ICAN FOIA Collection

Release batch one

* December, 2021 release of emails from ICAN FOIA.1)

Summary Overview - This group included inernal communications with the White House Task Force - WHTF and notes from stakeholders which are largely REDACTED as well as suggestions for treatments other than Remdesivir. March 20, 2020 notes for treatment p 35 includes HCQ and other off label treatments.

p 11 from Fauci to Hugh Auchincloss NIH/NAID - Handle this CIA request for Pompeo (agent redacted) looking for details about Wuhan contracts and BSL details and US funding and oversight

p 13 .. email from Malcom Randall VA Medical Center requesting review of drugs other than Remdisivir but other drugs and studies sent for Fauci review are redacted.. closing “this drug may save many lives”

pp 21-22 from Asst Sec Dept Energy to Fauci the bulk is REDACTED

Sec Brouillette and I want to pass along work we are doing w White House Task Force… “As you know we run the 17 National Labs (Oak Ridge,Lawerence Berkeley, Argone, Los Alamos etc) and have various large capabilities including supercomputing, imaging and biology” Suggestion for3 items to consider 2 pages REDACTED

p24 - 33 Phone call request EOP/WHO Tom Andrews w Nine pages following 100% REDACTED

p 35 March 20, 2020 Fauci statement for

Clinicians on COVID-19 therapies

Fauci statement includes three licensed drugs chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and kaletro & one investigational Remdesivir

p39-40 Fritz Bittenbender - Sr VP Genentech This is a pitch to do clinical trial for its drugs for COVID - Actermra (tocilizumab) They offer 4.000 doses as donation working under BARDA- OTA contract

p 61 from Fauci to Hillary Marston NIH/NAID re meeting - 2 pages of names REDACTED

p 66 Feb 26, 2020 From Mick Mulvaney cc forty plus contacts

VP has asked to coordinate ALL media for COVID through White House including cabinet secretaries and task force members

p 68 Mick Mulvaney list of officials for media appearances & urges stay on message

p 87 from Phillip Ferro - National Security Council Director countering biological Threat to list of White House Task Force - content 100% REDACTED

p 91 - 100 Feb 19, 2020 from NSC Stratcom cc WHTF text pages 100% REDACTED

p 118 Feb 6 , 2020 White House Task Force Meeting Notes all attendees MUST have active TOP Secret Clearance to attend

p 120 Feb 11, 2020 from Michael Ryan to Robert Redfield cc 40+ WHTF “Dr Tedros would like to invite you”… COVID conference call updated issues REDACTED

p 129-131 to Fauci - details errors in asymptomatic transmission w links to Science Mag critique and flawed NJEM study

p 136-137 from CEO Norman Anderson forwarded via State Dept - his friend Hank Greenberg has funded millions in vaccine research via Starr Foundation and is working w Chinese consul in NYC who is excited about their vaccine prospects

p 140-147 Feb 4, 2020 to Fauci and Redfield draft for OpEd by Sec Pompeo & Sec Azar about US offers to assist China w coronavirus response -text 100% REDACTED

p 149 -150 Feb 1, 2020 from Robert Kadlec - OST and Nat Academy Science gene editing COVID experts open call

p 151 Feb 1, 2020 from Fauci - National Emergency declared p 152-155 official document

p 155-156 from WHO Policy Coordinator to TASK Force list text 100% REDACTED

Release batch two

  • January, 2022 release of emails from ICAN FOIA.2)

Summary Overview - Total 54 pages most deal with media inquiries items of note are official talking points which are significant claiming safety of spike protein and efficacy of COVID vaccines and development timeline. There is also a talking point section that references lock-downs and testing as successful in China. March 2, 2020 p49 more granular data notes low risk to children and comparison to flu transmission.

p 10 Key messages/talking points-

Reporter questions- Can you tell me generally who is working on a vaccine? What are the steps required to create such a vaccine? Will it help that folks have already worked on vaccines related to other coronaviruses? What is the typical time frame for creation of a vaccine?

Statement attributed to NIAID

The NIAID Vaccine Research Center is developing an mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19. NIAID Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is overseeing the NIH response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center and chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory, is leading efforts to develop and test the mRNA vaccine candidate to prevent acquisition of SARS-CoV-2, and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is the scientific lead on this project in his lab.

mRNA vaccines direct the body's cells to express a protein to elicit a broad immune response including high levels of neutralizing antibodies. The expressed spike protein is designed based on knowledge of the virus structure and stabilization through protein engineering, but the platform does not contain live or inactivated virus. The mRNA vaccine platform is well suited for responding to emerging outbreaks as drug product can be produced more quickly than with many other vaccine platforms. In this particular case, extensive vaccine research on the coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS conducted over the past several years by the VRC in collaboration with Moderna allow for a rapid response to the virus that causes COVID-19.

NIAID and its ongoing industry partner Moderna anticipate the vaccine will be ready for the first stage of clinical testing in about a month or so. In a Phase 1 clinical trial, a vaccine is given to healthy volunteers to test if it is safe and induces an immune response.

You can learn more about the subsequent steps for clinical research on vaccines from this FDA webpage 3)

It is important to note that a COVID-19 vaccine will not be widely available to the public for at least a year and likely longer. Clinical testing to establish a vaccine's safety and efficacy takes time

Key messages/talking points-

Reporter questions- Can you tell me generally who is working on a vaccine? What are the steps required to create such a vaccine? Will it help that folks have already worked on vaccines related to other coronaviruses? What is the typical timeframe for creation of a vaccine?

