[ransomnote]

In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Scientists Confirm COVID Vaccines Cause Autism in Lab Rats, exDemMom wrote:

XDM: I do have one thing to say for you, which is not applicable to most of those who read antivax websites and repeat the disinformation here. You, at least, make an effort to provide a scientific framework, even though you are completely wrong on the science. (I actually do think you are capable of understanding that damage due to immune system activation is independent of the exact identity of the activator; you just choose to believe or promote an unscientific version which advances the antivax agenda.) That said, I am going to skip most of your misrepresentation of science and skip to a couple of things that jumped out at me:

ransomnote: You're going to skip the pesky truth I posted, dig up old CDC excuses for their fraud, and present them here as NEW! IMPROVED!

I've posted to you and your kind before on many of these topics and you just 'skip' what you can't refute and post more. You're wasting my time and getting paid for it! Where's my cut?

XDM:

 ransomnote: The effects of Covid-19 have been exagerated and distorted so that we don't know that it leads to any disease in pregnant mothers. We don't even know who really had 'covid'.

CDC Withdraws Use of PCR Test for COVID and Finally Admits the Test Can Not Differentiate Between the Flu and COVID Virus

12/29/2021 10:20:04 AM PST · by Hojczyk · 110 replies

The quote from the CDC given at that link does not "admit" that a PCR test cannot tell the difference between Covid and influenza. (For one of the most specific tests known to be unable to differentiate between two unrelated viruses would be a stunner, indeed.) I copied this excerpt from that link:

In preparation for this change, CDC recommends clinical laboratories and testing sites that have been using the CDC 2019-nCoV RT-PCR assay select and begin their transition to another FDA-authorized COVID-19 test. CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Such assays can facilitate continued testing for both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 and can save both time and resources as we head into influenza season.

What that says is that the CDC is encouraging laboratories to use a PCR assay that is able to detect both Covid and influenza.

This is because both Covid and influenza present as respiratory diseases with similar symptoms, such that a health care provider cannot diagnose the patient based on symptoms alone. Such a PCR assay, which is called a multiplex assay, uses dyes to differentiate between the PCR results. So, for example, they can attach blue dye to the Covid primers and red dye to the influenza primers. When the PCR machine runs the test, it can tell whether the amplified PCR product is Covid or influenza by its color. By using dyes of different colors, a PCR machine is able to distinguish between several different genomes contained in the same sample.

So, yes, whether the Covid is detected by a singleplex assay or a multiplex assay, the PCR is the most accurate type of assay known.

ransomnote: All of what you said is false. I'm tired of repeating myself when you just pretend I and others haven't refuted you over and over again.

The main problem here is that you are still citing the CDC's treasonous, worn out excuses as authoritative, and expecting us to trust the CDC like we used to, before they Covided us and after,  after they have proven to be greedy, amoral pathological liars.

Just one example: Walensky (and fauci) promised pregnant women that they'd seen no evidence the Vax was not safe for them when FOIA's revealed that the CDC, Pharmas, NIAH, NIH, FDA pharmas had devastating information (see Dr. Naomi Wolf) regarding pregnant vaxxed women. That's just one of their lies - there are so many!

Report 69: BOMBSHELL – Pfizer and FDA Knew in Early 2021 That Pfizer mRNA COVID “Vaccine” Caused Dire Fetal and Infant Risks, Including Death. They Began an Aggressive Campaign to Vaccinate Pregnant Women Anyway.

05/05/2023 2:33:51 PM PDT · by Tench_Coxe · 46 replies

BREAKING: VAERS data clearly shows that the COVID vaccines are an unmitigated disaster for pregnant women

07/21/2023 9:03:03 PM PDT · by george76 · 48 replies

Steve Kirsch ^ | JUL 17, 2023 | Steve Kirsch

ransomnote: And is it too much to ask for CDC officials like Rachel Walensky act like a normal human being when pretending to care about public health?

• Biden's CDC chief delivers grim public service message with bizarre continuous smile

  2/23/2021, 10:22:48 PM · by upchuck · 65 replies

  American Thinker ^ | Feb 23, 2021 | Monica Showalter

ransomnote:

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: The.PCR Test.Is.Not.Accurate.

