Biden Signs ‘COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023’ to Declassify Information on Pandemic Origin

President Joe Biden has signed into law the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023,” which aims to release “as much information as possible” about the origin of COVID, according to a White House press release.

In a statement released on Monday, Biden said that he shares Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19.

He added that his administration is reviewing all classified information relating to COVID-19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” Biden said in the statement. “I directed the Intelligence Community to use every tool at its disposal to investigate the origin of COVID-19, and that work is ongoing.”

He also emphasized that his administration will declassify and share as much of the information as possible, consistent with his constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global crisis, with millions of lives lost and economies severely impacted.

The exact origins of the virus have been the subject of intense speculation and debate, with some pointing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential source.

The COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 aims to provide greater transparency on the origins of the pandemic and help prevent future pandemics by identifying and addressing potential risks.

Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the COVID pandemic was “likely” caused by a lab leak in Wuhan, China.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.”

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” he went on to say.

The U.S. Energy Department also recently concluded that the pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak.

Read Biden’s full statement:

Today, I am pleased to sign into law S. 619, the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023.”  I share the Congress’s goal of releasing as much information as possible about the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19).  In 2021, I directed the Intelligence Community to use every tool at its disposal to investigate the origin of COVID-19, and that work is ongoing.  We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics.  My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID–19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.  In implementing this legislation, my Administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.  

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