensure the health and safety of the public.
"20 million people, according to The Economist, estimates are dead as a result of COVID-19," Metzl pointed out.
"If we don't fearlessly examine what went wrong and learn the lessons, and apply those lessons to building a safer future, the next time it could be a billion people dead."
Though there are doubts surrounding the theory that the COVID-19 virus was leaked from a lab, Metzl believes more information and transparency are needed in COVID reports to ensure that the same mistakes don't occur again.
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更新時間：2023/03/16 19:50