President Biden on Thursday called on state and local governments to use funds from his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to offer $100 payments to individuals in order to incentivize coronavirus vaccinations.
The payments would be offered to newly vaccinated Americans to provide “an extra incentive to boost vaccination rates, protect communities, and save lives,” the Treasury Department said in an announcement Thursday afternoon.
“Treasury stands ready to give technical assistance to state and local governments so that they may use the funds effectively to support increased vaccination in their communities, and Treasury will partner with the Department of Health and Human Services throughout this effort,” it said.
Well, it's called exploitation. Prey on those that live week to week and desperately need $. This administration is pathetic, evil, and illegal.
How about instead of a one-time $100 payout to get the injection, why not .gov promise to pay for all related medical bills resulting from adverse reactions to the wu-Flu jab. That would equal somewhere around $100,000 minimum per person.... which might be a better incentive.
$100 isn’t enough
$1,000 isn’t enough
$1,000,000 isn’t enough.
Wait until you need to show proof of vaccination to renew your driver's license, register your car, renew your passport, get a marriage license, and even get your tax refund.
Everything that you need from the government, except to vote..that would be racist. That's why resisting now is so important.
This all reeks of fear and desperation.
Their narrative is coming undone. Too much information is leaking out of their tech-censored bubble.
Meanwhile Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine generated $7.8 billion in revenue in the second quarter
And all those who already got the vaccine, before the incentive - you are . . . (to be continued)
Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment of a misguided attempt at generating new publicity for something once, but no longer, widely popular; the attempt serves instead to highlight the irrelevance of what it intends to promote.
We’ve got to start respecting people who choose not to get the vaccine instead of demonizing them.
Anthony Fauci has been saying that the country needs to vaccinate 70% to 85% of the population to reach herd immunity from Covid-19. But he inexplicably ignores natural immunity. If you account for previous infections, herd immunity is likely close at hand.
The news about the U.S. Covid pandemic is even better than you’ve heard. Some 80% to 85% of American adults are immune to the virus: More than 64% have received at least one vaccine dose and, of those who haven’t, roughly half have natural immunity from prior infection. There’s ample scientific evidence that natural immunity is effective and durable, and public-health leaders should pay it heed.
Natural immunity is durable. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis reported last month that 11 months after a mild infection immune cells were still capable of producing protective antibodies. The authors concluded that prior Covid infection induces a “robust” and “long-lived humoral immune response,” leading some scientists to suggest that natural immunity is probably lifelong. Because infection began months earlier than vaccination, we have more follow-up data on the duration of natural immunity than on vaccinated immunity.
Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic published a study this week of 1,359 people previously infected with Covid who were unvaccinated. None of the subjects subsequently became infected, leading the researchers to conclude that “individuals who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection are unlikely to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination.”
What’s the harm of underestimating or disregarding the protection afforded by natural immunity? It almost certainly cost American lives by misallocating vaccine doses earlier this year, and is still doing so in countries where Covid is prevalent and shots are scarce. It continues to delay full reopening and prolongs the state of fear that has many people wearing masks even when there’s no mandate, or reason, to do so.
Dr. Fauci said last Aug. 13 that when you have fewer than 10 cases per 100,000, “you should be able to open up safely and clearly.” The U.S. reached that point in mid-May. It’s time to stop the fear mongering and level with the public about the incredible capabilities of both modern medical research and the human body’s immune system.
As we are once again bombarded with accusations of "ignoring the science" - when even the head of CDC cannot show the "science" she is using to back her decision to make America mask-up again - and suggesting that natural immunity is not enough (you must still get the jab) as policymakers appear to be heading towards the tyrannical control required to achieve "ZeroCOVID" - an impossible dream (that enables trillions more in stimmies and more and more dependence on government handouts.
Ahh yes . . natural immunity may be durable, but it isn't profitable.
150,000+ people across France protested against a bill requiring everyone to have a special virus pass to enter restaurants and mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all health care workers. Police fired water cannons and tear gas on rowdy protesters in Paris.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Athens, Greece and other Greek cities over plans to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all health workers.
Hundreds of people marched in Cape Town, South Africa to protest against the COVID-19 vaccines. They say they want their constitutional right to freedom of association respected. They have decried, what they say is information censorship against voices that do not accept the dominant narrative on COVID-19 and vaccines.
"We say 'No to the Green Pass' because it creates A series citizens and B series citizens. Citizens who have rights and citizens who have no rights. This is against the Italian Constitution. It is a liberticidal and undemocratic measure," one protester argued in Italy.
Biden’s motorcade is met with jeers and middle fingers at his visit to Allentown, PA
Thousands of protesters took to streets in Sydney, Australia demanding an end to lockdown enforcement. Protesters violated Covid restrictions, chanting slogans of ‘freedom’ in an area that was declared a Covid hotspot. While anti-vaccination sentiments were at the forefront in Brisbane, Melbourne protests echoed with anti-lockdown slogans.Protest against Trinity Health vaccine mandate in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Hundreds of hospital workers showed up at the state Capitol on Wednesday to protest two of the largest health care providers in Arizona mandating getting vaccinated.California’s Capitol was buzzing Monday with people protesting a bill that would make it harder to get a medical exemption for vaccinating their children. Every year, tens of thousands of Americans get sick from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines – some people are hospitalized, some even die. Immunization is our best protection against these diseases.
NFL wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, Cole Beasley spoke to the media about his stance on the COIVD 19 and his interactions on social media. Cole Beasley is concerned for the younger NFL players who feel pressure to take the vaccine for fear of being cut if they refuse to take it.
I support Cole Beasley's choice 110 percent. It is extremely wrong and inhumane to force players to either take an experimental drug or be cut. By doing this, the league is indirectly making the vaccine mandatory by putting measures in place to force individuals to take it.
Cole Beasley says he is prepared to walk away from the NFL, "My values are more important to me than a dollar" The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed upon new COVID-19 protocols for training camp and the preseason.
The government likes to use a "gain of function" research term. What does this mean? It means creating a "super virus" in a lab for research purposes. The question is does creating a spike protein on a virus escape from a lab in Wuhan, China?
Dr. Fauci has eleven NIH labs creating "super viruses" in the United States. Did this capability go to Wuhan, China?
Rand Paul Points Out How Fauci Intimidates Other Scientists Into Silence: “He has been [at NIH] for 40 years; probably 39 years too long. But he controls all the funding,” Paul said. “So, people are deathly afraid of him... to cross him means it’s the last money you’ll ever get.”
