Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #COVIDorigins

Most recents (10)

Last weekend, I found a copy of the book “Viral” in the library. Screenshots and references to this book are often included in some nasty replies to some of my threads on #COVIDOrigins.

So, what does this book say? 🧵1/23 Image
The version I read was updated in 2022 (probably early 2022; Omicron is mentioned along with preprints from February 2022, but published papers from Summer 2022 are not included). I’m not aware on exactly which parts were updated from earlier versions. 2/23
A premise of the book regards how well-adapted SARS2 was to humans from Dec 2019, and how this is suspicious of lab origins. Their argument is based on how many more mutations were seen in SARS1 (certainly zoonotic) than SARS2 early samples. 3/23
Read 23 tweets
1/few. Attendees of #Nido2023 may be wondering why I am not being allowed to ask questions of the speakers. Attendees should know too that I was denied the right to share our printed scientific articles. No reason given so far except the "instructions of @ProfVolkerThiel" ...
2/few.
So here are the dangerous papers you are not being allowed to see:
independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/a…
and
independentsciencenews.org/health/did-wes…
One reason may be that last week at #ECV2023 Prof Martin Beer, collaborator with @ProfVolkerThiel embarrassed himself with terrible answers to my...
3/few.
questions, thus exposing his research program as not a fair-minded and objective enquiry into #Covidorigins but a veiled defence of the zoonotic origin.
Here is a link to our discussion:
Read 9 tweets
1/7:
Last week at the European Congress of Virology in Gdansk #ECV2023 I deep-sixed the raccoon dog market theory of #Covidorigins by questioning Martin Beer, senior author about their key paper (Freuling et al. 2020)

It's over. And you are welcome! See below:
2/7 I asked why they tested a more transmissible G614 strain and not the original D614 strain, which would have supported or eliminated raccoon dogs as a potential intermediate host.

His answer was not "thanks, good idea we'll jump to it". He stumbled a bit and then, incredibly.
He said: I paraphrase slightly: "he didnt know whether D614 or G614 came first"
This is an astonishing answer on many levels.
Absolutely no one thinks that D614 came after G614. Because:
1) D614 was detected first
2) G614 displaced D614 as the pandemic progressed
3) See below...
Read 10 tweets
#COVIDORIGINS

What exactly was EcoHealth Alliance trying to do with engineered bat coronaviruses? A rejected DARPA DEFUSE grant proposal gives some insights and is worth revisiting.

In 2013, WIV researchers, led by Shi Zheng-Li (now regarded as "batwoman") isolated and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
1. Until WIV1 was isolated, no viruses since SARS-CoV-1 were found to use human ACE2 to enter cells.

2. Recombination work on WIV1 would be performed to create enhanced human ACE2-binding viruses, and these infectious clones were studied in animals with humanized ACE2… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Separately, a DEFUSE proposal that was rejected by DARPA notes several worrying elements:

1. “We will intensively sample bats at our field sites where we have identified high spillover risk SARS-CoVs. We will sequence their spike proteins, reverse engineer them to conduct… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Read 6 tweets
#COVIDORIGINS and censorship of scientific discourse 🤫🧵

I asked ChatGPT4 to write an argument debunking and an argument supporting the “Proximal Origins of SARS-CoV-2” publication, then comparing the strengths and inconsistencies of both arguments. theintercept.com/2023/01/19/cov…twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Prompt 1: Write an argument debunking the “Proximal Origins of SARS-CoV-2” article.
Response 1:

Title: Debunking the "Proximal Origins of SARS-CoV-2" Article

Introduction:
The article "Proximal Origins of SARS-CoV-2" attempts to trace the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, upon closer examination, several issues… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 12 tweets
Today, a @WSJ story disclosed that US Dep't of Energy has concluded #COVID19 "most likely arose" from a lab leak, citing classified intel recently provided to @WhiteHouse and key congress members. Some thoughts on where this revelation leaves us: 🧵👇 wsj.com/articles/covid… /1
It does not mean #COVID19 necessarily came from a Wuhan lab. Rather, it underscores the need for ongoing investigation into an open question: did #COVID19 spill over from an infected animal at a Wuhan market, or result from an accidental lab leak? @WHO has long been clear: /2
Both hypotheses remain possible. Any claim that the question is settled, in either direction, is untrue. But as I first reported for @VanityFair back in June 2021, Qs about a lab leak were sidelined early on inside the US gov't: vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t… /3
Read 9 tweets
The messaging to convince us that "we'll never know" the truth about #CovidOrigins started in earnest after the US IC was briefed by an unknown group of experts. The ground was being prepared ahead of that. Example from Jan 2021:
June 2021, a US Senator reminds us how unlikely we are to ever know where this #COVID19 virus came from
By the end of June 2021, a rare interview with US Intelligence chief Avril Haines was used to press home the "we'll probably never know" #OriginsOfCovid message
Read 8 tweets
A recent YouGov poll on #CovidOrigins shows strong support for the lab leak theory across the globe. Those who believe Covid-19 emerged from a lab outnumber those who believe it emerged naturally in 25 out of 26 countries. #Denmark is the only exception. YouGov-Cambridge poll showi...
Net support for lab leak is incredibly high. In countries as diverse as #India, #France, and #Nigeria, #Indonesia, and #Turkey lab leak supporters outnumber those who prefer natural emergence 3-to-1. Most strikingly, this same ratio is 2-to-1 or greater in all but 5 countries. Image
Perhaps the most surprising finding: in the majority of countries surveyed, including the #USA, more people attribute the emergence of #Covid19 to an *intentional* lab release than believe it emerged naturally. Image
Read 3 tweets
BREAKING: my @VanityFair investigation into @EcoHealthNYC, @NIAIDNews transparency and debate over #COVID19 origins is live. Vanity Fair obtained over 100,000 internal EcoHealth Alliance documents including meeting minutes, internal emails, reports. vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/t… /1
The documents - most predate pandemic - shed light on the world @EcoHealthNYC operated in: one of murky grant agreements, flimsy NIH oversight and pursuit of gov't grants by pitching increasingly risky global research. /2
For years, @EcoHealthNYC cultivated gov't officials at @cosmos_dc cocktail events, where EcoHealth pres. @peterdaszak worked to share podium w/ Fauci. "Cultivation events" were "great way to increase our visibility to federal funders," Daszak told his board. /3
Read 10 tweets
My latest @VanityFair story: on significant @NIH admission that the agency funded risky #coronavirus research by @EcoHealthNYC and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/n… /1
In July hearing, Fauci denied to @SenRandPaul such research took place: "I totally resent the lie you are propagating." @NIH spokesperson tells me Fauci had been "entirely truthful," and had not yet seen @EcoHealthNYC report spelling out that research. /2
Yet @EcoHealthNYC says it sent research data to @NIH in 2018. Pointing to reporting "irregularities," @DavidRelman tells me this is "another chapter in a sad tale of inadequate oversight, disregard for risk, and insensitivity to the importance of transparency." /3
Read 6 tweets

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