WASHINGTON DC—On Wednesday, July 19, the Biden Administration announced their intent to place a 10-year ban suspending U.S. funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China following years of ignoring protocols by the National Institute of Health (NIH), along with requests from the U.S. House Oversight Committee regarding the possibility of threats of bioweapons and global pandemics.
In a July 15, press release, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee made the following statement:
“The relationship between the NIH, the WIV, and EcoHealth raises serious questions about [the] use of taxpayer dollars for gain-of-function research and when U.S. health officials became aware of the WIV’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The public health community—including the NIH—and the American people deserve the truth. The truth will enable American public health officials to prevent and minimize the effects of future global pandemics,” Republican lawmakers wrote.
The House Oversight Committee noted that, in May 2021, Ranking Member, James Comer and the House Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member, Jim Jordan (R-OH) called on the NIH and the National Insititute of Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to provide documentation regarding a questionable grant. Both agencies failed to respond.
In the January 2023, a brief printed by the U.S. Inspector General that was circulated in the form of a newsletter, stated, “The National Institutes of Health and EcoHealth Alliance Did Not Effectively Monitor Awards and Subawards, Resulting in Missed Opportunities to Oversee Research and Other Deficiencies.” The full report may be found on the Health and Human Services website.
The former Chief Medical Advisor of the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci retired from the NIH in December 2022. Dr. Fauci served as the Director of the NIAID from 1984-2022.
Multiple newscasters have played and replayed video footage of Dr. Anthony Fauci denying NIH funding of the Wuhan lab in China.
In a September 9, 2021 article by Ed Browne, the headlines read, “Fauci was ‘Untruthful’ to Congress about Wuhan Lab Research, New Documents Appear to Show.”
The NIH and the U.S. funded the Wuhan lab in China. Democrats scrutinized then-President Trump for blaming WIV for the leak of the coronavirus, studied for years by Dr. Fauci, the NIH, and NIAID.
Actual funding from the U.S. to WIV in Wuhan stopped during the Trump Administration. The U.S. funding came through a grant to a non-profit called EcoHealth Alliance to study the coronavirus found in bats in Wuhan, China.