Some of the city’s largest agencies have lower vaccination rates than the general public. Of NYPD’s 54,000 uniformed and civilian workforce, only 43% are vaccinated, the New York Post reported last week, also finding that the FDNY has a 55% vaccination rate. Roughly 42% of city Department of Correction workers are vaccinated, the agency told THE CITY, based on the information it has about those who were vaccinated in the five boroughs.
Both the city’s 135,000 public school employees and 42,000 public hospital workers have a 60% vaccination rate. An MTA spokesperson estimated 65% to 70% of the transit agency’s 65,000 employees have received the vaccine.
Maybe a decent number of NYPD and FDNY personnel voted for Trump. But it’s hard to believe there are many Republicans, registered or self-identified, among the ranks of the workforces of the MTA, city hospitals, or the city’s public schools.
And that last one is a strong argument for metaphorically burning teachers’ unions to the ground and salting the earth where they once stood. For the past eighteen months, teachers’ unions across the country and in New York City insisted that school buildings could not be reopened because the threat of COVID-19 infection to teachers, administrators, and other staff was just too high.
In New York state, teachers became eligible for vaccination back on January 11! And almost eight months later, 40 percent of city Department of Education employees remain unvaccinated? Clearly, these educators were not all that worried about catching COVID-19. Apparently, the fear of the coronavirus was just powerful enough to make returning to the classrooms unthinkable, but not quite so powerful enough to get them to get off their butts and go get vaccinated.
If the mainstream media wants to shame some people for not getting vaccinated, they don’t have to look through the social media posts of members of the Hillsong church.
At today's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called for an amendment to a bill to prohibit US participation in a vaccine passport.
People are infuriated by the CDC's response to vaccines and science has become politized and has no credibility. Government, science, and health experts have allowed politics to trump science and data.
No mask mandates, no vaccine mandates.
This is the best thing our Government has done in the last 2 years.
Covid kills people but far fewer than the official count
Government Response
Trump botched the Covid 19 response costing many lives
Almost all officials in government have botched the Covid 19 response, costing many lives
Prevention
Many deaths were preventable if we’d tested, masked, tracked and locked down better
Most deaths were preventable if we had investigated and deployed early treatments including vitamin D, zinc, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin
Vaccines
Vaccines are good and have eradicated polio, measles, whooping cough and other diseases
The Covid 19 vaccines however are not actually vaccines but gene therapy and have not been adequately tested
Vaccine Side Effects
Vaccines against Covid 19 are safe and effective and have saved many lives with only minor, acceptable adverse reactions
The Covid 19 vaccines have serious side effects including death and other as yet unknown consequences which are not being investigated and are suppressed by the media
Treatments
There are no effective treatments for Covid besides the vaccines
We need to defeat Covid 19 and the best way to do this is through early outpatient treatment with known, effective drugs and known drug protocols for hospitalized patients
How Does It Spread?
Covid is spread by droplets and aerosols from infected people, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, and can be spread through momentary casual contact both indoors and outdoors
Covid 19 is primarily spread by aerosols from symptomatic and pre-symptomatic people, mostly in indoor situations with poor ventilation where peoples spend a long time together
Children
Children and young adults are at risk from Covid and can spread the disease and should take the same precautions and measures as adults
Children and young adults are at low risk from Covid 19 and need to take fewer precautions and measures but should be treated with drug protocols if infected
Stopping It
We need to do whatever it takes to defeat Covid including frequent testing, mass vaccination, continued lockdowns, and wearing masks
Masks, distancing and lockdowns are mostly ineffective
Regulatory Government Agencies
The best information comes from the CDC, FDA and NIH
The CDC, FDA, and NIH are largely compromised because of their association with and funding by drug companies
Health & Safety Warnings
As usual, conspiracy theorists and nut-jobs abound
The best information comes from front line doctors who actually treat patients and experienced researchers who have no financial interest in big pharma
Mainstream Media Trust
The mainstream media warns us of the dangers of Covid but unfortunately many do not take these warnings seriously
The mainstream media is also compromised by their association with big pharma and the government
Vaccine
Anti-vaxxers are against all vaccines and now also against the Covid vaccines
People who insist that the vaccines are the only way to fight Covid have believed lies told to them by the MSM from big pharma and a corrupt medical establishment
Censorship
Anti-vaxxers have believed phony information disseminated by scurrilous, right-wing charlatans
The truth about Covid is suppressed and labeled conspiracy theory in order to support the mainstream narrative
Who is to blame?
Anti-vaxxers cost many lives and are the reason Covid still spreads and mutates
The vaccine narrative has cost many lives and ineffective vaccines are responsible for the continued spread and mutation of Covid
Economy
Unvaxxed are responsible for continued lockdowns and the further decimation of the economy
The fallacious mainstream narrative is responsible for all lockdowns and the decimation of the economy
Motivations
They are selfish, evil and anti-science
The people who push the mainstream narrative are evil and anti-science; The people who believe this narrative is naive, dogmatic and anti-science
Money & Power
The Covid response is all about trying to get us back to normal as quickly as possible
The Covid response is all about money, power, and control
Dr Bryan Ardis - Hospital Protocol Is What Is Murdering "Covid" Flu Patients
Constant bombardment with this question! Workplaces asking if you are vaccinated. Thankfully most workplaces are giving you the option to not disclose in the U.S..
Co-worker: "Have you been vaccinated?"
My best friend: "Have you been vaccinated?"
Clients: "Have you been vaccinated?"
Neighbors: "Have you been vaccinated?"
My sister: "Have you been vaccinated?"
Random person on the street (I shit you not): "Have you been vaccinated?"
None of your business! I don't go around asking people to reveal their medical history to random strangers. What the hell happened to the concept of personal integrity?
I really think this is one of the greatest losses that the "pandemic" has provided. People feel entitled to intrude on others' medical history and personal life in general. And they're encouraged to do so both by the state and the media.
It's sick. It's genuinely sick.
I am going to start asking people if they have any STDs when they ask me if I am vaxxed.
Ask them if (female) they have ever had an abortion (male) or paid for abortion it starts getting real uncomfortable.
I’m losing hope. Every single person around me is caving to the pressure. Why can’t they see that we are already living in tyranny? They “are tired of stressing about it.” They are afraid of losing rights so they just do it. That’s insane. I’m very sad about this.
