Who Is Robert Redfield?

            My VIP for this week is Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who helped lead the response to the coronavirus pandemic for the Trump administration. Now that he is no longer in charge of the CDC, he is free to share his opinions. 

In an interview released last Friday, Redfield said, “I do not believe this [COVID-19] somehow came from a bat to a human.” He added, “Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonot to human, it takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient in human to human transmission.”

Redfield shared his belief that the coronavirus escaped as a leak from a lab in Wuhan, China, sometime in September or October 2019.  “That’s my own feelings. And only opinion. I’m allowed to have opinions now.”           

Acknowledging that his point of view is with the minority in the scientific community, Redfield stated, “Now, I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely aetiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, escaped.” He added, “The other people don’t believe that. That’s fine. Science will eventually figure it out. It’s not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker.”

Will the truth about the origin of COVID-19 ever be known? That is a good question. However, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe hinted that they had seen evidence that supports the lab leak theory. It may take years, but one thing that we know is that truth has a way of finally finding the light.