Regarding the Covid-19 immune escape pandemic, nothing conveys my state of mind better than that one metaphor by Norman Mailer: “There is no greater impotence in all the world like knowing you are right and that the wave of the world is wrong, yet the wave crashes upon you.” This expression captures the profound frustration and helplessness of being convinced that you are right, yet unable to change the prevailing course of events or public opinion, which you believe to be wrong. Despite your certainty and efforts to convey the truth or correct the situation, the overwhelming momentum of popular belief or societal trends ("the wave of the world") continues to move in the wrong direction and inevitably overwhelms you. In essence, it highlights the powerlessness one feels when their correct knowledge or insights are ignored or overshadowed by the larger, misguided movements of society. The metaphor of the wave crashing upon you emphasizes the inevitability and force with which the majority's direction impacts you, despite your correctness….
Geert 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. At GAVI he tracked efforts to develop an Ebola vaccine. He also represented GAVI in fora with other partners, including WHO, to review progress on the fight against Ebola and to build plans for global pandemic preparedness.
Back in 2015, Geert scrutinized and questioned the safety of the Ebola vaccine that was used in ring vaccination trials conducted by WHO in Guinea. His critical scientific analysis and report on the data published by WHO in the Lancet in 2015 was sent to all international health and regulatory authorities involved in the Ebola vaccination program. After working for GAVI, Geert joined the German Center for Infection Research in Cologne as Head of the Vaccine Development Office. He is at present primarily serving as a Biotech / Vaccine consultant while also conducting his own research on Natural Killer cell-based vaccines.
Email: info@voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org
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