One of China’s earliest Covid patients was an AMERICAN-funded scientist who worked at lab
One of China’s first Covid patients was a US-funded scientist working at the Wuhan virus lab feared to have caused a pandemic
One of the first Covid patients to become ill with the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had received federal dollars from the US government to fund his research.
Ben Hu, one of the scientists who fell ill with symptoms consistent with the coronavirus in November 2019, was the recipient of government grants administered by the global non-profit organization EcoHealth Alliance.
One of the projects EcoHealth Alliance helped fund was research into infectious diseases in remote parts of the world that could jump from animal hosts to humans.
The revelation was made by the anti-animal testing watchdog group White Coat Waste, whose president Anthony Bellotti said: “Taxpayers have a right to know who is responsible for the deadliest pandemic in 100 years, and now, thanks to our research, they do.” ‘
The watchdog group White Coat Waste sued the sprawling National Institutes of Health to collect information about the three early infections with a virus whose symptoms resembled Covid
Shi Zhengli — dubbed the “Bat Lady” or “Bat Woman” for her work on bat coronaviruses — was investigating the possibility of Covid emerging from her lab in 2020, according to colleagues. Ben Hu was reportedly one of her best students
White Coat Waste filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, eventually suing the sprawling National Institutes of Health for answers about funding so-called “gain of function” research, which often involves manipulating a pathogen to make it more contagious.
Mr Bellotti added: ‘Our FOIA investigation and winning lawsuit against the NIH have revealed the ultimate smoking weapon of the pandemic: US government-funded Wuhan gain-of-function experimenter Ben Hu – likely patient zero in the Wuhan Lab – and his lavish spending on his reckless animal testing almost certainly caused a lab leak and COVID.”
If the term “lab leak” comes up, chances are Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth Alliance will follow closely.
The controversial EcoHealth Alliance group has been at the center of the debate over the origins of Covid since 2020.
The New York-based nonprofit had millions of dollars in grant money from the National Institutes of Health and donated part of it to fund bat virus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
An oversight investigation conducted by the Office of Inspector General, the watchdog of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, found that NIH funds disbursed to EcoHealth and allocated to smaller prescriptions, including the WIV, were mismanaged.
The federal government’s audit covered three National Institutes of Health grants that went to EcoHealth a total of $8 million from 2014 to 2021. No less than $ 598,000 went to the WIV.
After living with the coronavirus and its many mutations for more than three years, the origins of the pandemic remain unclear.
One camp considers it highly likely that the virus was allowed to bleed from the high-security biolaboratory in Wuhan or did so accidentally.
Those on the side of the lab leak, including Chinese hawks and various federal intelligence agencies and officials, have expressed frustration at China for obstructing investigations into the origins of the pandemic.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in February that the Chinese government has tried to “foil and cover up” the investigation by both the US government and the World Health Organization.