President Joe Biden and his administration have banned funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology. An investigation determined that the facility is not up to U.S. health and safety regulations.
Theories about the institution have been spread around the world, as many believe that the lab is responsible for leaking Covid-19. Republican officials have claimed that China manufactured the virus in this facility, though the U.S. intelligence committee has yet to verify the origin of the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Human Services told the institution that it is looking to permanently cut all financial ties. The United States has given the lab more than $1.4 million since 2014. It has not received any federal money since 2020.
The Department of Health and Human Services has accused the Wuhan Institute of Virology of violating biosafety protocols, claiming that immediate financial suspension is necessary in order to “mitigate any potential public health risks,” as it stated in its memo.
The memo also said that the facility has repeatedly refused to turn over documents and answer questions from the National Institutes of Health about the safety of the lab.
The report was made public by the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has been investigating the Biden administration’s grants to the lab.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has 30 days to respond to the notice.
