The same firm that was alleged to have conducted controversial research at a laboratory in Wuhan, China—the city where COVID-19 emerged in 2019—has received a new grant to study bat viruses.
EcoHealth Alliance, which was involved in researching bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, started a multiyear study of “viral sequences and isolates for use in vaccine development,” according to a grant published online by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the agency headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci. The study will involve bats and coronaviruses and is set to run until Aug. 31, 2027.
However, its research won’t take place in China but instead will focus on Laos, Vietnam, and Burma (also known as Myanmar). “Our hotspots risk mapping suggests countries directly to the south of China; Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam in particular; contain regions with human-wildlife interfaces 8 and likely regular spillover of novel [coronaviruses] from bats and other wildlife,” it said. The grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Sept. 21, with the total project funding for the year 2022 being $653,392.