HHS Stops Group Linked to Wuhan Lab from Getting Federal Funds

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has blocked EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak from being eligible for taxpayer-funded research projects.

In a letter made public on Wednesday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the HHS informed Daszak that the agency has suspended him from being eligible for government grant money and is moving to make the suspension permanent. The letter comes after Daszak’s organization has come under fire for its ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, from which COVID is suspected by multiple federal agencies to have leaked.

A separate document from the HHS says that Daszak was not forthcoming with federal investigators in providing information on its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and in demonstrating that the EcoHealth Alliance had not violated the terms of its federal grant.

Specifically, HHS said that neither the EcoHealth Alliance nor the Wuhan lab disproved allegations that an experiment at the lab yielded an unapproved increase in viral activity.

“I also find that the information in the record constitutes adequate evidence to demonstrate that the suspension and proposed debarment of Dr. Peter Daszak is necessary due to a cause of so serious or compelling a nature that it affects his present responsibility,” the document, written by an unidentified, HHS official said.

The suspension of Daszak began on Tuesday and will continue as the NIH moves to formally debar the scientist.

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“EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak’s personal debarment will ensure he never again receives a single cent from U.S. taxpayers nor has the opportunity to start a new, untrustworthy organization,” said Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup. This step comes just two weeks after the Select Subcommittee released substantial evidence of Dr. Daszak’s contempt for the American people, his flagrant disregard for the risks associated with gain-of-function research, and his willful violation of the terms of his NIH grant.”

The proposed block on Daszak comes after news broke that the HHS would be suspending funding to the EcoHealth Alliance and moving to permanently bar the organization from receiving federal funds.

“Dr. Daszak’s impending debarment does not shield him from accountability to the American people. It appears that Dr. Daszak may have lied under oath about his relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and his compliance with NIH grant procedures,” Wenstrup added.

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