COVID killed millions. Fauci’s House hearing shows we’re not ready for another pandemic
The House Subcommittee on the origins of COVID-19 convened on June 3, 2024. The committee was designed to focus on the origins of the pandemic but instead degenerated into a cesspool of misinformation. Similar disinformation has had a negative impact on the whole nation, and Kentucky has not fared well. ???
Some of the highest burdens of COVID-19 deaths are found in states where the majority of the population voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election. According to World-o-Meter, Kentucky has the 10th highest COVID-19 death rate, only other red states were higher. Kentucky’s death rate was 18% higher than the national average of 3,642 deaths per million in the United States. ? ??
Minimizing the Pandemic: Contentious exchanges centered on vaccine mandates and school closures. One cannot minimize the pandemic and at the same time advocate that the virus was augmented in a Chinese lab. The toll of SARS-CoV-2 is undeniable. Senator Rand Paul stated during a February 9, 2023 Senate committee meeting that “it is estimated that between 5 to 18 million people died from COVID-19 worldwide.” ? ???
Dr. Fauci was asked to respond to the plight of individuals who could not work because they refused mandatory vaccination. I could not stop thinking of the unvaccinated workers who could not work because they needlessly died from COVID-19 and the 4.3% of our adult population currently experiencing limitations in their activity due to persistent symptoms of long COVID. COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in the prevention of both outcomes and in preserving the integrity of our workforce. ????
The committee was also concerned about the adverse impact of closing schools and assumed COVID-19 is a benign disease in children. As discussed in a previous USA Today Op-ed, nothing is further from the truth. As shown by data from Sweden, children spread COVID-19 like wildfire. And the disease can in itself affect the cognitive and emotional function of children. New research published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity has found that at 12 months post COViD-19, 2.4% of children “experienced persistent cognitive impairment.” Pandemic preparation will require that schools have smaller class sizes and upgraded ventilation. ?? ???
We are just beginning to learn about the effects of viral persistence in individuals, and about the protracted multi-organ system damage resulting in delayed COVID-19 deaths that exceed the deaths from the acute infection. ? ?????
Funding of Research: The Committee’s focus on NIH funding of the Wuhan lab is off the mark and reeks of politics. The NIH money which eventually found its way to Wuhan was $600,000 for a five-year period. These funds were a subgrant in a much larger project, and pales in comparison to the 6.5 billion budget for the granting NIH division for fiscal year 2023. In addition, everyone agreed that this project did not fund the development of the COVID-19 virus. Whether this research was gain-of-function, depends upon the definition used. ???? ???
Important research which was clearly gain-of-function was published in Sept 2020 in the journal Cell. Manmade viruses were used to evaluate the impact of spike protein mutations on infectivity and resistance to neutralizing antibodies. Many of the authors had affiliations with the WHO. Partial funding was from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.??? ?? ??
Origins: Regarding the committee’s charge of investigating the origins of the pandemic, two resources that make strong arguments in support of a lab-leak origin were published on May 5, 2021, in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by Nicholas Wade and most recently in a June 2, 2024 essay in the New York Times by Alina Chan, both often considered left-leaning resources.??? ???
I feel there is not any ironclad evidence regarding the pandemic’s inception. However, one compelling observation for a manmade origin was that the COVID-19 virus was highly infectious to humans at the get go. It did not require multiple attempts and mutations to successfully cause a human pandemic. Unfortunately, we are currently witnessing the bird flu undergoing this evolution. There have been at least three human infections in the United States, each with progressively concerning mutations, making a future pandemic more likely to happen. ? ???
Hence, there are significant risks of a future bird flu pandemic and I have strong concerns that the committee will not produce recommendations which will allow us to effectively respond if this were to happen. What I witnessed during the Congressional hearing was strong emotions, infighting and squabbling, a setting not conducive for formulating strategies that will lift us out of the current COVID-19 pandemic or to stop the spread of future pathogens.
(This OpEd was previously published in the Courier Journal on June 6, 2024 https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2024/06/06/covid-pandemic-fauci-house-committee-kentucky/73986122007/ )
References
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Physician, Lead COVID-19 autoimmune researcher, #1 Amazon Best Seller, Dementia Authority, International Keynote Speaker
1 个月Good article Kevin Kavanagh Whilst we are not aligned on all perspectives, your overall approach and analysis is very good. The big question regarding Fauci is why did he take such a strong position on origins if he had no involvement? This had a big part in growing the conspiracy theories. Sadly, most seem to be accurate.
If you won’t arrest the individuals producing and patenting deadlier forms of disease vectors then you definitely won’t stop anything. Put a moratorium on patenting deadly gain-of-function enhanced super diseases and watch the profit incentive vanish.
Founder, CEO at Safe-Decon Inc. | Pioneering Biosafety and Advanced Decontamination Technologies
1 个月I recognize that we weren’t prepared before COVID, I asked hospital decision makers what if there was a pandemic… are you prepared… I was told not to worry, the likelihood of anything like that, we could handle it. We see how that went and lessons have not been learned. It was one of the reasons that I invented a product that contains, controls and eliminates viruses and spores safely and efficiently, keeping hospital personnel and other patients safe. It would have saved hospitals a lot of money as well. Our government is more “reactionary” more so than preventative, we are definitely not ready for the next one!