People are so desperate to return to normality that they are willing to jump through any hoop. They don’t realize that this was called the new normal for a reason and they can’t escape it by doing as they are told.
Why not just ignore everyone and move on with our lives. If covid gets worse and non vaxx get hurt we’ll deal with it. If covid gets worse and vaxx doesn’t help against new strain? We’ll deal with it.
After getting the Moderna vaccine Jimmy Dore's symptoms included had body aches, flu-like fever, body aches, joint pain, stiff neck, and brain swelling. His doctor says the spike proteins are causing inflammation.
He is currently on medication to treat these symptoms. Since April 24, 2021 he still has the long-haul symptoms. Jimmy has an underlying health problem as he states in this video. He trusted his doctor.
I had my second Moderna shot last Saturday, I am still experiencing flulike symptoms, bodyaches, mild headaches, & waves of exhaustion that come out of nowhere. Should I be concerned that this is lasting for a week? Anybody else have similar experience?
In 2021, spending on digital advertising in the healthcare and pharma industry will grow by 18% to reach $11.25 billion, making it the fastest-growing industry and next is computing products and consumer electronics.
What’s driving overall healthcare and pharma digital ad spending growth?
Dollars are being spent on advertising related to COVID-19, as public health organizations and private medical institutions raised awareness around testing, safety measures, and other pandemic-related information. The crisis also led to an influx of marketing around medical supplies, consumer adoption of telemedicine, and regional advertising for reopening doctor’s offices and medical clinics.
What is healthcare and pharma’s share of total US digital ad spending?
Healthcare and pharma will make up 7.1% of all US digital ad spending, which is much smaller than top spenders like retail (21.0%) and financial services (14.6%), but larger than entertainment (5.2%), media (4.7%), and travel (2.4%).
Which ad format is growing the fastest?
Spending on display will grow 15.7% in 2020, reaching $4.04 billion, making it the fastest-growing format in healthcare and pharma. However, 55.6% of digital spending will go toward search, compared with 42.4% going toward display.
How much is spent on mobile compared with desktop?
While the majority of healthcare and pharma’s digital spending goes toward mobile (57.5%), this vertical spends below the average for all industries (which is 68.0%). Healthcare and pharma’s share of spending allocated to desktop/laptop is higher than average, at 42.5% this year.
WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report details our annual forecast of US healthcare and pharma digital ad spending. It includes a comprehensive overview of total digital ad spending, as well as estimates by channel, device, and format.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged labs this week to stock clinics with kits that can test for both the coronavirus and the flu as the "influenza season" draws near.
The CDC said Wednesday it will withdraw its request for the "Emergency Use Authorization" of real-time diagnostic testing kits, which were used starting in February 2020 to detect signs of the coronavirus, by the end of the year.
"CDC is providing this advance notice for clinical laboratories to have adequate time to select and implement one of the many FDA-authorized alternatives," the agency said.
The U.S. has reported more than 34.4 million cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began in 2020 and more than 610,000 deaths.
But while cases of COVID-19 soared nationwide, hospitalizations and deaths caused by influenza dropped.
According to data released by the CDC earlier this month, influenza mortality rates were significantly lower throughout 2020 than in previous years.
There were 646 deaths relating to the flu among adults reported in 2020, whereas in 2019 the CDC estimated that between 24,000 and 62,000 people died from influenza-related illnesses.
The CDC urged laboratories to "save both time and resources" by introducing kits that can determine and distinguish a positive test for the coronavirus and flu.
"CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses," the agency said Wednesday.
Laboratories will have until the close of 2021 before the CDC officially withdrawals its Emergency Use Authorization of the Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel.
A source from Gov. Newsom’s $100 million labs explained to the Globe in February about the high number of false-positive PCR tests:
“Results from a positive PCR test should be considered as a preliminary result only and doesn’t determine an active infection or hospitalization rates. Doctors typically order these tests when a patient shows symptoms and the doctor suspects the patient has a high probability of having the disease. Once a result comes back positive, it must be confirmed with another test in order to be considered definitive.
The concern with Covid screening is that none of these steps are taken. A positive PCR has little clinical significance and increases our case numbers without confirming the presence of an active infection. Without the expertise of a physician and a confirmatory assay, there is no way to determine if this is a true positive result.”
The Globe also reported on three doctors in Contra Costa County who were concerned with the excessive COVID PCR testing leading to high numbers of false-positive results. Dr. Michael deBoisblanc, Dr. Pete Mazolewski, and Dr. Brian Hopkins explain:
“PCR testing has proven to be seriously flawed when used to track disease prevalence, and the number of false-positive tests has contributed to fear panic and unnecessary quarantine of many. The peer review of the original Corman-Drosten PCR paper points out the serious flaws and conflicts of interest in the original article describing the PCR test (Peter Borger Et al., 11/27/2020). This paper is the basis for the PCR test used in the United States. On January 21, 2021, the World Health Organization published directions on the interpretation of a positive PCR test. They now caution about calling a test “positive” without symptoms, a confirmatory test, and physician oversight. They also cite the serious problems with high cycle thresholds leading to a high number of false positives. In short, they agree with what we argued last month.”
“With this information, your COVID positive case numbers are highly suspect, and using this data to determine which tier the population falls into has been, and continues to be, completely unreliable and arbitrary. Our recommendation is to move forward quickly with rapid antigen testing. These tests are less expensive and more appropriately sensitive to detect people with active, contagious disease.”
Frightening Quote from NY Governor Cuomo "We have to knock on those doors, and we have to convince people, put them in cars & drive them and get that vaccine in their arm. That is the mission."
Am I vaccinated? Do I need to tell everyone who asks about my vaccine status? NO!
Legally, a vaccinated person is not required to share that information with everyone who asks, says Jennifer Piatt, an attorney and research scholar at the Center for Public Health Law and Policy Health. "Information may be deeply personal for some people, and they may choose not to share that information openly."
There is no legal requirement that individuals must disclose their vaccination status publicly, Piatt says, or to all interested persons. "An individual can set [their] own boundaries with respect to what information they are comfortable sharing with others."
That said, says Piatt, vaccination information may be required in certain situations.
For example, schools require information about childhood vaccinations for public safety purposes. In addition, employers generally may be able to ask about vaccine status for safety and planning purposes, barring contrary state or local laws.
