An update on the latest mpox fear-mongering

Recent headlines have suggested that some parts of the world, especially Europe, may be heading for another lockdown due to mpox. It was bad enough that these headlines were reported by mainstream media sources, but it’s even worse that they’ve been shared by what many people believe are ‘alternative’ media sources and therefore more likely to be ‘correct’. Sadly, this is not the case.

For example, the title of a GB News article dated 22nd August 2024 is Major lockdown update as dangerous new strain of mpox sparks global health emergency; it begins with the statement,

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an update on Europe's prospect of another lockdown as mpox spreads like wildfire.”

This clearly sounds like a worrying situation - and certainly will be worrying for people who believe in ‘dangerous viruses’ - so I decided to investigate further. First of all, I looked for the source of this claim within the article. Strangely, there is no link to any relevant WHO web page about this ‘update’. So what is the source for their claim?

Interestingly, under the heading Are we locking down? is the following,

“Commenting on the threat posed by Clade 1b, Europe regional director Doctor Hans Kluge told journalists this week that we are in a very different place to the dark days of Covid.

"Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, it's another Covid-19? The answer is clearly: 'no'," he said.”

This comment by Hans Kluge clearly does not match their headline and leaves a serious question mark over the way GB News has reported the idea of another lockdown on the horizon.

The mainstream media have also reported this story; for example, CBS News referred to the same comment by Hans Kluge, although with a slight difference,

“Kluge said the risk to the general population from the virus was low.

"Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, [as if] it's another COVID-19? The answer is clearly no," he said.”

The addition of ‘[as if]’ makes the sentence make more sense than the way it was reported in the GB News article. Nevertheless, it contains the same comment by Hans Kluge.

To find out what’s really going on, I decided to investigate the situation regarding potential ‘lockdowns’ in the European region even further. What I found was a 20th August article on the UN News web page entitled Europe can defeat mpox, must support Africa in getting vaccines: WHO. This article contains a number of significant statements that provide confirmation of the reported comments by Dr Hans Kluge,

“Briefing journalists in Geneva, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, insisted that the risk from mpox to the general population was “low”.

If anyone should know about ‘potential lockdowns’ in Europe, it ought to be Dr Kluge, the WHO regional director, who has answered the question with a resounding ‘no’, as reported in the following statement,

"Current scientific knowledge about the virus indicates that it primarily transmits through skin-to-skin contact with mpox lesions, including during sex. The UN health agency official’s reply to questions about whether Europe would experience COVID-like lockdowns was an unequivocal “no”.

So how did GB News, or any other media outlet, translate any of this into a headline that suggests that the WHO has indicated Europe may be heading for another lockdown?

Why have they helped to foment fear when there is clearly no basis for such fear, even according to the UN/WHO, which is their cited source?

I also decided to discover the validity of the claim that mpox was spreading ‘like wildfire’; the other claim in the opening sentence of the GB News article.

Again I went back to the source, the WHO website; not because I think they are the bastions of truth, but because they are cited as being the source of the information, even though no links were provided for us to check for ourselves.

There is definitely a focus by the WHO on ‘mpox’ as a matter of concern, that I am not denying; after all, they recently held a meeting about it, as can be seen by the 19th August 2024 web page entitled First meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the upsurge of mpox 2024

It’s interesting to note that children are said to be most affected and that it is claimed to occur through ‘zoonotic’ introduction.

Another section of the web page about the IHR meeting that is worth noting is,

“Representatives of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda updated the Committee on the mpox epidemiological situation in their countries and the current response efforts, needs and challenges. Although most reported few cases of MPXV clade Ib related mpox, Burundi reported one hundred confirmed cases of mpox associated with clade Ib since July 2024, identified in multiple districts and 28% of cases were amongst children less than five years of age.”

This does not sound to me like something that is spreading ‘like wildfire’.

I would highlight that ‘confirmed’ cases almost certainly refers to a positive PCR test result, which, as I have explained numerous times, is a meaningless test.

If you’d like to learn more about PCR, here’s a really good, albeit long article on the topic,

PCR and Real Time RT-PCR under critical review

I would also point out that the first alleged ‘case’ of monkeypox occurred in 1970 in the DRC; how interesting that this is where it is claimed to have erupted in 2022 and again in 2023 and now in 2024!!

