The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proceeding to bar the award of federal funds to the infectious disease prevention nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), citing a lack of the necessary “accountability” to participate in these programs. It started.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic shared: letter HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Procurement Katrina Brisbon signed with EHA Chairman Peter Daszak.
The basis for seeking the ban was a conflict between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and EHA and the NIH’s difficulty obtaining documents and records from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), to which EHA had been awarded federal funding. It seems to be true. For research on chimeric viruses.
Critics, including members of the Coronavirus Task Force, have questioned whether WIV’s research may have led to the lab leak that sparked the global pandemic. EHA has long maintained that research conducted at WIV could not have caused a lab leak that caused the pandemic.
As noted in the NIH letter, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases previously stated that the research conducted at WIV will result in funding for gain-of-function studies that genetically modify pathogens to predict potential mutations. It was determined that the provision was not subject to the U.S. ban on provision. This may lead to an outbreak of infection in the future.
In his letter, Brisbon documented instances during the pandemic in which EHA’s claims about WIV’s research were inconsistent with NIH experts and other ways in which the nonprofit failed to provide records requested by NIH. .
She ultimately pointed to EHA’s perceived lack of oversight of grant recipients. Failed to submit progress report by deadline. She did not notify NIH when the viruses studied at WIV grew above acceptable thresholds. and was unable to disprove that both EHA and WIV violated the terms of the grant.
“We find that the information in the record is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that immediate suspension of the EHA is necessary to protect the public interest,” Brisbon wrote.
The decision to proceed with disqualification will take effect on May 15th. The decision comes just one day before NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak is scheduled to testify before a select subcommittee about “inconsistencies” between NIH officials’ previous statements and EHA’s statements. It became. Daszak recently said in testimony to his panel:
Following Daszak’s hearing, Select Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) called for formal disbarment of EcoHealth and a criminal investigation.
After news of the NIH decision broke on Wednesday, an EHA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill: We strongly disagree with this decision and intend to refute each of these claims and present evidence showing that NIH’s continued support of the EcoHealth Alliance is in the public interest. ”
Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Coronavirus Select Subcommittee, praised HHS’s decision, pointing out that Democrats have routinely accused their Republican colleagues of over-investigating the lab leak theory. It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement.
“We welcome the administration’s announcement that it is suspending and beginning to terminate federal funding for EcoHealth Alliance,” Lewis said in a statement. “All recipients of federal taxpayer funds are obligated to meet the highest standards of transparency and accountability to the American people.”
“The EcoHealth Alliance’s failure to do so is a departure from the longstanding and honest partnership between NIH and federal grant recipients to advance science and the public interest, and it is a departure from the future of our nation’s public health.” remains essential to our continued efforts to prevent and prepare for threats,” he added.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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