@Rossana38510044 @threadreaderapp Actually, I've taken the time now to look at all the arguments brought forward in the above twitter thread.

Although I applaud the creativity, I am not convinced.

But before going deeper, let me first acknowledge that I respected the paper you and Yuri published, and 1/n

@threadreaderapp in general the scientific arguments being put forward here and elsewhere, instead of pure conjecture without any evidence basis.

Okay, so let's go into the thread.
I'll try to steelman your argument first and then poke holes into it.

If I summarize correctly, you are 2/

@threadreaderapp offering a potential scenario where WIV researchers tried to create a pan-CoV vaccine, be it in the form of a LAV or related strategies. Both Ratg13 and SARS-CoV-2 (and potentially other CoVs from undisclosed backbones) were part of that research effort. Some features have 3/

@threadreaderapp been engineered first as to:
I) increase the spectrum of immunicity the vaccine provokes (like introducing an 'inactive' FCS that will allow the immune system to develop defenses against FCS-containing 'wild' CoVs)
II) as a strategy to attenuate the virus (less dangerous)
4/

@threadreaderapp III) as a means to protect the LAV from re-activation via recombination with 'wild' CoVs.

To support these claims, you link to research that suggests attenuation strategies (like Baric's TRS) and the proline-induced 'glycoshild' in the FCS (although that did not work out).
5/