Originally published June 28, 2023 9:01 am PDT
- The last time the United States saw cases of malaria was when seven people got sick in Palm Beach County in July-August 2003, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- In 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates began targeting malaria research.
- In 2014, the Gates’ announced their decision to increase The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s malaria budget by 30%.
- The Foundation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into malaria research and development.
- In July 2018, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the drug Krintafel (tafenoquine) for the “radical cure (prevention of relapse) of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria in patients aged 16 years and older who are receiving appropriate antimalarial therapy for acute P. vivax infection,” according to a press release.
- At the time, GSK Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research and Development Dr. Hal Barron confirmed that Krintafel was the “first new treatment for Plasmodium vivax malaria in over 60 years.”
- Krintafel was developed by GSK and MMV with funding from the Gates Foundation, according to Forbes.
- Gates subsequently funded more research into tafenoquine, including a study in The Lancet boasting of the drug’s performance.
- In Jun 2019, the Gates Foundation funded the “Injectable Artesunate Assessment Report,” outlining the “efficacy” of injectable artesunate, a malaria vaccine. The Foundation would fund later studies on the drug.
- In September 2020, the Gates Foundation granted biotechnology company Oxitec Ltd. $1,377,280 for “mosquito field trials.”
- In March 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved an experimental use permit (EUP) allowing Oxitec to release genetically engineered Aedes aegypti (OX5034) mosquitoes in Florida and Texas through April 2022.
- Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are known to transmit malaria, as well as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika.
- The plan to release thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys triggered concerns among locals, some saying the “criminal” experiment would turn them into “guinea pigs.”
- “We may not be scientists, but we read. And what Oxitec says and what we’re reading from other sources are two completely different things,” Florida resident Meagan Hull said during a March village council meeting. “I beg you, I implore you to take immediate action [and] consider a resolution against this technology.”
- Another local said she was “incredibly concerned” about the plan, emphasizing the risk of biting gene-hacked female mosquitoes. “Everybody says that’s not going to happen, but I don’t trust that,” she said, lamenting the “lack of transparency” from Oxitec and the government agencies involved, namely the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD).
- Councilman Mark Gregg called the GMO mosquitoes “Frankenstein bugs.” “I hear other people say we’re being made into guinea pigs. Maybe we are,” he said.
- In March 2023, FFF Enterprises, a privately held, multibillion-dollar specialty vaccine distributor, announced it would begin to stock the Gates-backed artesunate vaccine.
- On June 26, 2023, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory notifying clinicians, public health authorities, and the public about the identification of locally acquired malaria cases (P. vivax) in two Florida and Texas.
- In the advisory, the CDC recommended the “need to plan for rapid access” to the artesunate vaccine.
- The Gates Foundation funds (here) the CDC Foundation, an independent nonprofit and sole entity created by Congress to mobilize philanthropic and private-sector resources to support the CDC, raising questions about a conflict of interest.
