A Chinese Communist Party military scientist with ties to the United States filed a patent for a COVID-19 vaccine well before the disease was declared a global pandemic.
Yusen Zhou, who worked for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), lodged the paperwork on behalf of the Chinese political party on February 24, 2020, according to The Australian newspaper.
Before working for the PLA, Zhou had strong ties to the US, doing postdoctoral research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and collaborating with the New York Blood Center.
That date was just five weeks after China first confirmed human transmission of the coronavirus.
Zhou is also said to have ‘worked closely’ with scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), including Shi Zhengli – the deputy director of the lab who is famous for her research on coronavirus in bats.
Zhou mysteriously died less than three months after he filed the patent. The New York Post reports that his death was only mentioned in one Chinese media report, despite the fact he was one of the country’s most prominent scientists.
Zhou had previously worked on research linked to the US institutions, including the University of Minnesota and the New York Blood Center, the Post reported.
