Researcher whose work may have caused COVID is STILL receiving $50 million in US government grants – and he’s found ANOTHER virus in bats

A research group whose work is believed to have caused the Covid pandemic is being funded by the US government to conduct similar experiments in other parts of the world.

Public records show that EcoHealth Alliance has received nearly $50 million in U.S. taxpayer money since 2020 for projects that include capturing bats, pangolins and other animals to find new and dangerous viruses in remote parts of the world.

The projects – some of which involve experimenting with new viruses in laboratories – will run until August 2027.

This is despite the fact that the FBI and a growing number of scientists have ruled that an accidental laboratory leak in Wuhan was the likely source of the Covid pandemic.

EcoHealth was part of a research project that many believed was involved in the introduction of Covid in 2019. Researchers hunted for and manipulated new bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Former President Donald Trump canceled that project and withdrew funding from EcoHealth, but the group remains active in parts of Asia.

Among the active grants is a $6 million project to study coronaviruses in bats in Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and other parts of the Southeast.

Titled ‘Analysing the potential for the future emergence of bat coronavirus in [Asia]’, it is similar to the subsidy that is believed to have caused the Covid pandemic.

A separate $6 million grant titled ‘Understanding risk of Zoonotic Virus Emergence in Hotspots of Southeast Asia’ has already led to the discovery of a never-before-seen virus in bats in Thailand, which researchers said is ‘ had almost’ as much potential as Covid. to infect people.

Experts today warned that continuing to fund EcoHealth was ‘reckless’.

Republican members of Congress are demanding that agencies — including the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense — stop funding the virus research organization.

The federal grants website shows that EcoHealth Alliance currently has 11 active grants with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)– with a total value of $46 million.

Nearly all were signed after the Covid pandemic broke out – with two only signed in 2022 worth $4.5 million.

The grant to find viruses in Asia received another $600,000 in 2023 to continue his research.

Other grants include a $2.2 million grant to capture and test mice, rats and shrews in Tanzania for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever – with a mortality rate of about 30 percent.

And a $4.9 million grant to search for Nipah and Ebola-like viruses – which have a fatality rate of up to 90 percent – ​​in two southern regions of India.

EcoHealth Alliance claims the research is essential for uncovering pathogens that could potentially cause a pandemic.

Critics say they do the opposite and increase the risk of laboratory accidents.

Dr. Richard Ebright, a virologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told DailyMail.com: ‘The American taxpayer is funding recklessness.

“EcoHealth Alliance is currently receiving $50 million in grants from the NIH and the Department of Defense for the same kind of reckless research that likely caused the current pandemic.”

Republican Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar asked agencies last month to explain why they continue to fund the EcoHealth Alliance’s work.

He said: ‘EcoHealth Alliance does not deserve any taxpayer support after what happened in Wuhan and the years of empty promises to predict and prevent pandemics and instead likely cause one.

“It is shameful that government agencies continue to give tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to the group responsible for funneling Fauci’s federal money to the CCP-controlled Wuhan Institute of Virology for risky gain-of-function research that has caused a pandemic .

“The agencies responsible for this wasteful spending must be held accountable.”

A spokesperson for Rep. Gosar said they have yet to receive a response from the grant awarding agencies.

EcoHealth Alliance funding was withdrawn and projects to find viruses in China were canceled due to concerns about its links to the laboratory leak theory earlier.

In total, it has received 37 grants from the US government worth a total of $80 million – dating back to 2002.

It has also received nine contracts – with a total value of $10 million – four loans – totaling approximately $2 million – and a direct payment of $2,000.

The largest grant – which was renewed again in 2021 – cost the US government $11 million, the money of which was spent on conservation work in Liberia.

Pressure on dangerous virus research has increased in the wake of the Covid pandemic, with officials shutting down DEEP VZN – outspokenly deep vision – in September to prevent funding for the hunt for new viruses.

Although the research was intended to prevent human outbreaks and pandemics, critics, including Biden administration officials, worried it could do the opposite.

The project had a duration until 2026.

Dr. Daszak recently revealed to the World Health Organization (WHO) that he had found a never-before-seen virus in bats.

Speaking at the WHO conference, he said: ‘We found many SARS-related coronaviruses, but one in particular we found to be quite common in bats where people were often exposed.’

The virus – which was not named – was found in a cave in Thailand frequented by farmers who use the rich guano (bat droppings) inside as fertilizer for their crops.

An EcoHealth Alliance spokesperson denied suggestions that the group had funded gain-of-function research or that research it supported had caused the Covid pandemic.

The NIH has been contacted for comment.