AUF1 questions plague fears Revisits 2019 simulation

Feb 14, 2019

AUF1 describes the Russian laboratory worker's death as suspected pneumonic plague, says the US and WHO seek answers and retains Russia's denial. Pollak revisits a 2019 tabletop exercise before the Munich Security Conference, reporting senior participants from health, philanthropic and international institutions, a deliberately released genetically modified plague pathogen, no effective vaccine two months into the fictional outbreak, biosurveillance and digital health-data sharing. In the complete quoted response, Stefan Magnet criticizes Bild and Welt's coverage, juxtaposes the simulation with an Israeli mRNA study and a recent book, repeats the Russian denial and says the pattern reminds him of the coronavirus script. He urges skepticism and demands evidence. These are his comparisons and suspicions, with no demonstrated connection between the exercise, research, book and the death. An unidentified brief interjection has no person row.

AUF1 retrospectively describes a tabletop exercise on the eve of the 2019 Munich Security Conference, simulating deliberate release of a genetically modified pneumonic-plague pathogen. It reports participation by senior representatives of the Gates Foundation, WEF, German Health Ministry, Wellcome Trust, World Bank, UN, WHO and NATO; no effective vaccine two months into the fictional scenario; and discussion of biosurveillance and digital health-data sharing. The simulation is a historical exercise, not evidence that it caused the later Russian worker's death.