TallGuyJohninBKK

02/07/2024 NewsGuard Reports More Than 300 Vaccine-Related False Narratives Now Spreading Online Nearly four years since the outbreak of COVID-19 — and amidst a constant stream of false claims about vaccine efficacy — NewsGuard reports that there are now more than 300 vaccine-related false narratives infecting social media and online search results (February 7, 2024 — New York) Health misinformation site Natural News (NewsGuard Trust Score: 5/100) reports that elderberries are more effective protection against flu than a vaccine. The National Vaccine Information Center (Trust Score: 12.5/100) cites research claiming measles vaccines cause measles. U.K-based Principia-Scientific (Trust Score: 20/100) claims COVID-19 vaccines contain monkey DNA. These are among the now more than 300 vaccine-related false narratives that NewsGuard’s healthcare information team has identified circulating on the internet, shared by 4,387 websites and other news sources and social media accounts — and counting. Two thirds of all the news and information websites that NewsGuard has rated as untrustworthy since 2018 publish healthcare misinformation. [emphasis added] “The vaccine-related false narratives we’ve found don’t just reflect the spike in conversations about vaccines since the pandemic,” said John Gregory, health editor at NewsGuard. “Long before COVID-19, people made all kinds of questionable statements about vaccines, related to autoimmune diseases, infertility, cardiac arrest and other health topics. In fact, 67% of news sites rated as generally untrustworthy (below 60/100) by NewsGuard have been flagged for publishing health misinformation, making it one of the largest categories of misinformation we track.” (more) https://www.newsguardtech.com/press/newsguard-reports-more-than-300-vaccine-related-false-narratives-now-spreading-online/

Meanwhile, in the real world of COVID vaccine decision-making: Fall Covid-19 vaccine provides additional protection Jan. 3, 2025 "The first data on the effectiveness of this fall’s 2024-2025 Covid-19 vaccine is in, and it’s looking good! A preprint was released on patients at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Scientists tallied the number of people who did (and did not) have Covid-19 from September- November 2024 and whether they got this fall’s Covid-19 vaccine (specifically the Pfizer 2024-2025 KP.2 formula). Among 44,598 infections, the Covid-19 vaccine reduces: Hospitalizations by 68% Emergency department and urgent care visits by 57%, and Outpatient visits by 56% The vaccine worked best for those over 65 years old. This study is very preliminary (it only covered two months with little Covid-19 transmission), but the findings aren’t surprising—they are generally consistent with what scientists have found in previous years." https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-dose-january-3 "Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) reaches more than 295,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people feel well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions." "My name is Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. I have a Masters in Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. I am an epidemiologist, data scientist, wife, and mom to two little girls. During the day, I wear many hats, including scientific consultant to a number of organizations, including CDC." https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/about

More content from the OP poster's stable of nonsense content. Looking for COVID expertise, turn to: James Edward Taylor @jamesedwardtaylor Freethinker, heart breaker, dream maker, love taker. We must escape the Cave. Who's with me? https://substack.com/@jamesedwardtaylor You wanna rely on COVID advice from this guy:

COVID vaccine driven excess deaths? Fraid not! The author above is part of the Rupert Murdoch right-wing News Corp. clan, and one who among his various anti-vax screeds previously posted a misleading report (echoed by others similar like the Daily Telegraph and GB News) falsely claiming that COVID vaccines may have led to a rise in excess deaths in Europe -- a claim that was promptly refuted and debunked by the journal that published the study in question, and many other sources: His prior misinfo on COVID vaccines: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/covid-vaccines-may-have-contributed-to-rise-in-excess-deaths-researchers-suggest/news-story/cdf3a64c434c29a8ebc3215ab3aa335b And the response from the journal where the subject study, that Chung misrepresented, was published: The graphic below included in the above linked forum post:

Excerpts of a recap of COVID vaccine safety issues from the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities: "The fact that a medical event has been reported as a suspected side effect does not mean that the vaccine caused it. Anyone can report a suspected side effect, including members of the public and healthcare professionals. Regulators constantly analyse these reports to see if there may be a causal link with the vaccine. They do this by comparing the rate of a medical event in vaccinated people with the rate of the event in the population before the pandemic and before vaccination. As part of this robust and continuous safety monitoring, regulators also consider any other available evidence such as evidence from studies. Most of the time, reported suspected side effects are not caused by the medicine concerned. ... Reports of deaths following vaccination are very rare. During mass vaccination campaigns, when millions of people are being vaccinated, it is expected that some deaths will occur by chance shortly after vaccination. The fact that deaths are reported after vaccination does not mean that the vaccine caused them. Healthcare professionals can report any death that occurs following vaccination, even if it is unknown whether the vaccine was the cause. In very exceptional cases, deaths have been reported to be caused by the vaccines*1. *1 One example is ‘thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome’ with adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccines ... ICMRA strongly supports the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and their benefits in protecting people of all ages from the severe consequences of COVID-19." "About ICMRA ICMRA brings together 38 medicines regulatory authorities from every region in the world, with the WHO as an observer." https://icmra.info/drupal/strategicinitiatives/vaccines/safety_statement

I'll wait for some credible source, instead of a documented misinformer, to address the issue: https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck/explorer/search/Berenson;hl=en;cropx0=0;cropx1=1;cropy0=0;cropy1=1

Fall Covid-19 vaccine provides additional protection Jan. 3, 2025 "The first data on the effectiveness of this fall’s 2024-2025 Covid-19 vaccine is in, and it’s looking good! A preprint was released on patients at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Scientists tallied the number of people who did (and did not) have Covid-19 from September- November 2024 and whether they got this fall’s Covid-19 vaccine (specifically the Pfizer 2024-2025 KP.2 formula). Among 44,598 infections, the Covid-19 vaccine reduces: Hospitalizations by 68% Emergency department and urgent care visits by 57%, and Outpatient visits by 56% The vaccine worked best for those over 65 years old. This study is very preliminary (it only covered two months with little Covid-19 transmission), but the findings aren’t surprising—they are generally consistent with what scientists have found in previous years." https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-dose-january-3 "Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) reaches more than 295,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people feel well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions." "My name is Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. I have a Masters in Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. I am an epidemiologist, data scientist, wife, and mom to two little girls. During the day, I wear many hats, including scientific consultant to a number of organizations, including CDC." https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/about

The Pandemic’s Wrongest Man In a crowded field of wrongness, one person stands out: Alex Berenson. The Atlantic April 1, 2021 ... "The vaccines have inspired his most troubling comments. For the past few weeks on Twitter, Berenson has mischaracterized just about every detail regarding the vaccines to make the dubious case that most people would be better off avoiding them. As his conspiratorial nonsense accelerates toward the pandemic’s finish line, he has proved himself the Secretariat of being wrong: ... Usually, I would refrain from lavishing attention on someone so blatantly incorrect. But with vaccine resistance hovering around 30 percent of the general population, and with 40 percent of Republicans saying they won’t get a shot, debunking vaccine skepticism, particularly in right-wing circles, is a matter of life and death. ... Their hesitancy is being fanned by right-wing hacks, Fox News showboats, and vaccine skeptics like Alex Berenson. The case for the vaccines is built upon a firm foundation of scientific discovery, clinical-trial data, and real-world evidence. The case against the vaccines wobbles because it is built upon a steaming pile of bull<deleted>." https://archive.ph/u2jjV

"In May 2020, Fox News announced that Berenson would host a TV show called COVID Contrarian on its online streaming platform Fox Nation. However, by July 2020, amid surges in coronavirus cases across parts of the United States, Fox News appeared to have backtracked and removed the announcement of his show from its website.[30] In 2021, Berenson tweeted that COVID-19 vaccinations had led to 50 times more adverse effects than flu vaccine. PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false".[12] The Atlantic called him "The pandemic's wrongest man", owing to what they termed his "dangerously, unflaggingly, and superlatively wrong" claims of the vaccine's ineffectiveness.[10] On January 25, 2022, Berenson appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight declaring that existing mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19, and further demanding that they be withdrawn from the market immediately.[31] The Washington Post's Philip Bump denounced Carlson for "inviting Berenson on, despite his proven track record of misinformation and cherry-picking" and observed that "Berenson's claims went unchallenged."[32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Berenson#COVID-19_pandemic

