Covid-19 Panel of Scientists Investigating Origins of Virus Is Disbanded

Columbia professor says task force’s ties to nonprofit that worked with Wuhan Institute of Virology risked perception of bias

Gain of Function: The Search for Covid’s Origins Sparks Renewed Debate

Questions over the origins of the virus that sparked the Covid-19 pandemic have resurfaced a debate over a controversial type of research that can involve altering the genetic information of viruses. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains gain of function. Illustration: Sebastian Vega

Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs said he has disbanded a task force of scientists probing the origins of Covid-19 in favor of wider biosafety research.

Dr. Sachs, chairman of a Covid-19 commission affiliated with the Lancet scientific journals, said he closed the task force because he was concerned about its links to EcoHealth Alliance. The New York-based nonprofit has been under scrutiny from some scientists, members of Congress and other officials since 2020 for using U.S. funds for studies on bat coronaviruses with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research facility in the Chinese city where the first Covid-19 outbreak occurred.