#PfizerExposed: Did Pfizer Just Admit To “Engineering” Virus For COVID-19 Pill In Response To Project Veritas Video?
After a video of a top Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) executive relaying that the biotech firm has been considering mutating SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, the company released a statement yesterday clarifying its position.
The video by Project Veritas features a seemingly covert interview with Jordon Walker, whom is Pfizer’s Director for Research and Development – Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning according to the video. In it, Walker essentially said that their team has been exploring “mutating” the virus themselves so that they could preemptively create new vaccines for possible virus variants.
“If we’re gonna do that though, there’s a risk. As you could imagine, no one wants to be having a pharma company mutating f*cking viruses,” Walker said.
He also said that their team has been mulling doing it in a “very controlled [environment] to make sure that this virus that you mutate doesn’t create something… that goes everywhere,” which he noted is how he suspects the way “the virus started in Wuhan.”
“Like it makes no sense that this virus popped out of nowhere,” he added.
After the video went viral, spurring trends like #PfizerExposed and #PfizerFiles, the company responded to the issue essentially denying that it mutated the virus to develop the vaccine.
“In the ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research,” the company said in a statement.
In the Project Veritas video, Walker said that he was referring to a process called directed evolution, and clarified that it is not gain-of-function.
“Well, you’re not supposed to do gain-of-function research with viruses… We can do these selected structure mutations to make them more potent. There is research ongoing about that. I don’t know how that is going to work. There better not be any more outbreaks because Jesus Christ,” he said.
Gain-of-function (GOF) and directed evolution are both techniques used to study how organisms adapt to environmental pressures, but they have some key differences. GOF experiments typically involve introducing a specific genetic change into an organism, such as a mutation or insertion of a new gene, to study the effects of that change on the organism’s function or behavior.
Directed evolution, on the other hand, is a process of using selective pressure to guide the evolution of organisms towards a specific goal or trait. This process can be done in a laboratory setting, where the researcher can select the most desirable mutants, reproduce them, and repeat the process until the desired trait is reached.
GOF experiments are focused on understanding the effects of specific genetic changes on an organism, while directed evolution is focused on creating organisms with specific desired traits through selective pressure. Both, however, have long been contentious, and are suspected of being the source of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Instead, Pfizer clarified that it conducts research with collaborators using the original SARS-CoV-2 virus “to express the spike protein from new variants of concern,” only after the new variant has been identified by public health authorities.
Pfizer: “Such virus may be engineered”
However, Pfizer also talked about its COVID-19 oral pill treatment Paxlovid, with which the firm undertakes research work “to identify potential resistance mutations to nirmatrelvir, one of PAXLOVID’s two components.” Essentially, the company said that there are cases in which the virus may be “engineered” to further assess the antiviral activity of its treatment.
“In a limited number of cases when a full virus does not contain any known gain of function mutations, such virus may be engineered to enable the assessment of antiviral activity in cells,” the company admitted.
The company added that most of the work “is conducted using computer simulations or mutations of the main protease–a non-infectious part of the virus.”
Currently, Pfizer, in partnership with BioNTech, has two COVID-19 vaccines: the Comirnaty, which was made by Pfizer for BioNTech and is FDA-approved as a two-dose series for prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 12 years of age and older; and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which is FDA-authorized under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use in individuals 5 years of age and older.
The firm clarified that the antiviral oral treatment Paxlovid has not been approved by the FDA, but it has been granted an EUA for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 for patients 12 years and older are at high risk of progressing to a severe case.
Recently, Pfizer has announced that the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended converting the conditional marketing authorization for Paxlovid to a standard marketing authorization for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults who do not require supplemental oxygen and are at increased risk of severe disease. Should that happen, this means that the drug has been cleared for use in the European Union as a treatment for COVID-19.
#PfizerExposed
The video spurred widespread reactions, mainly from conservatives who have been suspecting that the virus has been born into a pandemic through a lab-induced mutation. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla a letter demanding explanations on alleged GOF experiments as relayed by Walker in the Project Veritas expose.
“Whether it’s gain of function research, or selected structure mutations through directed evolution, as Mr. Walker claimed would occur, any effort to make a virus more transmittable and deadlier is careless and dangerous,” Rubio wrote. “Further, Mr. Walker stated that Pfizer is willing to engage in this dangerous research because COVID and its variants are ‘a cash cow’ for the company and regulators will go easy on their efforts because a significant percentage of government officials aim to work for Pfizer and other biopharmaceutical companies and do not want to compromise their future job prospects.”
In the video, Walker essentially noted the contribution of the COVID-19 disease into the success of Pfizer, and developing a vaccine before a new variant comes up through lab-induced viral engineering contributes to the continuity of the business model.
“Isn’t that the best business model though? Just control nature before nature even happens itself?” the Project Veritas journalist asked Walker. He replied, “Yeah. If it works.”
He added that “COVID is going to be a cash cow for us for a while going forward. Like obviously.”
For the first nine months of 2022, Pfizer recorded a total revenue of $76.04 billion and net income of $26.38 billion, both up from $57.45 billion and $18.59 billion for the comparative period in 2021, respectively.
After the video was released and prior to Pfizer’s statement, Republican personalities have been demanding answers from the company. Donald Trump Jr. took Pfizer’s “silence” as privilege because “they feel no obligation because most legacy media has been silent as well.”
While the video is still up on Project Veritas’ Twitter account, it has apparently been taken down by YouTube, competitor Rumble confirmed.
UBS downgraded Pfizer last week to neutral from buy, citing weaker COVID expectations and a sluggish pipeline for new products. Analyst Colin Bristow also lowered his price target for the company, citing a lack of conviction in the potential growth out of the 2023 Covid trough. The analyst expects further upside for the stock to come from Pfizer’s business development into long-term growth as it moves away from its COVID product line.
Pfizer last traded at $43.79 on the NYSE.
Information for this briefing was found via the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
