Former CDC Director Robert Redfield’s biggest fear for a future pandemic is a genetically manipulated bird flu, given that NIH-funded scientists in 2012 published instructions for making such a pathogen cross the “species barrier” to humans, a highly unlikely result from viral evolution.
“I didn’t think we needed to give terrorists a recipe” for modifying a bird flu to kill 5%-50% of people it infects, Dr. Redfield told “Just the News, No Noise,” recalling his argument to then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci — his future antagonist on COVID origins and gain-of-function research — against publishing the research.
“I think it’s a miracle that no one’s used that yet,” Redfield said. “But I do think we’re at high risk for laboratory-created bird flu that will have high pathogenicity for man,” given the “highly inadequate” biosecurity of dozens of labs handling dangerous pathogens.
The “probability of a spillover event” […]
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