Oops: It Looks Like the Vast Majority of Positive COVID Results Should Have Been Negative
Townhall ^ | August 29, 2020 | Bronson Stocking

Posted on 9/1/2020, 12:33:01 PM by yoe

Excerpt:

According to (The New York Times), potentially 90 percent of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 have such insignificant amounts of the virus present in their bodies that such individuals do not need to isolate nor are they candidates for contact tracing. Leading public health experts are now concerned that overtesting is responsible for misdiagnosing a huge number of people with harmless amounts of the virus in their systems.

I learned about the PCR from Kary Mullis, reasearchers and doctors who don't work for the tyranical Covid medical regime.

• Peer-Reviewed Study Confirms Fatal Flaw in PCR Testing: 42% False Discovery Rate for SARS-CoV-2 nonQ-RT-PCR Test. This means COVID-19 Vaccine Outcomes Rate Data are Unreliable and Invalid

  11/2/2022, 3:38:27 PM · by ransomnote · 46 replies

  substack.com ^ | October 31, 2022 | James Lyons-Weiler

• Fauci Admits PCR Test Cannot Detect Infection

  1/15/2022, 11:24:56 AM · by ransomnote · 22 replies

  dailyexpose.uk ^ | JANUARY 15, 2022 | RHODA WILSON

   

  CLICK HERE TO jump to the 4:32 mark in this video, where where Fauci begins explaining that running PCR 'tests' at 35 cycles and above renders meaningless results.

I trust independent experts more than the CDC, FDA, NIH, NIAH, pharmas, and their pharma shills.

C.D.C. Labs Were Contaminated, Delaying Coronavirus Testing, Officials Say

"Dead" Virus Cells Frequently Trigger "False Positives" In Most Common COVID-19 Test, New Study from Oxford University Finds

‘I Have NOT Been Tested’: 600,000 Accidentally Told They’ve Had COVID-19

Coronavirus tests too sensitive, Oxford University academic warns. People get positive results even when they had the virus 70 days ago skewing real picture of how many people are contagious

XDM: Now, since you posted the details of the PCR protocol as an image, I cannot copy/paste the text. However, I can still comment on, specifically, the text you highlighted in yellow.

If you are developing a PCR assay (which I've done hundreds of times), you would normally choose a biological sample that contains the nucleic acid you are trying to detect. For example, if I want to develop an assay to detect cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) in samples, I use as my positive control a sample that I already know contains CYP1A1. But if I don't have such a sample but I know the sequence of the CYP1A1 gene, I can make a copy of that gene synthetically and use the synthetic copy to test my PCR assay. (And, in real life, this is what I did.) The CDC had the sequence of the virus genome. They can chemically synthesize any portion of that genome for use as a positive PCR control, and this is what they did. A synthetic copy of a gene contains the exact same nucleotides in the exact same order as the actual gene; the difference is that the nucleotides were put together using chemistry instead of enzymes.

ransomnote: No. Your long boring spin is false. The CDC did not have the sequence of the virus genome.

China released what they claimed was the genome for the Covid virus using sequencing software which relies on a library of preexistant fragments to 'fill in missing blanks' from related genomes.

But, the sociopaths at the CDC, FDA, NIH had already created a fake pandemic by classifying 'Covid' as a 'novel' virus. This categorization, as Fauci assured us, meant that none of us would have ever been exposed to it. That it was entirely new and therefore could wipe out large portions of the population. Did that happen? No! Was the COvid virus 'novel'? NO! Do we have any reason to believe that China would give us an accurate sequence for Covid? No.

That particular lie is worthy of Nuermberg trials. If the medical regime had not lied and said Covid was 'novel,' they couldn't lock us down, threaten and fire people re vax mandates and claim an emergency worthy of an EUA was occurring. Our lives would have been fine, we would have sailed through the seasonal flu season as normal. Look at the stats - the death rate climbed after the introduction of the 'vaccine', not before

 

XDM:

The inventor of the original PCR technique said it was not appropriate to use for any diagnostic purpose because you may have small amounts of virus in your body without ever becoming ill from it.

