During his time in Congress, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz worked to secure millions for a Minnesota-based lab that worked on a variety of projects with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, now widely seen as the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the Minnesota research center on multiple occasions worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, which many suspect was the origin point of the COVID-19 virus, including on COVID-19 research in 2020 and bacteria research in 2024.
Walz, who is Kamala Harris’ running mate, worked to earmark a total of $7 million for the Hormel Institute in Austin, Minnesota, and praised the work of the publicly funded research institution, the Washington Examiner reported.
Walz has described himself as a “strong advocate for The Hormel Institute” and has visited the research center to discuss how it can receive more federal funding, according to the Examiner.
In addition to collaborating with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Hormel Institute has also done considerable work with the Beijing Genomics Institute, which the U.S. Defense Department has designated a “Chinese military company,” meaning that it is “directly or indirectly owned, controlled or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military or otherwise a “military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base.” Walz has come under fire from lawmakers and conservative critics for his stance on China.
“For 80+ years, the Hormel Institute has helped pave the way for Minnesota to lead in biomedical innovation,” Walz, now governor of Minnesota, said in April.
Lawmakers claim that there is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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