Biden Signs COVID-19 Bill To Declassify Intelligence On Pandemic Origins

President Joe Biden has signed a bill that would declassify some information related to the origin of COVID-19.

What Happened: On Monday, Biden signed the “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023,” according to a statement issued by the White House.

“We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19’s origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics,” said Biden.

“My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID–19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is a research institute administered by the Chinese Academy of Science. The institute has been alleged to be the source of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Why It Matters: The law signed by Biden on Monday passed through the House and Senate without opposition.

In February, the U.S. Energy Department said a Chinese laboratory leak was the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded with “moderate confidence” that the virus came from such a lab.

China has criticized the “politicization of origin tracing” and the “rehashing of the lab-leak theory.”

On Monday, the White House said the Biden administration will declassify and share “as much of that information as possible” which is consistent with the president’s constitutional authority.

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