A cache of internal emails obtained from within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has revealed years of strategic planning for future pandemics involving governments, foundations, international organizations and pharmaceutical companies, according to a report by Maryanne Demasi published by Brownstone Institute [1].
The documents stretching back to at least 2016 show that Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH from 2009 to 2021, was at the center of these efforts. In that role, he oversaw the allocation of the agency’s substantial research budget, which ran into tens of billions of dollars annually [1].
The emails show Collins working closely with the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, World Bank, World Economic Forum, the African Academy of Sciences and major pharmaceutical companies to strengthen research infrastructure, regulatory readiness, and international coordination well before the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) appeared [1]. For the public, the COVID-19 response was presented as an unexpected crisis, but these emails tell a different story. Many of the same organizations that later shaped the COVID-19 response had already spent years building capacity and influence under Collins’ leadership [1].
Emails Reveal Pre-COVID Planning Network
The planning gained momentum after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak highlighted gaps in global preparedness, according to the documents [1]. Vaccines took too long to develop, trials were hard to organize, and funding was fragmented. The response, according to the emails, was to build permanent capacity in advance rather than react after the fact [1].
One major outcome was the launch of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in 2017 at the World Economic Forum (WEF), which hosts an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland [1]. CEPI focused on vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and became a key part of pandemic planning alongside the NIH and major foundations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CEPI became one of the major funders of vaccine development. It invested hundreds of millions of dollars in multiple vaccine platforms that eventually led to vaccines from companies such as Moderna [1].
Building Global Capacity Through CEPI and Africa Investments
The internal documents show particular focus on expanding research capacity in Africa, a region long criticized for weak regulatory oversight and less stringent enforcement of clinical trial standards [1]. Collins chaired a 2017 WEF meeting on building a sustainable biomedical research enterprise in sub-Saharan Africa, which brought together senior figures from the Wellcome Trust and other partners. Plans included a proposed $10 billion African science, technology and innovation fund [1].
Collins appeared keen to ensure there was no confusion about who was in charge. After one teleconference with the WEF, he wrote to his NIH colleagues: “In the last call there was a bit of confusion about who was leading (NIH or WEF). I think this time it should be me. Agree?” [1]. All of these infrastructure-building efforts, according to the emails, created the institutional framework that would later be activated during the COVID-19 pandemic [1].
War Games and Simulation Exercises
On Jan. 10, 2016, as Collins prepared to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, he emailed an advance copy of his schedule to Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of his closest advisers. One session caught his attention.
“This Davos session sounds like a potential land mine,” Collins wrote [1]. The meeting, titled “Vaccine Innovation for Pandemic Preparedness,” brought together executives from GSK, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, along with representatives from the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust [1].
A separate session on preparing for future pandemics proved even more consequential. Chaired by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the discussion included Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder argued that the world was poorly prepared for a fast-spreading respiratory virus and that more sophisticated simulations could strengthen planning [1]. Kim seized on the idea, proposing “Germ Games” – exercises explicitly modeled on military war games – to persuade Group of 20 leaders to invest in pandemic preparedness.
Writing to Fauci afterward, Collins acknowledged that with both the Gates Foundation and the World Bank endorsing the initiative, it would be “hard to stop this effort now” [1]. The approach later led to the Event 201 simulation in October 2019, a high-profile simulation of a “fictional coronavirus pandemic” held by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the WEF and the Gates Foundation [1].
Marginalizing Dissent During COVID
In October 2020, three epidemiologists – Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (now the incumbent NIH director), Sunetra Gupta and Martin Kulldorff – authored the Great Barrington Declaration, arguing against broad lockdowns and favoring more targeted protections for vulnerable populations [1]. The declaration challenged the centralized, top-down model that Collins and his network had spent years building.
Collins responded by leveraging the authority of the NIH to marginalize dissenting scientists. According to the emails, he called for a “quick and devastating published takedown” of the declaration and its authors [1].
The Brownstone Institute report noted that this shows how the pre-built network managed challenges to its approach during the pandemic [1]. Separately, an earlier investigation by Mercola.com revealed that emails showed the NIH had colluded with EcoHealth Alliance to circumvent federal restrictions on gain-of-function research, demonstrating a pattern of concealing controversial activities [2].
Implications for Public Understanding
Taken together, these emails indicate that the COVID-19 response was not an ad hoc reaction to an unexpected crisis but, according to the documents, the culmination of years of planning, investment and institution-building by Collins and allied organizations [1]. The system influenced how resources were allocated, which policies were pursued, and how dissent was managed, officials said.
The long-term consequences of those decisions continue to affect public health policy, according to the report [1]. In the book “COVID 19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey,” authors Peter and Ginger Breggin documented earlier instances of pandemic prediction and planning, including a 2019 bill proposing a $100 billion program for epidemic tracking, highlighting the depth of pre-pandemic preparation [3].
Similarly, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in “The Wuhan Cover-Up,” described the partnership between the NIH, Big Pharma, intelligence agencies and the Department of War in the development of the U.S. bioweapons industrial complex – providing further context for the infrastructure revealed by the emails [4].
References
- Maryanne Demasi. “The NIH Emails.” Brownstone Institute. June 29, 2026.
- Mercola.com. “Dirtiest Health Crime in History Exposed in T – Mercola.com.” November 18, 2021.
- Peter Breggin and Ginger Breggin. “COVID 19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey.”
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “The Wuhan Cover-Up.”
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