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by criticalmass2 1133 days ago
The term “gain of function” is used by different people in different ways. It is a broad category of research and the misguided attempts to categorize it as dangerous in one broad stroke are not helpful. To quote Dr. Fauci:

"If all gain-of-function stops, you will have no vaccines for flu. You will have no vaccines for any of the other diseases, because all of that manipulates a virus or a pathogen to gain a certain function to be able to make a vaccine."
2 comments
hgsgm 1133 days ago
I love me a flu vaccine. But if Covid-19 was the cost, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Also Fauci played a bit of Motte&Baily the other way, by defending ALL GoF research with that argument.

People opposed to gain of function are specifically opposed to attempts to make viruses more communicable or more dangerous

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xyzzy123 1133 days ago
This seems disingenuous, afaik the contributions of GoF work (that enhances transmissibility, pathogenicity or immune escape of a virus) to widely deployed vaccines is minimal or zero.

EDIT: if downvoter(s) could provide specific examples of how GoF experiments have materially contributed to the development of ANY deployed vaccine I would be grateful (and update my position). For "the vaccines stop if GoF stops" to be true, it should be possible to name at least one vaccine which critically relied on GoF research, right?

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