US Government Suspending Funding for EcoHealth

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Facts

  • In a letter from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Biden administration Wednesday announced it was suspending funding for EcoHealth Alliance — a nonprofit group known for studying the threat of wild animal viruses, including COVID.1
  • The letter said three active National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaling $2.6M for last year are being suspended, and there's a proposal to bar EcoHealth from receiving future federal research funding.1
  • This announcement comes two weeks after EcoHealth president Peter Daszak testified before the US House about the group's research, oversight, and safety measures, mostly related to working with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and doing gain-of-function research.2
  • Daszak denied EcoHealth was involved in gain-of-function research, but a bipartisan group of legislators still cited the group in separate reports for failing to deliver, or delaying, high-risk study reports — a violation of the terms of the grants.2
  • Some on the House select subcommittee related to COVID are among critics who have accused the WIV of a lab leak that led to the global COVID pandemic. EcoHealth denies this claim.3
  • Previously, the Trump administration in spring of 2020 canceled an EcoHealth grant from the NIH over questions about the origins of the COVID pandemic. NIH last year restored some of this funding with new restrictions.4

Sources: 1New York Times, 2STAT, 3TheHill.com and 4Axios.com.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Daily Wire. For too long, EcoHealth has gotten away with waste, fraud, and abuse of the terms of its taxpayer-funded grants. The group denies the accusations, but it delays and stalls at every turn when asked to cooperate with Congressional investigations. Congress must continue to look into EcoHealth to determine if it has broken any laws.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Washington Post. Politics has clouded the minds of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle while they attempt to pin down the cause of the COVID pandemic. EcoHealth is being scapegoated and there's no evidence tying any research the group conducted with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID. The truth will come out when EcoHealth's appeal is heard.

Predictions