WASHINGTON — COVID-19 was most likely the result of a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, according to the final report from the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

What You Need To Know

  • COVID-19 was most likely the result of a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, according to the final report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic

  • The 520-page report also found multiple failures with how federal and state governments, as well as the World Health Organization, responded to the global health crisis that has killed more than 7 million people globally since March 2020

  • The subcommittee faulted federal and state governments for “significant lapses” in coordinating the oversight of COVID-19 relief funds, leading to the fraudulent use of billions of taxpayer dollars

  • The subcommittee praised the actions of then-President Donald Trump for rapidly developing a COVID-19 vaccine through Operation Warp Speed but said the Food and Drug Administration had rushed its approval during the Biden Administration and that “vaccine mandates were not supported by science and caused more harm than good.”

Released Monday, the 520-page report also found multiple failures with how federal and state governments, as well as the World Health Organization, responded to the global health crisis that has killed more than 7 million people globally since March 2020.

“This work will help the United States, and the world, predict the next pandemic, prepare for the next pandemic, protect ourselves from the next pandemic and hopefully prevent the next pandemic,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, wrote in a statement accompanying the report’s release. 

Based on 100 investigative letters, a review of more than 1 million pages of documents and dozens of interviews, hearings and meetings, the report said COVID-19’s likely origin in a Chinese lab is based on five arguments, including the virus possessing a biological characteristic not found in nature and researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology becoming sick with a COVID-like virus months before it was discovered in the city’s live animal market.

There is no consensus among U.S. government agencies that have investigated about how the virus began. A 2021 World Health Organization report concluded the virus most likely started in an animal that transmitted it to a human.

A spokesperson for Democrats on the subcommittee told Spectrum News in a statement the investigation "reflects two years wasted on political stunts instead of preventing and preparing for the next pandemic."

"Instead of coming together with Democrats to get ahead of future viruses or fortify America's public health infrastructure and workforce, Select Subcommittee Republicans prioritized extreme probes that vilified our nation's scientists and public health officials in an effort to whitewash former President Trump's disastrous COVID-19 response," the spokesperson said.

The subcommittee faulted federal and state governments for “significant lapses” in coordinating the oversight of COVID-19 relief funds, leading to the fraudulent use of billions of taxpayer dollars through bogus unemployment claims and loans provided through the Paycheck Protection Program.

The group also accused the WHO of bowing to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party and ignoring its international duties. It also criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, who headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for the “arbitrary” recommendation that people socially distance themselves by six feet, leading to lengthy school and business closures. 

The report found “no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19” and criticized prolonged lockdowns for causing “immeasurable harm to not only the American economy, but also to the mental and physical health of Americans.”

The subcommittee praised the actions of then-President Donald Trump for rapidly developing a COVID-19 vaccine through Operation Warp Speed but said the Food and Drug Administration had rushed its approval during the Biden administration and that “vaccine mandates were not supported by science and caused more harm than good.”

It also faulted former Biden administration Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky for coordinating with the American Federation of Teachers union on prolonged school closures that “science never justified.” The report blamed school closures for children’s historic learning loss, higher rates of psychological distress and decreased physical well-being.