The U.S. government has decided to permanently stop funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China due to non-compliance with federal regulations. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the decision was communicated to the institute on Monday in a memo, which also outlined plans to prevent any future support. The institute, which previously received funding from the National Institutes of Health for gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, is located in the city where the COVID-19 outbreak began. While some suspect the institute to be the origin of the pandemic, no official ruling has been made.
In June, President Joe Biden authorized the release of a report that revealed the lack of agreement among U.S. intelligence agencies on the origin of COVID-19. The report stated that both natural and laboratory-associated origins are still feasible explanations for the first human infection and that the government will continue to investigate. The report also mentioned that several scientists working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) fell ill in the fall of 2019 and that the institute did not always follow safety protocols. Furthermore, researcher Ben Hu, who received funding from the U.S. to study coronaviruses, was identified in multiple reports as one of the first scientists to experience symptoms.
The White House did not return requests for comment on the topic, but a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told Bloomberg that “this action will ensure the [Wuhan Institute of Virology] does not receive another dollar of federal funding.”
Recently, a group of doctors filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for preventing the use of the antiviral drug ivermectin as a potential treatment for Covid-19. The lawsuit claims that the agencies have been dishonest with the public about the drug’s effectiveness. This lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of Texas in Galveston, as reported by The Texan.
We suggest that you check out more details about the matter in our previous article.
