HHS bans EcoHealth Alliance and groups ex-prez from receiving federal funding for 5 years after Wuhan virus experiments

The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday barred EcoHealth Alliance and the group’s former president, Peter Daszak, from receiving federal funding for five years after they failed to report potentially dangerous gain-of-function research experiments to the government. HHS determined that a five-year period of debarment for the Manhattan-based nonprofit and Daszak was “necessary to protect the Federal Government’s business interests,” according to a letter sent to both parties by the government agency. The House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic had been investigating the novel bat virus research that EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak conducted out of China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak. The panel uncovered evidence last year indicating that EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak  “willingly” and “repeatedly” violated multiple requirements of a multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health grant for the controversial project. “Justice for the American people was served today,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement after releasing HHS’ debarment notices. “Bad actor EcoHealth Alliance and its corrupt former President, Dr.Peter Daszak, were formally debarred by HHS for using taxpayer funds to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in China,” Comer continued.

“Today’s decision is not only a victory for the U.S.taxpayer, but also for American national security and the safety of citizens worldwide.”The select subcommittee on the pandemic recommended debarment last May after finding that EcoHealth Alliance “routinely ignored government oversight requests, failed to report dangerous gain-of-function experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and produced a required research report two years late.” That same month, HHS suspended all federal grants to EcoHealth Alliance and informed Daszak that i...