NIH Pandemic Preparedness Takedown. With Dr. Angela Rasmussen and Dr. Jeremy Faust
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Spanish flu
11 min read
The article repeatedly references the 1918 influenza pandemic as a historical example of natural pandemic origins and mentions Memoli's work with reconstructed 1918 influenza virus. Understanding this pandemic's actual history, death toll among healthy young adults, and origins provides essential context for the gain-of-function debate discussed.
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Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
11 min read
Central to the article's discussion of COVID-19 origins, with detailed references to environmental sampling, animal trade evidence, and market mapping. The Wikipedia article provides the specific epidemiological and geographic details that support the zoonotic hypothesis Dr. Rasmussen advocates.
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Gain-of-function research
13 min read
The article dedicates significant discussion to the terminology wars around gain-of-function research, the P3CO framework, and how the term is being politically weaponized. Understanding the actual scientific definition and regulatory history clarifies the article's critique of vague 'dangerous gain-of-function' rhetoric.
Here’s the video and summary (below) from my Substack Live with virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen in which we discussed our rebuttal to the NIH leadership’s essay outlining their unsupported, and often dangerous, views on pandemic preparedness.
Whether you read our piece last weekend or not, this session went even deeper, including some of the landmark research that Dr. Rasmussen has conducted. So, I believe this that is essential viewing/listening for anyone who cares about our ability to prevent and respond to another pandemic. I’m exceedingly grateful for Dr. Rasmussen’s time, as I know you are. Please check out her newsletter, Rasmussen Retorts.
Closed captions (㏄) for the above video and a transcript option (📄) can be found beneath the video playback control bar above. A summary with timecodes can be found below.
This is all entirely free for everyone. So, just a quick reminder that…
Summary & Highlights:
(aided by ChatGPT).
Framing the “NIH Pandemic Preparedness Takedown” – 00:04
We set the stage for this Doctor’s Lounge session as a point-by-point response to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Principal Deputy Director Dr. Matthew Memoli’s essay in City Journal laying out their preferred “pandemic playbook.” We explain that their subheadline—claiming the old playbook “failed to cope with COVID and may have even caused it”—signals where they’re headed, and why we decided to do a full written and now live rebuttal.
Where COVID-19 Actually Came From – 01:38
We ask Dr. Rasmussen to start with the origin question that so many people now skip past: to the best of our knowledge, where did the COVID-19 pandemic begin? She walks through the evidence pointing to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, linked to the live animal trade, and emphasizes that the data we do have—environmental sampling, leaked Chinese CDC reports, WHO mission notes, and market maps—fit a zoonotic origin much better than a lab leak narrative.
The Huanan Market Evidence and the “Zoonoti” – 02:28
Dr. Rasmussen explains how leaked and partial datasets, environmental swabs, old records of animal fines, shopping lists, and Edward Holmes’s 2014 market photos converged into a powerful circumstantial case for a live-animal origin. She describes how several market stalls with documented animal sales had multiple SARS-CoV-2–positive environmental samples, and how lab-leak advocates derisively label her group the “Zoonoti” for insisting on evidence-based zoonotic explanations.
How Lab-Leak Politics Ignored the Actual Science – 07:02
We summarize the ...
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