Covid vaccine in 2019? Senate report on Covid(telegraph.co.uk)
telegraph.co.uk
Covid vaccine in 2019? Senate report on Covid
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/18/10-things-learned-us-senate-report-covid-china/
7 comments
> Daszak effectively silenced debate over the possibility of a lab leak with a February 2020 statement in the Lancet. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that covid-19 does not have a natural origin,”
Regardless of what you think about the lab leak hypothesis, this statement is deeply concerning. Resorting to name-calling ("conspiracy theorist!") as opposed to logically assessing the merits of a statement does not sound like a scientific approach. (Not pointing at any particular wing of the political spectrum - I have seen this from all sides unfortunately.)
> Filippa Lentzos, codirector of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College, London, told the Wall Street Journal, “Some of the scientists in this area very quickly closed ranks.”3 She added, “There were people that did not talk about this, because they feared for their careers. They feared for their grants.”
This is also concerning. I wonder how many different scientific fields are experiencing something similar - people staying silent to receive grant money?
Regardless of what you think about the lab leak hypothesis, this statement is deeply concerning. Resorting to name-calling ("conspiracy theorist!") as opposed to logically assessing the merits of a statement does not sound like a scientific approach. (Not pointing at any particular wing of the political spectrum - I have seen this from all sides unfortunately.)
> Filippa Lentzos, codirector of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College, London, told the Wall Street Journal, “Some of the scientists in this area very quickly closed ranks.”3 She added, “There were people that did not talk about this, because they feared for their careers. They feared for their grants.”
This is also concerning. I wonder how many different scientific fields are experiencing something similar - people staying silent to receive grant money?
I understand what you’re saying and I agree that dismissing it out of hand is obviously the wrong approach - but this does feel like it meets the bar to be a “conspiracy theory”, in that people theorise that the dominant answer for something is wrong, and the true answer is being covered up by powerful groups of people.
Galileo said "the earth is spherical and revolves around the sun, contrary to what's been taught (that the earth is the center of the heavens)". The powerful group called the Church said that's wrong and condemned him and shunned him.
A proper scientific discourse would be to be open to new theories, and let people who guess those theories come up with evidence.
Then again many people on Twitter who are convinced it's a lab leak that's been covered up just yell and scream as well ("It's China and they're cagey, they're hiding something, which mean the lab leak theory must be true!"), which is not how you prove a scientific theory...
A proper scientific discourse would be to be open to new theories, and let people who guess those theories come up with evidence.
Then again many people on Twitter who are convinced it's a lab leak that's been covered up just yell and scream as well ("It's China and they're cagey, they're hiding something, which mean the lab leak theory must be true!"), which is not how you prove a scientific theory...
The first 3 points seem pretty weak, but damn, it got suspicious from point 4 onwards.
Regarding point 1, yeah the Chinese stalled, but doctors in Wuhan were already texting each other about the weird infection, in November/December. I think it's possible a government lab took a sample of the virus and started to develop the vaccine even before an actual government acknowledgement, however irresponsible that is.
Point 2 feels like an accusation with no evidence, just based on prior behavior of someone in some other place, but also China.
Point 3 could just be coincidence.
Regarding point 1, yeah the Chinese stalled, but doctors in Wuhan were already texting each other about the weird infection, in November/December. I think it's possible a government lab took a sample of the virus and started to develop the vaccine even before an actual government acknowledgement, however irresponsible that is.
Point 2 feels like an accusation with no evidence, just based on prior behavior of someone in some other place, but also China.
Point 3 could just be coincidence.
Yeah but The Experts™ would never lie to us about anything else.
Ten things we learned from the Senate report on Covid in China
US Senate Committee reveals China may have made vaccines before telling the world there was a dangerous virus in the country + others
US Senate Committee reveals China may have made vaccines before telling the world there was a dangerous virus in the country + others
"The covid-19 lab leak hypothesis: did the media fall victim to a misinformation campaign?"
https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1656