NIH renews grant to EcoHealth for bat study on coronavirus.

NIH Reactivates Grant to Study Origins of Deadly Viruses

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has reactivated a federal grant of $576,290 to EcoHealth Alliance to study the origins of deadly viruses like SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. The grant aims to understand how these viruses originate from wildlife and transfer to humans, which is crucial in preventing future outbreaks.

NIH Defends the Decision

NIH officials defend the decision, stating that most emerging human viruses come from wildlife, and coronaviruses, in particular, pose a significant threat to public health and biosecurity globally. The grant will be administered through the NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), headed by the recently retired Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Criticism from Republican Lawmaker

However, the decision has prompted criticism from Republican lawmaker Rep. Morgan Griffith, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. She described the decision as “absolutely reckless” and demanded that NIH explain the move.

Grant Description

The grant aims to study the evolutionary diversity of bat-origin coronaviruses, including close relatives to SARS, and analyze characteristics of bat coronaviruses that could allow them to emerge. The study will also analyze the patterns of spillover in people living in high-risk communities.

EcoHealth Celebrates the Decision

EcoHealth Alliance issued a celebratory statement, stating that the NIH decision reflects a reversal of the previous termination and suspension of a grant awarded in 2019. The grant was halted in April 2020 due to concerns about continuing collaborative laboratory research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIH).

Revisions to the Grant

The renewed grant will involve collaboration only between EcoHealth Alliance and the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School. The specific aims have been revised in consultation with NIAID and NIH staff, removing all on-the-ground work in China and all recombinant virus culture or infection experiments. EcoHealth has also agreed to additional oversight mechanisms applied by NIH.

Congressional Criticism

However, congressional critics of NIH’s decade of funding for such research by EcoHealth may not be satisfied with these revisions. They argue that it is reckless to renew the grant given EcoHealth Alliance’s negligence and breach of contract with the NIH on coronavirus research done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.