Okay so they
want to manipulating the virus in the lab to determine the effectiveness of their vaccine. They will only have to come up with a new vaccine if the one is ineffective with the new variant. You trying to make it sound illegal then you can claim that it is GOF.
quote from the transcript of the video
PV : It [mutating COVID] sounds like Gain-of-Function to me.
JTW : I don’t know, it’s a little bit different. I think it’s different. It’s like, this,
it’s definitely not Gain-of-Function.
sounds like he is saying it is not GOF
JTW : So, we’re like,
do we want to do this? So that’s like one of the things we’re considering. For, like, the future, like maybe we can like, create new versions of the vaccines and things like that.
he clearly stating that it was being discussed or considered for a future project.
still once the organization decides they want to pursue it then they have to get permission from the government.
The US moratorium on gain-of-function experiments has been rescinded, but scientists are split over the benefits—and risks—of such studies. Talha Burki reports.
www.thelancet.com
In 2017
under Trump the NIH rescinded the moratorium on gain-of-function experiments.
“Gain-of-function experiments allow us to understand how pandemic viruses evolve, so that we can make predictions,
develop countermeasures, and do disease surveillance”. Thus the US will fund the research if approved by the board.
The other issues is the containment. Pfizer containment facility is rated at the 2nd highest level. BSL4
is the highest. They have a BSL3
Thus the main thing that they have to determine is if the benefits outweigh the risks. Then get permission from the government.