California looks like they are slipping down a slope of unethical mandates.
c19vaxreactions.com is a large and ever-growing group of Americans who were previously healthy and have been seriously injured by the COVID vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J as well as Astra Zeneca in the clinical trial stage in the United States).
We are pro-vaccine, pro-science and were excited for the opportunity to be vaccinated and to do our part in helping to end the pandemic.
A group was formed to reach out to the medical community and government to acknowledge problems are happening.
Mom describes her daughter’s bad COVID vaccine reaction, says she’s now in a wheelchair. Mother Stephanie De Garay joins ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss how her 12-year-old daughter volunteered for the Pfizer vaccine trial and is now in a wheelchair.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded an MIT "quantum dots" project to track vaccines and could be delivered to the skin to record vaccinations.
Conspiracy theories need just the right ingredients to take off within a population, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a breeding ground for them. A Pew Research Center survey recently asked people if they had heard the theory that the COVID-19 outbreak was intentionally planned by people in power. Seventy-one percent of U.S. adults said they had. And a third of those respondents said it was "definitely" or "probably" true.
One version of this theory goes something like this: The COVID-19 pandemic is part of a strategy conceived by global elites — such as Bill Gates — to roll-out vaccinations with tracking chips that would later be activated by 5G, the technology used by cellular networks.
Residents of Palm Beach County, Fla., cited it in a county commissioner's hearing in late June when voicing their opposition to mandatory mask enforcement. "Six feet ... is military protocol. You're trying to get people to train them, so when the cameras, the 5G comes out, what? They are going to scan everybody? We've got to get scanned? We've got to get temperature? ... Are you insane?" asked Cristina Gomez, one of the residents who attended the hearing. She even mentioned Gates by name, asking the commissioners why he is not in jail.
Molly, 24, who lives in Kentucky and asked that her last name not be used, said earlier this spring, her sister told her she did not intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine because she believed it contained microchips. Molly said she was shocked.
"I was like, what are you talking about? That's not true. And she's like, 'Oh well, you know so much about science.' I'm like, I know that there's no microchips in vaccines." She said the conversation spiraled into a fight. "Then I just went upstairs and cried because we are best friends. And now since this, we basically haven't talked about COVID or what's going on at all."
Otis Hart, 42, in New York City sought the help of a tinnitus therapist in May following an ear injury. At the end of his session, Hart shared that he was looking into getting a better Internet connection. "[My therapist] said that things like 5G [are] responsible for some terrible things going on," Hart said. "And he connected 5G with the coronavirus pandemic." Hart said he stopped seeing him after this appointment.
NPR talked to more than a dozen people who said they had similar experiences. So how did this particular theory come to be?
The first ingredient of a good conspiracy is a plausible element. Not one that's necessarily true, just plausible. In this case, the tracking chips. In December, a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers published a paper in the medical journal Science Translational Medicine detailing how something called "quantum dots" could be delivered to the skin to record vaccinations.
Kevin McHugh, now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice University and the lead researcher on the project, said he's baffled by the idea that his project involves tracking chips. "There's no microchips at all," he said. "I don't even know where that comes from. All the quantum dots [do is] produce light."
The technology, tested on rats, has not yet been tested on humans. McHugh said the dot signals a patient has received a vaccine in an effort to keep an accurate record.
"It is really difficult to determine who has received what vaccines in the developing world because there is not good record-keeping," McHugh said. "So the idea is, can we actually have something that could inform a health care worker what vaccines have been administered and therefore which ones are still needed?"
Funding for the project was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which brings us to the second ingredient of a good conspiracy theory: a real person, someone powerful — and rich.
Kate Starbird, an associate professor at the University of Washington, who has studied misinformation during crisis events, said conspiracy theories use the same elements and plug in different actors.
"A rich person controls the world and they want to do bad things so they can continue controlling the world," she said. "Sometimes it's George Soros. Now it's Bill Gates. So, they just move that person over."
But why Gates this time?
Steven Brill is the founder of NewsGuard, a company that tracks false information. He said there are two reasons: The Gates Foundation funds global vaccination research and drives, and Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft Corp.
"So you have the anti-vaxxer movement targeting Bill Gates as well as the anti-tech movement," Brill said.
The anti-tech movement brings us to the final ingredient of a good conspiracy theory: an element that makes it go viral. In this case, the fear of 5G and the power of social media.
Joseph Downing, a fellow at the London School of Economics, studied the origins of the 5G conspiracy theory on social media and said he and his colleagues were able to track down the exact account that turned this conspiracy theory into a trending topic on Twitter.
The account was @5gcoronavirus19, which sent out 303 tweets in seven days.
"So you've got somebody here who understands a way of, in effect, kind of manipulating the social media landscape," Downing said.
It's unclear who operated the @5gcoronavirus19 account, which has since been taken down. But it managed to create such momentum that other platforms picked it up from there. Downing said someone doesn't need to have a huge following to do that; they just need to know how the algorithm works.
"One thing that we found that was really important was that people were tagging President Trump in their tweets. And that was enough to gain traction," he said.
Enough traction that more than 70 cellphone towers were set on fire in the United Kingdom in April and May because of their alleged link to the spread of the virus, Mobile UK, which represents Britain's four mobile operators, told Business Insider in May.
"In the [time of] COVID-19, when we can see [that] a large number of people begin to believe these things and take actions that are harmful to either themselves or their communities — then those theories are translated into harm," Starbird said.
And experts such as Brill and Downing agree: A society so divided because of misinformation can lead to disruptions in elections, health care and even create distrust in the entire democratic system.
Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a supporter of NPR.
Divisive. Discriminatory. Wrong. We need YOU to join the fight against COVID passes.
Why we must stop COVID passes
The UK Government has released the NHS COVID pass and is now "strongly encouraging" businesses to restrict access using them, leading anyone from bouncers to bosses to conduct health ID checks.
They're planning to make COVID passes mandatory - and are even threatening to make vaccine-only passes mandatory for nightclubs and universities.
COVID certificates would be the first attempt at segregation in Britain for many decades, dividing communities without reducing risks. We are in real danger of becoming a checkpoint nation.
We cannot, and will not, let this Government create a two-tier nation of division, discrimination and injustice.
Our common goal is to exit lockdown - healthy, safe and free. But we can't arrive at freedom through exclusion.
The effect of the scheme would be to create a society where the poorest, the most marginalised, and anyone who does not comply with unprecedented demands for medical interventions could be denied basic socio-economic opportunities and afforded fewer liberties than their neighbours, colleagues and fellow citizens.
