Pandemic architect Dr. Jeremy Farrar promoted amid World Health Organization’s leadership shakeup

05/19/2025 / By Ramon Tomey

The WHO promoted Dr. Jeremy Farrar from chief scientist to assistant director-general, giving him oversight of health promotion and disease prevention. Critics link him to controversial COVID-19 policies, including lockdowns and dismissing the lab-leak theory.
The organization is reducing its leadership team from 14 to seven and cutting its 2026-2027 budget by 21 percent ($4.2 billion), forcing operational downsizing, including closing offices in high-income countries.
Longtime WHO leaders like Dr. Mike Ryan and Dr. Bruce Aylward are being replaced, with new appointees including Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu (health emergencies) and Dr. Sylvie Briand (chief scientist).
Farrar faces scrutiny for his role in shaping pandemic policies, ties to EcoHealth Alliance and alleged ethical breaches in dismissing COVID-19’s lab-leak origins. Critics accuse the WHO of misinformation and eroded credibility.
The WHO’s proposed pandemic agreement remains unresolved, delayed until 2026. After losing U.S. funding, the organization is increasingly reliant on private donors like the Gates Foundation, amid growing skepticism about its future relevance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted Briton Dr. Jeremy Farrar, a key architect of controversial Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic policies, as part of a sweeping restructuring that includes deep budget cuts and staff reductions.

Reuters first reported Farrar’s promotion from chief scientist to assistant director-general on Wednesday, May 14. In his new position, Farrar will now oversee health promotion, disease prevention. and control – a role that solidifies his influence within the global health body as it grapples with financial instability and waning credibility.

The restructuring, which aims to reset the WHO’s image, also sidelines longtime figures like Dr. Mike Ryan and Dr. Bruce Aylward. Their replacements include Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, a Nigerian-German expert now leading health emergencies, and Dr. Sylvie Briand from France, the new chief scientist.

Farrar’s ascent marks a pivotal moment for the WHO, which is slashing its management team from 14 to seven leaders and reducing its budget by 21 percent for 2026-2027, down to $4.2 billion. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged the cuts would force the organization to scale back operations, including closing offices in high-income countries.

The downsizing comes just months after the second Trump administration declared the U.S. would withdraw from the WHO Washington’s decision to exit the global health body in January deprived it of its largest donor – something critics say reflects broader disillusionment with the agency’s pandemic response.

Farrar’s secret role in silencing the lab leak theory

Before joining the WHO, Farrar directed the Wellcome Trust and played a central role in shaping lockdowns, mask mandates and mass vaccination campaigns. Dutch attorney Meike Terhorst suggested Farrar may have been the WHO’s de facto leader during the pandemic, wielding outsized influence over its policies.

He also collaborated on a pivotal March 2020 paper in Nature Medicine that dismissed the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origins. Though not listed as a co-author, Farrar worked closely with American infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and others to draft the paper, a move critics allege was an ethical breach. His ties to Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance – which funded coronavirus research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology – have further fueled scrutiny. (Related: Leaked emails show Fauci commissioned Feb. 2020 paper designed to disprove Wuhan lab leak theory for covid.)

Richard Ebright, molecular biologist at Rutgers University, slammed Farrar’s promotion as a reward for misinformation. He accused the Briton of helping “defraud the global public” about COVID-19’s origins.

Farrar’s promotion comes weeks before global leaders gather in Geneva to debate a contentious pandemic agreement. The WHO’s proposed pandemic agreement, intended to centralize global health governance, remains in limbo after failing to gain consensus last year. Independent journalist James Roguski noted that even if adopted, the treaty cannot take effect until 2026 due to procedural delays.

As the WHO scrambles to offset lost U.S. funding, it is turning to private donors like the Gates Foundation, its second-largest backer. Yet Brownstone Institute President Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute argued that the global health body’s credibility is irreparably damaged.

“The future is not with the WHO,” said Tucker, who founded the think tank in 2021. “They massively bungled the pandemic with no admission of wrongdoing.”

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Watch Jefferey Jaxen and Del Bigtree discussing the U.S. Congress’ probe on Dr. Jeremy Farrar’s role in obfuscating the origins of COVID-19 in this clip.

This video is from The HighWire with Del Bigtree channel on Brighteon.com.