That's true for any bacterial or viral illness. Whether you get sick or not is a function of what we call the "infectious dose," or "ID." A person who has been exposed to a quantity of pathogen that is less than the ID will have no symptoms and isn't going to be tested, so no one would ever know if they were exposed. This makes the statement that "you may have small amounts of virus in your body without ever becoming ill from it" irrelevant because only symptomatic people are typically tested. I do not know why Kary Mullis would have said that PCR is not appropriate to use for diagnostic purposes, since even at the time he died (long before Covid appeared), PCR was being used for diagnostics.

ransomnote: WHAT? "This makes the statement that "you may have small amounts of virus in your body without ever becoming ill from it" irrelevant because only symptomatic people are typically tested."

Where have you been living all this time? 

Anthony Fauci: If a child goes into the hospital they automatically get tested for Covid, and they get counted as a “Covid-hospitalized” individual when in fact they may go in for a broken leg or appendicitis..." (TRANSCRIPT, 40 sec video)

Ontario, Canada Govt Medical Official Warns Against Mass Coronavirus Testing– ‘Will Not Actually Achieve Anything’, False Positives ‘Almost Half’ in Low COVID Areas (Video)

Don't you recall the absurdity of their claims you can be sick with Covid, you must isolate, all without displaying symptoms and that's why we need testing, testing, and more testing? ?

45 Second Twitter Video Clip of Dr. Fauci Saying. ".... asympomatic spread is rare and historically not a driver of outbreaks. Symptomatic people drive outbreaks."

You couldn't go to work, go to school, go to a hospital etc. without testing, testing, testing. If you stayed home because of a positive test, you had to be tested again to prove you could return even though you were asymptomatic!

You're not even trying anymore. You must be making big bucks writing stupid lies like this! WAIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!! WAAAAAAAAAAIIITTT!!! This is stupid AI that you review and edit, isn't it?

XDM: (Editorial note: Kary Mullis is the inventor of the PCR technique. He was simultaneously an absolute genius and a total kook. He had said that he came up with the idea of PCR after attending a party in which mind-altering drugs had been freely distributed; said drugs opened his mind to new avenues that he would not have considered while sober. Despite his quirks, my experience with PCR leads me to conclude that his was a rare sort of genius.)

ransomnote: But you just had to smear him - provide the old CIA talking points? Cause why? When he said not to use the PCR for diagnostic purposes because it can't, that really brought out your memory of his drug use? But you feel the PCR is valid, right? Let's look at the validity of the man who hailed the benefits of the RT PCR test which went on to provide the statistical basis for the “Pandemic.” .

Critics Cast Doubt on Drosten the “Pusher of the PCR Protocol” Alleged Qualifications.

By Patricia Harrity on November 10, 2023 • ( 10 Comments )

Death, Regardless of Cause, Within 60 Days of Testing Positive for Coronavirus Is Counted as a China Flu Death

XDM: In general, assays are rated on two characteristics: specificity and sensitivity. Specificity is a measure of how well the assay differentiates between two similar conditions (for instance, between two different clades of influenza H3N2). Sensitivity is a measure of how accurately the assay detects a condition (i.e. how many false negatives and false positives there are). There are a lot of nuances in this area which I am not going to delve into. The bottom line is that the Covid PCR assays are both specific and sensitive enough to be FDA approved for the diagnosis of Covid. And the PCR assays are updated to detect the newest strains of Covid that are circulating.

ransomnote: FDA Approved?!!!!!

You think FDA APPROVAL has any value anymore???!!!!

The FDA 'approved' of the Pfizer 'vaccine' and remained carefully silent while Pfizer never manufactured it, and instead forced the EUA version of the 'vaccine' on the public which had been falsely led to believe that they were getting the licensed version (which means there would be liability protection).

• Researchers Alarmed to Find DNA Contamination in Pfizer Vaccine

  9/20/2023, 1:12:53 PM · by ransomnote · 31 replies

  brownstone.org ^ | September 20, 2023 | Maryanne Demasi

It wasn't the FDA who reported DNA contamination; they either didn't test for it, knew it was there, or failed to perform laboratory tests.

