The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Tuesday that it will temporarily suspend all federal funding to the non-profit organization “Ecological Health Alliance” (EHA) in order to protect public interests. The organization has been accused of funding Gain of Function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report by Fox News, the HHS stated in a letter to the chairman of the Ecological Health Alliance, Peter Daszak, that the organization deliberately violated the terms of funding from the National Institutes of Health amounting to millions of dollars.
Officials from the HHS mentioned in a memorandum that the review of the funding for the Wuhan project by the Ecological Health Alliance was “over two years overdue” due to a temporary halt in the review process within the government. They also stated that the National Institutes of Health, which approved the project, provided the Ecological Health Alliance several opportunities to refute claims of conducting Gain of Function research, but the organization “failed to do so.”
The Ecological Health Alliance announced on Wednesday that they will appeal the decision by federal officials to suspend their funding.
Before making this decision, the HHS also took into consideration the relevant evidence provided by the Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a confidential document obtained from the U.S. State Department, the Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the virus originated from a leak at the Wuhan laboratory but was covered up by the Chinese Communist Party. The document indicated that the Chinese government “took actions to obstruct, in fact, to impede a full investigation into these events.” It also suggested a “close relationship” between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a statement on May 1st, stating that “the Special Committee collected a substantial amount of raw documents and credible first-hand testimonies during the investigation, providing important evidence that Dr. Daszak repeatedly violated the terms of NIH funding awarded to the Ecological Health Alliance.”
The statement declared that “given Dr. Daszak’s blatant disregard for the American people, ignoring requests to provide legal reports, the Special Committee recommends the formal revocation of the qualifications of the Ecological Health Alliance and its chairman, and initiating a criminal investigation.”
The Ecological Health Alliance has been under investigation since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization faces allegations that its collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in experimenting with bat coronaviruses may have led to the mutation and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, causing millions of deaths worldwide.
Chairman of the Special Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic, Republican Brad Wenstrup, stated in a press release on Wednesday that “the suspension of funding to the Ecological Health Alliance is not only a victory for American taxpayers, but also for U.S. national security and the safety of citizens worldwide.”
He accused the Ecological Health Alliance and its chairman Daszak of no longer deserving any funding from American taxpayers. Wenstrup criticized that “the Ecological Health Alliance, without proper oversight, pushed forward Gain of Function research in Wuhan, China, deliberately violating multiple requirements of the National Institutes of Health’s funding of millions of dollars and making false statements to the NIH.”
Wenstrup mentioned that his committee’s investigation into the Ecological Health Alliance and the origins of COVID-19 is “far from over.” He stated, “Dr. Daszak and his organization still need to provide all outstanding documents and answer questions from the Special Committee, especially regarding potential dishonest behavior after Dr. Daszak’s sworn statements. We will hold the Ecological Health Alliance accountable for any waste, fraud, and abuse of authority and are committed to exposing any unlawful conduct, including any lying to Congress, the NIH, or the Inspector General.”
The Ecological Health Alliance is a non-governmental organization based in New York, focusing on research for pandemic prevention. Since 2015, the National Institutes of Health has provided approximately $3.7 million in research funding to the Ecological Health Alliance. At least $600,000 of this funding was allocated to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research. Additionally, the Ecological Health Alliance transferred over $200,000 to Wuhan University for disease surveillance research activities.
In April 2020, funding from the National Institutes of Health to the Ecological Health Alliance was halted under the Trump administration. After the Biden administration took office, the National Institutes of Health resumed funding to the Ecological Health Alliance in May 2023, with the stipulation that the organization should not conduct research in China or with animals.