On Friday, the House voted unanimously to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19. The bill, which was previously passed by the Senate, will now be sent to the President Joe Biden to be signed into law. The bill requires the declassification of any and all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease within 90 days. Experts say the true origin of the pandemic, which has killed more than 1 million Americans, may not be known for many years — if ever.
The move is a rare show of bipartisanship in the midst of often heated rhetoric about the origins of the coronavirus and the questions about the response to the virus by U.S. health officials, including former top health adviser Anthony Fauci. Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, stated that “The American public deserves answers to every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and Rep. Jim Himes, of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, added that “Transparency is a cornerstone of our democracy.”
The intelligence agencies are divided over whether a lab leak or a spillover from animals is the likely source of the deadly virus. While the House voted in favor of declassifying the intelligence information, it remains to be seen as to whether this will be successful in uncovering the true origin of the pandemic.