Did US Scientists Just Create an Omicron Superbug FrankenVariant... with Projected *80% Mortality*?!?

A new study seems to suggest that they did just that

A new study was published a couple of days ago, titled Role of spike in the pathogenic and antigenic behavior of SARS-CoV-2 BA.1 Omicron.

Sounds innocuous, right?

Here’s the abstract:

Abstract

The recently identified, globally predominant SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (BA.1) is highly transmissible, even in fully vaccinated individuals, and causes attenuated disease compared with other major viral variants recognized to date. The Omicron spike (S) protein, with an unusually large number of mutations, is considered the major driver of these phenotypes. We generated chimeric recombinant SARS-CoV-2 encoding the S gene of Omicron in the backbone of an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 isolate and compared this virus with the naturally circulating Omicron variant. The Omicron S-bearing virus robustly escapes vaccine-induced humoral immunity, mainly due to mutations in the receptor binding motif (RBM), yet unlike naturally occurring Omicron, efficiently replicates in cell lines and primary-like distal lung cells. In K18-hACE2 mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80%. This indicates that while the vaccine escape of Omicron is defined by mutations in S, major determinants of viral pathogenicity reside outside of S.

Holy cow is right.

Let’s take this one piece at a time.

1. Franken-Variant

“Chimeric” “recombinant” means that they took pieces of two different viruses - the Omicron spike & the rest of the virus of original Wuhan strain - and put them together. Like a Frankenstein of sorts.

2. Gain of Function, Big Time

In other words, this new virus (“Omi-S”) they cooked up in their lab has the immune escape powers of Omicron to neutralize vaccine-generated immunity. It also doesn’t have a major Achilles heel of Omicron - unlike natural Omicron, it can replicate like crazy in the lower respiratory tract. Not good.

3. Apocalyptic Potential

They also have the following to say later on:

I don’t think that “80% mortality” needs further explanation.

Now, granted, this was in humanized mice. But as we know from the new bivalent booster “trials”, testing on mice is sufficient to establish the safety & efficacy profile for humans.

On a more serious note, the authors themselves addressed this issue:

One potential limitation of our study is the use of K18-hACE2 mice for pathogenesis studies instead of the primate models that have more similarities with humans. It should however be noted that the K18-hACE2 mouse model is a well-established model for investigating the lethal phenotype of SARS-CoV-2. While these mice develop lung pathology following SARS215 CoV-2 infection, mortality has been associated with central nervous system involvement due to viral neuroinvasion. The fact that infection with Omi-S, but not with Omicron, elicits neurologic signs, such as hunched posture and lack of responsiveness, in K18-hACE2 mice suggests that the neuroinvasion property is preserved in Omi-S, and the determinants of this property lie outside of the spike protein.

Let’s repeat that:

We would be well-advised to take them at their word here.

Oh, and this new Omi-S super mutant is a neurological monster:

Perhaps the lone positive development that threw a monkey wrench (pun intended) in the pandemic crisis for the WEF et al was the emergence and ascendance of the mild Omicron variant.

If it’s any saving grace, the way this study is worded implies that their new Omicron FrankenPlague escapes vaccine immunity, but not necessarily infection-induced immunity.

In a Nutshell:

Scientists seem to have created a new strain of covid that is a combination of Omicron and the original Wuhan virus, that has Omicron’s contagiousness & immunological escape artistry but has the lethality and virulence of the original Wuhan covid.

To quote the authors again:

“In in vitro infection assays, the Omicron spike-bearing ancestral SARS-CoV-2 (Omi-S) exhibits much higher replication efficiency compared with Omicron.

Similarly, in K18-hACE2 mice, Omi-S contrasts with non-fatal Omicron and causes a severe disease leading to around 80% mortality.”

Gain of Function is indeed alive and well inside the US.