First on FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has put a research pause in one of the country's safest labs following repeated safety incidents in which Fox News Digital has been occurring since the Biden administration.
HHS officials have confirmed a suspension at Fort Detrick's integrated research facility, which conducts dangerous research into deadly infectious diseases such as SARS-COV-2 and the Ebola virus.
The facility is one of only a handful of facilities across North America, part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), located at Fort Ditrick, U.S. Army Base outside Washington, DC, where research studies study the treatment and prevention of “high” of “high” of “Lassa Fever and Eastern encephalitis.”
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Fort Detrick's research facility is studying the treatment and prevention of fatal infectious diseases, including SARS-COV-2, Ebola virus, Lassa Fever, and Eastern equine encephalitis. (Getty Images/Fox News)
According to HHS officials who were willing to talk about the issue under conditions of anonymity, the suspension stemmed from the nausea of lovers among researchers at the facility, resulting in one of the individuals who drilled holes in the other person's personal protective equipment (PPE). The individual was fired, officials indicated.
An official with the HHS added that the incident was the latest example of a safety incident at the High-Risk Institute, and denounced the poorly safe culture in the lab, which was made possible by the previous Biden administration.
“NIH and HHS take the safety of our facilities very seriously,” said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for HHS. “As soon as we learned of this incident, we took immediate steps to issue a safety suspension until we could modify the safety culture at the facility.”
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According to HHS, the latest incident was preceded by another recent incident in November.
The facility's director, Connie Schmaljong, was placed on administrative leave after the incident. An HHS official familiar with the issue showed that Schmaljon did not immediately report the incident to a chain of commands, delaying the remediation of the issue.
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During this temporary suspension, all research at the facility will be suspended and access will be limited to mandatory personnel.
It is unknown how long the suspension will take effect.
