Federal authorities halt financing for virus study organization amid uproar over Covid-19 origins.
Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, a US government grant funded research into bat coronaviruses at the lab situated in Wuhan, China. While the US-funded research at the lab is not linked to the pandemic, funding to EcoHealth Alliance was suspended in 2020. This grant was later reinstated, and US funding to the Wuhan lab is currently blocked.
A new letter from the Health and Human Services (HHS) to EcoHealth Alliance and its CEO, Dr. Peter Daszak, mentions 30 pieces of evidence dating back to 2013 to support their decision. HHS alleges that EcoHealth failed to appropriately oversee the growth of viruses in experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, failed to inform the National Institutes of Health (NIH) when viruses exceeded permissible thresholds, and failed to provide information promptly.
"HHS believes that there is sufficient evidence in the record for this debarment cause and that prompt action is necessary to safeguard public interest," wrote Henrietta Brisbon, an HHS debarment official, in the letter.
In response, a spokesperson for EcoHealth Alliance stated they were "disappointed by HHS' decision today" and plan to challenge the proposed debarment. "We strongly disagree with the decision and will present evidence to disprove each of these allegations and demonstrate that NIH's ongoing support of EcoHealth Alliance serves the public interest," the representative stated.
A report from the HHS Inspector General released last year found that even with potential risks posed by EcoHealth's study, they were late to report information and the NIH failed to enforce proper follow-up. EcoHealth Alliance has affirmed technical difficulties in accessing the NIH reporting system, but the HHS' action memo says a forensic report found they "were never locked out of the system."
This month, House legislators questioned Dr. Daszak on EcoHealth's track record on research and safety, including at the Wuhan lab. In a statement published on Wednesday, Brad Wenstrup, the chairman of the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, stated their probe "into EcoHealth and the origins of Covid-19 is far from completed."
The source of the virus that induced Covid-19 persists as an ongoing subject of research and investigation by scientists, authorities, and legislators. Earlier studies propose that the virus responsible for Covid-19 most likely originated naturally in the Wuhan seafood market, but they have not identified a particular point of origin. The US intelligence community holds that it's conceivable the virus emerged from a laboratory or in the wild.
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The HHS letter to EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Peter Daszak brings up 30 pieces of evidence from 2013 to support their allegations. In their response, EcoHealth Alliance plans to challenge the proposed debarment and provide evidence to disprove the allegations.
Source: edition.cnn.com
