President Joe Biden on March 20 signed a bill into law to declassify information about the pandemic's origins.
The COVID-19 Origins Act of 2023 requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information on COVID-19's origins — and potential ties to Wuhan Institute of Virology in China — within 90 days. The office must provide a report to Congress with "redactions only as necessary to protect sources and methods."
"We need to get to the bottom of COVID-19's origins to help ensure we can better prevent future pandemics," President Biden said in a statement. "In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible."
The House passed the bill in a 419-0 vote on March 10. The Senate also passed the bill unanimously earlier this month.
Lawmakers' push to declassify COVID-19 information comes after the Energy Department identified a lab leak as the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic in late February, though officials said the conclusion was made with "low confidence."