# COVID-19 Origins Accountability Act of 2021

This bill is designed to pressure China's government to allow international investigators to examine laboratories in Wuhan that may have been connected to the origins of COVID-19. If China doesn't allow a full, transparent investigation within 90 days of the bill becoming law, the U.S. would impose several types of penalties.

The main consequences would target Chinese scientists and officials working at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and related institutions. The bill would freeze any assets these individuals have in the United States, ban them from entering the country, and revoke any existing visas they hold. Additionally, the bill would cut off federal funding for any research partnerships between American scientists and Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers, and it would prohibit American researchers receiving federal money from collaborating with Chinese institutions on gain-of-function research—a type of virus research that makes pathogens more transmissible or dangerous.

The bill defines what it considers a legitimate investigation: it would need to include unrestricted access to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other relevant labs, full examination of research records and virus samples, interviews with all relevant scientists, and access to early COVID-19 patient data from late 2019. The investigation team would be made up of scientists from nine countries (the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Japan, and India), and China couldn't block participation of any selected investigators, though it could send observers.

The bill includes some exceptions—it wouldn't apply to authorized U.S. intelligence activities, and visa restrictions could be waived if needed to comply with international obligations or assist law enforcement. The sanctions would end once China allows the investigation to proceed without restrictions.

COVID–19 Origins Accountability Act of 2021

Gallagher, Mike

COVID-19 Origins Accountability Act of 2021 This bill requires the President to impose sanctions and take other actions related to COVID-19 if certain conditions are not met. Specifically, if the President is unable to certify within 90 days of this bill's enactment that China's government has allowed a transparent international forensic investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and certain laboratories in the city of Wuhan, the President must (1) impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions against individuals employed by or affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), (2) prohibit federal funding for collaborative projects between U.S.-based researchers and CAS researchers in any academic field, and (3) prohibit U.S.-based researchers and institutions that receive federal funding from engaging in certain research on viruses with individuals or institutions based in China.