I have not paid a lot of attention to this. Too much going on to be well versed in everything.  I do get the impression that Fauci appears to have been somewhat less than honest and it's not looking good for him. (Politely put).

But what I would like to know, and probably won't take the time to delve..  What is the value of "Gain of function" research?  What does it give us, other than a potentially dangerously mutated virus?

Hi timnew

Dr Fauci (and his team) did this kind of research on the bird fly virus, some 10 years ago.  200 scientists then signed a petition, asking him to stop this kind of work, because of the obvious very serious risks.

Dr Fauci responded (in the WaPo) that this kind of work was needed to be prepared, should such a virus show up in the future.

In other words, he wanted to find a cure for a virus that did not exist… he wanted to find a cure for a virus that he himself was attempting to create.

With all due respect for Dr Fauci’s academic credentials, this sounded to me like the “crazy scientist” you find in a Hollywood movie.

Furthermore, right now it has been proven that such research is futile. Let’s assume he had indeed found a vaccine for Covid19, before Covid19 showed up

So, we would have had a vaccine last year, which would have been nice…. However, which Covid variant would he have developed the vaccine for? The original one? Or the South African one? Or the new Nepal variant (for which the current vaccines don’t work)

Or would his gain of function research have created a totally different kind of corona virus, one that doesn’t even exist today, like a Covid65, or a Covid97?

One could even ask… if nobody had done any gain-of-function research on the Corona, would we even have a pandemic today?????  Quite possibly not...  unless the bats are the culprits.

Thanks for the clarification.   Not a scientist,  but based on this, not at all a fan of "gain of function" research.

Another disturbing issue is the involvement of the military in these projects…

As was reported, in 2015 there was a meeting between high-level Chinese military personnel and Chinese virologists (can’t verify this).

And in the USA, the army has a virology lab in Fort Detrick (which was already mentioned in the now “disappeared” movie “The Plandemic”). This lab was just recently shut down.

I simply cannot believe that any military would be interested in preventing kids from catching the Measles.The military is only interested in developing deadlier weapons than the enemy.

If the military was indeed involved in these experiments, it’s then easy to conclude that the goal of the gain-of-function research, both here and in China, was the creation of a bioweapon.

With this, I am not saying that the virus was intentionally released. Accidents can happen.

Quite frankly,  if Covid was a manufactured BioWeapon,  with a 98%+ survival rate,  it was a bad one.   But the political powers sure put it to good use. 

what if the goal was not to wipe out a whole population (that would be retaliated with nuclear weapons), but to cause great damage to the economy of an adversary?

All that needed to be done.... create fear

remember the movies we saw coming out of Wuhan, early last year? We saw people dropping dead while walking on the street. Within minutes officials dressed in plastic hazmat suits would pick up the bodies and put them into a van. And then we learnt that China locked people up and didn't let them leave the house, becaue this virus was so serious.

I saw more than one of these  movies, with people falling down dead, in the middle of the street.... and I thought... wow, that's not the typical winter flu.   

OK, I lock myself up at home, if you want me to.

With all due respect.   That was my point.

Here in the states,  they used it to rewrite election laws and denigrate Trump, ensuring a win.  Then they used it to massively curtail rights and justify massive spending.

A total win at the cost of a few million lives.  Small price to pay.