The National Institute of Health confirmed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) is eligible for taxpayer funding for animal research through 2024.
The Daily Caller reports that the WIV has “an active Foreign Assurance” with the NIH, enabling the lab to receive U.S. taxpayer funding.
A NIH spokeswoman told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the WIV’s Foreign Assurance was approved on Jan. 9, 2019, and is currently set to expire on Jan. 31, 2024.
The spokeswoman did not confirm whether the WIV is currently receiving direct or indirect taxpayer funding for research activities involving animals. EcoHealth Alliance’s last known subgrant to the WIV was in May 2019, according to USASpending.Gov.
Many speculate that COVID-19 could have been leaked into the Chinese population in Wuhan through the lab as researchers were studying the coronavirus prior to the pandemic. The project, as the Daily Caller notes, was partially funded by the U.S., which shelled out $600,000 to support the research via a nonprofit group called EcoHealth Alliance.
The Daily Caller report continues:
The president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, was the sole U.S. member of the World Health Organization delegation that investigated the origins of the pandemic on the ground in China in January and February. While the WHO delegation has yet to release a report on their findings, Daszak said the White House should blindly accept their conclusion that it’s highly unlikely the virus could have leaked from the WIV.
Daszak also said American intelligence, which indicates researchers at the WIV became infected with COVID-like symptoms before the first known cases in December 2019, shouldn’t be trusted.
It was also recently reported that the Biden Administration has authorized the United States to pay the World Health Organization $200 million by the end of February.
The plan to reengage with WHO was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Republican lawmakers are slamming the move, with Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) saying in a statement, “The WHO misled the world at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party, and President Biden is making a serious mistake by resuming funding to this organization without meaningful commitments for reform and transparency.”
Report: Cuomo Admin Being Investigated by U.S. Attorney, FBI Over COVID-19 Response
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is reportedly being investigated by the US Attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the FBI over his coronavirus task force’s response to the pandemic.
According to the Albany Times Union, the investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office is in its early stages and focuses on the work of “some of the senior members of the governor’s task force.”
The Times Union reports:
Nearly three weeks after the governor’s task force was announced last year, the state health department issued an order directing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that they must accept residents who were being discharged from hospitals even if they were still testing positive for the infectious disease, as long as they were able to care for them properly.
That directive, which was rescinded less than two months later, has been the focus of a firestorm of criticism directed at Cuomo’s administration, including allegations that the order — which the governor said was based on federal guidance — had contributed to the high number of fatalities of nursing home residents in New York. That assertion was largely dismissed in a report by the Department of Health that was released in July.
In January, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report which concluded the Cuomo Administration delayed reporting that thousands of nursing home patients died after getting infected at their facilities and that New York’s nursing home policy may have increased COVID infections.
Last night, CNN issued a statement that it’s host Chris Cuomo, who is the brother of the governor, will no longer be covering the administration after offering the New York leader fawning coverage of his COVID-19 response for months after the pandemic began.
For the full report, click HERE.
Biden HHS Pick Oversaw Disastrous COVID Nursing Home Policy in Pennsylvania
Joe Biden’s pick for assistant Human Health Services (HHS) secretary was responsible for the deadly COVID nursing home policy in Pennsylvania.
Last March, Dr. Rachel Levine, the transgender health secretary of Pennsylvania, directed long-term care facilities to admit new patients who were discharged from hospitals who may have had COVID-19. This was ordered to “to alleviate the increasing burden in the acute care settings.”
As COVID outbreaks ravaged the elderly population in the state, Levine’s own 95-year-old mother had the luxury of being removed from her nursing home and into a “premium hotel.”
“My mother requested and my sister and I as her children comply to move her to another location,” Levine said in a press conference in May. “During the COVID-19 outbreak. My mother is 95 years old. She is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions.”
According to data from the New York Times updated earlier this month, Pennsylvania now ranks second for COVID deaths (9,365) from long-term care facilities in the country, placing the state only behind California, which had 10,134 fatalities. Overall, deaths in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities make up 52 percent of all COVID deaths in the state.
Republicans in the state, including State Sen. Doug Mastriano, had called for Levine’s resignation.
“These failings are compounded by being complicit in the virus spreading through our elder care homes, triggered by unscientific and illogical directives, forcing them to readmit COVID-19 patients,” he said. “Let me state this clearly, this order by Secretary Levine is responsible for the deaths of approximately 2,500 of our citizens and displays the gross incompetence of someone unfit for office. The bottom line is Secretary Levine has failed to protect our most vulnerable population.”
In June, Levine defended the nursing home policies put in place and said, “They contracted the virus in the facility. So it doesn’t mean they were bringing it to the facility. The virus was already there.”
Biden released a statement on his nomination of Levine today:
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond. She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf congratulated Levine today, writing on Twitter, “Dr. Levine has been a wise, calm, and dedicated partner during this pandemic and I couldn’t be prouder of the tireless work she’s done to serve Pennsylvanians. She will be missed, but I know she will be a tremendous leader at @HHSGov.”
Congrats to @PAHealthDept @SecretaryLevine.
Dr. Levine has been a wise, calm, and dedicated partner during this pandemic and I couldn’t be prouder of the tireless work she’s done to serve Pennsylvanians.
She will be missed, but I know she will be a tremendous leader at @HHSGov. https://t.co/OPyOzskDWw
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) January 19, 2021
