On the week of May 3, 2020, a documentary-style video featuring Dr. Judy Mikovits went viral on social media platforms. In the production, the former medical researcher makes multiple unfounded statements, claims, and mistruths regarding COVID-19, the US legal system, ebola, and the federal response to the crisis. It has garnered so much attention, that in the eyes of the author, it now is a public safety threat. This short brief seeks to analyze her arguments, and refute them where evidence points to the contrary.
Who is Dr. Judy Mikovits?
In 1988, Judy Mikovits started her career as a lab technician at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In less than 13 years, she became a scientist and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from George Washington University. By 2009, she was designated as the research director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) in Reno, Nevada. However, despite this massive step, her rise to power had remained inconspicuous to the larger scientific research community.
That changed in late 2009, when Dr. Mikovits helped co-author a research paper in Science, a peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that indicated murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) caused chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). For decades, researchers have struggled to find the root cause of CFS. It is a difficult and complex disorder that has been mainly characterized by extreme fatigue, thus depriving those affected from high-quality of life. Dr. Mikovits' study spurred new hope that CFS might become treatable with antivirals. In fact, some patients began to take antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV in hope of speeding up development of a breakthrough. Their efforts, however, were in vain.
Within two years, most of the research paper's claims fell apart. On January 17, 2011, an article appeared in Frontiers of Microbiology, a research journal, showing that XMRV was created accidentally at the Whittemore Peterson Institute during mouse experiments, and that there was no evidence showing it ever have infected any humans. Soon after, the results of multiple confirmation studies were released, including by WPI itself, showing that the findings of Dr. Mikovits's paper couldn’t be replicated.
In December of 2011, Science issued a retraction notice for the entire paper. Mikovits, however, refused to accept defeat, and took part in one more major replication effort. Led by Ian Lipkin of Columbia University and funded by the National Institutes of Health, this study was to be the, "definitive answer,” Mikovits declared. The study looked for XMRV in blood samples from nearly 300 people, half of whom had the disease. In the end, XMRV was not found in any of the samples. “There is no evidence that XMRV is a human pathogen,” Mikovits conceded in a 2012 press conference.
In November 2011, the Whittemore Peterson Institute filed a lawsuit against Mikovits for allegedly removing laboratory notebooks and keeping other proprietary information on her laptop, on flash drives, and in a personal email account. She was arrested in California on felony charges that she was a fugitive from justice and jailed, although she was eventually released several days later. Criminal charges against her were dropped in June of 2012.
In April of 2020, the doctor published a book, Plague of Corruption: Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science, and released the now viral video Plandemic, which is an extended interview with Mikovits.
Analyzing Plandemic
Here lie the main claims made by Dr. Mikovits in Plandemic. Presented below each claim are the findings of an investigation conducted by the Intelligence Ledger.
Claim: Dr. Mikovits has been called one of the most accomplished scientists of her generation.
In total, Mikovits has authored roughly 40 scientific papers throughout her career. Although the XMRV study garnered her a great amount of public attention, it was later proven incorrect and retracted. Her other work is not widely known in the scientific community, and is not considered revolutionary by her peers.
Claim: Her 1991 doctoral thesis radically transformed the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Mikovits’s PhD thesis, Negative Regulation of HIV Expression in Monocytes, had no perceptible or long-lasting influence on the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Claim: Dr. Mikovits published a ground-breaking report in the Science Journal. The controversial article sent shock waves through the scientific community, and it revealed that the common use of animal and human fetal tissues was unleashing devastating plagues of chronic diseases.
The research report, contrary to her claims, only attempted to show show a link between CFS and XMRV. It never even sought to address the common use of animal and human fetal tissues feeding chronic conditions.
Claim: Dr. Mikovits was held in jail, with no charges presented.
A District Attorney from Washoe County, Nevada filed criminal charges against Mikovits, accusing her of illegally retrieving computer data and property from the Whittemore Peterson Institute.
Claim: Dr. Mikovits was placed under a gag order, and was unable to defend herself in the public sphere.
Dr. Mikovits was never placed under a gag order. Instead, a judge granted a request for a temporary restraining order against Mikovits to prohibit her from "destroying, altering, disseminating, or using trade secrets and confidential information."
Claim: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice colluded to destroy Dr. Mikovits's reputation.
There is no evidence, at least from publicly available sources, that indicates such a conspiracy. Furthermore, Dr. Mikovits has not presented any evidence supporting or justifying this claim.
Claim: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, directed the cover-up and payouts.
