Republicans on a House Oversight subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic are launching an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and whether U.S. funds were sent to a lab in Wuhan, China.
The select committee on the COVID-19 pandemic is requesting information on the origins of the virus from current and former Biden administration officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci, formerly the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit pandemic prevention research organization.
“The American people deserve real answers after years of suffering through the coronavirus pandemic and related government policies,” Select Subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement. “This investigation must begin with where and how this virus came about so that we can attempt to predict, prepare or prevent it from happening again.”
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, demanded documents and information on COVID origins from the Biden administration last year. Republicans in the last Congress also sent letters to the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Understanding the origins of COVID-19 is essential to providing accountability and protecting Americans in the future,” Comer said in a statement.
Republicans vowed to investigate Biden and his administration when they won control of the House in last year’s midterm elections.