The Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) officially suspended federal funding for EcoHealth Alliance on Tuesday and issued a warning to the organization for its careless and opaque conduct of coronavirus-related research in Wuhan, China. According to national reports and separate reporting, EcoHealth Alliance funded Foreign research into the worsening viruses linked to the Covid- 19 outbreak using U.S. taxpayer dollars five years ago and before.
Henrietta Brisbon, HHS’s suspension and debarment standard, informed EcoHealth President Peter Daszak that the federal government is suspending money to the business and that it is proposing that the business be prohibited from participating in United States Federal Government purchasing and nonprocurement plans in a text released on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the disqualification and debarment suggestion came into effect.
” I have determined that there is enough information to file that]EcoHealth Alliance ] has not been compliant with federal regulations and offer terms and conditions, which affects EHA’s provide responsibility”, Brisbon wrote in the company’s action recommendation against EHA.
As Helen Raleigh reported , at The Federalist,  , EcoHealth Alliance , is a nonprofit organization that from 2014- 2020, sent “more than half a million dollars ‘ worth of U. S. state grants, including those from the National Institutes of Health ( NIH) with Anthony Fauci’s acceptance, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to carry gain- of- function research on bat coronaviruses”. While Trump’s administration  , axed , taxpayer funds for EcoHealth Alliance in 2020, the group has  , received , federal grants since Joe Biden was sworn into office.
In its referral, HHS cited “adequate evidence” documenting what the agency contended “provides cause” for EcoHealth’s funding suspension and potential debarment. Among the examples included are EHA’s alleged failure” to adequately monitor the virus growth in]the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s ] experiments” and “notify the]National Institute of Health ] that the WIV viruses appeared to grow beyond permissible thresholds under the grant’s terms and conditions”. The organization also cited the government’s request for information and the organization’s delay in submitting a necessary progress report on time.
These assertions were expanded upon in a report released by House Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this month. According to the analysis, federal grant recipients like EcoHealth are required to submit progress reports to their funding organization. These records provide the designated department with “updates on the progress of the work funded by the grant and any anticipated changes in the research approach or direction going into the next funding year.”
According to the GOP report and now HHS, EcoHealth submitted its year five progress report to NIH on Aug. 3, 2021— nearly two years after the required Sept. 30, 2019, deadline. Daszak claimed that EcoHealth attempted to submit the required report but was unable to do so because it got “locked out” of the NIH system while testifying before Congress earlier this month. As noted in the report, however, a forensic audit conducted by NIH” could not verify the claim”.
Daszak claimed that his team called the agency’s tech support department via phone but was unsuccessful in reaching out to them. They also did not bother to contact the “relevant grant officer” at NIAID about the issue. These claims appear to contradict what Daszak did when submitting previous progress reports, as noted in the report. After uploading such analyses to the NIH system, he would email the grant officer in those cases.
Brisbon informed Daszak on Tuesday that” [d ] ebarment is typically for a period not exceeding three years,” but that she “may impose debarment for a longer period or shorter period as the circumstances permit.” If deemed punishable, EcoHealth’s length of debarment” will be based on the seriousness of the cause for debarment” and would not be announced until after such a penalty is imposed, according to Brisbon.
“EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Peter Daszak should never again receive a single penny from the U. S. taxpayer”, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R- Ohio, said in a statement. “…EcoHealth’s immediate funding suspension and future debarment is not only a victory for the U. S. taxpayer, but also for American national security and the safety of citizens worldwide”.
Shawn Fleetwood is a University of Mary Washington graduate and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
