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Fauci NIH Lab Infected Bats With Wuhan Coronavirus, Obtained From Zoo Near Camp David, Report
A 15-minute drive from the Camp David presidential retreat, a low-rated zoo gave the National Institutes of Health several bats to infect with a coronavirus from the same Chinese lab that some federal agencies believe is responsible for the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, according to a new investigation and published research.
The White Coat Waste Project, which fights taxpayer funding of “wasteful government animal experiments,” said Monday it’s using Freedom of Information Act requests to get more details about the taxpayer-funded experiments documented in a 2018 paper in the journal Viruses.
Former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci oversaw the NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana when it did the research with bats from Maryland’s Catoctin Wildlife Preserve, whose Director of Animal Health Laurie Hahn is a former NIH “lead veterinary technician” for animal research.
The Viruses paper, authored by Montana lab researchers and Wuhan Institute of Virology collaborator Ralph Baric, of the University of North Carolina, determined that the “SARS-like WIV1-coronavirus” first isolated from Chinese rufous horseshoe bats could not cause a “robust infection” in the 12 Egyptian fruit bats from the zoo. Four were euthanized and tested.
The zoo did not immediately respond to a query Monday to confirm what role if any Hahn played in the decision to give her former employer the 12 Egyptian fruit bats.
Pfizer Swings to Quarterly Loss Due to Paxlovid, COVID Vaccine Write-Offs
Pfizer on Tuesday reported a narrower-than-expected adjusted loss for the third quarter as the drugmaker recorded charges largely related to struggles for its COVID antiviral treatment Paxlovid and the COVID vaccine.
Pfizer said it recorded a $5.6 billion charge for inventory write-offs in the third quarter due to lower-than-expected use of COVID products. Of these write-offs, $4.7 billion is chalked up to Paxlovid and $900 million is attributed to the company’s vaccine.
The pharmaceutical giant also reiterated the full-year adjusted earnings and revenue guidance it announced two weeks ago, which is drastically lower than its initial projections due to weakening demand for its COVID products. That decline in demand also led Pfizer to announce a sweeping $3.5 billion cost-cutting plan at the same time.
Protein Interaction Causing Rare but Deadly Vaccine-Related Clotting Found
University of Birmingham News reported:
A mechanism that led some patients to experience cases of deadly clotting following some types of COVID-19 vaccination has been identified in new research.
In a recent paper published in Blood, scientists from the University of Birmingham funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the British Heart Foundation have been able to identify how deadly blood clots, in the disease known as Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis (VITT), occur.
Previous studies have shown that patients with VITT produce antibodies that stick to a protein called Platelet factor 4 (PF4) to create a large cluster of molecules called an immune complex. Following the development of a complex, platelets and cells of the immune system causing clotting and inflammation are activated, but the precise nature of what PF4 does in this event is unknown.
In this latest study, the team used blood taken from healthy donors, as well as serum and plasma from patients with VITT, and have been able to learn for the first time how PF4 was directly involved in the activation of platelets and resulted in thrombotic events. By sticking to a receptor called c-Mpl on the surface of platelets, PF4 triggered the production of the small cells known to cause clotting.
China’s Spy Agency Warns About Weaponized Gene Technology
China’s top spy agency has warned about the threat of a genetic weapon targeting a particular race. The Ministry of State Security (MSS), in a post on WeChat, a domestic social networking app, has said organizations could develop a bioweapon to target individuals from a particular racial background.
The ministry has alleged that foreign nation-states have been trying to collect human genetic data from China, without naming any specific country. The MSS further warned that genetic weapons pose a greater threat than traditional biological and chemical weapons as they can be easily concealed.
The MSS claimed in the post that an overseas non-government organization (NGO) recruited Chinese nationals to collect “data and information on the distribution of biological species in various places” and made them “upload the collected data through an app.” The ministry added that it linked to a nation-state, without clarifying the country’s name.
Linked to the issue of MSS’ concerns about biosecurity are the origins of the COVID pandemic, which the post did not mention. China has rebuffed calls for a joint investigation by Australia and other countries into the origin of the virus.
The World Health Organization abandoned the second phase of the investigation after saying it had difficulty with physically conducting the study in China.
CDC Weighs In on JN.1 COVID Variant Developments
In a recent respiratory virus update, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is monitoring the spread of BA.2.86, as well as JN.1, a SARS-CoV-2 variant that is part of the same lineage and contains an extra spike mutation.
Scientists have been tracking BA.2.86 because of its numerous mutations, and in recent weeks, they identified JN.1 as a related variant that has the L455S mutation, which has concerning immune-evasion properties. Some have seen signs of a growth advantage in a few European countries.
JN.1 was detected in the United States in September and has also been identified in 11 other countries, the CDC said. It added that nearly all viruses circulating in the United States now are part of the XBB family and that JN.1 makes up less than 0.1% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
Biden Administration Looks to Avoid Vaccine Hiccups as COVID Treatment Coverage Goes Commercial
The Biden administration is looking to avoid hiccups in the rollout of new COVID-19 vaccines as it begins shifting coverage of coronavirus treatments to the private market.
Private insurance companies will need to start covering treatments beginning Wednesday, but the federal government’s supply will remain available for providers to order and distribute until it runs out or expires.
Distributors and healthcare providers may continue to order Pfizer’s Paxlovid from the U.S. government until Dec. 15, along with Merck’s Lagevrio through Nov. 10.
UPDATED: Pfizer Plans to Shutter New Jersey Site, Discloses Layoffs Amid $3.5 Billion Cost-Cutting Drive
After plunging COVID revenues prompted Pfizer to embark on a cost-cutting crusade, more details about the company’s savings efforts are coming into focus.
Following prior rounds of cuts in Illinois and Colorado, Pfizer is downsizing in New Jersey, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) alert from the Garden State.
The disclosure comes as a result of Pfizer’s plan to close its Peapack, NJ, facility in early 2024, a company spokesperson said over email. While the WARN listing shows that 791 positions are affected, the “vast majority” of workers will be reassigned to Pfizer’s New York Headquarters, the company’s spokesperson said.
During the transition period, the company does not have final figures on job losses.
Earlier this month, Pfizer said it would launch an “enterprise-wide cost realignment program” after slashing its 2023 revenue projection by $9 billion. Of the $3.5 billion in planned cuts by the end of next year, Pfizer hopes to realize $1 billion in savings in 2023.
Study: Regardless of Variant, Half of Long-COVID Patients Fail to Improve After 18 Months
More than 50% of long-COVID patients failed to improve 1.5 years after their initial diagnosis, according to a new study based on cases seen at a Danish post-COVID clinic, both before and after the Omicron variant period. The study was published yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
The analysis included 806 patients who were infected with the wild-type strain, Alpha, Delta, or Omicron strain. All case patients had been referred to a long COVID clinic with symptoms persisting at least 12 weeks from the onset of COVID-19. Seventy percent of participants were female, with a median age of 48.
Patients were given a post-COVID symptom questionnaire (PCQ), and standard health scores, four times between enrollment and 18 months of follow-up.
The first clinic visit for long COVID occurred an average of 7 months after acute infection. Patients were grouped according to the period of transmission of predominant SARS-CoV-2 variants, with 69% of patients infected during the wild-type period and 9%, 7%, and 15% infected in the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron periods, respectively.
