COVID-19 Records

Transcript segment

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.97 · baric_ti:utt:00851

Page text: p.97 · original PDF

Date
2026-04-10 09:00 (day precision)
Type
transcript segment · interview
recipient
Christina Salazar, Harry Kazenoff, David T. Lambeth III, William Henderson, Clark Ervin, Jake Greenberg
speaker
Ralph S. Baric
No.

In context

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  1. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    Yeah, that was part of it, but the Michigan group also had a vaccine vector where we would put in viral antigens to try to immunize the bats.
  2. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    And I think that there was, in the actual proposal, there was discussion about going to caves in Michigan. So to me that sounds like we might have been doing this in the United States as opposed to China.
  3. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    If they were doing it in Michigan, what they were doing were pilot experiments to see if the approach, especially the double-stranded RNA approach, reduced virus titers for North American strains. And there's no sarbecoviruses in North America at this time.
  4. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    So what they would be spraying in the caves would not be the gain-of-function?
  5. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric
    No.
  6. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    Okay. Why is that?
  7. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    So gain-of-function, you're talking about a live virus.
  8. 2026-04-10 09:00 Christina Salazar open
    What would they be spraying?
  9. 2026-04-10 09:00 Ralph S. Baric open
    They're spraying a small, double-stranded RNA molecule that induces host innate immune responses. That's host defense molecules that prevent virus infection, or limit virus replication.

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