Waukeshahealthinsurance.com-
–
A Republican-led House committee released a final report Monday summarizing its two-year effort to examine the broad spectrum of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the U.S. The work “I hope will serve as a road map for Congress and the executive branch.” branch and the private sector to prepare for and respond to future outbreaks.
In 520-page ReportIn late 2019, the Select Corona Virus Outbreak Subcommittee concluded that the coronavirus “may have emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China” among researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, citing factors such as the virus's biological characteristics and symptoms.
Most US intelligence agencies say the virus is not genetically engineered, but it's still not entirely clear how the outbreak started. American intelligence analysis Released last year He said that it can be of laboratory or natural origin and the society will remain. division On the subject. The US Department of Energy last year rated it as having “low confidence”. Laboratory Leakage concept. No A US federal agency believes. As the virus that causes Covid-19 was developed as a bioweapon.
The sub-committee's report said that if there was evidence of the natural origin of the virus, it would have come out by now.
Scientists have not found an animal infected with the ancestral virus that triggered the epidemic, but such searches are not an easy task. For example, it took more than a decade to identify the origin of the first SARS outbreak, and the origin of Ebola is still unclear.
However, researchers continue to accumulate years of strong but conditional value. Evidence Suggesting a natural origin for the outbreak, possibly at the Huan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
In the new report, the subcommittee faulted the WHO's pandemic efforts for putting the Chinese Communist Party's political interests ahead of its mission to help people around the world, allowing the party to dominate its investigation. Origin of virus.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for Covid-19, has criticized China for its lack of transparency regarding the outbreak. “The non-disclosure of data is simply inexcusable. The longer it takes to understand the origins of the epidemic, the harder the question becomes to answer, and the safer the world becomes. She wrote in an editorial last year, They acknowledged that this non-sharing of information is only exacerbating the politics of the virus.
The World Health Organization has set up a panel to draft provisions aimed at strengthening the framework for future pandemics, but a new House subcommittee report has raised concerns about the future of the so-called pandemic accord. “There have been questions about the transparency of the negotiations,” he says, and the current draft of the agreement “does little to address the deficiencies identified on Covid-19.” Any US deal must be approved by the Senate, the report said.
The report is also critical of joint covid mitigation measures. Social disruption and masked mandates are not based on solid science, the report says, and “prolonged lockdowns have taken an immeasurable toll not only on the U.S. economy, but on the mental and physical health of Americans, especially young adults.” ”
Lack of knowledge about the coronavirus means that such mitigation recommendations are sometimes based on studies of other respiratory viruses and guidelines as scientific knowledge grows. Experts say that could change.
However, the report praised the travel restrictions put in place by the Trump administration early in the outbreak, which helped save lives and were justifiably criticized as xenophobic.
The administration has been praised for its efforts to rapidly develop a Covid-19 vaccine called “Operation Warp Speed”. According to the report, the operation drew praise from Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a frequent target of the subcommittee.
But the report says health officials and the Biden administration have bought into the vaccine's power to prevent transmission or infection, possibly contributing to the public's lack of confidence in the VV shot and vaccines in general.
The report accuses public health officials of engaging in a “concerted effort … to ignore natural immunity and suppress dissenting opinion.”
Studies have confirmed that Immunity Although the infection may seem strong, it tends to subside over time, and experts say that Covid-19 vaccines can help fill that immunity gap. President-elect Donald Trump has been nominated to lead the FDA in his incoming administration. Dr. Marty MacariHe has long been a supporter of the importance of natural immunity and argued in the opinion of 2021 that it is superior to immunity after vaccination.
Health officials criticized the report, particularly the lab-leak theory, and misinformation about the off-label use of drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which the US Food and Drug Administration says are ineffective against the coronavirus.
When it comes to specific lessons from the pandemic, the report points to weaknesses in the strategic national stockpile and the US supply chain. He recommends that states have their own stockpile of emergency medical supplies, which can respond quickly and adapt to local needs.
It also promotes domestic production, especially medicines. “Most of the drugs taken by Americans are manufactured overseas. But in addition, the active ingredients in these drugs, the chemical compounds used to produce them, are heavily produced in China. So far, the supply has revealed that China has a 'global bottleneck' on pharmaceutical chemical components that are distributed nationally.
Get Health's weekly newsletter
The subcommittee, chaired by podiatrist Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Republican of Ohio, will hold a sign-off period for the report before submitting it to the Congressional Record on Wednesday.
The panel's hearings were often partisan, with lawmakers trading barbs, but Weinstrup and other Republicans insisted Trump was not part of the equation as they made their assessment of the pandemic.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the lack of trust in leadership. Faith is earned. Accountability, transparency, honesty and integrity will regain this trust. It requires a comprehensive American response to future pandemics managed by individuals without self-interest or bias. We can always do better, and for the sake of future generations of Americans, we must. It can be done,” Wenstrup said in a letter to Congress on Monday.
's Deid McPhillips, Brenda Goodman and Amanda Seeley contributed to this report.