Washington, D.C. - House Energy and Commerce Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released a statement today applauding the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) for comments he recently made regarding the need for further investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I applaud World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for recognizing the investigations into COVID-19’s origins need further review by scientific experts. Everyone in the global community should be raising the alarm just like he is about the Chinese authorities preventing full access to biological and scientific data, including information connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It’s long overdue for the WHO to finally stand up to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and it must continue to do so. The WHO has made progress to be more receptive to the science since January 2020, when it parroted China’s claim there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. We must get to the bottom of the origins of this pandemic and any role the CCP played in allowing this pandemic to wreak havoc on the world.
“As the Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - which has jurisdiction over public health - I fully support an independent, scientific investigation that gets to the bottom of how this pandemic started. That’s why my colleagues, Rep. Morgan Griffith and Rep. Brett Guthrie, and I are urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support and assist a transparent, independent, and science-based investigation. It’s of paramount importance to prevent a future pandemic and to enhance America’s biosecurity."
NOTE: On March 18, 2021, Republican Leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter urging the NIH to join them and advance a complete, independent scientific investigation.