The FDA stayed silent after receiving horrible information from the trials which would have stopped the 'vaccines' from being pushed. On and on the FDA condoned distorted information.

Daily there were countless opportunities for our 'public health' agencies to educate the public. But the public never understood the 95% efficacy claims didn't mean 95% reduction in their risk of getting Covid. They never understood how they could protect themselves with Zinc, D3. They were denied the 'right to try' treatments that work. They were lied to about the actual risk of infection and dying.

The FDA said nothing to correct the intentionally false impression (Relative verses Absolute percentages) that the 'vaccines' were 95% effective. There's nothing the FDA has done that is correct here.

Per CDC Data the COVID-19 Death Rate Peaked in the US in April 2020 – There are More Pneumonia Deaths Than COVID-19 Deaths in 2020

The FDA, CDC and other 'public health luminaries' drove warped policies which intentionally panicked the public.

Death, Regardless of Cause, Within 60 Days of Testing Positive for Coronavirus Is Counted as a China Flu Death

This Week CDC Quietly Updated COVID-19 Numbers – Only 9,210 Americans Died From COVID-19 Alone – Rest Had Other Other Serious Illnesses (see image below)

• All these medical agencies were monitoring commuications, theirs and other agencies, had the expertise to know and talk about the truth as other agenciesdeceived the public.

The FDA is in bed with the pharmas - medical regime workers in our governmnt can patent drugs that tax dollars develop. The FDA allows pharmas to self report instead of testing on their own. Those are some of the nuances you don't want to get into!

CATASTROPHE: 20% of Human Test Subjects Severely Injured from Gates-Fauci Coronavirus Vaccine by Moderna

XDM:

But wait - there's more! They often ran the PCR test results at 40 cycles, which even Fauci admitted would be excessive resulting in breaking down samples to mere nucleotides.

Molecular biologists (such as myself) are well aware of the limitations of increasing the number of PCR cycles. It does not, as you think, break down samples to mere nucleotides.

ransomnote: Fauci disagrees with you. He's on video saying (paraphrasing), "Well, at 40 cycles there's nothing left" that can be accurately identified. It's one of the few times he is caught on tape telling the truth.

The PCR test cannot do that. Furthermore, a sample that only contained nucleotides would come up negative on any PCR test. In order to perform PCR, we have to add nucleotides to the reaction mix. These nucleotides are used up to make the PCR product if the sample contains the nucleic acid we are trying to detect. So, if only nucleotides are present after the PCR has run, the sample is negative. The problem with extending PCR beyond 30-35 cycles is that, in the absence of the gene the PCR was designed to detect, the primers themselves can dimerize (attach to each other) and create PCR products. With subsequent cycles of PCR, these spurious products can get longer and actually reach the limit of detectability of the PCR machine. This is why those of us who design PCR experiments always define a cut-off where the PCR stops. I always put the cut-off at 35 cycles, but, realistically, if I do not see a product by 25 cycles, I consider the test negative. We analyze PCR by how few, not how many, cycles it takes to detect the product. If the product is detected after 15 cycles, that is a pretty strong positive. If the product is only visible after 34 cycles, then we have to question whether it is even a real product.

And shills, the law should also apply to pharma shills...on FR

That is so funny, especially considering that I have never worked for a pharmaceutical company! Consider me, instead, as a shill for the scientific/infectious disease/public health community.

ransomnote: Oh it's not funny at all. I think you're more in the disinformation business after reading the mess you posted today.

You are trying to prop up the reputation of those who betrayed us, over and over again at a time when we as a nation have not recovered from their crimes.

We never needed a 'vaccine' as Covid was not a novel virus and the death rate was almost flat in 2020, except for factoring in malpractice (denying sick people treatment, forcing remdesivir/ventillators etc.).

Pharmas/Fauci/Walensky/CDC/NIH/NIAH all were silent and helped conceal the truth of the 'vaccine' trials, treatments, natural immnity etc. To know and to do nothing other than support the  lies is treason.