From the release cut, its not clear what fraud or cover-up Mikovits is specifically pointing to. Once again, there is no evidence that Fauci was involved in a cover-up or that anyone was paid off with funding from him or his institute. Further, no criminal charges have ever been brought against those Mikovits alludes to.
Claim: Dr. Judy Mikovits was part of the original team that isolated HIV.
There is no publicly available evidence that she was part of the original group that first isolated the virus. Dr. Frank Ruscetti's ground breaking research on HIV and AIDS was first published in 1986, and there is no mention of her in the report. Although she would eventually publish a research paper with Ruscetti, it would not be until two years later.
Claim: Dr. Anthony Fauci intentionally slow walked drug approval for research relating HIV/AIDs, and thus caused the deaths of millions.
According to the FDA, Dr. Fauci never had any control over drug approval during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Such claims were made by the LGBTQ community because he was the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and have proven over time to be false.
Claim: COVID-19 cannot be naturally occurring, and was manipulated by men. The virus experienced accelerated viral evolution.
Judy Mikovits claims that the virus “cannot be naturally occurring” and was “manipulated.” She further claims it experienced “accelerated viral evolution.” Although the virus may have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, there is no publicly available evidence pointing to genetic engineering influencing the spread or rate of infection of COVID-19.
All the doctor's claims regarding the virus are made without her having access to a research lab or samples of the virus. Furthermore, she has not presented any scientific evidence supporting such suppositions.
Claim: Dr. Mikovits worked for the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Derrick in 1999. Work conducted by her team made it possible for Ebola to infect humans.
Ebola was first discovered in the 1970s, and confirmed cases of human infection have been recorded ever since. For example, in 1976 there was two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in more than 600 people falling sick. The assertion that the US Army had some influence in weaponizing or in transmitting the pathogen to humans is simply a denial of basic truths.
Claim: COVID-19 was created by humans prior to the outbreak in North Carolina laboratories, with the participation USAMRIID at Fort Detrick and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Although there is evidence pointing to the fact COVID-19 may have accidentally emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, there is no publicly available evidence indicating the participation of labs in North Carolina or USAMRIID in the creation of the virus. Furthermore, Dr. Mikovits has offered no evidence to support her claims.
Claim: This is not the first time vaccines or cure have been suppressed by the United States Government. Suramin, for example, was found to be a possible cure for autism. Subsequently, the US agricultural giant Monsanto utilized patent law to crush the development of a cure.
Suramin was indeed found to be a possible cure for autism. However, according to the University of California Sand Diego School of Medicine, Suramin was only given in a small, randomized clinical trial, and its effects were transient. Further attempts to replicate the advancement have proven fruitless. The original researcher, Dr. Robert Naviaux, continues to investigate Suramin and work towards developing a cure for autism unimpeded.
Claim: Natural cures for COVID-19 are being suppressed because they cannot be profited from.
Such a declaration is blatantly false. Many so-called 'natural cures' are derived from natural ingredients that pharmaceutical companies make massive profits from. American Addition Centers has done amazing research on this topic, and has proven repeatedly narcotic analgesics like codeine, oxycodone, methadone offer pharmaceutical companies the opportunity for large profit margins. If there was money to be made, they most certainly would be taking it.
Claim: Someone who received the influenza vaccine is 36% more likely to contract COVID-19.
Once again, there is no scientific evidence supporting this allegation. A study carried out of members of the Department of Defense alleged there was a link between the flu shot and a coronavirus. However, the strain of coronavirus being studied was the common cold, not COVID-19.
Claim: The COVID-19 vaccine, if made mandatory in every nation across the world, will kill millions.
There are over 70 clinical trails for different vaccines for COVID019 across the world. These are measuring the vaccines effects on the virus, and in some cases, its human host. There is not one single, deadly vaccine trial being pushed. Without a research lab, it would be impossible for Dr. Mikovits to accurately review data and conclusively say vaccines will do more harm than good.
Throughout history, vaccines have been life savers, not life takers. Many vaccines that work against respiratory viruses are on the market, including for influenza, measles, mumps, rabies, Ebola, and yellow fever.
Claim: Beaches have proven to be effective in treating COVID-19. There are healing microbes in the ocean in the salt water. Attempts to close beaches should be view warily.
There is not one publicly available study pointing to the ability of sand or salt-water to help treat COVID-19. In fact, beaches served as epicenters for the spread of the virus during spring break vacations.
Plandemic has gone viral in some circles of social media. Sadly, the people instigating the spread of this video have failed to research or are intentionally deceiving their audience. It would be wise to remember to always be critical of the information you receive, even from the Intelligence Ledger. The days of honesty in American media have come to an end, and cross-checking information for yourself has become the only means to confirm its validity.