World Vaccine Congress: April Fools?
The Smartest Guys in the Room and the U.S. Administrative State
Yesterday, on April 1st, over four thousand conference attendees descended on Washington D.C. for Day 1 of the annual World Vaccine Congress. Apparently, this is a record number of registrants in the two decades-plus history of the recurring annual conference.
"The Most Important Vaccine Event Of The Year"
With over 400 speakers, it’s been billed on the website as “the most up to date and keynote driven content around the pandemic so far!”
A panel discussion from the World Vaccine Congress 2023 - including the U.S. DoD!
Source: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-washington/index.stm
According to a webpage about the scientific advisors for the conference, “the agenda is being shaped by an industry advisory board’ - which includes familiar big names from the Covid era such as Peter Hotez and Paul Offit.
A few of the many members of the Scientific Advisory Board for the World Vaccine Congress
Source: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-washington/index.stm
So what exactly is this global gathering of vaccine ‘stakeholders’ all about?
In its own words, the World Vaccine Congress is…
The meeting place for vaccine professionals from industry, academia, non-profit organizations and government to discuss challenges and successes.
Hmm… does that ring a bell?
From the Biodefense Boondoggle post here on 6 January is a handy screen shot of the 2019 infographic by the U.S. Department of Defense - specifically the JPEO-CBRND agency - on the plan for “Rapid Response Partnerships” between government, academia and the private sector to develop and deploy medical countermeasures (MCMs) - chiefly ‘vaccines’- as the basis of a “Medical Rapid Response” to any future ‘outbreaks’ or other purported biological threats. This scheme even paid tribute to “advances in regulatory science”.
The U.S. DoD plan for “Rapid Response Partnerships” to ‘outbreaks’: JPEO-CBRND 2019
Source: https://www.youtube.com/@jpeocbrnd
Judging by the conference line-up, it looks like “rapid response partnerships” were part of a well-oiled machine that very much pre-dated Covid, with a lot of U.S-centric public-private networking going back twenty-plus years.
The real “Mass Formation”: Medical Countermeasures
Returning to this year’s World Vaccine Congress, the event brings together a who’s who of vaccine stakeholders (including the WHO):
From basic research to commercial manufacture, this one meeting covers the whole vaccine value chain where science, government and manufacturers all come together to create ground-breaking progress. If you are involved in vaccines or new to it because of the pandemic, this is the most important meeting you will be part of in 2024.
Indeed, vaccines are BIG BUSINESS - and growing. Not surprisingly, in the wake of the so-called ‘pandemic’ in which medical products were mandated upon entire populations under threat of No Jab No Life, the pharmaceutical industry and biotech sector are heavily represented on the list of sponsors and exhibitors at the World Vaccine Congress - including important though less familiar names such as Bavarian Nordic and Emergent BioSolutions. Asha George, the Executive Director of the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense - a private group influencing public policy with conflicts of interest related to the aforementioned vaccine companies - is one of the key speakers at this week’s conference.
The usual suspects in terms of Global Health Security are all there too: CEPI, the WHO, the UN, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, UNICEF, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Likewise, researchers and other representatives from universities and medical schools - especially players from the U.S. - feature prominently on the meeting agenda.
But what’s most interesting is the prominence of high-ranking personnel from U.S. federal health agencies — and the U.S. military — among the long list of vaccine pushers. Even the White House has representatives appearing on stage at this global vaccine shindig.
The Military-Pharmaceutical Complex on Display
For example, the “Biodefense & Preparedness Workshop” includes U.S. government defense and health agencies concerned with research, regulation, contracts and control of the purse strings:
JPEO-CBRN Defense - Col. Matthew Hepburn, Chief Medical Officer (Moderator)
Food and Drug Administration - Peter Marks, Director, Center For Biologics Evaluation And Research
MCDC (Medical CBRN Defense Consortium) - Mike Stebbins, Vice President
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) - Shannon Greene, Program Manager
BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) - Ashim Subedee, Director - Catalyst Office
NIH/NIAID (National Institutes of Health) - Cristina Cassetti, Division Deputy Director
Sound familiar?
“International MCM Stakeholders” = USG agencies/ WHO
The US-UK-Can-Aus Medical Countermeasures Consortium: Relationships and Governance
Source: https://dmtc.com.au/
And last but not least…
The White House - Nikki Romanik, Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), Executive Office of The President (EOP)
Elsewhere, the U.S. CDC features prominently on the conference agenda - from the director, Mandy Cohen, on down - along with a few senior officials representing the UK Health Security Agency and Public Health Agency Canada on various panels.
Note: the U.S government-initiated Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC) is a platinum sponsor of the event.
The “Whole-of-Government” Biodefense Boondoggle
Another session examines the topic of “Vaccine Supply & Logistics: What is a Sustainable Posture for Biodefense, Biosecurity, and Global Health Security?”-presented by the U.S. DoD’s Col. Matthew G. Clark, Joint Project Manager, JPEO-CBRND.
The biography on the conference website explains…
[Clark] is responsible for leading the medical portfolio for the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND). Col. Clark previously served as Senior Policy Advisor and Director of COVID-19 International Response Operations on the White House COVID-19 Response Team (WHCRT), after serving as the Lead Program Manager for the vaccine team in Operation Warp Speed. […] He worked the whole-of-government vaccine response through: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Coordination Operation Response Element (formerly the Countermeasures Acceleration Group); the Departments of State and Defense; the U.S. Agency for International Development; the National Institutes of Health; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The public-private team he led delivered over 534 million doses.
Ring any bells?
This is the “Whole-of-Government Support to Covid-19” graphic by the DoD’s JPEO-CBRND from our “Biodefense Boondoggle” post early this year (showing the planned transition from the DoD to HHS in late 2023):
JPEO-CBRND’s Whole of Government Support to Covid-19
Source: https://www.jpeocbrnd.osd.mil/Coronavirus/
And courtesy of HHS/ ASPR is a segment on “Supporting Domestic Manufacturing Capacity: Government-Industry Working Session”.
Our old friend from the Pentagon’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research - Dr It’s-a-low-risk-infection-even-in-the-absence-of-a-vaccine - is there too: Nelson Michael is participating in a panel discussion on “How Can We Leverage and Secure US Government R&D Funding from Domestic Agencies (HHS, DoD, etc.) to Spur Vaccine Development and Better Distribution?”
“Military Medical Leaders Discuss Vaccine Development Against Coronavirus” - 5 Mar 2020
Source: https://www.defense.gov/
And Kayvon Modjarrad - formerly a star-performer medical researcher with the U.S. Army, who also attended the Pentagon presser on 5 March 2020 - is appearing at the World Congress on Vaccines as Executive Director of Viral Vaccines with Pfizer.
Don’t let the revolving door hit you on the way out!
World Vaccine Congress 2024… to be continued.