They deny it all, as do you. I know you're all not going to confess, but don't expect US to believe you. We want public Nuremburg trials to expose those who betrayed humanity on a global scale, arm twisting and scaring people with lies to push a vax that is based on failed technology for an illness which didn't require a vaccine in the first place.

Let me help you understand - the public knows there's a reason why the pharmas didn't want to release their raw trial data for 75 YEARS. We get it. The medical regime lies daily and people like you show up and refer to them as if they are the only source for valid data re Covid/Covid vax.

The CDC never ran promotional campaigns to get the public to take zinc and D3, given that it reduces death and hospitalization.

The medical regime has a backlog of 3 years of lies, malpractice, treason, graft, fraud, influence pedaling, RICO offenses etc. to account for. We're not going to trust them until they accept responsibility for their actions. The fact that they worked to make sure people all over the world cannot sue for liability because they recatogorized what they knew was 'gene therapy' as 'vaccines' was just a drop in the bucket already overflowing with their destructive acts.

• NEWS NANCY IS BACK @NineNewsNancy: These three lettered Intel agencies, along w/Fauci, Birx, et al, KNEW there was a known curative in 4/2020. This would’ve prevented an EUA vaxx from being authorized.

  6/9/2023, 3:11:17 AM · by ransomnote · 16 replies

  Twitter ^ | June 1, 2023 | Project Veritas, NEWS NANCY IS BACK @NineNewsNancy

  Old interview, Fauci re Influenza: "....the most potent vaccination is getting infected yourself." (TRANSCRIPT and 28 second video)

  3/27/2024, 12:41:38 AM · by ransomnote · 17 replies

  X ^ | Aug 18, 2022 | Anthony Fauci via Kevin Sorbo @ksorbs
  
  

  

  There are far too many articles for me to post, but here's the tip of the iceberg which sank the credibility of the Medical Regime in America, and Around the world.  They ignore the truth as it surfaces, just like you do.

  LINKS for information about Remdesivir. Please review and add your links as needed. Until the CDC/Fauci tell the truth about Remdesivir, how can anyone trust anything else they tell us?

• Anthony Fauci promotes the use of ventilators to treat covid; despite admitting more than a year ago they do more harm than good

  8/25/2023, 2:35:31 PM · by ransomnote · 20 replies

  expose-news.com ^ | August 25, 2023 | Rhoda Wilson

• @KanekoaTheGreat posts photos of FDA employees who now work for Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, as well as career moves by Fauci and an MSM reporter

  2/26/2023, 1:22:21 PM · by ransomnote · 7 replies

  Twitter ^ | 2/26/2023 | kanekoa.substack.com @KanekoaTheGreat

   

• Chief Nerd @TheChiefNerd: ‼️ Fauci and His NIH Scientists Received $350 Million in Royalties From Big Pharma #ProsecuteFauci

  1/1/2023, 4:42:28 PM · by ransomnote · 38 replies

  TWITTER ^ | December 31, 2022 | Chief Nerd @TheChiefNerd

   

• Fauci Admits He Used Lockdowns To Force People To Get Vaccinated

  4/16/2022, 7:51:16 PM · by ransomnote · 37 replies

  GreatGameIndia.com ^ | 4/16/2022 | GGI Staff

   

• COVID Vaccines Caused 416,186 Spontaneous Abortions

  1/31/2022, 7:00:56 AM · by ransomnote · 21 replies

  greatgameindia.com ^ | 1/31/2022 | greatgameindia.com

   

• COVID Vaccines Caused 416,186 Spontaneous Abortions

  1/31/2022, 7:00:56 AM · by ransomnote · 21 replies

  greatgameindia.com ^ | 1/31/2022 | greatgameindia.com
  
  

   

• BOMBSHELL: New-Found Emails Prove Biden White House Hid COVID Vaccine Harms from the Public

  9/23/2023, 8:42:05 AM · by ransomnote · 74 replies

  expose-news.com ^ | September 23, 2023 | Patricia Harrity

• 472 Pages FOIAed from CDC Leaders, 2021, Reveal Lengthy Comms Re: ‘Myocarditis,’ Massive Redactions. CDC Hiding April 2021 Monthly Safety Report on Pfizer’s Vaccine and Myocarditis/Pericarditis.

