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Do we need to fear different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus?

One of the most basic concepts students of Virology learn is that virus mutation is an evolutionary process which affects a virus’ chances of survival. Lethal viruses render their hosts too unwell for human contact, limiting the virus’ ability for ongoing transmission. Milder viruses, by comparison, tend to transmit far and wide as their hosts are able to continue functioning amongst other humans who the virus can target. The rule of thumb is that viruses are either highly transmissible (easily spread) or highly virulent (cause severe disease), requiring an equilibrium between both attributes for the virus’ own survival. When they mutate to become more transmissible, this is usually concurrent to mutations making them less virulent.

As an example Ebola, with an infection fatality rate of ~50%, only infects those in very close direct contact with bodily fluids of the sick and dying. This makes it a highly virulent pathogen with comparatively low transmissibility. Despite being incomparable to COVID-19 which has an infection fatality rate of ~0.23% (much lower virulence, but with much higher transmissibility), psychologists have identified references to Ebola in mainstream media today as a strategy for generating fear.

Rosemary Frei, MSc in Molecular Biology, is a freelance writer and investigative journalist. She highlights in her nine minute video Is it True that the New Variants are Very Dangerous?, that the new variants of COVID-19 are in fact not shown to be either more virulent, or more transmissible. She critiques a number of research papers which infer more dangerous variants are evolving and concludes that the pronouncements “appear to be aimed more at scaring the public into submitting to harsher and longer restrictions than helping to create truly evidence-based policies”.

Very basic principles of public health include honesty and integrity to establish public trust and reduce fear so that evidence based interventions can be implemented with the least harm to society.

So how did public health evolve into a fear-based lockdown-promoting variant of itself? Frei’s transcripted six minute video The Modeling Paper Mafiosi exposes conflicts of interest which provide at least a part of the answer to this question, and should concern us all.

Frei discusses John Edmonds, a member of the UK Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) who consistently promote ongoing lockdowns to the UK government. Edmonds is a lead author on an influential report which concluded in late January 2021 “There is a realistic possibility that VOC B.1.1.7 is associated with an increased risk of death…“. He regularly speaks to mainstream media about deadliness of the new variants, and importance of maintaining lockdowns until widespread vaccine coverage is reached.

The Consequences of Lockdown – Archive of Links documents the multiple economic, societal and health consequences of lockdown. As I repeat constantly, lockdown is not an evidence based public health response. This fact is becoming increasingly indisputable as COVID-19-specific evidence accumulates. To quote the delightfully funny Infectious Disease Epidemiologist John Ioannidis, “Lockdown … We did it… Congratulations. And never do it again… N E V E R!“

Frei reveals that John Edmonds’ wife has financial concerns in the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) who have multi billion dollar interests in COVID-19 vaccine development. She also exposes a number of other powerful alliances and interconnected networks which place into question the ability of many advisors to be objective and independent. It seems to explain a lot.

How Bill Gates Monopolized Global Health : The Corbett Report also offers a part of the picture. During the “Decade of Vaccines”, a Gates Foundation initiative commenced in 2010, Gates’ fortune almost doubled from US$54 billion, to US$101.1 billion. Since March 2020 this has increased again by US$20.7 billion according to a December 2020 report by Americans for Tax Fairness. The wealth transfer playing out today is described in some detail by Oxfam: The Inequality Virus, a briefing paper dated January 2021.

How do we vanquish the currently dominant public health mutation?