Dr. Vanden Bossche received his DVM from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and his PhD degree in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany. He held adjunct faculty appointments at universities in Belgium and Germany. After his career in Academia, Geert joined several vaccine companies (GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines, Solvay Biologicals) to serve various roles in vaccine R&D as well as in late vaccine development. Geert then moved on to join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Discovery team in Seattle (USA) as Senior Program Officer. He then worked with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in Geneva as Senior Ebola Program Manager and subsequently joined the German Center for Infection Research in Cologne as Head of the Vaccine Development Office.
Timestamps below.
Clip from the interview - Geert’s thoughts
My thoughts are definitely that the losses will be tremendous. And I hate to say this, especially now just before Christmas, I hate myself for saying this, but somebody must tell what is going on right now.
And I mean, I can get an excuse for missing the timeline. But I very well, I'm not an unscrupulous person. I cannot get excused for conveying a message that is not true. I cannot be excused for that. I must be excused for the fact that I missed the timeline.
This was because of the immune refocusing. Remember the immune refocusing drives immune escape but it allows the immune system to come back a little bit, to recover a little bit. That is at the advantage of the virus because in this way it can prolong the period of viral spread and therefore survival.
But it means that in fact it all progressed relatively slowly. But you heard me saying, very importantly, this game is over. There is no immune refocusing anymore because the infection mitigating effect is now triggered by CTL responses, no longer by the antibody responses.
So there is no recovery of the immune system. That is one thing. The other thing is that the immune pressure on this conserved antigenic site within the N-terminal domain, it's a very small, just like the receptor binding, it's a very small domain.
So there is no immune refocusing anymore. This thing now goes forward, goes very fast, and all the immune pressure is now on this small domain.
Geert’s Presentation Slide Deck
The fulminant spread of JN.1 is a highly worrisome prognostic indicator…
Neutralization escape by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant BA.2.86
Tammy AI Timestamps
1:32: 🎙️ The video is an interview discussing the COVID pandemic and related issues.
8:49: 🔬 The speaker emphasizes the importance of critical voices, science, and truth in the global health arena.
16:08: ⚠️ The discussion highlights the challenges in controlling the transmission of the virus, despite vaccination efforts.
24:09: 🧬 The video discusses the mRNA vaccine and its potential impact on immune responses.
30:38: ⚛️ mRNA vaccines induce low affinity antibodies that recognize immunodominant epitopes and prioritize subdominant epitopes.
38:07: 🦠 The video discusses how antibodies can stabilize the virus, leading to immune escape and infectious variants.
45:26: 🦠 The video discusses the specific message and potential impact of the gn1 variant, and the challenges it poses to existing vaccines.
52:53: 🦠 The mutations in the virus are no longer limited to conserved domains and are now found in other viral proteins, potentially enhancing infection.
1:00:16: 🔬 The video discusses the impact of antibody concentration on immune system recognition and refocusing.
1:07:45: ⚛️ The video discusses the impact of immune pressure on a new variant and the role of innate immunity in unvaccinated individuals.
1:14:43: 🦠 The video discusses the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the debate surrounding vaccination and boosters.
1:21:59: ⚠️ The speaker discusses the imminent immune pressure on a small domain and the varying outcomes for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
1:29:31: ⏱️ The speakers discuss the urgency of taking action to suppress viral spread and the potential consequences of doing nothing.
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Geert's Concern about the New Covid Variant (JN.1)