The Biden administration has suspended the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s eligibility to receiving federal funds for 10 years over concerns about safety and security.
In a memo released Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services informed the lab about its decision and warned that it is considering an even longer-term ban after it failed to provide necessary documentation about its biosafety protocols and safety measures, despite repeated requests.
"HHS believes there is adequate evidence in the record for this debarment cause and that immediate action is necessary to protect the public interest," reads an HHS memo made public on Tuesday.
NIH gave the lab many opportunities to turn in the requested documentation but the WIV disregarded the requests. Given this, the NIH concluded the research was being conducted in violation of its biosafety protocols and would continue to do so in the future.
“For the reasons set forth, it appears that WIV’s failure to respond to NIH’s request, which was necessary to review allegations that WIV has not satisfied biosafety requirements under the grant, reflect that WIV is not compliant with federal regulations and is not presently responsible,” the memo concludes.
The National Institutes of Health has sought documents from the lab for more than three years, as the agency reviewed allegations that work by Wuhan lab scientists may have contributed to the pandemic. NIH first awarded a grant in 2014 to EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based research organization, which was intended to focus on the risk of bat coronaviruses, and some of that money was directed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The grant was halted in 2020 amid questions about the pandemic’s origins, and the HHS inspector general in January 2023 faulted NIH and EcoHealth for not appropriately overseeing the grant. NIH resumed funding for EcoHealth in May 2023, but the grant now stipulates that the organization may not conduct research in China or with animals. (WaPo)
WIV has not received any federal funding from NIH since the summer of 2020. It has 30 days to respond to HHS.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said it was "outrageous" it took this long.
“Our committee has led a comprehensive investigation that has uncovered numerous reasons to debar the WIV and prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding risky research done at inappropriate biosafety levels. HHS’s own inspector general confirmed our concerns about the WIV in a January report," House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said in a statement. "We’ve questioned the Inspector General as well as Secretary Xavier Becerra and NIH’s head official Dr. Lawrence Tabak about decisions to continue funding research at the lab. If that wasn’t enough, our committee has uncovered that Dr. Anthony Fauci wasn’t lawfully appointed when he approved the latest grant to EcoHealth Alliance in 2022.
“It’s past time that the Biden administration made this decision, but they deserve no credit for finally doing what the evidence and facts demanded," the lawmakers continued. "It is outrageous that it took them so long. HHS must now consider a similar debarment for EcoHealth Alliance.”
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, meanwhile, called it an "obvious" decision.
Read the full memo detailing the WIV’s immediate suspension and proposed debarment here: https://t.co/rcGLjrdt1S
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) July 18, 2023
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