HHS is suspending funding for the organization that funded Wuhan virus research

The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday suspended all federal funding for the nonprofit research organization EcoHealth Alliance for misleading government agencies about its taxpayer-funded research project.

The announcement follows a long-term investigation by the House of Representatives into EcoHealth’s possible involvement in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. The organization was under intense scrutiny in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic for its National Institutes of Health-funded coronavirus research projects in Wuhan, China.

HHS suspension and debarment officer Henrietta Brisbon wrote to EcoHealth President Peter Daszak that the immediate suspension of his organization’s funding “is necessary to protect the public interest and is due to a reason so serious or compelling that that it concerns the present of (EcoHealth) responsibility.”

Republicans on the special committee on the coronavirus pandemic released a report earlier this month calling for EcoHealth President Peter Daszak to have his medical license revoked and to open a criminal investigation for allegedly misleading the federal government.

“EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Peter Daszak should never receive a cent from the US taxpayer again,” said Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH). “Just two weeks after the select subcommittee released an extensive report detailing EcoHealth’s misconduct and recommending the formal expulsion of EcoHealth and its president, HHS has begun removing all U.S. funding to this corrupt organization .”

The Republican report and HHS documents outline that EcoHealth received funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2014 to conduct bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology with the intent of creating chimeric coronaviruses to better understand the natural development of viruses with pandemic potential.

Subcommittee evidence released this month found that EcoHealth submitted its Year 5 report for review by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases two years late and violated funding conditions by failing to report potentially dangerous WIV research reported to NIAID.

“These actions are completely abhorrent, unjustifiable and must be addressed quickly. “The immediate suspension of funding and future exclusion of EcoHealth is a victory not only for the U.S. taxpayer, but also for America’s national security and the safety of citizens worldwide,” Wenstrup said.

Suspension and debarment, the long-term ban on receiving federal funds, is a primary public mechanism that “protects the federal government from fraudulent waste and abuse by using a variety of tools to avoid doing business with irresponsible actors.” as defined by the US General Services Administration.

Although the suspension is immediate, after a formal hearing process a disqualification period is set, which is usually only three years depending on the aggravating circumstances.

EcoHealth has been a major recipient of federal funding for global research projects for decades. Last month, the watchdog group White Coat Waste Project found that EcoHealth had received $60 million in taxpayer money since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Washington Examiner EcoHealth asked for comment.