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A comment on The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a naturally evolved virus [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a natura... by snowwrestler on Saturday July 18, 2020 @05:31PM (#23885018)
If a lab in China had been working with this virus at all, they would have had at minimum working cultures of it, and potentially multiple strains and experience modifying them. Cultures alone would have put them ahead of western pharma companies in developing a vaccine—even in the case of an unplanned release.

The fact that they’re not ahead is compelling proof that this virus was as new to Chinese medicine as it was to everyone else.

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Re:The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a natura... by nkurz on Saturday July 18, 2020 @06:17PM (#23885322)
> The fact that they’re not ahead is compelling proof that this virus was as new to Chinese medicine as it was to everyone else.

I appreciate your argument, but are you sure that they are not ahead? I don't have personal knowledge, but (for example) there was a Reuters article last week with a headline that included that claim "China leads COVID-19 vaccine race": https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-.... If somehow it was proved that they are indeed ahead, would you consider this compelling proof in the opposite direction? I think I'd consider both directions to be weak evidence, but neither to be anything near proof.

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Re:The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a natura... by sudosysgen on Saturday July 18, 2020 @10:08PM (#23886437)
They are ahead by a few weeks, yes.
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