(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has sanctioned Peter Daszak and his firm, EcoHealth Alliance, due to their risky coronavirus experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“I have suspended and proposed for debarment EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. (EHA) from participating in United States Federal Government procurement and nonprocurement programs,” HHS official Henrietta Brisbon told Daszak in a letter on Wednesday, attaching a memorandum with various reasons for the sanctions.
The HHS’s actions against EcoHealth follow a report last week from the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, recommending that Daszak’s company be banned from receiving federal taxpayer funds.
🚨BREAKING🚨
Today, based on evidence uncovered in @COVIDSelect's recent report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services commenced formal debarment proceedings against EcoHealth Alliance.
EcoHealth will now face an immediate, government-wide suspension of taxpayer… pic.twitter.com/gLxg6R3Enw
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 15, 2024
The Covid Subcommittee report examined the millions of dollars of grant funds that the National Institutes of Health gave to Daszak’s EcoHealth, including its infamous May 2014 $3.7 million award for “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”
The report found that EcoHealth failed to regularly update the NIH about its experiments at Wuhan, as was required by law. The report further found that EcoHealth used taxpayer dollars to conduct gain-of-function experiments—an allegation that had been denied by former NIH Director Anthony Fauci.
Furthermore, the report found that the NIH supported the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the $3.7 million grant to EcoHealth in April 2020.
The grant was reinstated last April. But according to the House Subcommittee report, Daszak and EcoHealth concealed the fact that unanalyzed samples and sequences—that the U.S. paid for—are in the custody and control of the Wuhan Institute.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, who chairs the COVID subcommittee, celebrated HHS’s sanctions.
“HHS has begun efforts to cut off all U.S. funding to this corrupt organization. EcoHealth facilitated gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China without proper oversight, willingly violated multiple requirements of its multimillion-dollar National Institutes of Health grant, and apparently made false statements to the NIH,” he said.
“These actions are wholly abhorrent, indefensible, and must be addressed with swift action. 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.”
Wenstrup added that his committee’s investigation is ongoing.
“Dr. Daszak and his team are still required to produce all outstanding documents and answer the Select Subcommittee’s questions, specifically related to Dr. Daszak’s potential dishonesty under oath,” he said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
