Johns Hopkins promoted the idea and Pfizer mentioned potential risks during trials.
In fact, a 2018 report by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Health Security floated the idea of using this type of vaccine to intentionally spread to others for “protection” against disease.
Under the section, “Self-Spreading Vaccines,” the Johns Hopkins document states, “Selfspreading vaccines are genetically engineered to move through populations like communicable diseases, but rather than causing disease, they confer protection. The vision is that a small number of individuals in a target population could be vaccinated, and the vaccine strain would then circulate in the population much like a pathogenic virus, resulting in rapid, widespread immunity.”