In the Telegraph today:
The messages that show Covid scientists secretly suspected a lab leak
Scientists who were instrumental in shutting down the Covid lab-leak theory admitted in private “we can’t rule it out”, newly released messages show.
In March 2020, a group of influential virologists published a paper in the journal Nature Medicine arguing that an animal spillover event probably caused the pandemic.
The article, known as “The Proximal Origins of Covid” [Link to the paper here. In fact its title refers to “Origin” in the singular- NS] concluded “we do not believe any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible” and was hugely persuasive in stifling debate globally.
But messages obtained and published by US senator Rand Paul show that behind the scenes the scientists voiced concerns that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had been carrying out experiments on coronaviruses at insufficient biosecurity levels.
The virus emerged eight miles from WIV laboratories and was seemingly pre-adapted to infect humans
and
The messages also reveal that authors were aware that Dr Shi – the lead bat virus scientist at WIV – was herself worried that Covid had been caused by a lab accident.
In September 2021, it emerged that before the pandemic Dr Shi had applied for a grant to insert a furin cleavage site (FCS) into bat coronaviruses – the very addition that made Covid-19 so infectious to humans.
Although the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency dismissed the grant because it was too dangerous, Slack messages showed that scientists feared the work had gone ahead anyway.
Prof Andrew Rambaut of Edinburgh University wrote that “it isn’t beyond plausibility that someone went ahead and tried some of this stuff”, adding, “We just need to re-convince ourself it is coincidence.”
You may be saying, “I’ve read Viral. This is not news to me”. The news is that it is being reported in a major “quality” British newspaper.
Here is what the Telegraph was saying about the “Proximal Origin” paper on 1st May 2020:
The study that proves conspiracy theorists wrong – coronavirus came from nature
Covid-19 is not a “laboratory construct” but emerged as a result of natural evolution, according to a report which demolishes conspiracy theories about the origins of the disease.
The virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of December and has since spread rapidly across the globe, with more than three million people worldwide now infected.
But fear and misinformation have escalated alongside the pandemic, with the World Health Organization warning that the globe is fighting an “infodemic” as well as an epidemic.
One common myth has been that the new virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was originally made in a laboratory. But in a study, published in Nature Medicine journal, researchers analysed the genome sequence of the coronavirus and found strong evidence it evolved naturally, probably from a bat or a pangolin.
Sarah Newey has more details on the evidence that debunks President Trump’s latest theory.
Nice touch in linking the thing you don’t want people to take seriously to Trump, though that trick no longer works as well as it once did.
There is no shame in having been wrong, so long as you then work sincerely to put things right. In today’s article the Telegraph goes some way to atone for its past errors. Let’s see how the rest of the British media covers this story. Let’s see if the rest of the British media covers this story.
The establishment scientists, such as Dr Fauci and Peter Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance and World Health Organization, always knew that Covid came from the Wuhan lab – whether it was a deliberate release or a “leak” I do not know, but they always knew that is where it came from – they covered up for their People’s Republic of China friends, and for THEMSELVES (people such as Peter Daszak backed the gain of function research which created the disease).
They were not very concerned for their own lives, after all they also always knew that Covid, if caught early, could be treated (whilst, at the same time, telling the general public that there was no early treatment – and people should do nothing whilst the disease got worse and worse in their system) – so they had no reason NOT to cover up their involvement in its creation.
The international establishment are mass murderers – for if it is not mass murder to create a disease which then “leaks” (and which you tell people that travel from China should NOT be cut off – remember Dr Fauci and co were AGAINST any restriction on travel from China – and the PRC authorities kept the international airport near Wuhan open and encouraged travel all over the world – whilst, at the same time, preventing people from Wuhan visiting other parts of China), it would seem to be mass murder to know that a disease can be treated if caught early – yet to tell the public (again and again) that there was no effective early treatment for Covid.
Why did they do it?
Well, yes, there was the political agenda to push world “governance” (the, medically useless, “lockdowns” and so on) and to get people to have the injections – but there was another reason.
They did it because-they-could – they knew that whatever-they-did they would never be punished – indeed it would be honest doctors and honest medical scientists, who were saving-lives, who would be punished.
They did it because they felt like doing it – as in the line from a Johnny Cash song “I killed a man in Reno – just to watch him die”.
In the Ballad of Folsom Prison the line may run “I shot a man in Reno – just to watch him die”.
But the establishment scientists do not shoot people – they are too gutless for that, they find other ways to kill.
In Britain it turned out that several members of “SAGE” were also members of Marxist groups – I remember a lady scientist from “SAGE” (who was also a member of a Communist group) saying that everyone in the group agreed with her “Social Justice” opinions.
I believe her.
Here’s an interesting question: when is Nature going to withdraw the paper?
Barbarus – good question.