The U.S. Still Hasn’t Banned Contracting With Wuhan. Senator Says That’s ‘Batty.’

Luke RosiakFebruary 14, 2023

The federal government still hasn’t put the Wuhan lab where COVID may have originated on its contracting blacklist, meaning taxpayer research dollars could continue to make their way there, a senator said Tuesday.

That’s despite a Senate assessment that COVID most likely Leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Chinese lab’s refusal to cooperate with an NIH probe into whether a previous U.S. grant that was subcontracted to Wuhan was used for prohibited gain-of-function research.

The Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General recommended that the agency investigate putting WIV onto its premises. “debarment” list of prohibited contractors, and even NIH — the subsidiary agency of HHS — concurred with that recommendation.

“I also concur and urge the department to immediately and permanently debar WIV from receiving U.S. funding to ensure that not another penny from taxpayers is ever sent to China’s state-run Wuhan Institute of Virology by NIH or any other component or grantee of HHS,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R – IA), wrote this letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, which was sent this week.

The government could again steer money to Wuhan. The subgrant that provided the money to Wuhan in previous NIH awards was to EcoHealth Alliance.

“The NIH-sponsored collaboration with EcoHealth and WIV, ‘Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,’ drew understandable scrutiny following the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, within the vicinity of the lab where the experiments enhancing coronaviruses was occurring,” Ernst wrote.

But even after the COVID EcoHealth is not able to stop the spread of the disease. breaking rules EcoHealth was awarded more awards by the NIH, including for not properly reporting subcontracts and for allegedly failing to notify NIH regarding troubling test results.

Ernst called the situation Tuesday “totally batty.”

“The total amount of American money that made its way into China’s Wuhan lab remains murky. But what we do know is that at least two U.S. agencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), gave a total of $1.7 million,” She made the statement in a statement.

“China’s Wuhan Institute refuses to turn over lab notes and other files related to the experiments” She said that the U.S. taxpayers funded her.

“NIH continues to deny that there is any connection between the coronaviruses that were being experimented with at WIV and the virus that caused the pandemic. But if NIH does not even have this key information, how can the agency even say with any certainty what was really going on in the lab? Short answer: It can’t. Only WIV and maybe EcoHealth can and they aren’t cooperating,” She went on.

An amendment that Ernst submitted in May 2021 was approved by a majority of senators. It would allow the law to do things HHS doesn’t, and prevent taxpayer money from being sent to Wuhan. However, the bill with which the amendment was attached did not become law. Ernst introduced Tuesday a separate bill to stop federal agencies from sending money to Wuhan Lab.

“These mad scientists should never be permitted to get their hands on bats or U.S. taxpayer dollars ever again,” She spoke.