But, as we know in the age of close corporate-university ties and privately funded “research”, it pays (so to speak) to follow not just the science, but also the money.

Private companies do not fund university research just because they love the truth and wish to pursue it. COVID has provided a rich, seemingly never ending, seam of dollars to those who advise governments on the management of viruses.

MODELLING

One of the “go to” men of science is Professor Tony Blakely of the University of Melbourne. He is a media favourite.

Naturally, he is up to his eye balls in modelling. It is thanks to modelling that we have a global lockdown.

The kind of modelling that predicted COVID death numbers several orders of magnitude out. (Does the name Neil Ferguson ring any bells?)

The kind of modelling that fed a media frenzy that has average Australians and Brits – where surveys have been done on this – believing that the numbers of people dying from COVID is up to ten times the actual numbers of deaths.

The kind of modelling that still drives premiers to keep us all under house arrest, whether in areas with a lot of “cases” but relatively few hospitalisations, or areas with absolutely no cases whatsoever.

But it is Blakely’s funding sources that are of most interest here.  As well as being a Professor at the University of Melbourne, once unkindly termed the Parkville Asylum, he is also an Affiliate Professor at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Washington State, USA.

A little digging was all that was required to establish that the IHME receives core funding from – you would never have guessed – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

To the tune of $279 million, given as core funding in 2017. Here is the Institute’s Director in 2017: “The announcement of the 10-year, $279m investment in IHME by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2017 provided a moment in time to reflect and to look ahead. The Institute has grown from a core of three initial members in 2007 to a staff of more than 300; developed a powerful and constantly innovating research infrastructure; built a global network exceeding 2000 collaborators; and perhaps most importantly, strengthened the field of health metrics science.”

And doesn’t health metrics science love a pandemic!

This is the global network that is driving the push towards COVID vaccinations for all. It is the compromised primary source for the efforts by governments and venal politicians to use vaccines as a political silver bullet to extend their careers.

KOOL-AID

It has infected an already non-investigative media that in many countries is reduced to providing infomercials for Big Pharma.

It has hoodwinked the compliant populace, which mistakenly and sadly assumes it is listening to objective scientists, into imbibing the kool-aid.

And what a global network it is, horizontally and vertically integrated with all sorts of institutions, like bureaucrats and the development sector.

DEVEX, for example, is a global news platform driving development goals by feeding its messaging to the governing classes.  Naturally funded by Bill Gates as well. It helps to drive the global pro-vaxx movement. It is a relentless promoter of the IHME. 

The Gates Foundation’s core reason for being is to drive sustainable development goals (SDGs).

It does this through organisations like DEVEX, the Washington Institute and another group called Gavi, aka the Vaccine Alliance, which states one of its main tasks to be to “fight COVID misinformation”.

Like the “misinformation” routinely used by Big Tech’s “fact checkers” to censor the internet and shut down any debate and anyone who argues against the vaccine cartel.

[The] Gates Foundation pledged US$750m to set up Gavi in 1999.  The Foundation is a key Gavi partner in vaccine market shaping.

“Vaccine market shaping”. Chilling stuff. But it gets better for the IHME. It turns out that the $279 million was just a drop in the bucket for the University of Washington.

The $279m grant is the largest private donation in the university’s history and continues a long tradition of critical investments in the University of Washington by the Gates Foundation, which include grant awards across its academic disciplines such as library science, global health, education, law and others. As of January 25, 2017, the foundation has awarded the University of Washington over 250 grants totaling nearly $1.25b.

The IHME trains policy-makers as one of its global activities.

IDEOLOGY

Interestingly, Professor Blakely stated in an article on social distancing for (inevitably) The Conversation in March 2020 – yes, he was on to it that early – the following disclaimer: “Tony Blakely does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article…”

I wonder if his disclaimer extends to things he writes about vaccines and the rest. Perhaps he had forgotten he was an affiliate professor working with an Institute that has received nearly $300m from Gates, the world’s leading pusher of the vaccines ideology.

Gates, of course, gave AstraZeneca $750m to drive cheap vaccines for the Third World. Intriguingly, AstraZeneca has just changed its name in Australia.

Blakely is on the record as saying that:

• Lockdowns are necessary “and they work”;
• It is a “huge concern” that some Australians were reluctant to receive vaccines;
• He disagreed with European countries which halted AstraZeneca after the blood clots;
• We need a “critical discussion” about vaccinating children;
• It is important to vaccinate as many people as possible, including children, before Australia is to fully open up.

Perhaps Blakely is unaware of the investigative journalism of those like Sally Beck who have revealed substantial instances of death and illness from, and adverse reactions to, vaccines internationally and the admissions of US and UK health authorities that they severely underestimated adverse vaccine reactions.

Perhaps he is unaware of the fact that virtually no child has died, and very few have gotten ill from any variant of COVID. Or that, as his far wiser colleague, Professor Peter Collignon has, not surprisingly, concluded: “I do not think we should vaccinate children until we have the data on safety among children.”

Ah, the precautionary principle. Here is Professor Blakely’s considered conclusion about the safety of vaccines: “I think the best thing we can do is just be honest about the facts. As more of us get vaccinated, and we know that our uncle got vaccinated and it was fine, I believe we will see that vaccine uptake go up.”

Reassuring, no?

Perhaps the Professor is also unaware of the masses of research showing that lockdowns, at best, make no difference to COVID outcomes, and perhaps make them worse. Perhaps he is so immersed in modelling his 648 scenarios – yes, that many – that he has lost sight of the real world.

Here is his considered take on the UK situation: “Melbourne University epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely pointed out that Delta had taken off in the UK despite about 80 per cent of the adult population having received their first vaccine dose.

CLUELESS

“This probably shows that you need a higher proportion of the people vaccinated in the UK,” he said.

Is this guy completely clueless?  Is he not aware of the fact that the Delta variant has simply defeated the vaccines?  Or is he so invested in the global vaccine technocracy that he can no longer think straight?

It can be beyond dangerous when modellers become policy advocates, when universities accept funding from those with axes to grind and global agendas to pursue.

It is much, much worse when they have the ear of governments and when they become media personalities too.

The worst thing about the convergence of already compromised academics and the COVID epidemic is not the fact that academics are in the pay of vaccine cheerleaders.

It is the fact that decision-makers with the power to shut down our lives listen to them and take their advice as if they were value-free scientists. Clearly, they are not.

Blakely is a Kiwi – an old buddy of the far-left former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, herself no stranger to international development networks.

Here is Clark, who was shortlisted for a job with a Gates’ funded institution (The Global Fund) in 2017: “Clark slams propaganda against vaccines… Former New Zealand Prime Minister warns against misuse of social media.”

Clark, in other words, is a vaccines ideologue. Clark it was who also “groomed Jacinda Ardern in the 1990s in globalist politics”. Ardern needs little introduction in terms of her world-leading zero COVID mania.

Clark is well connected to the World Health Organisation and to the World Economic Forum. She is currently Co-chair of The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare.

JUMP

Here is Clark on the lessons of COVID, speaking at a World Economic Forum event: “The alert must lead to a rapid response by all countries.” When the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declares a Public Health Emergency of International Concern ‘everybody’s got to jump’.

“The most successful responses have been based on strong leadership from the top in countries, effective whole-of-government coordination, effective communications with the public, and of course societal engagement.”

Perhaps Helen Clark had China in mind. WHO, of course, is run by China, a nation strongly admired by Jacinda Ardern.

The globally integrated political connections overlap massively with the academic networks involved in COVID modelling and the drive for universal COVID vaccinations.