The Trump administration has made significant changes to several official U.S. COVID-19 websites, redirecting users to pages that promote the lab leak theory as a probable cause of the coronavirus outbreak. These updates also include strong criticism of President Joe Biden, former health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
As of Friday, government sites like Covid.gov and Covidtests.gov no longer prioritize providing pandemic-related resources such as vaccine information, long COVID guidance, or testing locations. Instead, they now focus on questioning past health policies, including lockdowns, mask requirements, and social distancing efforts.
The revamped platforms reintroduce the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in a Chinese laboratory rather than emerging naturally. A notable section claims that the widely cited study The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2—often used to refute the lab leak theory—was allegedly influenced by Dr. Fauci to support the idea of a natural origin.
So far, the White House has not issued any official remarks regarding these changes. President Biden, Dr. Fauci, and the WHO have also not responded to media inquiries.
This overhaul reflects a broader initiative by the Trump team to reshape the narrative surrounding the pandemic and public health. Similar previous actions included removing federal data sets, such as HIV statistics for transgender populations.
Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community has not reached a consensus on the origins of the virus. While some agencies suggest a laboratory source may be more likely, they hold that view with low confidence. The Chinese government continues to deny the lab leak theory, calling it politically motivated.