Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the World Health Organization should investigate China’s handling of the initial coronavirus outbreak.
“China was not truthful with the world at the outset of this,” Gottlieb told Margaret Brennan during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“Had they been more truthful with the world, which would have enabled them to be more truthful with themselves, they might have actually been able to contain this entirely.
“And there is some growing evidence to suggest that as late as January 20th, they were still saying that there was no human-to-human transmission and the W.H.O. is validating those claims on January 14, sort of enabling the obfuscation from China.”
The World Health Organization on Jan. 14 tweeted that there had been no human transmissions of the coronavirus within China yet.
The Chinese government, though, knew the disease was spreading before the tweet was sent, according to the South China Morning Post.
Gottlieb said the W.H.O. should commit to “an after-action report that specifically examines what China did or didn't tell the world and how that stymied the global response to this.
“I also think they need to embrace Taiwan's role in the global health community and allow them to attend the World Health Assembly. Right now, they've frozen China out, the W.H.O. has at sort of the behest of China, and that's hampered the global response because China's been a very important partner.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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