Coronavirus scientist warns lives are at risk after Trump cuts funding for research

'Once we've overcome Covid-19, what about Covid-20? What about Covid-21? Who is going to go out and find those?

A top scientist studying bat-borne coronaviruses similar to the strain that has killed over 284,000 across the globe warned that the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding to his organization has put countless lives at risk.

Last month, the National Institute of Health, the US agency responsible for biomedical and public health research, terminated its $3.4 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, which had been researching and identifying coronavirus strains that are dangerous to humans.

Peter Daszak, director of the New York-based agency, told USA Today, ‘I’m really concerned about where this leaves us.’

‘Once we’ve overcome Covid-19, what about Covid-20? What about Covid-21? Who is going to go out and find those? Our grant was specifically designed to locate where these viruses are and to stop them from harming Americans.’

The multimillion-dollar grant, which was distributed over six years, was canceled on April 24 by the National Institute of Health, although the agency has not discussed how the decision was made.

Daszak said he got a letter from the NIH that simply stated the grant was terminated for ‘convenience’ because it did not ‘fit’ with the agency’s goals.

EcoHealth Alliance has reportedly worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a state-run high-security lab that has been accused of allowing the virus to escape, although those allegations have yet to be confirmed. However, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have continued to push unproven theories linking the lab to the outbreak’s origin.

According to Politico, just days before the grant was terminated, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Mike Lauer told EcoHealth Alliance that it needed ‘to know all sites in China that have been in any way linked to this award (grant).’

Daszak said he has been unable to determine why the grant was cut and said his agency has been receiving funding from the NIH since 2002. It was the primary awardee of the grant and acted as an intermediate between the US and other institutions, such as the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the East China Normal University in Shanghai, on joint research into bat-borne coronavirus. However, EcoHealth Alliance has not done any research in China since the outbreak began late last year.

‘If we want to know anything about the next pandemic we need to be working in China,’ Daszak said.

‘In peoples’ imaginations there might be this image of one person in a lab in China who drops a petri dish and that somehow leads to a massive outbreak. It’s just not like that. Every year there are millions of people going in bat caves and hunting and eating wildlife. It happens every day. They are being exposed to bat viruses every day. It only takes one of these people to go to a city, cough and spread a virus.’

‘The aim of our work is to directly benefit U.S. national security and public health. If we don’t do this we are going to be on the front line again when the next virus hits,’ he continued.