Pfizer Responds After Director Says Company Is Developing Ways to Mutate COVID-19; Risky Virus Research Funded by NIH Faces Scrutiny, New Rules, and other C-Virus related stories
Pfizer Responds After Director Says Company Is Developing Ways to Mutate COVID-19:
Pfizer late Jan. 28 responded to comments from a director at the company about exploring ways to mutate COVID-19 as a method to “preemptively develop new vaccines.”
“In the ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research,” Pfizer said in a lengthy written statement after days of ignoring queries from The Epoch Times and other outlets.
Pfizer did say that it has conducted research “where the original SARS-CoV-2 virus has been used to express the spike protein from new variants of concern.”
“This work is undertaken once a new variant of concern has been identified by public health authorities. This research provides a way for us to rapidly assess the ability of an existing vaccine to induce antibodies that neutralize a newly identified variant of concern. We then make this data available through peer reviewed scientific journals and use it as one of the steps to determine whether a vaccine update is required,” the company added.
Pfizer did say it has conducted experiments in a level 3 laboratory.
Pfizer said, in its work developing a treatment for COVID-19, it has “engineered” the COVID-19 virus “to enable the assessment of antiviral activity in cells.”
“In addition, in vitro resistance selection experiments are undertaken in cells incubated with SARS-CoV-2 and nirmatrelvir in our secure Biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory to assess whether the main protease can mutate to yield resistant strains of the virus,” Pfizer said. “It is important to note that these studies are required by U.S. and global regulators for all antiviral products and are carried out by many companies and academic institutions in the U.S. and around the world.” —>READ MORE HERE
WSJ: Risky Virus Research Funded by NIH Faces Scrutiny, New Rules:
Republican lawmakers plan to investigate the National Institutes of Health over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic
National Institutes of Health advisers proposed measures to enhance security of pathogen research, as House Republicans prepared to investigate the agency’s funding of virus experiments and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The NIH group recommended on Friday that federal officials expand their reviews of risky research to include any experiments altering a virus in a way that could make it so transmissible or virulent that it would pose a threat to public health or national security.
The agency’s advisers also proposed expanding reviews to scientists’ work on any human, animal or plant pathogen, toxin or agent that could have a serious impact, like modifying a virus in ways that could help it evade immunizations or resistant to drugs.
The recommendations come as Republican lawmakers, now in charge of the House of Representatives, said they aim to probe the NIH’s oversight of research that involves modifying viruses to identify potential threats to humans and develop ways to fight them. The Republicans also want to investigate the agency’s links to an institute in Wuhan, China, that conducts the pathogen research.
Some lawmakers and others assert that the pandemic was caused by a virus escaping from the Wuhan facility. Many scientists and policy makers say the evidence indicates the cause was natural.
The NIH faces the scrutiny while lacking some key leadership, including a permanent director, that could help it navigate the investigations and advocate for the agency in the Capitol, according to supporters who promote the agency in Washington.
Investigations and hearings could presage a fight over the agency’s budget. Some right-wing House Republicans this month extracted a promise from Speaker Kevin McCarthy for spending cuts that could require trimming NIH spending. —>READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
The Deceptive Campaign for Bivalent Covid Boosters
Video: Pfizer Exposed For Exploring ‘Mutating’ COVID Virus For New Vaccines
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NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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