The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that it decided to suspend three grants to EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), a New York-based nonprofit organization that was allegedly involved in the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, procedures were initiated to disqualify the organization from receiving new federal funds in the future.

Through a statement issued this Wednesday, Henrietta Brisbon, Vice President of Acquisitions at HHS, assured that cutting off funding "is necessary to protect the public interest and due to a cause of so serious or compelling a nature that it affects EHA's present responsibility.”

The EHA did not properly monitor safety conditions

The EHA is to blame for carrying out research on the coronavirus in bats - called gain of function - in the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (China), where the pathogen leak theoretically occurred. It is being blamed for not correctly supervising the conditions center security. It also did not properly communicate the results of its experiments.

The HHS’ decision was applauded by the Republican Party. Brad Wenstrup, chairman of the House Special Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said in a statement that "EcoHealth facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China without proper oversight, willingly violated multiple requirements of its multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health [NIH] grant, and apparently made false statements to the NIH," adding that "these actions are wholly abhorrent, indefensible, and must be addressed with swift action."

NIH recognizes federal funding of gain of function

The thought that the pandemic originated due to a leak from the Wuhan laboratory is no longer a conspiracy theory. Anthony Fauci himself, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), acknowledged this in Congress.

The subcommittee got a senior NIH official to acknowledge that federal funds were awarded to the research in question. This was confirmed this Thursday by the agency's Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, in his appearance in Congress. "It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research. If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did," he responded when asked by Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko.

Despite this acknowledgement, Tabak said that gain of function "is research, the generic term [gain-of-function], is research that goes on in many, many labs around the country. It is not regulated. And the reason it’s not regulated is it poses no threat or harm to anybody."

As the investigation into the origins of the pandemic continues in Congress, one of the next people scheduled to testify is Fauci. He is scheduled to appear in June.