The Biden administration has also debuted a new website focused on transparency and global collaboration to trace the origin of COVID-19. This announcement coincides with significant changes in funding for pandemic-related research. Now, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has abruptly canceled COVID-19 research grants. Chief among them is a $577 million program aimed at developing new oral medicines to counter possible pandemic pathogens. This decision follows the announcement by the Trump administration that they would shut down Covid.gov. That federal resource portal, which was a key source of important information and assistance related to the pandemic,
The new website draws heavily from a report issued by the Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which concluded in December that COVID-19 “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research-related accident.” The subcommittee, created in 2020, has held 17 hearings exploring the federal response to the pandemic’s myriad challenges. For almost two years it has been preoccupied with the hunt to find the virus’s origins.
In light of all this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have slashed $11.4 billion in COVID-19 funding. This reduction affects numerous programs, including those that helped state health departments bolster their public health infrastructure to better prepare for future pandemics.
The Biden administration has already taken heat from Democrats over these sudden, unexpected funding slashes. A Democratic report dismissed the lab leak theory as unfounded and accused Republicans of launching “baseless attacks” against prominent health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci appeared voluntarily at multiple hearings last year, where he denied any allegations of concealing information regarding a potential leak.
The White House spokesman, Kaelan Dorr, stated that the newly launched website reflects the findings of the House of Representatives report. He noted that this lab creation site is an indication that COVID-19 has a laboratory origin. It explicitly connects the virus’s origin to lab research in Wuhan, China.
“likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident.” – The Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Though not all scientific consensus has been in line with agencies that have favored the lab leak hypothesis. New CIA analysis finds lab leak theory more likely. However, they noted that they have only “low confidence” in this finding. To help contextualize these startling findings, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified report. It reaffirmed that the lab leak and animal origin theories remain equally plausible. Based on this survey of the opinions of 168 scientists, the majority of these experts thought that COVID-19 most probably came from an animal source.
Even with these changes in direction and funding, resources are still open to the public. Get free at-home COVID-19 tests delivered directly to you with Covidtests.gov. This service provides essential assistance to an America that is still grappling with the lingering effects of the pandemic.
The Biden administration justifies these funding reductions by stating that “the pandemic is over,” indicating a shift in priorities as they navigate the post-pandemic landscape.
“of the three possibilities — natural, accidental, or deliberate — the most scientific evidence yet identified supports natural emergence.” – The New England Journal of Medicine