Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are applauding the Department of Health and Human Services after the agency officially scrapped funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese lab that conducted dangerous gain-of-function research and where the COVID-19 pandemic originated.
“The Wuhan Institute of Virology should not receive another cent of U.S. taxpayer funding. After years of conducting dangerous gain-of-function research at inadequate biosafety levels, cutting off all American taxpayer dollars from the WIV is an essential and obvious step in the right direction. This is especially timely as mounting evidence and intelligence continue to suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a laboratory failure in Wuhan. Rewarding the likely source of a global pandemic with American resources will only lead to more future health risks," Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup released in a statement Wednesday.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology should not receive another cent of U.S. taxpayer funding!
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) September 20, 2023
Rewarding the likely source of a global pandemic with American resources will only lead to future health risks.
Chairman @RepBradWenstrup's full statement on the WIV's 10-year debarment👇 pic.twitter.com/jz2q5gLnMY
"Further, the Select Subcommittee recently revealed that prominent public health authorities — including Dr. Anthony Fauci — knew about the risky laboratory conditions in Wuhan prior to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. Covering up for the failures of a Chinese lab, hiding critical evidence from the American people, and facilitating the public promotion of a false, alternative narrative is extremely concerning and deserves thorough investigation," the statement continues. "The Select Subcommittee will continue to investigate the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible cover-up by America’s public health leaders.”
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Dr. Fauci, who retired as the federal government's highest paid official last year, has been an advocate for lethal gain-of-function research for years. In fact, he is know as the "godfather" of the practice.
"The head of the funding, the head of the entire field, really, is Anthony Fauci," Washington Post reporter Josh Rogin said during an interview with Megyn Kelly. "He's the godfather of gain-of-function research as we know it. That, again, just what I said right there, is too hot for TV because people don’t want to think about the fact that our hero of the pandemic… might also have been connected to this research, which might also have been connected to the outbreak."
NIH corrects untruthful assertions by NIH Director Collins and NIAID Director Fauci that NIH had not funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) October 20, 2021
NIH states that EcoHealth Alliance violated Terms and Conditions of NIH grant AI110964. pic.twitter.com/cFOtJlRoWl
Funding through grants has been halted for the Wuhan lab until 2033, a 10-year period.
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