The prospect of internal health passports signals a grave unbalancing of the relationship between not only citizens and the state but citizens and employers, business owners, managers, marshals, and anyone else dressed with authority.
The Government’s push for COVID-status certificates puts Britain in the midst of one of the greatest civil liberties battles we have faced in modern times. This is a time to stand up and take action.
At least nine people have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID vaccines are making, The People’s Vaccine Alliance revealed today ahead of a G20 leaders Global Health Summit.
Key members of the G20, who meet tomorrow, including the UK and Germany, are blocking moves to boost supply by ending companies’ monopoly control of vaccine production as COVID-19 continues to devastate lives in countries like India and Nepal where only a tiny fraction of the population has been vaccinated.
Between them, the nine new billionaires, have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion, enough to fully vaccinate all people in low-income countries 1.3 times. Meanwhile, these countries have received only 0.2 percent of the global supply of vaccines, because of the massive shortfall in available doses, despite being home to 10 percent of the world’s population.
In addition, eight existing billionaires –who have extensive portfolios in the COVID-19 vaccine pharma corporations– have seen their combined wealth increase by $32.2 billion, enough to fully vaccinate everyone in India.
Topping the list of new billionaires are Moderna (MRNA) CEO Stéphane Bancel and Ugur Sahin, the CEO of BioNTech (BNTX), which has produced a vaccine with Pfizer (PFE). Both CEOs are now worth around $4 billion, according to an analysis by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a campaign group that includes Oxfam, UNAIDS, Global Justice Now and Amnesty International.
Senior executives from China's CanSino Biologics and early investors in Moderna have also become billionaires on paper as shares skyrocketed, partly in expectation of profits earned from Covid vaccines, which also bode well for the companies' future prospects. The analysis was compiled using data from the Forbes Rich List.
Moderna's share price has gained more than 700% since February 2020, while BioNTech has surged 600%. CanSino Biologics' stock is up about 440% over the same period. The company's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was approved for use in China in February.
Activists said the wealth generation highlighted the stark inequality that has resulted from the pandemic. The nine new billionaires are worth a combined $19.3 billion, enough to fully vaccinate some 780 million people in low-income countries, campaigners said.
"These billionaires are the human face of the huge profits many pharmaceutical corporations are making from the monopoly they hold on these vaccines," Anne Marriott, Oxfam's health policy manager, said in a statement. "These vaccines were funded by public money and should be first and foremost a global public good, not a private profit opportunity," she added.
The 9 new vaccine billionaires, in order of their net worth are:
Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO (worth $4.3 billion)
Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech (worth $4 billion)
Timothy Springer, an immunologist and founding investor of Moderna (worth $2.2bn)
Thomas Struengmann & familyPortfolio includes Germany's BioNTech and Uruguay's Mega Pharma$ 11.00$ 9.60
Andreas Struengmann & familyPortfolio includes Germany's BioNTech and Uruguay's Mega Pharma$ 11.00$ 9.60
Pankaj PatelControls listed company Cadila Healthcare. The company now manufactures drugs to treat Covid-19 such as Remdesivir from Gilead. Its Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, is undergoing clinical trials.$ 5.00$ 2.90
Patrick Soon-ShiongImmunityBio - selected for the US federal government's "Operation Warp Speed" to help quickly develop a Covid-19 vaccine.$ 7.50$ 6.40
After refusing to receive a vaccine for COVID-19, Rick Dennison is out as a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, sources told ESPN on Friday.
Dennison had served as the Vikings' offensive line coach/run game coordinator the past two seasons. In a statement Friday, the Vikings said they were still in discussions with Dennison about the league's COVID-19 protocols.
Another coach in the league, New England Patriots co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich, also won't be with his team in 2021 in a decision related to the COVID-19 vaccine and NFL guidelines, league sources confirmed to ESPN.Game on !!
Are Any Non-Vaccinated Olympic Athletes Testing Positive for COVID-19?
Vaccines might be effective at preventing death and severe illness from the disease—but they’re not foolproof in preventing infection. That’s a new problem for sports.
The Internation Olympic Committee IOC official position remains that vaccination will be preferred but not compulsory.
All that encouragement has added up to a large majority of athletes arriving vaccinated. The IOC said in a statement "well above" 80% of athletes in Tokyo will be vaccinated. And, an estimated 11,500 athletes and an additional 79,000 staff, journalists, and officials are traveling to Japan for the Games.
Athletes had to submit two negative COVID-19 tests taken within 96 hours before they left for Japan, whether they were vaccinated or not, according to the playbooks, with at least one of the tests taken within 72 hours of departure. They also have to undergo daily antigen tests.
The rules around testing are strict: Athletes who refuse to be tested will be barred from competition.
A star NBA player, the U.S. Open golf champion and a Ugandan Olympic coach have something in common that is creating a new headache for sports organizers: they tested positive for the novel coronavirus after being vaccinated.
Coco Gauff
The 17-year-old tennis star will have to wait to compete in her first Olympics. Gauff announced on Twitter that she tested positive for COVID-19 on July 18.
“It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future,” Gauff wrote in a statement.
Kara Eaker
Eaker was set to serve as an alternate for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team before testing positive on July 19. The U.S. women’s gymnastics team was already in Tokyo when Eaker tested positive. The alternate gymnasts were rooming together, but all athletes have since been moved to separate housing.
Katie Lou Samuelson
Team USA was forced to replace Samuelson on its 3x3 basketball team after the Seattle Storm forward tested positive on July 19. Samuelson wrote in an Instagram post that she was “fully vaccinated and took every precaution,” but she’ll still be forced to stay home from Tokyo.
Bradley Beal
The Washington Wizards star was ruled out for the Tokyo Olympics after entering health and safety protocols on July 15. Beal played in three exhibition games for Team USA this month before he was ruled out.
The Czech Olympic team received sharp words from their prime minister on Thursday as six athletes and officials on the same flight to Tokyo tested positive for coronavirus.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis called the situation "a scandal" as beach volleyball player Marketa Nausch Slukova and road cyclist Michal Schlegel tested positive in the Olympic Village.
