By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DAVOS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The World Economic Forum (WEF) will host political and business leaders in Switzerland to discuss an unknown disease that allegedly could kill “20 times” more people than the COVID-19 pandemic.
The session ‘Preparing for Disease X’ is part of a broader agenda of topics during the annual January 15-19 WEF meeting of the rich and famous in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos headed by Klaus Schwab.
Disease X is the name used among concerned scientists to encourage the development of what they call “countermeasures,” such as vaccines and tests to use in a future outbreak.
Organizers said leaders from the World Health Organization (WHO), pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and conglomerate Philips are among those talking about “novel efforts” needed “to prepare healthcare systems for the multiple challenges ahead.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is scheduled to speak at the event alongside Michel Demaré, chair of the board of AstraZeneca, Brazil Minister of Health Nisia Trindade Lima, and “many more.”
Before the gathering, the WHO said it convened over 300 scientists in November 2022 to study the “unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international epidemic,” with “a mortality rate 20 times” that of the COVID-19 disease outbreak.
X VACCINE?
Separately, in Britain, the government opened a new vaccine research center scientists will work on preparing for a “disease X” jab, as it is seen as the next “potential pandemic pathogen,” officials confirmed.
The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre has been based since August last year at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire in South West England, Worthy News learned.
Live viruses have been kept onsite in specialist containment facilities where scientists can assess pathogens that do not yet have a vaccine or ones where immunisation could be improved, for example, the flu or mpox, experts explained.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries said: “What we’re trying to do now is capture that really excellent work from COVID and make sure we’re using that as we go forward for any new pandemic threats.”
Monica Crowley, a former contributor of U.S. broadcaster Fox News and assistant secretary for public affairs to the Treasury Department during the Trump administration, claimed that world leaders seek to implement lockdowns.
However, these developments and the upcoming WEF meeting where they are likely to be discussed have been condemned by conservative commentators.
FORCED MEASURES
They say talks about Disease X could lead to shutdown measures as those during the COVID-19 outbreak and perhaps forced vaccinations.
Monica Crowley, a former contributor of U.S. broadcaster Fox News and assistant secretary for public affairs to the Treasury Department during the Trump administration, claimed that world leaders seek to implement lockdowns.
They seek to “restrict free speech and destroy more freedoms,” Crowley added.
Supporters of the WEF-backed pandemic initiatives have accused Crowley of reiterating “a baseless theory” that Microsoft tech giant founder Bill Gates seeks to control recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine with a microchip.
The meeting comes at a time when the WHO, the United Nations health agency, raised the alarm this week about COVID-19 again, saying nearly 10,000 people died from COVID-19 in December in about 50 countries.
Most died in Europe and the Americas – based on shared trend information, the WHO added, with hospital admissions jumping 42 percent.
HOLIDAY DEATHS
Ghebreyesus attributed the spike to recent holiday gatherings and the spread of the latest COVID-19 variant. “Although COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the virus is still circulating and killing,” he told media at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
There have been at least nearly 7 million COVID-19 deaths in a world population of more than 8 billion, according to health data, though experts say the actual data could be as high as 28.2 million due to “excess deaths.”
Investigations are ongoing on whether COVID-19 vaccines and measures such as delayed health care for other illnesses and lockdowns played a significant role in the death toll.
Critical doctors and analysts have questioned the estimated multimillion death toll figures for COVID-19 amid reports that several hospitals, including in the United States, Europe, and Asia, received financial incentives to register ‘COVID-19 patients.
Yet other experts and researchers argue the WHO has been careful in releasing statistics, underscoring broad divisions on the issue.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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