Ernst, Scalise slam WHO report on origins of COVID-19

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) blasted the World Health Organization’s recent report on the origins of COVID-19 and claimed its conclusions were compromised by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to manipulate the facts and avoid blame for the ongoing pandemic.

“The American people deserve an independent, scientific investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus — not one that is influenced or controlled by the Communist Party of China, like this report was,” Sen. Ernst said. 

“The WHO report should be considered nothing less than a piece of CCP propaganda, and its conclusions must be questioned,” said Rep. Scalise. “By allowing China to control every aspect of this investigation, the WHO continues to shield the CCP from any accountability for lying to the world about the origins of COVID-19 and creating a pandemic that has killed millions worldwide.”

The members also reiterated calls for the United States government to be transparent about the amount of U.S. taxpayer money used at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and to ban future funding of unregulated wet markets in Communist China.

“As a watchdog of taxpayer money, I urge U.S. government agencies to publicly disclose the amount of American tax dollars that may have gone to research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology — as the law requires — and to permanently ban American taxpayer funding of ‘unregulated’ wet markets in Red China and elsewhere,” said Sen. Ernst.

“President Biden must demand more from an organization that refuses to uncover the truth rather than provide taxpayer dollars with no strings attached,” Rep. Scalise said.

The WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2, which was conducted by an international team of medical professionals and health experts between Jan. 14 and Feb. 10, and released on March 30, claims that the pandemic most likely started with transmission from one animal to another, and then moved to humans.

“I think [Biden] believes the American people, the global community, the medical experts, the doctors — all of the people who have been working to save lives, the families who have lost loved ones — all deserve greater transparency,” President Joe Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a March 31 White House briefing.

The U.S. and 13 other countries also released a joint statement raising questions about the WHO report and requesting independent and transparent evaluations, while the European Union also has called for further investigation, as well as improved access for researchers.