Notably, the exercise presupposes a zoonotic the origin of a smallpox outbreak through a narrative that echoes Event 201, which designated pigs used as livestock as the origin of a new coronavirus. These presuppositions were essential to policy makers as they provided the undertones needed to promote the theory that COVID-19 emerged zoonotically from horseshoe bats who naturally developed the disease. The value of simulating a public health response that emphasized that zoonotic origin was essential to obfuscated COVID-19’s apparent origins as the result of gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. With this is in mind, the premise that forthcoming cases of smallpox could be the result of similar experiments is startling, particularly as it conveys the complete absence of accountability politicians were held to following the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility that gain of function research has been deployed on a more widespread basis than previously thought.
Unlike SARS-COV-2, which disproportionately affected people who were older,
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s remarks at the first day of the smallpox pandemic simulation paint a different picture of what could come, stating "We will do a very realistic exercise in which a smallpox pandemic results from a leopard bite..The scenario will have the particularity that especially younger people will be hit very hard," Lauterbach, who was lauded in his capacity for German’s handling of COVID-19 serves as a pivotal figure given the change in the countries leadership following the exit of Angela Merkel from the chancellery. Like Anthony Fauci, Lauterbach conveys the transcendent power of a bureaucracy of medical technocrats who operated outside of the parameters that election officials are subject to. As such, the actions of their ilk are much more indicative of what lies ahead than any vapid political posturing.
Meanwhile in the United States, on the very day that the CDC confirmed a case of monkeypox in Massachusetts, the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”) announced it would purchase approximately
13 million doses of the freeze-dried version of the JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine from
Bavarian Nordic, a vaccine manufacturer based out of Denmark. The purchase order comes just one month after the company’s RSV vaccine entered a
phase 3 clinical trial.
Given the genetic similarities of smallpox and monkeypox, approval of JYNNEOS in the US already extends to the administration of the vaccine to as a prophylaxis against the latter virus. BARDA exercised an option in an existing contract with Bavarian Nordic purchase those doses that was in place before the emergence of monkeypox this year. With more than 20 cases of the disease confirmed in the EU nations of England, Portugal, and Spain, Bavarian Nordic was also able to finalize a contract with an undisclosed European nation to supply the same smallpox vaccine purchased by BARDA, albeit under the trademark Imvanex.
While the scope of the contract and purchase are not yet known, its announcement sent Bavarian Nordic’s stock surging by over 62% the day following the disclosure.
The great irony of the looming threat of another pandemic crisis is that vaccinations were heralded for their elimination of smallpox. Edward Jenner, who discovered modern vaccinations, was able to demonstrate how inoculations could be used to prevent smallpox by infecting patients with the much less serious cowpox virus. That happened over 2 centuries ago. Since then, the strides made by modern medicine make Jenner’s era seem like the dark ages. Yet, despite all of that supposed progress, the fragility of society in the face of a disease outbreak appears more delicate than ever.
The panic that threat creates shows how quickly people will be willing “trust the experts” once again, even if that means making the same mistakes all over.
awakecanada.org
