Alleging a “pattern of deception” in virus studies done more than a decade ago, the U.S. government has proposed a ban on federal funding to a prominent coronavirus researcher whose more recent work has incited unproven accusations that he helped start the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already suspended Ralph Baric, a tenured professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), from receiving further money for his virology studies. Now, it has begun formal debarment proceedings, which could cut off his funding for 3 years or more. UNC announced that Baric, 72, was retiring, but he told that he plans to appeal the recommended debarment, likely with legal help from the school.

Baric received details of the allegations in a 7 May, 2026 email from HHS. HHS accuses him of deception in communications with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which has provided his lab and collaborators with awards that total more than $200 million over the past 40 years.

Source https://www.science.org/content/article/virologist-accused-starting-covid-19-will-fight-u-s-ban-funding

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