Trump Signs Executive Order Halting U.S. Funding for Foreign Gain-of-Function Research

On Monday afternoon, President Donald Trump issued an executive order halting the use of federal funds for gain-of-function research conducted in certain foreign nations, such as China, where evidence suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic originated.

The order focuses on prohibiting funding for such research in what are labeled “countries of concern,” which include Iran and others lacking rigorous oversight for biological experimentation, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

The decision cites research on bat coronaviruses conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which received U.S. funding through EcoHealth Alliance. “It can leak out, like from Wuhan. . . . I think I said that right from Day One,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “I’ve never changed that opinion.”

This executive action is aimed at reducing the risk of future pandemics originating from lab environments. Gain-of-function research involves altering viruses to make them more infectious or lethal, typically to study potential threats in a controlled laboratory setting.

Present at the signing were Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health and coauthor of the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration—which criticized widespread lockdowns during the pandemic—and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, who had been vocal in his opposition to Covid-19 vaccines and lockdown measures.

“There’s no laboratory that’s immune from leaks — and this is going to prevent those kinds of inadvertent leaks from happening in the future and endangering humanity,” Kennedy said alongside Trump. “The Covid outbreak cost 20 million lives and cost the world at least $25 trillion, and this executive order is a precaution against us being involved in that kind of research in the future.”

Following Kennedy’s comments, Trump expressed his pride in the measure, stating he was “very honored” to sign the order. The directive is designed to protect Americans from incidents similar to past suspected lab-related outbreaks, such as the 1977 Russian flu, which some researchers believe was caused by a laboratory accident. It also includes provisions to enhance biosafety and biosecurity practices and to “discourage subjective interpretation of policies that researchers have used in the past,” according to the White House.

National Review reports that Congressman James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, commended Trump for eliminating U.S. taxpayer funding for gain-of-function research. The committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic conducted a two-year inquiry, which included testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins. Both ultimately acknowledged that the lab leak theory is a credible explanation and not a conspiracy.

“Every American should be outraged that their hard-earned tax dollars were used by mad scientists to engineer more deadly and transmissible coronaviruses,” Comer said in a statement. “I applaud President Trump for banning taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research government-wide. This administration is working to ensure the health and safety of all Americans, and this decisive action could prevent the next pandemic from spilling out of a lab.”