Another typical nonsense source: Alex Berenson, 'Pandemic's Wrongest Man' Suspended Permanently From Twitter Published Aug 29, 2021 Conservative commentator and vaccine skeptic Alex Berenson has been permanently suspended from Twitter after he reportedly violated the social media giant's COVID-19 misinformation rules. Berenson, dubbed "the pandemic's wrongest man" by the Atlantic in April, was removed from Twitter on Saturday following "repeated violations." A statement sent to NBC News regarding Berenson's permanent suspension read: "The account you referenced (Berenson's) has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules." https://www.newsweek.com/alex-berenson-pandemics-wrongest-man-suspended-permanently-twitter-1624050 And a long list of Berenson's past COVID misinformation: https://www.factcheck.org/person/alex-berenson/

Maryanne Demassi is yet another member of the loony, non-credible anti-vaxer clique: "Now, let’s look at what Maryanne Demasi has to say. I will first, however, note that she recently featured in this very blog because Peter Gøtzsche had teamed up with her, despite her long history of antivaccine propaganda, to write a review article that exaggerated the risks from COVID-19 vaccines." ... "And reference to how she lost her job as a presenter in Australia years before the pandemic: Several years ago, my successful career at the ABC came to a grinding halt after defenders of “scientific consensus” criticised several documentaries I produced, which questioned various medical orthodoxies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, nutritional guidelines, and the over-prescription of medicines." One of her reports fear mongered about wifi and cell phone radiation..." https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2023/04/24/antivaxxers-attack-scientific-consensus-as-a-manufactured-construct/ "Peter Gøtzsche, formerly leader of the Nordic Cochrane Center, has teamed with Maryanne Demasi to write a systematic review of the “harms” of COVID-19 vaccination. Besides accepting the highly dubious methodology behind one study, their preprint is yet another example of how EBM [evidence based medicine] can be corrupted to promote antivax ideas." "I also mention that Maryanne Demasi is not a physician, although she apparently does have a PhD in rheumatology and did work for a decade at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia as a research scientist. After that, she was a TV presenter for a number of years, during which she became known as a statin denier, who falsely claimed that cholesterol and saturated fats do not contribute to heart disease and that therefore statins are ineffective in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease—and dangerous, to boot. More recently Demasi has aligned herself firmly with the antivaccine movement. She now contributes regularly to the Brownstone Institute and is frequently cited by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s minions at Children’s Health Defense. Her Substack is full of antivax content, including the usual antivax tropes about COVID-19 and masks, and she is a big fan of Dr. Asseem Malhotra." https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2023/04/10/peter-gotzsche-is-now-officially-antivaccine/ Respectful Insolence blog: "Here, I continue my little hobby of critically examining claims made in medical science, analyzing scientific studies in the news (or that just interest me), refuting pseudoscientific claims made by quacks, cranks, and antivaxers and will hopefully continue for another 13 years." https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/about-respectful-insolence/ David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS – Managing Editor DAVID H. GORSKI, MD, PhD, FACS is Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute specializing in breast cancer surgery, and faculty in the WSU Graduate Program in Cancer Biology. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/editorial-staff/david-h-gorski-md-phd-managing-editor/

McGill University Office for Science and Society 8 Jun 2024 ... "As we slide down this rabbit hole, you will see why scientists have had to write multiple 10,000-word refutations on this subject. Those of us trying to fairly explain our understanding of the science of vaccines are at a major disadvantage: we can’t simply make stuff up. ... "Take-home message: - The claim that the spike protein or its messenger RNA can be detected for weeks or months after vaccination is based on studies where fragments were barely detectable, often trillionths of a gram, which is in keeping with our understanding of biology - The fears around the wrong protein being made because the vaccine RNA has been modified is not backed up by the evidence, which shows that those wrong proteins are few and far in between and are likely destroyed by the cell like most malformed proteins we naturally produce ... - Over 13 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, with robust data showing they are overwhelmingly safe." https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-medical-critical-thinking/spikeopathy-speculative-fiction-contaminates-blood-supply Further elaboration in the full version of the linked article above. McGill University Office for Science and Society "Our office recently celebrated its 25th anniversary—25 years of, among other things, separating sense from nonsense on scientific matters."

And/or... perhaps he was trying to make/prove a point....

Here's a documented 'anecdote" on this subject: "The shots were bought and given privately within the space of 29 months. The man appears to have suffered no ill effects, researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg say."

