Highlights:
- Wastewater is no longer waste. There is career to be made and profit to be earned!
- The government plays ball and issues instructions for mock drills and Covid-19 preparedness.
- Guidelines for International Travel give pride of place to vaccination for prevention of Covid-19
- American ambiguity to mRNA vaccines, strikes down some, approves others.
- Universal Health Organisation (UHO) Weekly Newsletter – 06 June 2025
Download: https://uho.org.in/nl/2025-06-06-newsletter.pdf
Website: https://uho.org.in
Dr. Amitav Banerjee, the chairman of UHO, said Today, there are a few key issues. The first issue is that wastewater—sewage water, which contains human waste, can actually become a career opportunity and a source of profit. The COVID era has taught us this. We will discuss how you can build a job and generate profit from sewage water. So, the first topic is: what exactly is in sewage water? What are we looking for in it? The new COVID-19 virus variant, which is becoming milder, and remnants of the common cold are being monitored to detect any new variants.
The second issue is that on one hand, headlines are reporting that the coronavirus and new mutants are being found in sewage water, while on the other hand, the government—both central and state—is issuing COVID alerts everywhere. Preparations are underway, including mock drills and oxygen supply readiness. That is the second issue.
The third issue involves international coordination. Various agencies, whose identities are unclear, have issued guidelines stating that in countries where COVID cases are currently rising—such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and India—travelers must prioritize vaccination as the primary prevention method. We will discuss this in more detail later.
Finally, there is ongoing debate in the United States regarding mRNA vaccines. Some mRNA vaccines have been restricted due to safety concerns expressed by the American government, while at the same time, some new mRNA vaccines have been approved. We will talk about this as well.
Let us start with the first issue: what is happening with sewage water? How can it become a treasure trove? We are saying that sewage water is not waste; it can provide employment and profit. On one hand, testing is increasing, and COVID case counts are being inflated by pulling in more data. On the other hand, even deaths caused by other factors are being labeled as COVID deaths if the person tested positive. That is one approach.
Another headline is that experts are now compelled or pushed to conduct surveillance of wastewater. Experts, including a professor from Ashoka University, have advised that testing sewage water is very important to detect the presence of new variants. Multiple variants of the virus have been detected in sewage samples. This is being reported as a crisis, but the background is that sewage treatment plants collect wastewater, and since August 2021, samples have been collected and tested intermittently. This work has been ongoing for four years.
Recently, as cases increased, they retested stored water samples for the virus and found SARS-CoV-2 in sewage water. Headlines have emerged about rising COVID cases, and experts say this is routine work that was established four years ago by the Rockefeller Foundation and some elite scientific institutions. For example, the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune is conducting such tests, as are other institutions in various cities, to monitor the concentration of the virus in wastewater to predict future waves or crises and identify new variants.
A professor from Ashoka University, a leading institution, is advising on this work. While the Rockefeller Foundation set this up four years ago, our view at UHO is that it is good to know whether pathogens exist in sewage water or not. But if you want to research sewage water, you should also focus on diseases that cause significant mortality here. In India, 2,000 children die daily from diarrhea. Meanwhile, in Pune, you are detecting COVID-19 virus variants that currently have a 99.99% survival rate and zero percent mortality among healthy individuals. If you classify every death with comorbidities as COVID-19, that is scientifically dishonest.
We would even argue that when certifying deaths if multiple viruses are present, why do you single out one virus repeatedly? Why are you only testing sewage water for COVID? What about other pathogens responsible for diarrheal diseases, such as viruses, bacteria like those causing amoebiasis, viral hepatitis, and recently Campylobacter contamination that led to over 200 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Pune? When leptospirosis cases rise during monsoon, why does the focus remain solely on COVID, consuming so many resources?
If you identify viruses in sewage water, you can also understand the burden of other, far more deadly diseases prevalent in our country. Waterborne diseases are a major problem here. Why not monitor and conduct surveillance for all these diseases instead of only doing what the Rockefeller Foundation prescribes? These diseases, such as diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis, and leptospirosis, are not major problems in their countries, so they focus on COVID-19 in sewage water. But we need to think more sensibly.
This is common sense, and we want to record that while monitoring sewage water is a good method, it should be applied to all diseases, especially those that are more deadly. That is the first issue.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of emphasis on COVID-19, and the government is issuing such headlines frequently. The government has even connected the DOTS system so that any informed citizen can see that the virus is present in sewage water. Daily headlines report new cases and deaths. More on this later.
No one looks into whether deaths have occurred with comorbidities. So just imagine how panicked people will get. And what orders is the government giving? To maintain the temperature and keep the propaganda and panic going, the government has already instructed all the state governments. They are even holding meetings in between, saying that the COVID wave has crossed the 4,000 mark, heading towards 4,000–5,000. They say that every state should have oxygen cylinders, beds, ventilators, and essential medicines everywhere. That’s a good thing, but why aren’t there essential medicines for TB? Last year, for five months, TB medicines were unavailable, and 1,400 people died daily from TB. There are no beds. According to the latest report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, there is a 40% to 60% shortage of medical staff. Even in government medical colleges, doctors and nurses are lacking by as much as 50%. This has been going on for years and years. So with other illnesses—and now for COVID—if you conduct a mock drill, what worries us is that you are doing a mock drill for a disease that currently has a mortality rate of 5% to 13% with the first variant of the virus.
