In previous contributions, I have repeatedly described how human interventions—such as the reckless mass vaccination during the COVID-19 (C-19) pandemic—can disrupt a specific host-pathogen ecosystem, potentially leading to the disruption of others, such as the problematic widespread transmission of the potentially (!) highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza virus, named H5N1, in animal populations. None of this is understood by our public health authorities as they fail to understand the public health impact of cross-immunity on viral transmission.
As outlined in greater detail in my online course (https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/geerts-books-and-lectures), it cannot be ruled out that immune refocusing caused by vaccine breakthrough infections (VBTIs) caused universal CTL (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte)-mediated immune responses to enable the asymptomatic spread of SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) variants in highly C-19 vaccinated populations, thereby exerting immune selection pressure on viral trans infectiousness and, therefore, on SC-2 virulence.
In a previous article, I explained how the widespread circulation of newly emerging SC-2 immune escape variants in these highly vaccinated populations ultimately led to large-scale asymptomatic infections in coronavirus-seropositive birds with avian flu (https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/scientific-blog/its-going-to-be-a-new-cov-not-the-avian-flu-virus). This would suggest that a large part of the bird population transmits the bird flu virus without showing overt disease symptoms. The more the bird flu virus causes asymptomatic infection, the more it spreads across bird populations worldwide and the more it transmits to animal populations (including humans). Large-scale exposure to avian flu among highly C-19 vaccinated populations, particularly those previously infected or immunized with seasonal flu, facilitates CTL-mediated killing of SC-2-infected cells, further increasing immune selection pressure on SC-2 trans infectiousness while promoting suboptimal immune responses to the avian flu virus (i.e., by killing virus-infected cells without neutralizing free virus!), thereby generating immune selection pressure on the infectiousness of the avian flu virus. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that large-scale vaccination of human populations against avian flu, or even seasonal flu, during a panzootic involving avian flu virus could promote the selection, replication, and transmission of specific bird flu variants that have evolved to better recognize or bind to hemagglutinin (HA) receptors on human host cells in the upper respiratory tract. Such adaptation of the HA surface protein likely influences cleavage by furin-like proteases.
As depicted above, the above-described evolutionary dynamics are highly likely to enhance viral (trans) infectiousness and expedite catastrophic outcomes, such as the escalation of the SC-2 pandemic (through the emergence of ‘Hivicron’) or the start of a fulminant, highly virulent avian flu pandemic (through the emergence of ‘Hiviflu’).
In either scenario, however, healthy unvaccinated individuals within highly C-19 vaccinated populations are unlikely to be affected by Hivicron or Hiviflu. Their robust and broadly protective cell-mediated immunity is strong enough to effectively eliminate the majority of virus-infected cells upon exposure to these newly emerging, highly virulent immune escape or antigen-redirected variants.
Geert Vanden Bossche received his DVM from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and his PhD degree in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany. He held adjunct faculty appointments at universities in Belgium and Germany. After his career in Academia, Geert joined several vaccine companies (GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines, Solvay Biologicals) to serve various roles in vaccine R&D as well as in late vaccine development.
Geert then moved on to join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Discovery team in Seattle (USA) as Senior Program Officer; he then worked with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in Geneva as Senior Ebola Program Manager. At GAVI he tracked efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine. He also represented GAVI in fora with other partners, including WHO, to review progress on the fight against Ebola and to build plans for global pandemic preparedness.
Back in 2015, Geert scrutinized and questioned the safety of the Ebola vaccine that was used in ring vaccination trials conducted by WHO in Guinea. His critical scientific analysis and report on the data published by WHO in the Lancet in 2015 was sent to all international health and regulatory authorities involved in the Ebola vaccination program. After working for GAVI, Geert joined the German Center for Infection Research in Cologne as Head of the Vaccine Development Office. He is at present primarily serving as a Biotech / Vaccine consultant while also conducting his own research on Natural Killer cell-based vaccines.
Email: info@voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org
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