I covered this in my first article about monkeypox, but the WHO claims that mpox is concentrated among ‘men who have sex with men’ - yet children seem to be the most affected. I’m still waiting for an explanation for this strange phenomenon - but won’t hold my breath.

A 22nd August BBC article entitled How worried should we be about mpox? includes the following,

As I mentioned in both my previous articles on the topic of monkeypox/mpox, Africa is rich in resources and gold is a very important resource, but not just for jewellery! It has many important properties. For example, the following can be found on the Geology Science web page entitled Gold,

I also highlighted in my previous articles the inherent hazards and dangers associated with mining activities; these include exposure to cyanide, the hazards of which are discussed in an article entitled Cyanide Use in Gold Mining.

The purpose of the WHO intervention within the African region is claimed to be to ‘help’ people; at least this is how they phrase their efforts on the web page about the first IHR meeting,

“The WHO Secretariat additionally provided an overview of the actions already taken to support readiness and response interventions in States Parties experiencing the upsurge of cases of mpox and facing such risk. These include, inter alia: the release of USD 1.45 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies; initiating the process for including Emergency Use Listing two mpox vaccines; coordinating with partners and stakeholders, including to facilitate equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics; the development of a regional response plan, costed at an initial USD 15 million, and more.”

It seems to me, however, that the overwhelming efforts of the WHO and their lackeys are aimed at interventions into those regions of Africa for the purposes of making the people in the region falsely believe they need ‘access to medicines and vaccines’. For anyone who is not familiar with the 2030 Agenda, this is the aim of SDG 3.8,

As I said in my previous article, this is not just about making money, even if implementing policies that provide access to ‘medicines and vaccines’ may make it seem to be the case. Yes, money will be made by Big Pharma if they can get their products into that region. And the ‘aid’ to be provided by the ‘WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies’ will definitely be welcomed.

Nevertheless, I still maintain that money is not the only motive. Other motives that must be considered involve increased control over people through fear, denying people freedom of choice, and false altruism.

The ‘false altruism’ I’m referring to is the idea that we in the ‘privileged West’ must help out those ‘poor people in Africa’. The idea that the WHO and other international organisations have the ‘right’ to intervene in their lives and sell them - or even give them - ‘medicines and vaccines’ that are claimed to save lives, when many of us understand that they are harmful rather than beneficial, is beyond outrageous.

Many of the problems faced by countries within Africa, as well as other parts of the world, are the result of colonialism; in other words, the result of interventions by Europeans during the 19th and 20th centuries. For example, in his book Making Peace With the Planet, Dr Barry Commoner refers to the mistaken idea that ‘developing countries’ fail to develop because of the ‘primitive’ nature of the people,

“Their characteristic condition – large and rapidly growing populations; grinding poverty; desperate efforts for economic development, now hampered by huge debts – is not the outcome of a ‘primitive’ past.”

He adds that,

“...a fact about developing countries that is often forgotten: they once were, and in the economic sense often still remain, colonies of more developed countries.”

There’s clearly far more to all of this than just invoking the consequences of colonialism, but I mention it because of the continual efforts of these ‘global’ organisations to interfere in the lives of others and to make us feel that this is the ‘right’ thing to do to ‘help’ them. We are then open to emotional blackmail and feeling that we need to support these charities and aid agencies to help others. I’m not saying we shouldn’t help others, but we need to be mindful of how we do this and why we think they ‘need’ our help.

As I mentioned in an earlier article, we need to remain vigilant so that we do not fall for these fear-mongering headlines without exercising due diligence and doing our own ‘fact-checking’, no matter what the source of the information. We also need to be aware of the ‘bigger picture’ but without falling into fear - yes, it’s a real balancing act and one that I’ll readily admit is not always easy to maintain.

So yes - please do your own research to ‘fact check’ my articles too. I don’t pretend to be infallible or to know everything. Having said that though, I do my best to look more deeply into a topic before sharing the information I discover.

If you missed them here are my previous articles on monkeypox/mpox: