In terms of credibility - the less awards you win for services to totalitarian regimes, the better.

W. Ian Lipkin has a whole trophy cabinet full of them but leader of the WHO Investigation Team, Ben Embarek is closing ground.

This one is called the 'Scientific Spirit Award' in which the CCP gives "praise and thanks" for Embarek's "adherence" and "great contributions" to the CCP's concept of scientific spirit with Chinese characteristics.

Embarek, who before, during, and after the WHO Investigation rejected any serious consideration of a lab-escape, repeated that it was "extremely unlikely... (and)... not in the hypotheses that we will suggest for future studies". Case closed.

As such, he has played a leading role in selling the CCP's version of events and thoroughly deserves his award.

The Wuhan Virus will be remembered for as long as humanity exists. Those scientists who have perverted the course of the investigation by shutting down any serious consideration of the most probable cause of Covid - a lab escape - will be forever stained with infamy.

In this case, if it was an accident, the cover-up is worse than the origin event - at least that was, probably, an accident. But what you're doing is deliberate, premeditated deception to protect totalitarianism. I hope you're ready to own that.

Or are you really so confident that totalitarianism will win? In which case you'll continue to be celebrated as highly paid heroes?