The name “Dr. Peter Hotez” is all over the interwebs the past few days. He, Joe Rogan, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have been in a public spat over vaccine efficacy, safety, and whether Hotez should debate Kennedy.

I am agnostic on the issue of a debate between Kennedy and Hotez, although I find the debate about the debate pretty amusing. What started out as a $100,000 challenge to Hotez is now worth somewhere north of a million dollars on the table for either Hotez or the charity of his choice if he agrees to debate Kennedy on Rogan’s show, but I don’t buy the argument that declining to debate Kennedy proves that Dr. Hotez is scared to defend his position.

Major Twitter influencers have pledged to donate more than one million dollars to charity if Dr. Peter Hotez takes Joe Rogan's offer to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.https://t.co/3m27cxGdrq

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 19, 2023

There are plenty of reasons for him to decline, and even a few of them are legitimate. Kennedy is a lawyer and politician, and Hotez is a scientist. As we have seen more than once, a great lawyer can make anything seem plausible, and a great scientist should always hedge his bets when making claims. It’s a bad match when it comes to discerning the truth.

I’d rather see two scientists debate the issues involved. There are plenty of legitimate scientists who don’t share Dr. Hotez’ unwavering support for all vaccine policies we follow today.

With that said, I think Hotez is something of a charlatan himself, and while he may be a good scientist (I can’t judge him on that score), he is certainly not an honest one interested in fair play and open communication. He was one of the more propagandistic science “communicators” during COVID and actually had quite a stake in diverting attention from some very important COVID issues, such as its origin.

Hotez, you see, may have played a role in that origin itself. Some of that lab work done in Wuhan was done with his grant money at his behest.

I bet you didn’t know that.

A prominent scientist who has denounced a congressional investigation into gain-of-function research helped fund Wuhan Institute of Virology gain-of-function work flagged by congressional investigators.

Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine, has been a fierce critic of potential hearings next year into a possible lab origin of COVID-19 and whether the National Institutes of Health prematurely discredited the hypothesis.

Hotez decried the hearings as nothing less than “a plan to undermine the fabric of science in America” in a viral tweet thread last week. Hotez also dismissed as an “outlandish conspiracy” the possibility that a lab accident sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Hotez’s own 2012 to 2017 NIH grant for the development of a SARS vaccine had the stated aim of responding to any “accidental release from a laboratory,” in addition to a possible zoonotic spillover of the virus.

The $6.1 million NIH grant also raises the possibility of “deliberate spreading of the virus by a bioterrorist attack.”

“SARS outbreaks remain a serious concern mainly due to possible zoonotic reintroduction of SARS-CoV into humans, accidental release from a laboratory or deliberate spreading of the virus by a bioterrorist attack,” the grant’s description reads.

It’s not clear why Hotez has dismissed a possible lab release of SARS-CoV-2 as preposterous, after having conducted research for years to prepare for a possible accidental or deliberate release of SARS-CoV.

Hotez was so concerned about an investigation into COVID’s origins that he went on a Twitter tirade last year against even looking into its emergence. He insists, despite enormous evidence to the contrary, that COVID could not have escaped from the very lab where he was doing work on chimeric coronaviruses with the scientists who first got sick from the disease we know now as COVID-19.

Hmm.

Hotez’ argument was about as sophistical as you can get: even investigating the origins of COVID-19 is an “attack on science” itself. Said the scientist who the investigation may show had something to do with its release into the wild.

2/3 but it’s even worse than that. The far elements of the Senate and House have already shown their cards. If they gain power because of the midterm elections, they have a plan to undermine the fabric of science in America 🇺🇸 https://t.co/qcASp2VP41

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) August 2, 2022

Congressional investigations into how government grant money gets spent, and for that matter into the origins of a pandemic that has cost trillions of dollars, millions of lives, and enormous social discord in the US and the world would seem to be warranted. Yet Dr. Hotez–one of the wealthiest scientists in the world due to his prominence in medical science and relationships with the medical industry–wants none of it.

4/4 as I always say: America 🇺🇸 is a nation built on science and technology and our great research universities and institutions. If we allow the extremists to undermine us, it’s a threat to the whole nation. Remember the scientists are the real patriots, not the chuckleheads.

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) August 2, 2022

As is usual with members of the elite, they expect us to just trust them without looking into things.

That worked out well during the pandemic, didn’t it?

Frankly, given that Hotez may have played a role in how COVID escaped into the wild, I am pretty sure we could find a better doctor to debate this issue. I would rather see Hotez on the hot seat in front of a Congressional committee to explain himself.

I suggest Vinay Prasad, who is very balanced on the issues. He believes most vaccines are good, has questions about some, and wonders about the way we deliver them to children.

Zac is so smart. https://t.co/6UnghGWNl2

— Vinay Prasad MD MPH (@VPrasadMDMPH) June 18, 2023