Could This COVID Anti-Viral Pill Fuel the Emergence of New Variants?

This is an incredible exploration of an incredible fuck up of a Big Pharma and the US FDA, and it's in a very main stream publication. The article speaks for itself. The opening paragraph:

Some scientists have expressed concerns that an anti-viral COVID-19 drug that is being rolled out across the United States may help to fuel the emergence of dangerous new variants.

Bam! There it is. Full stop. But it's not a full stop, is it. They're still going to sell this shit and make the US taxpayer foot the bill for this drug that may very well give rise to a very deadly variant. It's incredible, and it's here in black and white. Who's minding the store? Who is protecting us?

Initially hailed as a potential game-changer because it can be taken at home, the drug has been shown to cut the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 by 30 percent in these patients—a lower efficacy than Merck had originally claimed.

30%. That's probably less than gargling with saline.

Alongside the downgraded efficacy figures, some concerns have been raised about the drug's safety and the possibly that it might alter human genes.

Nothing to see here folks. Keep moving.

...experts have raised concerns about the possibility that the use of the drug could fuel the emergence of new COVID-19 variants, like Delta or Omicron, that are highly transmissible and/or may evade protection afforded by the vaccines to some extent.

A small price to pay for the enormous profits to be had by Merck.

"I am very concerned about the potential consequences now that molnupiravir has been approved," Michael Lin, an associate Professor of neurobiology and bioengineering at Stanford University, told Newsweek. "It would only be a matter of time, perhaps a very short time, before a lucky set of mutations occurs to create a variant that is more transmissible or immunoevasive."

Thank you, Michael, for your honesty and integrity. I'd be getting your resume in order if I were you. Do you still remember how to wait tables?

We're fucked. We're truly fucked. The fact that they'd let a drug like this on the market... I'm speechless. And their hold on public opinion is so strong that they don't even try to hide it.