OAN’s Shawntel Smith-Hill
5:54 PM – Wednesday, July 19, 2023
In a Monday memo, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested that the Biden administration suspend all federal funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), citing a month-long review that determined WIV “is not compliant with federal regulations and is not presently responsible,” according to the memo.
The controversial Chinese research center has long been suspected of being the source of the COVID-19 virus, and recent reports indicate that the location and its staff are, in fact, the most plausible suspects.
The memo added that on numerous occasions, WIV refused to provide documents and answers to questions from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the lab’s safety and procedures.
The review of WIV found that the lab has not been compliant with federal regulations for some time. The memo also informed Wuhan lab representatives that it would be looking to permanently stop any future funding.
“This action aims to ensure that WIV does not receive another dollar of federal funding,” an HHS spokesperson said in a statement. “The move was undertaken due to WIV’s failure to provide documentation on WIV’s research requested by NIH related to concerns that WIV violated NIH’s biosafety protocols.”
The funding cut to WIV comes amid increased concerns over China’s lack of transparency regarding the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. federal agencies, as well as Republican members of the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, have continued rigorously to find more information in proving that the deadly virus was a result of a lab leak.
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