==Statement attributed to NIAID== The NIAID Vaccine Research Center is developing an mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19. NIAID Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is overseeing the NIH response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center and chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory, is leading efforts to develop and test the mRNA vaccine candidate to prevent acquisition of SARS-CoV-2, and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is the scientific lead on this project in his lab.

mRNA vaccines direct the body's cells to express a protein to elicit a broad immune response including high levels of neutralizing antibodies. The expressed spike protein is designed based on knowledge of the virus structure and stabilization through protein engineering, but the platform does not contain live or inactivated virus. The mRNA vaccine platform is well suited for responding to emerging outbreaks as drug product can be produced more quickly than with many other vaccine platforms. In this particular case, extensive vaccine research on the coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS conducted over the past several years by the VRC in collaboration with Moderna allow for a rapid response to the virus that causes COVID-19.

NIAID and its ongoing industry partner Moderna anticipate the vaccine will be ready for the first stage of clinical testing in about a month or so. In a Phase 1 clinical trial, a vaccine is given to healthy volunteers to test if it is safe and induces an immune response.

You can learn more about the subsequent steps for clinical research on vaccines from this FDA webpage- 4) It is important to note that a COVID-19 vaccine will not be widely available to the public for at least a year and likely longer. Clinical testing to establish a vaccine's safety and efficacy takes time.

p 15.. March 13, 2020 This reporter is working on a story about the Covid-19 vaccine trial involving NIAID and Moderna; she is under the impression that a vaccine could be available in April. NIAID would send her the following-

NIAID scientists collaborated with the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., to develop an investigational mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A Phase 1 clinical trial of the vaccine will be held at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, a NIAID-supported Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU). The trial does not have a firm start date.

This phase 1 trial will determine, in a small number of people (usually less than 50), vaccine safety and whether the vaccine induces the desired protective response; this typically takes about three months.

If the vaccine shows promise, the next step in the development process is a Phase 2 study, the goal of which is to understand if the vaccine can protect people from infection with the virus that causes COVI D- 19. This requires enrolling hundreds of people in endemic regions. Although NIAID is on track to quickly advance to clinical trials, it is important to note that a COVID-19 vaccine will not be widely available to the public for at least a year and likely longer. Clinical testing to establish a vaccine's safety and efficacy takes time.

p 21 March 2, 2020 Additional/background information- Dr. Lane was publicly named by the WHO in a press conference last week as part of the WHO-led mission to China. We referred reporters requesting to speak to him to the WHO's report from that mission, but these specific reporters pushed back asking to speak with Dr. Lane about what he saw and t he task force's findings. Dr. Lane would respond with the following-

Main Talking Points

I appreciated the opportunity to be part of the China-WHO joint mission on COIVD-19.The joint mission focused on key questions related to the natural history of and severity of COVID-19, the transmission dynamics of virus in different settings and the impact of the ongoing response.

While our itinerary was tightly controlled we visited multiple public health, healthcare and community venues and felt those we spoke with spoke fairly freely and in depth. The outbreak in China has been steadily declining since February 2 (see graphs below). NIH-000044

This decline is likely due to the strong top-down leadership and aggressive public health measures put in place by the government of China shortly after recognition of the problem coupled with the rapid identification of the causative agent and deployment of diagnostic tests.

There has been a whole-of-China approach in response to the outbreak including closing of wet markets, limitations on travel, universal temperature monitoring and hand washing, cancellation of mass gathering activities, closing of schools, extensive contact tracing, medical isolation of close contacts, mass public education, identification of designated hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients and expansion of healthcare capacity.

The rapid implementation of these measures by China likely slowed the global spread and provided additional time to develop containment strategies (including the development of countermeasures). A substantial array of studies of COVID-19 are ongoing. These include studies of pathogenesis, development of improved diagnostics, clinical trials of investigational therapeutics and development of vaccines

More Granular Details

Among close contacts, approximately 1-5% w ere found to be infected with the virus, indicating it is less infectious than flu. Following the earliest days of the outbreak and following the deployment of adequate supplies of personal protective equipment there have been very few cases in health care workers- many of which were acquired in the community, not in the health care setting.

Relatively few reported cases (2.4%) are in children and the disease appears to be milder in children. Symptoms are non-specific and range from no symptoms to severe pneumonia and death. Fever(87.9%) and cough {67.7%) are the most common. Sore throat {13 .9%) and nasal congestion (4.8%) are less common.

Most people (80%) will have mild disease and recover; 13% have severe disease and 6% are critical. The overall case fatality rate is 3.8% and has been dropping over the course of the outbreak. The highest mortality rates are in those over 80 {21.9%)

p49 list of vaccine corp invitation is REDACTED

More Granular Details

Among close contacts, approximately 1-5% w ere found to be infected with the virus, indicating it is less infectious than flu. Following the earliest days of the outbreak and following the deployment of adequate supplies of personal protective equipment there have been very few cases in health care workers- many of which were acquired in the community, not in the health care setting.

Relatively few reported cases (2.4%) are in children and the disease appears to be milder in children. Symptoms are non-specific and range from no symptoms to severe pneumonia and death. Fever (87.9%) and cough (67.7%) are the most common. Sore throat (13 .9%) and nasal congestion (4.8%) are less common.

Most people (80%) will have mild disease and recover; 13% have severe disease and 6% are critical. The overall case fat ality rate is 3.8% and has been dropping over the course of the outbreak. The highest mortality rates are in those over 80 (21.9%)

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