Netherlands: Candy Jacobs and Reshmie Oogink
Great Britain: Amber Hill
South Africa: Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi
“Last fall, there were reports that antibodies wane quickly after infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, and mainstream media interpreted that to mean that immunity was not long-lived,” said senior author Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an associate professor of pathology & immunology, of medicine and of molecular microbiology. “But that’s a misinterpretation of the data. It’s normal for antibody levels to go down after acute infection, but they don’t go down to zero; they plateau. Here, we found antibody-producing cells in people 11 months after first symptoms. These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people’s lives. That’s strong evidence for long-lasting immunity.”
During a viral infection, antibody-producing immune cells rapidly multiply and circulate in the blood, driving antibody levels sky-high. Once the infection is resolved, most such cells die off, and blood antibody levels drop. A small population of antibody-producing cells, called long-lived plasma cells, migrate to the bone marrow and settle in, where they continually secrete low levels of antibodies into the bloodstream to help guard against another encounter with the virus.
The team already had enrolled 77 participants who were giving blood samples at three-month intervals starting about a month after initial infection. Most participants had had mild cases of COVID-19; only six had been hospitalized.
With Pusic’s help, Ellebedy and colleagues obtained bone marrow from 18 of the participants seven or eight months after their initial infections. Five of them came back four months later and provided a second bone marrow sample. An additional person who had recovered from COVID-19 gave bone marrow separately. For comparison, the scientists also obtained bone marrow from 11 people who had never had COVID-19.
Many people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 will probably make antibodies against the virus for most of their lives. So suggest researchers who have identified long-lived antibody-producing cells in the bone marrow of people who have recovered from COVID-191.
The study provides evidence that immunity triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection will be extraordinarily long-lasting. Adding to the good news, “the implications are that vaccines will have the same durable effect”, says Menno van Zelm, an immunologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Antibodies — proteins that can recognize and help to inactivate viral particles — are a key immune defense. After a new infection, short-lived cells called plasmablasts are an early source of antibodies.
But these cells recede soon after a virus is cleared from the body, and other, longer-lasting cells make antibodies: memory B cells patrol the blood for reinfection, while bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) hideaway in bones, trickling out antibodies for decades.
To identify the source of the antibodies, Ellebedy’s team collected memory B cells and bone marrow from a subset of participants. Seven months after developing symptoms, most of these participants still had memory B cells that recognized SARS-CoV-2. In 15 of the 18 bone-marrow samples, the scientists found ultra-low but detectable populations of BMPCs whose formation had been triggered by the individuals’ coronavirus infections 7–8 months before. Levels of these cells were stable in all five people who gave another bone-marrow sample several months later.
“This is a very important observation,” given claims of dwindling SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, says Rafi Ahmed, an immunologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, whose team co-discovered the cells in the late 1990s. What’s not clear is what antibody levels will look like in the long term and whether they offer any protection, Ahmed adds. “We’re early in the game. We’re not looking at five years, ten years after infection.”
Ellebedy’s team has observed early signs that Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine should trigger the production of the same cells4. But the persistence of antibody production, whether elicited by vaccination or by infection, does not ensure long-lasting immunity to COVID-19. The ability of some emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants to blunt the protective effects of antibodies means that additional immunizations may be needed to restore levels, says Ellebedy. “My presumption is, we will need a booster.”
President Joe Biden wants to suppress speech that discourages Americans from being vaccinated against COVID-19. Because the First Amendment doesn’t allow him to do that, he is asking Facebook and other social-media giants to do it for him.
Vaccine skepticism has existed since the advent of the technology itself. However, the mass uptake of social media is blamed for the significant traction recently gained by the ‘anti-vax’ movement. A recent report found that 400 anti-vax social media accounts contain 58 million followers based primarily in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
Government-based censorship laws & big tech censorship policies should not be implemented for three main reasons.
#1 - Many people have legitimate concerns around the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines due to factors including the speed of their development, the underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups in clinical trials and the unknown longevity of their immunological effects. The public must feel freely able to voice these concerns, raise challenging questions and expect transparent replies from trusted institutions. An unintended effect of shutting down anti-vax groups may be to silence those with legitimate questions for fear of shame or ridicule and lead them to harbor greater suspicion of public health authorities and sympathize with anti-vax rhetoric.
#2 - Emergency laws would enforce censorship and de-platforming and threaten the democratic cornerstone of freedom of speech. All ideas – even the bad ones – must be allowed a public airing, and their qualities debated in the marketplace of ideas. It is through this process that institutions foster influence, respect, and public trust, by presenting empirical evidence, reasoned arguments, and a scientific method based on critical thinking. Conversely, widespread de-platforming of anti-vax campaigners is unlikely to dissuade those sympathetic to these messages but rather reinforce their strongly held beliefs about vaccine conspiracies while deepening their mistrust of public health authorities. In addition, removing the social media stages of anti-vax campaigners is likely to drive them underground to adopt alternative stages that are more difficult to identify, monitor, and respond to with public health messaging. The lack of evidence to support censorship as a reliable means of producing desirable health behavior change should deter against the deployment of this strategy.
#3 - The features of an ‘anti-vax campaign’ are themselves undetermined and, depending on the breadth of the definition imposed, may include both the mere voicing of concern for vaccine safety and the intentional distribution of dangerous falsities. Governments will be without the substantial resources required to identify all online anti-vax campaigns and thus will be forced to hand over decision-making powers to social media platforms themselves. This is unlikely to be an optimal strategy for the delivery of public health messaging and risks triggering dangerous normative shifts in the ability of social media platforms to control what the public is and is not able to see.
In any event, all Americans should be alarmed that these giant firms are acting as judge and jury on enormously important issues, like our health or our elections. They must not be allowed to control our information, nor our country. Today, they are doing both.
Here are 4 legitimate health issues that are being censored by big tech and not be covered by the mainstream media:
Guillain-Barré occurs when the body’s own immune system attacks and injures the nerves outside of the spinal cord or brain – the peripheral nervous system. Most commonly, the injury involves the protective sheath, or myelin, that wraps nerves and is essential to nerve function.
Without the myelin sheath, signals that go through a nerve are slowed or lost, which causes the nerve to malfunction.
To diagnose Guillain-Barre Syndrome, neurologists perform a detailed neurological exam. Due to the nerve injury, patients often may have a loss of reflexes on examination. Doctors often need to perform a lumbar puncture, otherwise known as a spinal tap, to sample spinal fluid and look for signs of inflammation and abnormal antibodies.
Studies have shown that giving patients an infusion of antibodies derived from donated blood or plasma exchange – a process that cleans patients’ blood of harmful antibodies - can speed up recovery. A very small subset of patients may need these therapies long-term.
