A group of top scientists funded by some of the billionaires in the US claim to have an answer to the coronavirus pandemic. According to reports, the group has submitted a 17-page report to the White House discreetly in which they have made specific recommendations, including unorthodox measures to combat the coronavirus.
The dozen scientists who call themselves Scientists to Stop Covid-19 are led by 33-year-old physician-turned-venture capitalist Dr Tom Cahill. The team is said to be devising a plan which they refer to as the Manhattan Project for the fight against the coronavirus.
The report made a backdoor entry and has been delivered to Vice President Mike Pence and some other cabinet members, according to the Washington Post.
The Manhattan Project emerged during World War II which served as the ground to develop the nuclear weapon that destroyed several lives. In the present scenario, the scientists refer to the idea as a war against the coronavirus.
The group includes chemical biologists, an immunobiologist, a neurobiologist, a chronobiologist, an oncologist, a gastroenterologist, an epidemiologist and a nuclear scientist.
Well connected to Donald Trump
The group of scientists, billionaires, and Nobel Prize winners are well connected to US President Donald Trump. The plan is said to be consisting of four stages about how to develop treatments after assessing the experience of several countries. It is also said to be having a plan about how to fast-track a vaccine for the coronavirus.
They are reported to have discussed testing, treating, tracing, and curing the novel coronavirus in the country.
"We are a group of passionate citizen-scientists who offer four actionable, non-partisan proposals to produce safe and effective COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines in the shortest possible timeframe and to reopen our society in a manner that reduces the risk of future COVID-19 outbreaks," the group told the Washington Post.
The report said that Cahill first came together with the group in March. Some of the investors that Cahill sought involved the country's vice president's close aide.
The group wants the government to ramp up efforts in several areas which include understanding the drug Remdesivir through studies and research. It also wants increase in the efforts on anti-body therapy and a short-term vaccine.
The group has also dwelt on easing the lockdown as well.
As many as 988,000 cases have been recorded in the US. Some experts believe that the first wave of the coronavirus was slowed down by the lockdown but the country should be cautious until the vaccine arrives. It is unclear whether Trump and the Task Force have been made aware of the proposal or gone through the reports.
