DOD Awarded $3M to EcoHealth Alliance Despite Work with Wuhan Lab

Peter Daszak, Lloyd Austin, Wuhan Institute of Virology
Ng Han Guan, Susan Walsh/AP; HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty

The Department of Defense just last month awarded a $3 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance Inc., the non-profit organization that reportedly funneled millions in American taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab in China that was conducting research on bat viruses.

The approximately three-year $3 million grant to EcoHealth, which started December 12, 2022, was for the purpose of “reducing the threat of viral spillover from wildlife in the Philippines,” according to USASpending.gov.

EcoHealth Alliance came under scrutiny in 2021 after it was discovered in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that the non-profit had used U.S. grant money to finance bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Wuhan is believed to be ground zero for the pandemic, although its origin has not yet been pinpointed.

The grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which until recently was led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has denied that the research involved “gain of function” — altering a virus to make it more lethal.

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 22: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus during the White House press briefing on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, also spoke. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus during the White House press briefing on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

House Republicans are making the origins of COVID-19 and the potential role of EcoHealth and the WIV one of their top investigative priorities.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview in November that Republicans would investigate whether U.S. federal funds were used by EcoHealth Alliance and other companies to promote gain-of-function research at the WIV.

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks at a press conference following their weekly caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Building on July 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. During the press conference the Republican House Members spoke about U.S. President Joe Biden's domestic agenda and the President's recent trip to the Middle East. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks at a press conference following their weekly caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Building on July 19, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on Twitter, Truth Social, or on Facebook. 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.