What is causign Guillain-Barré syndrome?
The FDA reports that 12.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered — about 8% of the population of fully vaccinated people in the United States. As of July 13, 2021 (the day the FDA issued its warning), 100 cases of Guillain-Barré had been reported in individuals who received that vaccine. Of those cases, 95 were considered serious and required hospitalization; one case resulted in death.
GBS symptoms usually develop within two days and start in the extremities
Symptoms of GBS typically develop within 42 days of vaccination, and the first symptom is often numbness or tingling in your hands or feet.
“The typical progression of GBS is from the legs up to the arms over a one-week to four-week period,” Dr. Levin says. “That can be accompanied by progressive heaviness and weakness in the legs the arms — and later on, there can be difficulty with swallowing and breathing, but those are unlikely to be initial presentations.”
Although the Johnson & Johnson shot is the only COVID-19 vaccine that has been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome, it’s not the first time a vaccine has been linked to the disorder.
In rare cases, people have developed GBS after receiving the flu shot — about one case of GBS for every 1 million influenza vaccines administered. But why?
“There’s evidence that GBS is an autoimmune reaction in which the body produces antibodies directed toward myelin, the insulation of the nerves,” Dr. Levin explains. “Vaccines tend to rev up your immune system, which could rev up antibodies that recognize different tissues within your body as foreign — even though, of course, they are not foreign.”
It’s worth noting that, aside from the flu vaccine, there’s currently no conclusive association between GBS and other vaccines, though it hasn’t been ruled out, either.
During the phase III Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trials, seven cases of facial paralysis or Bell's palsy were reported in the vaccine groups (7 of 35,654), and one case was seen in the placebo groups (1 of 35,611). A causal relationship was not established, but the FDA recommended that vaccine recipients be monitored.
Following the documentation of a case of Bell's palsy associated with vaccination,1 we were contacted by patients and colleagues from Canada, Australia, Europe, the UK, and United Arab Emirates. Questions raised were whether mRNA vaccine recipients are at increased risk of developing Bell's palsy, and what to recommend to individuals with a history of Bell's palsy.
It is unclear whether the vaccine caused the outbreaks of Bell’s palsy, but Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s Vaccines Advisory Committee who voted to approve the Pfizer preventative, said in an interview with CNBC that the condition should be monitored. “I’m not dismissing that yet,” he said.
Despite geographical and seasonal variations, generally agreed incidence of Bell's palsy is 15–30 cases each year per 100 000 population. Ozonoff and colleagues rightly state that the predicted 12-month (annual) incidence of Bell's palsy inferred from mRNA vaccine trials is higher than that reported during the 2-month observation period of these studies. They concluded that the observed incidence of Bell's palsy in the mRNA vaccine arms was 3·5 to seven times higher than expected in the general population. However, safety data were collected for participants with a median follow-up of 2 months after the second dose; therefore, the data refer to an overall observation period of approximately 12 weeks from dose one. Given this, and considering Bell's palsy as the possible outcome of individual doses, the observed incidence in the mRNA vaccine trials would be roughly 1·5 to three times higher than in the general population
The numerical imbalance reported with mRNA vaccine trials was not seen in the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson phase 3 studies using more traditional virus-based technology. Examination of adverse event data from the Yellow Card scheme in the UK and from the EU EudraVigilance database might help clarify this matter. As of March 21, the Yellow Card-reported frequency of facial paralysis or paresis and facial nerve disorder after any dose was close to 23 per million with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 13 per million with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Excluding reports of facial paralysis cross-listed with a cerebrovascular accident, EudraVigilance data indicate a much higher frequency of facial paralysis after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than after the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (497 vs 56 cases or 13·6 vs 4·1 per million doses as of April 3). The risk of developing facial paralysis could be two to three times higher in individuals receiving mRNA vaccines than in those receiving traditional vaccines. These findings should be considered when selecting a vaccine for patients with a history of Bell's palsy.
People who have previously had GBS may receive a COVID-19 vaccine. To date, no cases of GBS have been reported following vaccination in participants in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. One case of GBS was reported in a vaccinated participant in the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine clinical trial (compared to one GBS case among those who received placebo). With few exceptions, the independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) general best practice guidelines for immunization do not include a history of GBS as a precaution to vaccination with other vaccines.
People who have previously had Bell’s palsy may receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Cases of Bell’s palsy were reported following vaccination in participants in the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider these to be more than the rate expected in the general population. They have not concluded these cases were caused by vaccination.
In 1976, an outbreak of the swine flu, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 at Fort Dix, New Jersey caused a mass vaccination of Americans. After the program began, the vaccine was associated with an increase in reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which can cause paralysis, respiratory arrest, and death. This is the story of how in 1976, the US government faked a pandemic.
In January 1976, several soldiers at Fort Dix complained of a respiratory illness diagnosed as influenza. The next month, Private David Lewis, who had the symptoms, participated in a five-mile forced march, collapsed and died.
The New Jersey Department of Health tested samples from the Fort Dix soldiers. While the majority of samples were of the more common A Victoria flu strain, two were not. The atypical samples were sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, which found evidence of swine influenza A related to the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide.
The Center for Disease Control (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) verified the findings and informed both the World Health Organization and the state of New Jersey. On February 13, CDC Director David Sencer completed a memo calling for mass vaccination for the swine flu.
The CDC Assistant Director for Programs of the Center for Disease Control, Bruce Dull, held a press conference on February 19 to discuss the flu outbreak at Fort Dix and, in response to questions from reporters, mentioned the relationship of the flu strain to the 1918 outbreak.
US President Gerald Ford was officially informed of the outbreak memo on March 15 and the suggested vaccination program. He met with a “blue ribbon” panel that included Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin. Ford then made a televised announcement in support of the mass vaccination program.
A hearing was held before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and C. Joseph Stetler, a drug company spokesman, requested government indemnity for the vaccine manufacturers.
Pharmaceutical companies Sharp & Dohme (Merck & Co.), Merrell, Wyeth, and Parke-Davis also refused to sell doses to the government unless they were guaranteed a profit, a concession that the government also eventually made.
The House Appropriations Committee reported out a special appropriations bill, including $135 million for the swine flu vaccination program, which was approved on April 5. Two days later, the World Health Organization held a conference to discuss the implications of a swine flu outbreak for poorer nations.