  9/23/2023, 8:41:47 AM · by ransomnote · 21 replies

  dailyclout.io ^ | August 29, 2023 | War Room/DailyClout Team 1 and the Pfizer Documents Analysis Project Director

• Using Southern Hemisphere data, New report from Denis Rancourt et al. estimates 17 million died following C19 injections – ONE DEATH PER 800 DOSES and that injecting the elderly was NOT a good idea

  9/21/2023, 2:43:33 PM · by ransomnote · 59 replies

  substack.com ^ | September 20, 2023 | Peter Halligan

  ‘The greatest crime against humanity’ in history: Naomi Wolf’s 11 revelations from Pfizer vaccine documents
  	04/27/2023 6:54:48 AM PDT · by george76 · 31 replies Life Site News ^ | Apr 24, 2023 | Patrick Delaney

  Dr Naomi Wolf @naomirwolf: "The CCP-owned Pharma company Fosun, mentioned in Hunter Biden's comms re Metabiota, and which makes Pfizer's MRNA injection, plans now to sell billions in assets."
  	02/13/2023 10:26:36 AM PST · by ransomnote · 16 replies twitter.com ^ | Feb 12, 2023 | Dr Naomi Wolf @naomirwolf

•  

  Dr. Naomi Wolf: Pfizer’s Depopulation Agenda, As Evidenced By Its Own Documents Targets Reproductive Cycle of Women
  	06/03/2023 1:35:50 AM PDT · by spirited irish · 69 replies

  

   

• Robert F. Kennedy: Exposing Dangerous Vaccines, Vaccine Passports and the Real Anthony Fauci

  12/20/2021, 3:31:18 PM · by ransomnote · 23 replies

  dailyexpose.uk ^ | 12/20/2021 | RHODA WILSON

  Excerpted below.

  Summary:

  • Fauci is the highest-paid federal employee in the U.S., and 68% of his $437,000 a year salary comes from bioweapons research.
  • Instead of safeguarding public health, Dr. Anthony Fauci turned the National Institutes of Health into an incubator for pharmaceutical products, and essentially sold the entire country to the drug industry.
  • Fauci has had a hand in creating the vaccine gold rush. In 2000, he met with Bill Gates, who asked to partner with the NIH in an agreement to vaccinate the world with a battery of new vaccines. In 2009, this agreement was rebranded as “The Decade of Vaccines,” the objective of which was to implement mandatory vaccinations for every adult and child on the planet by the year 2020
  • One of the darkest stains on Fauci’s career, aside from his role in the Covid pandemic, was his handling of the HIV epidemic. Suppressing the use of repurposed drugs, Fauci zeroed in on AZT, a toxic drug that has killed an estimated 300,000 AIDS patients.
  • The similarities between the AZT scandal and what’s happening today with the Covid injection and remdesivir are striking. Again, Fauci has suppressed all treatments using inexpensive and nontoxic drugs. U.S. taxpayers have paid for research, while drug companies have raked in the profits, all while having zero liability for injuries and deaths.

  FAUCI: "One of the HIV vaccines...made individuals more likely to get infected. So you can’t just go out there and give" the Covid vax without extended study first

  12/29/2021, 3:31:45 PM · by ransomnote · 18 replies

  twitter.com ^ | December 28, 2021 | Phil @forthegreater13, Anthony Fauci

   

  ransomnote: One more 'nuance' for old time's sake. After you You ran away when I pointed out that the Bivalent Covid 'vaccine' was only tested on 8  rats prior to administration to the public.

ransomnote: I have to cut back on your allowance - you're earning too much off of posting to me. Get a real job.

[exDemMom]

For the most part, I just scroll past your screed. It's not worth my time to read what basically is a rehash of things already posted.

