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The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is authorized to receive American taxpayer funding for animal research through January 2024, the National Institute of Health told the Daily Caller News.
WIV is currently in the eye of the storm over suspicions that the COVID-19 virus entered the human population in China due to an accidental leak from that lab, as prior to the outbreak its researchers were studying bat-based coronaviruses.
The lab has been under fire over international speculations that the COVID-19 virus leaked to the population in Wuhan after an accidental leak.
EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology’s relationship
The Daily Caller reports that WIV’s scientists were pursuing a project that was partially funded by the U.S. government. The project, which was meant to research bat-based viruses, allegedly received $600,000 in taxpayer funds through the non-profit group, the EcoHealth Alliance.
The non-profit’s president, Peter Daszak, was the only American member of the WHO delegation that investigated the origins of the pandemic in China in 2020.
Daszak said the White House should blindly accept his conclusion that the virus did leak from the Wuhan lab, according to the Daily Caller. He claims that American intel that indicates that researchers at the Wuhan lab were infected with COVID-like symptoms prior to the first known cases in December 2019 should not be trusted.
The lab has the opportunity to receive U.S. tax dollars through 2024, despite the speculation that the virus that has caused so many deaths and global disruption originated on this lab, and there is very little Americans can do to block the funds.
EcoHealth is the node that connects the Wuhan lab to both the U.S. government and the World Health Organization.
EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Virology Laboratory receive federal funding
EcoHealth Alliance’s work has been receiving large sums of money from the federal government. For its bat-based coronavirus research in China, EcoHealth received $3.7 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Amid countless criticisms about EcoHealth and the Wuhan lab’s relationship, the Caller reports that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) decided to rein in the large grant and later claimed that the nonprofit’s work in China does not align with “the agency’s program goals and priorities.”
In July 2020, the NIH told EcoHealth Alliance that it would reinstate the grant if it met certain conditions, including an independent investigation into the allegations that the Wuhan lab had any specimens of the SARS-COV-2 virus before the global pandemic began.
The Daily Caller reported that an NIH spokesperson said that funds to the Wuhan lab were approved on January 9, 2019, and are set to expire on January 31, 2024.
Foreign Assurance is required for institutions outside the United States that receive Public Health Service funding directly through a grant or contract award.
However, the same spokeswoman did not confirm whether the Institute is receiving direct or indirect taxpayer funds for research activities involving animals, the Caller reported.
Rafael Valera, Venezuelan, student of Political Science, political exile in São Paulo, Brazil since 2017 // Rafael Valera, venezolano, es estudiante de Ciencias Políticas y exiliado político en São Paulo, Brasil desde 2017