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Anthony Fauci was aware 'enhanced' virus variants could emerge after vaccination

Dr Steven Black of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations informed Dr Anthony Fauci that his team was evaluating the risk of 'enhanced disease following vaccination' in March 2020

As more emails of Dr Anthony Fauci are being examined, it has come to light that there were discussions about the potential for an "enhanced disease" emerging after Covid-19 vaccinations. The emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by BuzzFeed News and The Washington Post have shed light on how authorities grappled with the pandemic that essentially changed the world.

One such email is from William J Buikema, a Research Associate and Technical Director, DNA Sequencing & Genotyping Core University of Chicago, to Dr Fauci. It reveals that it was he suggested to Fauci, “Why not allow early use of a vaccine that has passed a phase 1 safety testing, similar to what was done for the Ebola vaccines?” Since Fauci heads the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is the chief medical advisor to the president, his views on the matter influenced policy.   

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Buikema, in his February 28, 2020 email to Fauci, also wrote: “If a vaccine is shown to be reasonably safe, why not allow its use it in more at-risk people (elderly, smokers) before phase 2 trials are finished. It could also be helpful as with the Ebola vaccines to prevent transmission in hot spots of community acquired infections. There doesn't seem to be much downside compared to the potential for preventing many more deaths than was seen in the Ebola situation.” 

Another revealing email from Dr Steven Black, SPEAC (Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines) Project work package lead for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). He was writing to Fauci about the “Meeting to Assess Evaluation of Covid-19 vaccine candidates for risk of enhanced disease”.

Black wrote on March 4, 2020, saying that as part of the effort to evaluate the safety of vaccines in their portfolio, he and his team were assisting with developing preclinical and clinical testing criteria to evaluate the risk of “enhanced disease following vaccination with Covid-19 vaccine candidates.” He said in the mail, “As you know, this had been an issue with some prior SARS vaccine candidates.” 

He then informed Dr Fauci of a two-day virtual meeting of experts via video conference on March 12 and 13, 2020. Participants in the meeting included Paul Henri Lambert from Geneva and Barney Graham from The National Institutes of Health, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Online, many people used this email’s information to fuel anti-vaccination sentiment. However, many also pointed out that it was important for Dr Fauci and others to take matters like these into consideration. One user asked if anti-vaccination proponents would rather have Fauci not look into the possibility of "enhanced disease like the prior SARS vaccines?" He added, "All this means is he had a concern and asked about it in Feb”.

Another person tweeted, “Dr. Fauci is a good medical scientist. He is NOT GOD. He did not choose Covid to kill millions. He wakes up daily with a mission to help people to stay healthy and alive. Discussing discoveries is his job. Stop bashing the good guy Fauci. Be glad he read the science to inform us.”

One Twitter user said, “Yeah the risk here is artificially selecting for stronger strands of the virus. Why is this surprising? That is always a risk when considering treatments for infectious diseases.” And one person asked, “Okay? What does this prove exactly? If anything, I'm glad of the fact that they are aware of possible enhanced diseases. The last email even states that an evaluation on the safety of the vaccines will be taking place. That's a good thing. What does this prove?”