April 17, 2021
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The head of Italy’s national health institute distanced himself Friday from a scandal over a spiked World Health Organization report into Italy’s coronavirus response, saying he had no means to interfere with the U.N. agency and had never censored even inconvenient information from the public.
Dr. Silvio Brusaferro was drawn into the scandal after a leaked document from Bergamo prosecutors last week revealed transcripts of WhatsApp chats between Brusaferro and a WHO official, Dr. Ranieri Guerra, who is under investigation for having allegedly made false claims to prosecutors about the report.
The report, published in May last year as a guide to help countries prepare for COVID-19, sparked a nerve because it revealed that the Italian government hadn’t updated its pandemic preparedness plan since 2006. The report was pulled down from the WHO website a day after it was published and was never reposted, sparking speculation WHO spiked it to spare the Italian government embarrassment and possible liability.