The turnabout follows early warnings raised by sceptics—including officials in the Biden White House—that the $125m (£99m; €115m) “DEEP VZN” programme could inadvertently ignite a pandemic. When USAID, an arm of the US State Department, launched DEEP VZN (pronounced “deep vision”) in October 2021, the agency promoted it as “a critical next step . Apart from the Biden White House officials, several Republican senators had questioned the prudence of DEEP VZN, according to Senate letters and the interviews conducted for this article. Power did not respond to a request for her rationale with DEEP VZN. Power, in another letter conveyed privately to the senators dated 24 April 2023, further described the safeguards envisioned for DEEP VZN.

Source: Forbes September 07, 2023 10:31 UTC