The editor of prestigious British medical journal The Lancet has disputed the existence of a study that President Donald Trump claimed was published in the journal in December 2019, sounded an early alarm on the novel coronavirus, and was ignored by the World Health Organization.
Trump’s letter, addressed to WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had accused the agency of accepting China’s attempts to downplay the outbreak in its early days, despite scientific reports indicating its urgency.
It also threatened to permanently withdraw US funding and membership of the WHO unless the agency made “major substantive improvements” within 30 days.
In a letter published Monday, Trump excoriated WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying the organization had “failed to independently investigate credible reports that conflicted directly with the Chinese government’s official accounts.”
“This statement is factually incorrect,” The Lancet, a general medical journal, responded in a statement. “The Lancet published no report in December, 2019, referring to a virus or outbreak in Wuhan or anywhere else in China.”
A second Lancet paper, also published on Jan. 24, described the first scientific evidence confirming person-to-person transmission of the new virus, according to the journal. This report included scientists and physicians from Hong Kong and mainland China, it added.
The Lancet said allegations leveled against WHO in Trump’s letter were “serious and damaging” to efforts to strengthen international cooperation to control the pandemic.
“It is essential that any review of the global response is based on a factually accurate account of what took place in December and January,” the publication added.
Trump’s letter, which was posted to his Twitter account and cane during the World Health Assembly, accused the organization of an “alarming lack of independence from the People’s Republic of China.”
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