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The World Health Organization is revisiting the origins of COVID-19, including taking another look at a theory many derided as a conspiracy.
During initial investigations into how the global pandemic seeped into circulation, the WHO assessed it was “extremely unlikely” COVID-19 originated as the result of a lab leak. Now, the organization said the theory warrants further study.
An expert group drafted by the WHO to help investigate COVID-19’s origins claimed that “key pieces of data” are still missing to explain how the pandemic started and that more research, including a more detailed analysis of the possibility it was a laboratory accident, is needed. Because lab accidents have previously triggered some outbreaks, the lab leak theory cannot be discounted, according to a report the WHO released Thursday.
HEALTH DEPARTMENTS RELYING ON CONTACT-TRACING EFFORTS TO TRACK MONKEYPOX
The group would “remain open to any and all scientific evidence that becomes available in the future to allow for comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses,” WHO scientists said.
Former President Donald Trump claimed several times during his presidency that COVID-19 had leaked from a Chinese lab, though he had no evidence to back up his claims. Several House Republicans asked for an investigation into COVID-19’s origins in April 2022, citing evidence that research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology could have launched the pandemic.
The WHO’s new interest in the origins of COVID-19 comes a few days after Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) introduced a bill that would withdraw the United States from the United Nations and the WHO. Rogers has cited human rights abuses in China in the bill, saying it is “unconscionable” for the U.S. to continue participating in the U.N. while China is also a member.
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The Biden administration will redirect about $5 billion in existing funds to buy new and updated COVID-19 vaccines as they become available and repurpose another $5 billion to purchase treatments such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid, an administration official told the Washington Post. The plan will mean cutting funding sources for producing and distributing diagnostic tests as well as stockpiling personal protective equipment, ventilators, and other medical supplies.
