Last month, Retraction Watch reported on the upholding of a proposed 15-year debarment by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appeals judge against Argentine chemist Ariel Fernández for falsifying research while a professor at Rice University in Houston.

Fernández denied the misconduct allegations and told us the findings were retaliation by the government for a 2021 paper he wrote supporting a lab origin of SARS-CoV-2. As evidence of the contention, Fernández showed us an email purportedly from National Institutes of Health researcher Joshua Cherry dated June 2021. The email, which appeared to be from Cherry’s NIH address, threatened to resurrect Fernández’s ORI case if he didn’t remove the paper.

Last week, an NIH spokesperson told us that, “following a thorough review,” the agency has no record of the email, which Fernández submitted to the HHS Office of Inspector General as part of a complaint about the alleged “attack” on his reputation.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2026/04/13/scientist-who-alleged-covid-cover-up-circulated-a-faked-nih-email-agency-says/

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