It’s even lower now; the mortality has decreased by ten times. Only 5% of our population is over 70 years old; 95% of people here are at zero risk—they are healthy and fine. Deaths are occurring with comorbidities, so you should have facilities to treat diabetes and high blood pressure. These medicines were in the news just yesterday—there is a shortage of medicines at primary health centers, secondary health centers, and district hospitals. The primary majority of the population does not have access to these facilities. These medicines are required to treat other illnesses, which increase the chances of death from COVID. Is COVID death incidental? The virus is everywhere, and 25,000 people die daily from various causes, including age. If you consider that, COVID death doesn’t mean much. As of now, it’s just like any viral infection; there are many viruses and flu strains. Our point is that if the government is issuing orders, that’s good, but why not give these orders year-round for other illnesses and infections that have 10 to 100 times higher mortality than COVID and continue to cause daily deaths, such as TB where thousands die daily, and 2,000 children die daily? This is just the peak. Cases are rising due to the peak. What is the common cold called? It’s called “common” because it spreads widely among common people throughout the month. That’s why it’s called the common cold. Coronavirus is a family, and this is the fifth member of that family. It will remain common, and deaths will occur from it. You are issuing incorrect death certifications. So the government has raised another level of panic.
On June 5th, there was a mock drill, and a report was requested. Doctors are saying there are shortages. They will only prepare for the mock drill. Genuine patients and other serious patients will be neglected, and that will be documented in the report. Then people will come to see it. So why are you spending so much on a disease that is very mild? Along with this, a headline came out about guidelines for international travel, giving priority to vaccination for the prevention of COVID-19. The first method is international travel guidelines. There are agencies that make international travel guidelines recommending vaccines as the best defense. Even now, what is considered the best defense? Vaccination against COVID. Okay, vaccines are the best. But if we accept that vaccines are the best, what about the new variants like JN1 and its subvariants NB 1.8.1 and LF? These variants have spread widely but are milder, with mortality 10 times less than the original variant. These vaccines don’t work effectively against these variants. How will the original vaccine work as a booster? Singapore and Hong Kong have recommended boosters, India has given extra doses of vaccines, but India has not formally recommended boosters. So it’s good that the Indian government is perhaps slowly realizing this.
International guidelines are coming in, and luckily, no movement restrictions or lockdowns have been imposed yet. However, the travel guidelines say it’s better for high-risk people not to travel to countries where cases are increasing. But the main focus is still on vaccines. As far as I know, a new vaccine has been developed—the new mRNA vaccine recently recommended in the US—which may work against JN1. Possibly, in India, collaboration with Novavax, which works against JN1 and other variants, is underway. This may be the strategy they are preparing.
The last issue is about mRNA vaccines. The American FDA and NIH directors recently changed, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed concern about the safety of mRNA vaccines, which are gene-based products, saying they have not been properly tested for safety and recommending a halt. Earlier, there was a lot of concern about H5N1 bird flu before Trump’s administration, with warnings of a possible pandemic. It spread in poultry and cattle herds, dairy farms, and about 70 people who worked with poultry or cattle were infected. This was animal-to-human transmission. Out of those 70, one elderly person with comorbidities died. Most of the others had mild symptoms like conjunctivitis (red eyes), mild allergy-like symptoms, or a mild cold, and recovered on their own. This has been going on for about a year and a half.
Questions arise about why there is so much panic about bird flu. An mRNA vaccine was being developed for bird flu, possibly by Moderna. Once the vaccine was ready, bird flu could have become a mass vaccination risk. However, they have now stopped mRNA vaccine development for bird flu by order of the Trump administration due to safety concerns. So that’s one story.
Because of these safety concerns, they did two things. First, they recommended stopping the bird flu vaccine. Second, they suspended recommendations for COVID mRNA vaccines for children aged six months and older, including pregnant women, in the US. The FDA has halted these recommendations. They also passed laws advising not to give the bird flu vaccine to children and pregnant women. Meanwhile, they approved another mRNA vaccine called mRNA-126, the “M-Next Spike,” against COVID-19 for adults 65 years and older and individuals aged 12 to 64 with risk factors. So, while some vaccines were stopped, new ones were approved.
This is somewhat encouraging and should build trust, although our organization (UHO) is cautious. We are glad that progress is being made slowly and steadily toward safety, even as some steps are taken backward. President Trump himself admitted that big pharma has had control over the American government and policymakers for many years and decades, so cleaning that up will take time. There have been efforts to clean up quickly, with some FDA and CDC officials removed, but it will still take time. Gathering too many things at once does not help; it only reduces confidence because the roots are deep. People in America have more trust in vaccines than in our country because they are very technology-oriented, so changes will be gradual and not overnight. Probably not all vaccines will be stopped. mRNA vaccines received a big push—even a Nobel Prize was awarded last year. So pushing back on them will take time, even for the US.
These were some of today’s points. Finally, I would like to request that UHO is a registered non-governmental organization trying to operate on crowdfunding because we do not want sponsorship from pharma companies or political parties that might create conflicts of interest or pressure. We want to remain independent, so if you wish to contribute, you can do so via crowdfunding. I will share the scan now. Thank you. That’s all for today.