In a scathing 520-page final report, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic laid bare the failings of public health officials, federal agencies, and private organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Titled “After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward,” the report highlights widespread corruption, mismanagement, and negligence that plagued the pandemic response and cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. The report harshly critiques key public health figures, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, for allegedly orchestrating efforts to suppress the lab-leak theory and steer the narrative toward a natural origin of COVID-19. It accuses Fauci of pressuring scientists to dismiss evidence of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which the report identifies as the likely source of the pandemic. Equally alarming are the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) failures to oversee potentially hazardous research. The report alleges that NIH fostered a culture of evasion, with senior officials, including Fauci’s advisor Dr. David Morens, accused of deleting federal records and obstructing oversight efforts. The economic toll of pandemic-era relief programs is staggering, with billions of taxpayer dollars lost to fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. The report estimates $64 billion in fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program claims, $191 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims, and at least half of COVID-19 relief funds siphoned off by international criminals. The Small Business Administration alone lost $200 million due to insufficient oversight. The report takes aim at arbitrary pandemic policies, such as the six-foot social distancing rule and prolonged school closures, which it claims were not supported by science. It accuses public health officials of flip-flopping on mask guidance and rushing vaccine approvals without adequate transparency, further eroding public trust. The Biden Administration is criticized for employing “likely unconstitutional” methods to pressure social media platforms into censoring dissenting opinions about COVID-19 policies and treatments. Perhaps most damning is the report’s condemnation of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose mandate forcing nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients led to thousands of preventable deaths. The report alleges that Cuomo’s administration covered up the disaster to protect his reputation, referring him to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. The World Health Organization (WHO) also comes under fire for prioritizing China’s political interests over global health, with the report labeling its response an “abject failure.” Meanwhile, the Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is accused of obstructing the subcommittee’s investigation, withholding critical documents, and fostering an environment of non-compliance. “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a distrust in leadership,” wrote Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup in his letter to Congress. “Trust is earned. Accountability, transparency, honesty, and integrity will regain this trust.” Yet the report paints a grim picture of a system rife with corruption, mismanagement, and misplaced priorities, leaving Americans to question whether these lessons will truly be learned—or if future pandemics will see the same disastrous repeat of history. As the subcommittee formally submits its findings to the Congressional record on December 4, the question remains: will this report spur meaningful change, or will the institutions and individuals responsible for these failures continue to evade accountability? (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)