But I do have to respond to this:

But you just had to smear him - provide the old CIA talking points? Cause why? When he said not to use the PCR for diagnostic purposes because it can't, that really brought out your memory of his drug use? But you feel the PCR is valid, right? Let's look at the validity of the man who hailed the benefits of the RT PCR test which went on to provide the statistical basis for the “Pandemic.”

Questioning whether someone really made a highly dubious statement that is credited to him by antivax misinformationists is not smearing him. On the contrary, it's helping to protect his reputation, because it would be extremely damaging to the reputation of a Nobel Prize winning scientist to make such an unscientific claim. Various fact-checkers have looked into this claim and reported that Kary Mullis did not, in fact, say it.

Fullfact.org wrote this: The inventor of PCR never said it wasn’t designed to detect infectious diseases. Quote from this article: "He didn’t say PCR testing couldn’t be used for testing for any diseases, as some social media posts claim. Confusion seems to have arisen from quotes of his in a 1996 article about HIV and AIDS. In this, neither the author of the article, nor Dr Mullis said PCR testing does not work or only identifies the DNA or RNA of the person being tested.

The author actually quotes Dr Mullis as saying “Quantitative PCR is an oxymoron” within the context of testing viral load (the amount of virus present) in people with HIV. This doesn’t mean he thought PCR testing didn’t work at all, but that there are limitations in detecting the specific levels of a virus from a sample using PCR testing.

USA Today also debunked this claim: Fact check: Comments from PCR test creator lacking context in social media post. Others have also debunked it. Kary Mullis did not, in fact, make a completely scientific and untrue claim that PCR cannot detect infectious organisms.

As for his drug use, I heard this directly from someone who knew him. According to his friend, Kary Mullis credited coming up with the idea of PCR while under the influence of a mind-altering drug. Kary Mullis had told him that the idea came into his head while he was going home from a party after partaking. While I cannot provide a reference to what a guest lecturer said to my graduate student group, I *can* provide references that corroborate the fact that Mullis was into mind-bending hallucinogenics: Intolerable Genius: Berkeley’s Most Controversial Nobel Laureate. While this article does mention Mullis' drug use and the epiphany he had while driving which led to the invention of PCR, it does not put the two together the way Mullis' friend described.

Quote: “I had read a lot about astrophysics and had taken some psychoactive drugs, which enhanced my perceived understanding of the cosmos,” Mullis recalled in his memoir, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field.

Fittingly, Mullis’s epiphany came in his car, while driving through the hills of Mendocino County. He reasoned that by attaching two oligonucleotides to a split strand of DNA, he could isolate a desired section, such as the segment of DNA that determines sickle cell anemia.

Since Kary Mullis himself freely admitted to using hallucinogenic drugs, I hardly think that reporting this is "smearing" him. Also, I can greatly admire his work while acknowledging his personal faults.

PCR is an extremely difficult technique to learn, with a very sharp learning curve. It took me many tries before I could get it to work. When I finally overcame that barrier, it worked for me all the time. But getting there was difficult. I used to tell students that in order to get PCR to work, one must make sacrifices, preferably of something cute like an undergraduate student or a butterfly, ideally under the light of a full moon. So, yeah, I am in complete awe of the mind that not only thought of the idea but persevered to make it work.

Finally, I will end this with some links to descriptions of how PCR works. I hope they are not too technical for you.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) This Khan Academy article is meant to give an overview to freshman level college students.

Basic Molecular Biology: PCR and Real-Time PCR – Principle of PCR. This short (2m23s) video is meant to explain PCR to laypeople.

The upshot of both of these links is that without the sequence that the PCR is designed to detect, nothing happens during the PCR reaction. PCR can *only* detect something that is there.

A beginner’s guide to RT-PCR, qPCR and RT-qPCR This guide describes the differences between Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Reverse Transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The terminology can be confusing, since we usually call qPCR "real-time" PCR since the quantitative reaction is measured in real time.

No one who understands even the basics of PCR would ever believe that PCR cannot be used to identify virus species and variants within those species. But antivax screeds aren't aimed at people who have basic understanding of science, are they? They're aimed at people who barely scraped by in their high school science classes.