Last week, the NIH said its strategic plan for studying the novel coronavirus includes understanding its origin and how it is transmitted, a priority clearly in line with the EcoHealth alliance’s investigation. Unfortunately, such an initiative was apparently no match for Trump’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories, namely the one alleging that the coronavirus outbreak actually began in the Wuhan lab, a claim that U.S. intelligence agencies and scientists have not found a shred of evidence to support.

Suddenly ending a grant early is an unusual move for the NIH, which typically takes such steps only when there is evidence of scientific misconduct or financial improprieties—neither of which it has alleged took place in this case. The NIH awarded the original grant for the project during the Obama administration, but renewed it in July 2019. The funding allotted this year, and cut last week, came from the Trump administration. Days after Trump’s briefing promise [to end the grant “very quickly”], Republican lawmakers wrote to leadership asking that no stimulus funding go to the Wuhan lab, citing State Department cables about safety concerns. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Within days, NIH told EcoHealth that all future funding was canceled and it would need to stop spending its remaining 2020 grant monies immediately.

In a statement, the EcoHealth Alliance expressed confusion re: the NIH’s reasoning, asking for clarity. “For the past 20 years our organization has been investigating the sources of emerging diseases such as COVID-19,” the group said. “We work in the United States and in over 25 countries with institutions that have been pre-approved by federal funding agencies to do scientific research critical to preventing pandemics. We are planning to talk with NIH to understand the rationale behind their decision.” Meanwhile, on Monday, scientists warned that the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be eradicated, instead coming back every year, a reality Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month is likely.

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