Trump Decides Now Would Be a Great Time to Cut Coronavirus Research Funding | The move comes as scientists have warned the virus is unlikely to be eradicated and instead become seasonal.

Something you may have picked up on over the last interminable three and a half years is that Donald Trump is not a smart man, despite robust claims on his part to the contrary. For example, this whole coronavirus thing. While another president might have taken it seriously, or at the very least read the briefings warning him to take it seriously, Trump decided instead to listen to his gut, which told him the virus would “miraculously” go away by April. Or take World Health Organization funding; although many have argued that the agency’s initial response to COVID-19 could have gone better, no one besides Trump thought, Hey, maybe the U.S. should vindictively cut the group’s funding in the middle of a pandemic. (In fact, the American Medical Association described it as “a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier.”) And speaking of defeating COVID-19, thinking people agree that, among other things, robust research into how coronaviruses are transmitted is key to better protecting the world’s population now and in the future. While Trump…:

The Trump administration abruptly cut off funding for a project studying how coronaviruses spread from bats to people after reports linked the work to a lab in Wuhan, China, at the center of conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins. The National Institutes of Health on Friday told EcoHealth Alliance, the study’s sponsor for the past five years, that all future funding was cut. The agency also demanded that the New York-based research nonprofit stop spending the $369,819 remaining from its 2020 grant, according to emails obtained by Politico. “At this time, NIH does not believe that the current project outcomes align with the program goals and agency priorities,” Michael Lauer, the agency’s deputy director for extramural research, wrote in a letter to EcoHealth Alliance officials.

The group caught national attention a week ago after reports swirled that millions from its NIH grants had been sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research facility in the city where the coronavirus pandemic originated. In an email last week to NIH officials, EcoHealth Alliance President Pete Daszak denied giving any money this year to the Wuhan lab, although researchers from the facility have collaborated with EcoHealth Alliance scientists on research supported by an earlier grant.

Last week, the NIH said its strategic plan for studying the novel coronavirus includes understanding its origin and how it is transmitted, a priority clearly in line with the EcoHealth alliance’s investigation. Unfortunately, such an initiative was apparently no match for Trump’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories, namely the one alleging that the coronavirus outbreak actually began in the Wuhan lab, a claim that U.S. intelligence agencies and scientists have not found a shred of evidence to support.

Suddenly ending a grant early is an unusual move for the NIH, which typically takes such steps only when there is evidence of scientific misconduct or financial improprieties—neither of which it has alleged took place in this case. The NIH awarded the original grant for the project during the Obama administration, but renewed it in July 2019. The funding allotted this year, and cut last week, came from the Trump administration. Days after Trump’s briefing promise [to end the grant “very quickly”], Republican lawmakers wrote to leadership asking that no stimulus funding go to the Wuhan lab, citing State Department cables about safety concerns. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Within days, NIH told EcoHealth that all future funding was canceled and it would need to stop spending its remaining 2020 grant monies immediately.

In a statement, the EcoHealth Alliance expressed confusion re: the NIH’s reasoning, asking for clarity. “For the past 20 years our organization has been investigating the sources of emerging diseases such as COVID-19,” the group said. “We work in the United States and in over 25 countries with institutions that have been pre-approved by federal funding agencies to do scientific research critical to preventing pandemics. We are planning to talk with NIH to understand the rationale behind their decision.” Meanwhile, on Monday, scientists warned that the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be eradicated, instead coming back every year, a reality Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month is likely.