More of the same: Not surprisingly, one of the OP's favorite sources to cite: Overall, we rate World Tribune a Questionable source based on a far-right bias (propaganda), poor sourcing, misleading science, and a lack of ownership transparency. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/world-tribune/

More nonsense from the usual nonsense anti-vax sources: "Mark Crispin Miller (born 6 November 1949[2] ) is a professor of media studies at New York University.[3] He has promoted conspiracy theories about U.S. presidential elections, the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. ... Anti-vaccination and COVID misinformation Miller has also screened for his students the anti-vaccination film Vaxxed, produced by disgraced[27] former physician Andrew Wakefield (who was struck off the medical register in the UK for scientific misconduct).[10][13] Miller has spread COVID-19 misinformation, including misleading claims about the efficacy of face masks and false claims that COVID-19 vaccines alter recipients' DNA,[9][28] and believes the virus may have been an artificially created bioweapon.[29] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller And on the point of internet-posted "anecdotes,," from the Associated Press: ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies February 5, 2023 ... "...Anastasia was swiftly added to a growing list of hundreds of children, teens, athletes and celebrities whose unexpected deaths and injuries have been incorrectly blamed on COVID-19 shots. Using the hashtag #diedsuddenly, online conspiracy theorists have flooded social media with news reports, obituaries and GoFundMe pages in recent months, leaving grieving families to wrestle with the lies. ... Rigorous study and real-world evidence from hundreds of millions of administered shots prove that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Deaths caused by vaccination are extremely rare and the risks associated with not getting vaccinated are far higher than the risks of vaccination. But that hasn’t stopped conspiracy theorists from lobbing a variety of untrue accusations at the vaccines. ... An AP review of more than 100 tweets from the account in December and January found that claims about the cases being vaccine related were largely unsubstantiated and, in some cases, contradicted by public information. Some of the people featured died of genetic disorders, drug overdoses, flu complications or suicide. One died in a surfing accident." https://apnews.com/article/vaccine-died-suddenly-misinformation-a8e3a80a015ba9bf78b6bd4f3c271f58

"We reached out to Kevin McKernan, an author on both preprints, to better understand his views. Rather than replying to our email, he posted a screenshot of it on X, formerly known as Twitter, and included responses there. McKernan, who has an undergraduate degree in biology, is the founder of Medicinal Genomics, a company that markets test kits and genomics-related services to the cannabis, hemp and mushroom industries. [emphasis added] https://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/scicheck-covid-19-vaccines-have-not-been-shown-to-alter-dna-cause-cancer/ Another authoritative anti-vaxer source.... 🤡

Re the above-cited alarmist claims by McKernan and Speicher, a bunch of recycled COVID anti-vaccine misinformation, as shown below: COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Alter DNA, Cause Cancer October 26, 2023 SciCheck Digest "Small amounts of DNA from the manufacturing process may remain in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Purification and quality control steps ensure any leftover DNA is present within regulatory limits. There isn’t reason to think that this residual DNA would alter a person’s DNA or cause cancer, contrary to claims made online." ... "A spokesperson from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told us in an email that “no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified.” The spokesperson added that “with regard to the mRNA vaccines, while concerns have been raised previously as theoretical issues, available scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the minute amounts of residual DNA do not cause cancer or changes to a person’s genetic code.” A spokesperson for the European Medicines Agency — which helps regulate medical products in the European Union — told us via email that the agency “can confirm that we have not seen any reliable evidence of residual DNA exceeding approved/safe levels” for the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Nor is the EMA “aware of scientific evidence showing that the very small amounts of residual DNA that may be present in vaccine batches could integrate into the DNA of vaccinated individuals,” the spokesperson continued." https://www.factcheck.org/2023/10/scicheck-covid-19-vaccines-have-not-been-shown-to-alter-dna-cause-cancer/ VAERS and plasmid DNA “contamination” of COVID-19 vaccines: The nonsense continues This week, a new preprint made the social media rounds falsely claiming a correlation between “contamination” of COVID-19 vaccines with plasmid DNA and VAERS reports of adverse events. How does its methodology stink? Let me count the ways. October 21, 2023 ... The preprint being flagged as “concerning” is apparently McKernan’s followup to his original awful study of his that I first discussed in depth a few months ago and that led to followup studies that were equally bad by scientists like Phillip Buckhaults. I will agree that the study is “concerning,” but not because it provides support for the claim that mRNA vaccines are massively contaminated with plasmid DNA to the point that they can cause “turbo cancer,” Prof. El-Deiry’s post/Tweet notwithstanding. A quick read of the preprint, DNA fragments detected in monovalent and bivalent Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna modRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Ontario, Canada: Exploratory dose response relationship with serious adverse events, revealed many problems to me other than its having been coauthored by at least two antivaxxers, Kevin McKernan and Jessica Rose and abusing the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database in a way that antivaxxers love to do. ... In the end, this is yet another awful study that, even if taken at face value and assuming the methodology was valid and analyzed correctly, doesn’t show what the authors claim that it shows. Add the methodological questions and the lack of some key controls, and it’s not only not good evidence for harm from residual plasmid DNA left in COVID-19 vaccines, but it’s downright uninterpretable. With this study, McKernan and Rose have joined the long, dishonorable list of antivax “scientists” producing bad science to support their antivaccine fear mongring going all the way back to Andrew Wakefield." https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2023/10/21/vaers-and-plasmid-dna-contamination-of-covid-19-vaccines-the-nonsense-continues/ The above authored by David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS – Managing Editor of the online newsletter Science Based Medicine

