.@mvankerkhove "Let the scientists be scientists.” against moves for political not public health gain "..forcing China to keep blocking an investigation has a point said @JamieMetzl. It makes “completely clear..that China intends to continue its..cover up” washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/…
Alternatives to @WHO study are inadequate: @LawrenceGostin "said..[US] domestic efforts would likely be hindered..'Members of Congress have zero access to the kind of data & specimens that it would need on the ground in China'. as far as he could see, it was 'political theater.'"
Here's what happens if you call out politicization of origins study. Shoddy piece about how I "sympathised with the Chinese government". Actually, I reported what WIV director said to WHO mission. telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/3…. Actual quote at 58:20 @profvrrmicrobe.tv/twiv/twiv-760/
How does "forcing China to keep blocking an investigation" have public health value? It definitely has political value to some, as this statement makes clear.
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Looking forward to taking part in Congressional briefing today on Science Diplomacy at @UDBidenSchool hosted by the awesome @saleem_ali Q: What is the role of science on the public stage in a post-pandemic world? hillhappenings.com/list/2021/5/14…
...how will geopolitical factors influence research and policy on science re. the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the research enterprise, and supply chains and national security? Key goal – building scientific trust and collaboration in an increasingly fragmented world
Prof Shi Zhengli re. call for more focus on lab-leak hypothesis: ".. will definitely damage the reputation & enthusiasm of scientists [working] on animal viruses which have potential spillover risk ..& weaken our ability ..to prevent the next pandemic.” technologyreview.com/2021/05/13/102…
Robert Garry @utmbhealth "“distracts from important work needed to identify the source of SARS-CoV-2..& completely misrepresents the outcomes of @WHO report [that] adds to the large volume of epidemiological and genomic data supporting zoonotic emergence" wsj.com/articles/scien…
.@K_G_Andersen "Letter suggests a false equivalence between the lab escape & natural origin scenarios. To this day no credible evidence has been presented to support the lab leak hypothesis, which remains grounded in speculation.” nytimes.com/2021/05/13/sci…
"The NIH has not ever, & does not now, fund 'gain of function research' in the Wuhan Institute." Dr. Fauci of @NIAIDNews testifying today. thehill.com/policy/healthc…
Re. funding @EcoHealthNYC to study bat-CoVs: "Let me explain to you why that was done, the SARS COV-1 originated in bats in China. It would have been irresponsible of us if we did not investigate the bat viruses & the serology to see who might have been infected," Fauci said.
So much energy spent on the lab-leak hypothesis, following illogical lines of argument, poorly understood science, to support pre-conceived ideas. Here's a story on the pathway that the @WHO origins mission found "likely to very likely" for COVID origins: telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
So, in just 1 day of Twitter responses, an @NIH statement that they did NOT fund GoF studies at WIV & the Furin cleavage site is NOT a 'smoking gun'. I guess Wade got paid & the conspiracists got their chance to point fingers. Meanwhile, somewhere in a wildlife farm in SE Asia...
Exciting to see this! This antibody treatment was tested against the bat-CoVs discovered by @EcoHealthNYC & our collaborators at WIV, China. It showed that it is broad-acting, able to neutralize COVID variants and other potential future pandemic viruses. clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/adagio-tr…
A big congratulations to @AdagioTx for their strategic vision with ADG20. We're going to need these broad-acting therapeutics to fight upcoming variants, and future pandemics.
Good review of @WHO origins report w/ comments from @edwardcholmes "The most likely has always been, & still remains, an animal to human jump, with bats the most likely point of origin but probably through another animal." smh.com.au/national/austr…
“The pathway forward appears to be twofold: 1) try to find more cases of people who had respiratory diseases prior to the 1st case reported in Dec 2019, & are there samples available? That’s really important. It could be Wuhan, Hubei Province or another part of China."
“2nd, the famous Wuhan market came back into focus, not as the place where it emerged, because that’s still not clear, but I think the report is saying – almost between the lines – that animal wildlife farming is most likely responsible."