Last updated on February 7th, 2023 at 01:41 pm
Project Veritas published a heavily edited video that seems to show that Pfizer is doing some unethical COVID-19 vaccine research. Except for the fact that it doesn’t, and it’s completely debunked.
This post will examine what was said, and explain some arcane parts of virus research while showing that the Pfizer COVID vaccine research isn’t going in the direction that seems to be shown in the video. And we are going to let you know all about the disingenuous right-wing group, Project Veritas.
Veritas
Let’s first discuss the far right-wing group, Project Veritas, which published this video. You may have heard of them before as they have produced fake or highly edited videos about Planned Parenthood, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now(ACORN), NPR, CNN, and The Washington Post. In many of those cases, people have sued Project Veritas for publishing false information and have lost substantial sums of money in those suits.
Their video about ACORN became a huge story, except none of it was true. And the State of California cleared ACORN of any wrongdoing.
Of course, Project Veritas would go after Pfizer and its COVID vaccine research, because these vaccines have become part of the left-right divide in the USA. And the far right hates the vaccine and commonly thinks that COVID-19 is just a scam of some sort.
Before one should accept what Project Veritas presents in its videos, one should look at its long history of malfeasance. They do not represent facts, truth, or anything that should be accepted as reality.
That being said, let’s debunk what they’re trying to show in this ridiculous video.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine research video
Here’s what Project Veritas posted on Twitter:
As described by Project Veritas, the video features “Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development – Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning,” allegedly sharing details about Pfizer’s plans for conducting gain-of-function SARS-CoV-2 research.
First, you need to understand what is “gain-of-function,” specifically concerning virus research. It is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include altered pathogenesis, transmissibility, or host range, i.e., the types of hosts that a microorganism can infect.
For example, researchers might be researching a virus that only infects humans, then genetically alters it so that it infects rabbits (or some other model) so that they can study it without harming humans.
The term “gain-of-function” is sometimes used to mean that a virus is altered to cause it to be more pathogenic or infectious to humans. But that is a very strict definition of the term since it is rarely done except by governments for biological warfare, for example.
Because gain-of-function research can be dangerous, it is closely regulated by governments across the world. Institutional and governmental oversight is very strong, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a legitimate research institution to do gain-of-function research outside of that control.
Also, someone could not do this type of research in their garage. It takes significant educational and research skills to add new genetic material to pathogens. And one would need a sophisticated laboratory to work on such projects.
Debunking the video
There are several areas that clearly show that Project Veritas heavily edited the conversation just to make their point.
- Dr. Jordon Trishton Walker was obviously speaking to the Project Veritas person, who was secretly recording the conversation like they were a colleague. It clearly seemed that Dr. Walker was refuting something along the lines that “Pfizer created the virus,” or something similar, and then he made the point that Pfizer “could” do gain-of-function research.
- Apparently, Dr. Walker was lured into a date with the Project Veritas plant, and it was clear he was trying to impress his date. You know how first dates are.
- The first thing I did was to Google “Jordon Trishton Walker.” I’m very suspicious if this person actually exists because if he’s a researcher at Pfizer he has had zero presence on the internet. There are no papers published (even I have some of those), no LinkedIn profile, no links within Pfizer, nothing.
- There is no evidence whatsoever that Pfizer is doing gain-of-function research with the virus. They do not have the type of laboratories and researchers who could do this. And there is no indication that they have sought approval to do so.
- Pfizer released a statement last week emphatically dismissing the claims made in the video, noting that the company “has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research” related to its “ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.” You may or may not trust Pfizer’s statements (and I’m usually 50/50 on Big Pharma statements), but it was so summarily dismissive that it was clear that they are angry that these kinds of lies have been spread.
- Pfizer and BioNTech are not working with the virus itself, just the mRNA that expresses key antigens on the spike protein. They only use the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike proteins to determine when there are mutations so that they can develop newer, better vaccines (like the recent bivalent version). There is no indication that they are using the whole virus.
- Nature is mutating the virus through natural selection. Not humans in some laboratory hidden in a secret location under the Antarctic ice.
More debunking
A gain-of-function research lab is not some tiny office stuffed into a corner. It is a large lab with strict controls so that the pathogens cannot easily escape.
And this would be noticed by Pfizer employees. And if they saw this lab and knew that there was no approval from the government for one of these labs, a dozen whistleblowers would come out of the woodwork to get their employer into trouble.
I think people like the disinformation squad at Project Veritas think that every single employee at pharmaceutical companies is an amoral, evil human. But they’re not. They actually wake up every morning thinking of new ways of helping humanity, that’s why they got into pharmaceutical research. And if one of the many moral and ethical employees knew of a gain-of-function lab, they’d be asking questions.
We don’t know if Dr. Jordon Trishton Walker actually exists. We don’t know what he actually said since Project Veritas, being the bad actors that they are, heavily edits and redacts anything that doesn’t support their goals.
What we do know is that there is no evidence that Pfizer does this kind of research.
And we know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 mutates frequently, so fast that we may have to develop new vaccines every year. We do the same thing for flu vaccines, and there’s no gain-of-function research happening at any of the vaccine companies using one of the influenza viruses. Evolution is doing its own gain-of-function for us, making us scramble for new vaccines every year.
Back before the internet, we would say about some piece of news, “consider the source.” Well, considering the source, Project Veritas, which only uses disinformation and right-wing dog whistles, to push their nonsense. There’s nothing to see here.