What Is Asymptomatic COVID-19 and Are You Contagious? Studies suggest 1 in 5 people infected with the coronavirus never develop symptoms Cleveland Clinic May 28, 2024 ... What does asymptomatic COVID-19 mean? "Simply put, the word “asymptomatic” means being sick without having symptoms. No fever, no cough, no body aches, no fatigue. Nothing. Your body’s actively battling a disease — and in some cases spreading it — without you even realizing you’re unwell. [emphasis added] ... The bottom line "Approximately 20% of individuals infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. That means they don’t have any symptoms and may never even know they were sick. That’s a problem from a public health standpoint because the person who had COVID-19 is still contagious and can unknowingly spread the virus to other people. It’s also reason #418 that staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines is so important. If you know that you have an asymptomatic case of COVID-19, be sure that you wear a mask and practice social distancing if you’re going to be around other people. Isolation guidelines are changing as the virus becomes part of our everyday lives, but your responsibility to protect others from infection isn’t." https://health.clevelandclinic.org/asymptomatic-covid

As is to be expected in this particular subforum ("no proof required') and from this particular poster, the OP here is based in an article from a retired chiropractor (everyone's favorite source for COVID expertise ) with a long history of spouting fundamentally documented COVID misinformation. Per Agence-France Presse (AFP): Retired US chiropractor makes multiple false claims about Covid-19 October 19, 2021 "During a meeting in Orange County, Florida, a retired chiropractor made several false claims about Covid-19 and vaccines. A three-minute video of his testimony has been shared widely on social media. In the video, Kevin Stillwagon repeats previously debunked myths about Covid-19." ... A Google search for “Dr. Kevin Stillwagon” yields few results, other from these links that reveal he is a retired chiropractor (since 1988) and a former airline captain. ... However, his claims are based on recycled Covid-19 misinformation." (more) https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.9PW8PJ "Dr. Kevin Stillwagon Retired chiropractor/airline captain, science communicator, educator on the immune system, inventor, author, lecturer, do it yourselfer, freedom fighter." https://substack.com/@drkevinstillwagon

You're trying to bring actual facts and documented reality to a nonsense thread in a AN subforum (Off the beaten track -- "no proof required") devoted to unproven and unsubstantiated nonsense threads like the OP here??? How dare you!!!

