House GOP Seeks Reforms of WHO Amid COVID-19 Failure; Rand Paul Hopeful Fauci Testimony Will Answer Remaining COVID Questions, and other C-Virus related stories
House GOP seeks reforms of WHO amid COVID-19 failure:
The congressional investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic has led members of the House to call for reforms to the World Health Organization on the issue of strengthening safety standards and protocols for biological research.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is holding a hearing on Wednesday on WHO reforms, an event originally planned for late October but postponed. The subcommittee plans to hear from officials from the State Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and USAID.
With the United States among the largest financial contributors to the WHO—giving approximately $700 million in 2021, 65% above the annual membership dues—Republicans on the subcommittee are questioning the return on investment based on the organization’s failures with respect to COVID-19, particularly the outsize influence exerted on the organization by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Instead of prioritizing honesty, transparency, and the health of citizens worldwide, the World Health Organization became subject to overwhelming undue influence from the Chinese Communist Party and placed its political interests ahead of its international duties,” wrote Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) ahead of the postponed Oct. hearing. “Should Americans rely on the WHO when disaster strikes in the future? At this point in time, is it possible for the WHO to be productively reformed?”
Wenstrup said he aims to ensure that the organization cannot be manipulated by the power of one large nation, whether the U.S. or China.
“I want to see some ideas of how we can make the WHO more independent, totally free from political influence,” Wenstrup previously told the Washington Examiner. Wenstrup also said that he would like to soon have a meeting with WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, particularly to discuss the necessity of increasing compliance with biosafety measures for dangerous pathogen research.
Josh Michaud, a global health expert at healthcare policy think tank KFF, says that Congress has little role in engagement with WHO policies, as that responsibility falls on the White House and executive public health agencies. —>READ MORE HERE
Rand Paul hopeful Fauci testimony will answer remaining COVID questions:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he’s looking forward to questioning former pandemic chief Anthony Fauci over the origins of COVID-19 during a congressional hearing scheduled for next month.
Paul has been the loudest voice calling for investigations into government action surrounding COVID-19 origins, specifically into U.S. government funding of biotech research in China. He’s a major proponent of the “lab leak” theory of COVID, but the disease’s exact origin is still unknown.
“What we discovered is everything Anthony Fauci was saying in private, he was saying the opposite in public,” Paul said in a Fox News interview Friday. “So when he came to Congress, he basically lied to Congress and said that they weren’t funding dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, research that in all likelihood led to the virus.”
Paul’s theory is that dangerous research at a Chinese-run lab in Wuhan, China — which received some U.S. funds — created the COVID pandemic through a lab mishap. He claims that Fauci and the U.S. government then executed a cover-up to hide involvement. —>READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
How Congress Is Still Fighting For Answers To The COVID-19 Pandemic
GOP Sens. Marshall and Braun introduce bill to rehire pilots fired for refusing COVID jab: ‘Dark time in American history’
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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