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By Clayton J. Baker, M.D.
Bird flu was the hot topic in pandemic fear-mongering until very recently. Just a few months ago, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield publicly described bird flu (also known as H5N1 influenza A or avian influenza virus) as the likely next pandemic — predicting a laboratory-leaked virus as the cause.
Meanwhile, Deborah Birx, aka the “Scarf Lady” of COVID-19 infamy, was making the TV news, promoting an unrealistic and excessive program of testing farm animals and humans for bird flu.
At present, bird flu seems to have been put on the back burner by the authorities. Monkeypox has since taken center stage, with the World Health Organization declaring a state of emergency over that virus.
Furthermore, the “experts” have trotted out numerous other viruses with which to terrify the public. Examples include West Nile virus — who no less than Dr. Anthony Fauci himself supposedly contracted — and even the exotic “Sloth virus” (also known as Oropouche virus).
The first step in dealing with these continual reports of horrific pathogens is recognizing the vital importance of living in knowledge rather than in fear.
“Fear porn” is a real psychological weapon and one that is being used against us on a daily basis. As we painfully learned during COVID-19, a terrified population is easily manipulated, controlled and exploited.
As free citizens, we must remain mindful and knowledgeable, rather than fearful, about the flood of information and propaganda that is hurled at us.
Regarding bird flu, we should remain mindful of the following. In its current iteration, bird flu has caused no widespread human illness, no human deaths and sporadic outbreaks in farm animal populations.
However, there is much evidence that bird flu could be used as a bioweapon. Furthermore, it could also be applied to disrupt the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
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Here are three reasons why bird flu may still be weaponized to alter the election:
1. Multiple bio labs in the U.S. and abroad — such as the lab run by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin — perform alarming gain-of-function research on the H5N1 virus, making variants of the virus that are much more dangerous to humans than variants that occur in nature.
These labs have had leaks with alarming frequency. The current strains of bird flu in the U.S. show strong genetic evidence of having originated in a laboratory. A laboratory leak of a new strain of the virus, manipulated to be highly transmissible and/or pathogenic in humans, remains a real possibility.
2. The “International Bird Flu Summit” will be held on Oct. 2-4 at the Hilton Fairfax in Fairfax, Virginia — just outside Washington, D.C. — exactly one month prior to the election.
Listed topics include “Command, Control and Management,” “Emergency Response Management” and “Surveillance and Data Management.” If this sounds eerily reminiscent to you of the COVID-19 lockdowns — which were also closely preceded by government-based planning exercises — your memory serves you well.
3. The infrastructure is already in place for a “pandemic” of bird flu, much more than it is for other potential pathogens. Already, widespread testing of farms is underway.
The development of bird flu vaccines has increased dramatically. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already approved vaccines made by Sanofi, GSK subsidiary ID Biomedical Corporation of Quebec and CSL Seqirus, while Moderna recently received a $176 million government grant for its mRNA-based bird flu injection, which is in development.
In the bigger picture, a number of viruses could potentially be employed as an “October Surprise” to disrupt the election. Bird flu appears to be a leading candidate (pun intended), but it is not the only one.
We, as citizens, must remain vigilant to this threat to our electoral process. We should contact our local and state officials now, before anything is attempted and express our absolute insistence on fair, legal and regular elections.
We should share this information widely with others so that all are aware of what might be attempted. Over the longer term, we must work to end gain-of-function research.
With COVID-19, we experienced first-hand what can be done to our civil rights and to our constitutionally guaranteed electoral and governmental processes when a fear-driven, emergency-based takeover of society occurs.
As free citizens, we must never allow this to happen again. From now on, we must live in knowledge, not in fear.
Originally published by Brownstone Institute.
Clayton J. Baker, M.D., is an internal medicine physician with a quarter century in clinical practice. He has held numerous academic medical appointments, and his work has appeared in many journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. From 2012 to 2018 he was clinical associate professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester.