On April 8, an official from the Federal Insurance Company informed Merck & Co., a manufacturer of the swine flu vaccine, that it would exclude indemnity on Merck’s product liability for the swine flu vaccine on July 1, 1976.
T. Lawrence Jones, president of the American Insurance Association, informed the Office of Management and Budget that the insurance industry would not cover liability for the vaccine unless the government extended liability protection.
The chairman of Merck wrote a memo a day later, April 13, to various government agencies, including the White House emphasizing the “duty to warn”. In May, other vaccine manufacturers including Marion Merrell Dow, Parke-Davis, and Wyeth, were notified of indemnity problems by their respective insurers.
Assistant Secretary Theodore Cooper (HEW) informed the White House on June 2 that indemnity legislation would be needed to secure Merrell’s cooperation. In June, other vaccine manufacturers requested the same legislation. A little more than two weeks later, the Ford administration submitted a proposal to Congress that offered indemnity to vaccine manufacturers.
Bruce Dull stated at a flu conference on July 1 that there were no parallels between the 1918 flu pandemic and the current situation.
Later that month, J. Anthony Morris, a researcher in the Food and Drug Administration’s Bureau of Biologics (BoB), was dismissed for insubordination and went public with findings that cast doubt on the safety of the vaccine, which was produced in fertilised hen’s eggs.
Three days later, several manufacturers announced that they had ceased production of the vaccine. Later that month, investigations into alleged swine flu outbreaks in other parts of the world found no cases of the strain. On July 23, the President sent a letter that urged Congress to take action on indemnification.
In early August, an outbreak of illness in Philadelphia was thought to be related to swine flu. It was later found to be an atypical pneumonia that is now called Legionnaires’ disease. On August 6, Ford held a press conference and urged Congress to take action on the indemnification legislation. Four days later, both houses of Congress passed the legislation.
Merrill became the first company to submit samples to the FDA’s Bureau of Biologics for safety testing, which approved it on September 2. Merck made the first shipment of vaccines to state health departments by September 22. The first swine flu inoculations were given at the Indiana State Fair.
In October, three people died of heart attacks after they had received the vaccine at the same Pittsburgh clinic, which sparked an investigation and the recall of that batch of vaccine.
The investigation showed that the deaths were not related to the vaccination. The President and his family received their vaccinations before the television cameras. On November 2, Ford lost the presidential election to Jimmy Carter.
Also in early November, Albert Sabin published a New York Times editorial, “Washington and the Flu.” He agreed with the decision to create the vaccine and to be prepared for an outbreak but criticized the “scare tactics” that had been used by Washington to achieve that. He suggested to stockpile the vaccine and to have a wait-and-see strategy.
By 15 December, cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) affecting vaccinated patients were reported in 10 states, including Minnesota, Maryland, and Alabama. Three more cases of Guillain-Barré were reported in early December, and the investigation into cases of it spread to eleven states.
On December 16, a one-month suspension of the vaccination program was announced by Sencer. William Foege of the CDC estimated that the incidence of GBS was four times higher in vaccinated people than in those not receiving the swine flu vaccine.
Ford told reporters that he agreed with the suspension, but he defended the decision to create the vaccination program. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., was sworn in as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare on January 20, 1977. On February 4, Sencer was informed that he would be replaced as the head of the CDC. The vaccination program was not reinstated.
Laurence Gostin, in his article “At Law: Swine Flu Vaccine: What Is Fair?”, wrote that “the swine flu affair fails to tell us whether, in the face of scientific uncertainty, it is better to err on the side of caution or aggressive intervention.”
There is not even complete agreement about the causal relationship between the swine flu vaccine and Guillain-Barré syndrome, as noted in Gina Kolata’s book Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It.
She wrote that the CDC did not have a “specific set of tests and symptoms to define Guillain-Barré” and that since doctors who reported cases already knew that a link was suspected, a bias in reporting was introduced. She quoted Keiji Fukuda: “if a new virus gets identified or reappears, you don’t want to jump the gun and assume a pandemic is happening.”
Public trust in government remains low. Only about one-quarter of Americans say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (22%).
For years, public trust in the federal government has hovered at near-record lows. That remains the case today, as the United States struggles with a pandemic and economic recession. Just 20% of U.S. adults say they trust the government in Washington to “do the right thing” just about always or most of the time.
Among the public overall, majorities say the government does a very good or somewhat good job keeping the country safe from terrorism (72%), responding to natural disasters (62%), ensuring safe food and medicine (62%), strengthening the economy (54%) and maintaining infrastructure (53%).
Americans are far more critical of how the government handles several other issues, including managing the immigration system (just 34% say it does a good job), helping people get out of poverty (36%) and effectively handling threats to public health (42%).
Trust has played an important role in effectively managing the COVID-19 pandemic, as countries with higher levels of social and government trust have typically seen slower virus spread and a lower mortality rate.10 As trust rises, so does confidence in government information generally, enabling a unified response and increased citizen cooperation. Some Nations like Singapore are learning to ‘Let It Go’ and Live With Covid.
Transparency is the first step to understanding what the problems are, but it’s not the full solution. We need foundational institutional change that takes community knowledge and expertise seriously and includes different perspectives, particularly from communities that are historically marginalized or that are likely to be skeptical. It’s important to consider geography, for example. Representing different viewpoints will address a primary concern to both parties.
Women who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 showing up for mammogram screenings with enlarged lymph nodes under their arms, usually on the side where they were vaccinated. But the reaction is occurring much more frequently in COVID-19 vaccine recipients than with others, she adds.
Early CDC data shows women are reporting more vaccine side effects than their male counterparts.
Those who were previously infected with COVID-19 were more likely to experience swollen lymph nodes after their first dose of Pfizer's vaccine compared to those without a prior documented infection, according to research published April 22 in the preprint server medRxiv.
Researchers in the U.K. conducted an observational study that looked at adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination. A total of 947 healthcare workers across three hospitals participated in the study by self-reporting symptoms after vaccination. Of those, 265 participants had previously tested positive for the virus.
Overall, those who previously contracted COVID-19 were more likely to report at least one moderate to severe symptom compared to those without a prior infection, at 56 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
Specifically, those in the previous COVID-19 group were significantly more likely to experience lymphadenopathy, or swollen lymph nodes, as well as fever, fatigue, myalgia and arthralgia.
About 4 percent of participants with a COVID-19 history experienced lymphadenopathy, compared to less than 1 percent of those who weren't infected.
