McCullough Foundation Receives Bird Flu Summit Censorship Demand

Bird Flu Summit organizer demands we remove video of presenter, Dr. Syra Madad

The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. … And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.

President John F. Kennedy, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City
April 27, 1961

Yesterday I was reminded of President Kennedy’s 1961 speech when we received a demand from the organizer of the International Bird Flu summit to delete a video — posted on the McCullough Foundation’s X Account—of me asking one of the panelists a few questions.

As readers may recall, last week I attended the International Bird Flu Summit with McCullough Foundation intern, Nic Hulscher, in Fairfax, Virginia, where we recorded a Q/A video to gain insight from one of the premier speakers, Dr. Syra Madad.

Yesterday we received a demand from the conference organizers, at the directive of Dr. Madad, to remove the video per their "terms and conditions.” Dr. Madad Chief Biopreparedness Officer, NYC Health + Hospitals — a public-private partnership. She spoke at a public forum about a matter of vital public interest. Our video recording of my Q&A is therefore almost certainly protected by the First Amendment. However, to avoid wasting time on a squabble over a “terms and conditions” claim vs. a First Amendment claim, we agreed to delete the video. In its place, I offer our readers the following transcript:

J. Leake: How will New York City hospitals treat it?

Dr. Madad: So I think the first thing that I'll say is, you know, right now, as we've seen in most all the cases, all patients recovered, only one required hospitalization. So the 50% case mortality luckily hasn't held up here. In the case that we've seen in the United States, there has been no deaths reported. Now, in the event that we have an unstable patient, and this is much more critical, as I mentioned, we actually have a bio-containment unit within our facility. We've utilized that bio-containment unit to treat this patient, but there are many limitations. The first is being that these bio-containment units only have a two-bed availability. If you have more than two patients, you can't use the VCU. And so this is a first and very close collaboration with the local health department. But we would initially use our bio-containment unit for the initial cases that require more extensive hospital-level care. And if it goes on from there, where there's more patients, then it would be an all-hands-on-deck approach, similar to the kind of Covid-19.

J. Leake: What kind of medications would you use to actually treat the illness?

Dr. Madad: There are antiviral medications available, so those have no stops. There's been no spot shortages, and those are the first line antiviral treatment that we use. And if we need something more, we need close collaboration with public health.

J. Leake: Would you use corticosteroids for lung inflammation, pulmonary inflammation?

Dr. Madad: So I am not a clinician, so I'm not going to answer specific questions on patient management. So I would refer that to our clinical colleagues if there's a need to utilize any storage steroid treatment.

J. Leake: Well, the reason why I ask is because during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was frustration that the hospitals seem to be adept at isolating patients and putting them on ventilators. But there seemed to be a lack of preparedness in how do we actually help these people to get better, to recover. It sounds like the first line is antivirals. Can you speak about what kind of antivirals would be used against human H5N1?

Dr. Madad: Absolutely. So this is all public knowledge, public information. It's also posted on the CDC website. There are four sign antiviral medications like Tamiflu and others that would be utilized in these instances. If additional medication and therapeutics are needed, and if it fits the criteria for treating these patients, we would work in close collaboration with our local health department. I will say, you know, as we look back at Covid-19, right? It's easy to judge healthcare systems. It's easy to judge public health on what went wrong and what didn't. But at that time, when you're in that specific situation, it's a kitchen sink approach. Right? You're trying to do whatever you can to save these patients, and you have very limited information of what works and doesn't work. And so, again, you're utilizing the best available knowledge to make that decision. And then as more resources become available and you understand what works and what doesn't work, you're able to adjust.

In other words, Dr. Madad has no idea how her hospital system could effectively treat bird flu. Antivirals like Tamiflu may have some efficacy if taken early, at the presentation of first symptoms, but it will do little to help a critically ill, hospitalized patient suffering from pulmonary inflammation, cytokine storm, and possible blood clotting.

This is one of the key lessons we learned from New York City’s abysmal COVID-19 response. I suspect that Dr. Madad has never even heard of the testimony of Drs. Pierre Kory, Paul Marik, and Harvey Risch about treating the latter, hospitalized phase of the illness—AFTER the early viral replication phase—when the patient is suffering from pulmonary inflammation and cytokine storm.

Dr. Madad is deeply imbedded within the Biopharmaceutical Complex with roles at NYC Health, Harvard, Boston University, NSABB, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She also previously served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team for COVID-19 policy. According to her Wikipedia entry, “Madad's interest in public health and infectious disease began at a young age, including after she saw the 1995 film Outbreak.”

The International Bird Flu Summit billed itself as an educational forum for disseminating information of vital interest to the public. And yet, when the McCullough Foundation attempted report the Summit’s deliberations to the public, one of its key speakers made a demand that clearly indicates her preference for secrecy and concealment.

This is consistent with the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex's wish to abolish the First Amendment What does the Complex have to hide? Why doesn’t Dr. Madad want the public to know about official policies of NYC Health + Hospitals?

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