Biden asks intel community to ‘redouble’ efforts probing COVID-19 origins

President Biden on Wednesday announced a ramped-up effort to determine the origins of COVID-19, reflecting a new acceptance in U.S. political and public health circles that the virus might have emerged naturally or from a Chinese lab in the city of Wuhan.

Biden asked the U.S. intelligence community to “redouble their efforts” to come to a definitive conclusion on the disease’s origins, calling on them to report back to him within 90 days.

“As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China,” Biden said in a statement. “I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community’s efforts. And I have asked the Intelligence Community to keep Congress fully apprised of its work.”

Biden’s statement followed calls from other administration officials for a more thorough, independent investigation of the origins of the virus.

What’s changed: Arguably, nothing. While the lab leak theory was initially dismissed as unlikely, it’s received new traction as some scientists have expressed openness to the theory.

Scientists haven’t discovered definitive proof the virus leaked from a lab. But they also have not found hard evidence that shows the virus started in animals before naturally infecting humans, which is why some argue an investigation is needed.

Administration shift: To date, the White House has said it wants the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead any new investigation, because of the international nature of the pandemic. But the WHO conducted an earlier investigation that was widely criticized as being too dismissive of the lab theory, as the international team relied heavily on Chinese cooperation.

Biden’s statement signals that somewhere along the line, the president decided the U.S. needed to take the lead. The White House though, is adamant nothing has changed.

“The WHO doing their thing and the I.C., doing what they’re doing currently is not mutually exclusive,” White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.