We know that some scientists strive to make the Bird Flu more risky to humans through “Gain of Function” research.
This begs the question: “If scientists proposed a strategy to government agencies to make an animal virus contagious to humans, and that specific type of lab-made virus was unleashed upon the world, would government agencies tell us?”
The answer is “No”. At least 15 government agencies knew, but said nothing.
On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) posted this notice: “Dr. Paul Sends Letters to Fifteen Federal Agencies After Discovering Their Knowledge of Risky DEFUSE Project”
Rand Paul states, “At least 15 federal agencies knew from the beginning of the pandemic that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology were seeking federal funding in 2018 to create a virus genetically very similar if not identical to COVID-19. Disturbingly, not one of these 15 agencies spoke up to warn us that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been pitching this research.”
The Rand Paul notice points out that these agencies received presentations in 2018 about the DEFUSE project.
This is a one page DEFUSE presentation slide summary which gives highlights. The approach includes sequencing the spike protein of SARS-CoV to bind with the human ACE2 receptor.
Published on Friday August 9, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. interviewed Dr. Rand Paul in a 32 minute podcast.
Rand Paul explains basic virology, “The science of it. The fact that when a virus comes from an animal, it typically is clumsy because it doesn’t affect humans well. It has been adapted or evolved to affect animals. So, it makes various forays into humans, and it does it many times till it accidentally mutates and then can be transmitted among humans but it’s always more infectious from the animal it came from than it is from humans.”
Rand continues, “What we discovered with COVID as we looked at the sequences early on, that there weren’t a bunch of leaps to man. There seemed to be one lineage that leaped in the very beginning, which points towards one source, which points towards a lab leak.” (i.e. There should had been various intermediate species as SARS-CoV-2 evolved to humans.)
Robert F. Kennedy makes a profound point – The Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, no longer infected bats. “It should have remained most infectious to bats.”
Rand Paul talks about the ongoing gain of function work to make viruses more transmissible and more lethal, such as aerosolizing viruses or developing transmissible vaccines via a virus.
Explaining further Dr. Paul says, “So the corona viruses in this family don’t have a special access to the human cell. That special access is called a furin cleavage site…the furin cleavage site – it’s at the end of that spike protein. It’s almost like a key that fits perfectly into the lock of the of the A2 receptor, which is a cell receptor in the human lung. All your cells in your lungs have this receptor. And if the Coronavirus gets in there, it attaches perfectly to it and that’s what causes infectivity in humans. There was no wild Coronavirus in history that was ever able to do that.” But COVID-19’s SARS-CoV-2 had the furin cleavage site on the spike protein.
He then talks about the 2018 DEFUSE project, “So in 2018, the lab in Wuhan in conjunction with Peter Daszak … with Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina submit a proposal. And their proposal is to take a Coronavirus and add this furin cleavage site which is going to make it more infectious in humans. Well, even our government said that was a crazy idea. We are not going to fund it.”
While Rand Paul has a new book entitled: “Deception: The Great Covid Cover-up,” the question remains: “Can we trust our government?”