Oh ya... really great folks behind BiosafetyNow: ‘Lab-leak’ proponents at Rutgers accused of defaming and intimidating COVID-19 origin researchers Letter by 12 COVID-19 scientists says social media attacks violate university policy and could incite physical harm "Fraudsters. Liars. Perjurers. Felons. Grifters. Stooges. Imbeciles. Murderers. When it comes to describing scientists whose peer-reviewed studies suggest the COVID-19 virus made a natural jump from animals to humans, molecular biologist Richard Ebright and microbiologist Bryce Nickels have used some very harsh language. On X (formerly Twitter), where the two scientists from Rutgers University are a constant presence, they have even compared fellow researchers to Nazi war criminals and the genocidal Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. But now, their targets have had enough. A dozen scientists filed a formal complaint with Rutgers yesterday alleging that the two faculty members have violated the university’s policies on free expression by posting “provably false” comments that are often defamatory, and that some of their actions could even threaten scientists’ safety. “It’s just a very clear daily harassment campaign directed at people that they disagree with. And I don’t think that’s right,” says letter organizer Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at Scripps Research who has co-authored papers in Science that link the origin of the pandemic to wildlife sold at a market in Wuhan, China. He and his colleagues also worry Ebright and Nickels are “engaging with the more extreme right,” including one person who has joked about executing some researchers." (more) https://www.science.org/content/article/lab-leak-proponents-rutgers-accused-defaming-and-intimidating-covid-19-origin PS - I see nothing on the Cell journal webpage for the article or elsewhere that indicates there's anything afoot to remove or otherwise retract the subject study... notwithstanding the opinions of the two guys behind BioSafetyNow.

The absence of actual supporting facts and pertinent evidence won't stop the outspoken conspiracy theorists from continuing to peddle their fact-deficient wares, no matter what term anyone wants to use to characterize them. But if any of them ever actually come up with any real and scientifically relevant direct evidence, I'm sure the scientific community at large certainly would be willing to examine what they've got. But for now, a fair summary of the known facts and scientific expertise leaves the COVID origin issue as a matter that remains in dispute, but with more of the actual evidence and expert opinion leaning toward the natural cause theory. And that's the way it's going to remain, until and unless something new and credible emerges to meaningfully move the needle on that debate.

The problem with many of the lab leak proponents is that they're often political partisans (or right-wing echoing news outlets) who continue to advance their theory pretty much in the absence of any real pertinent facts to directly support it. I see the nonsense Republican-led U.S. House subcommittee investigating the origins of COVID issued its final report earlier this month concluding COVID came from a lab leak. But as the following Science journal article on the Republicans' report notes: "The committee’s 520-page report, released on 2 December, offers no new direct evidence of a lab leak, but summarizes a circumstantial case, including that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) used NIAID money to conduct “gain-of-function” studies that modified distantly related coronaviruses. [emphasis added] ... Democrats on the panel released their own report challenging many of their colleagues’ conclusions about COVID-19 origins. They conclude, for example, that the viruses studied at WIV with EcoHealth funding were too distantly related to SARS-CoV-2 to cause the pandemic." https://www.science.org/content/article/house-panel-concludes-covid-19-pandemic-came-lab-leak That final conclusion reported above is one that Dr. Fauci and other scientists have repeatedly reinforced. "The definition of “gain of function” covers both general research and especially risky experiments to “enhance” the ability of potentially pandemic pathogens to spread or cause severe disease in humans. Fauci stressed he [in rejecting Republicans' claims] was using the risky experiment definition, saying “it would be molecularly impossible” for the bat viruses studied with EcoHealth’s funds to be turned into the virus that caused the pandemic." [emphasis added] https://apnews.com/article/fauci-covid-pandemic-origin-congress-a66625482f25824476ee315484790230

This is one of the more recent scientific reports I've seen on the COVID origins issue, published in the journal Cell in September 2024 by an international team of researchers: Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic ... Discussion "Extensive epidemiological evidence supports wildlife trade at the Huanan market as the most likely conduit for the COVID-19 pandemic’s origin.3,76 Herein, we both describe metagenomic evidence for identification of the plausible intermediate host species at the market, and analyze metagenomic and phylogenetic evidence that further supports the hypothesis of zoonotic emergence at this location. ... Retrospective studies should be performed, where possible, testing the species described here throughout the animal supply chains of Southeast Asia and southern China, through which in all scientific likelihood the COVID-19 pandemic emerged." https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00901-2 And as reported in more layman's terms by the BBC: Genetic ghosts suggest Covid’s market origins 19 September 2024 "A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, China, in January 2020. The results identify a shortlist of animals – including racoon dogs, civets and bamboo rats – as potential sources of the pandemic. Despite even highlighting one market stall as a hotspot of both animals and coronavirus, the study cannot provide definitive proof." (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8095xjg4po