Programmers and system administrators are mass profession. There were approximately 435K programmers in the USA in 2006. I think
number of system administrators are roughly the same, so we can speak about the labor army of one million people.
Contrary to superficial impression of individual cubicles and nice environment, IT is actually very unhealthy profession. With a
high chance to be unemployed after 50. More often then not, there are periods of considerable stress. Some are caused by catastrophic
failures of hardware equipment, some by unrealistic schedules and workloads, some by own errors of particular programmer or sysadmin.
Overtime is common. Job security is deteriorating as outsourcing is rampant. Environment
changes way too fast, and not always for good. Fashion rules (remember
The Devil Wears Prada).
Toxic managers are common (remember
Office Space ;-)
Since 2005, more than 1,000 doctors have made payments to settle or close malpractice claims in surgical cases that involved allegations
of unnecessary or inappropriate procedures, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the
U.S. government's National Practitioner Data Bank public use file, which tracks the suits. About half the doctors' payments
involved allegations of serious permanent injury or death, and many of the cases involved multiple plaintiffs, suggesting many hundreds,
if not thousands, of victims.
Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed records for 112,000 patients who had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
(ICD), a pacemaker-like device that corrects heartbeat irregularities. In 22.5% of the cases, researchers found no medical evidence
to support installing the devices.
"Don't just take a doctor's word," says Patty Skolnik, who founded Citizens for Patient Safety after her son, Michael, died at
22 from complications in what she says was unnecessary brain surgery. "Research your doctor, research the procedure, ask questions,
including the most important one: 'What will happen if I don't get this done?'"
A 1982 study in the journal Medical Care found that a mandatory second opinion program for Massachusetts Medicaid patients led
to a 20% drop in certain surgeries, such as hysterectomies, that were considered more likely to be done unnecessarily. A 1997
study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons looked at 5,601 patients recommended for surgery and found that second opinions
found no need for the operation in 9% of the cases. Among those who got the countervailing second opinion, 62% opted not to have
the operation.
But many patients simply aren't inclined to question their doctors.
"We expect the physician to know what's best for a patient," says William Root, chief compliance officer at Louisiana's Department
of Health and Hospitals. "
We put so much faith and confidence in our physicians, (and) most of them deserve it. But when one of them is wrong or goes astray,
it can do a lot of damage."
Chronic stress, overload, long hours, unhealthy diet and other environmental factors deeply and negatively affects the
lifestyle of programmers and system administrators. So there is nothing surprising that despite pretty comfortable work conditions
many programmers/system administrators suffer from assortments on various
diseases. Like other workers who spend long periods in front of a computer terminal typing at a keyboard, programmers are susceptible
to:
Obesity. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese if judged by BMI
index (which has its shortcoming, but still is a useful metric). For programmers and system administrators this percentage
might be considerably higher and close to 80%. Sedentary lifestyle and relatively high level of stress lead to obesity.
Guy in the picture above is pretty typical. Obesity with time can cause diabetes and then heart attack.
Obesity dramatically increases chances getting diabetes II, a very serious disease. Right analogy here is with
smoking and lung cancer: the longer a person is obese the higher changes of getting diabetes it has. Obese programmers over 45
probably should buy and do at least weekly test of glucose content in their blood (A1C test or using diabetic glucose meter costs
approximately $10 at Wal Mart or any pharmacy). And they should not skip annual medical exam with full blood test.
To access your risk you can calculate your diabetic risk score. For example from the
Riskscore - Diabetes UK.
Obesity dramatically increases chances to get a heart attack. A 10-year study at the Mayo Clinic published in the August
issue of Clinical Cardiology shows that merely being overweight drops the age of first heart attack by 3.6 years. Obese
people get heart attacks approximately 8 years sooner than normal-weight individuals (8.2 years in one study)
Sedentary lifestyle induce additional health problems beyond and above obesity. A study published in March 2012
in the Archives of Internal Medicine supports previous findings that suggest sitting too much increases our risk of death. In people
45 years and older, sitting for 11 or more hours a day led to an increased risk of death
(from all causes) by about 40% over four years, compared with the risk of death in people who sat just four to eight hours a
day, the study found.
Read more about the study here.
Heart problems. This is especially typical for aged programmers and sysadmins and is the result of chromic stress. One
acute danger here is to get into the paws of medical-industrial complex and get cardiac stents without any indications for their
insertion. Just because you have a good insurance.Angioplasty malpractice is a real
epidemics in the USA. Out of around three hundred thousand cardiac stent inserted annually probably two thirds are done
without any real indications just to increase profits for the hospitals and cardiologists involved. Otherwise healthy
patients have been subjected to unnecessary and potentially dangerous procedures.
Eyestrain and other eye problems. Programmers spend 8-10 hours a day focusing of the monitor screen. Progressive
short-sightedness is pretty common and many wear glasses or contact lenses. For this reason
LASIK is completely unsuitable for programmers (see
LASIK Surgery Checklist ) as many require repeated procedure that increase chance of complications (which are pretty high
even after initial procedure with dry eye being the most common problem; you can often detect people who had Lasik by too frequent,
to the point of being socially annoying, blinking). The danger of not seeing clearly after the treatment is career ending .
See also Top Ten Reasons Not To Have LASIK Surgery.
Here is a web page of one unhappy patient. After Lasik - After
Lasik Complications and Risks
Back problems. This is another side affect of sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise...
Sleeping problems. One-third of Americans are sleep-deprived, regularly getting less than 7 hours a night, which puts
them at higher risk of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems.
Shoulder, hand and wrist problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome. With computer, desk, assembly or other types of hand
intensive work, the neck and shoulders round forward and the upper arm tends to rotate inward. The chest muscles become tight. The
muscles of the back weaken and stretch. The upper trapezius (the big, bulky muscles that make up the
top of the shoulder) try to compensate by working harder than they should. Muscle knots and tension develop. The arms
feel tired and weak. Eventually, this muscular imbalance can cause a tendonitis in the rotator cuff (supraspinatus) or in the biceps
where it attaches to the humerus. Or the fluid cushion (bursa) between the rotator cuff and the shoulder bones can become inflamed
(bursitis).
Additional health problems are typical for those who experience constant stress and/or are typical "diseases of civilization". Among
them
Low and middle income US citizens spends far more on health care than any other country but gets only mediocre care in return
for its investment. The U.S. national average score on 37 separate measures of health care falls far short when compared either to a
few centers of excellence within the country, or to other countries, the report from the Commonwealth Fund found. And that's true not
only in terms of mortality statistics but also in terms of quality of life.
The main problems with US healthcare are:
Overmedication. Rampant over-prescription of unnecessary or interacting drags.
Unnecessary and potentially dangerous for health procedures such as
LASIK and cardiac stents. Angioplasty malpractice is a real
epidemics in the USA.
Huge red tape overhead imposed by health care providers
Excessive billing by doctors who play cat and mouse game with health providers,
Overuse of expensive services and diagnostic procedures.
Duplication of efforts.
Failure to coordinate and communicate between various specialists involved
Uneven quality of care, even within a single hospital.
Expensive and often more harmful replacements for classic drugs pushed by big pharma.
Self-neglect when frustrated by interaction with insurance doctors patient stop doing necessary procedures like annual
blood test. Potentially skipping the beginning of dangerous ailments like diabetes (common for overweight programmers with BMD over,
say, 25).
A new University of Michigan Health System study of about 8,000 adolescents and young adults shows the degree and duration
of carrying extra pounds are important risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood.
"Our study finds that the relationship between weight and type 2 diabetes is similar to the relationship between smoking and
the risk of lung cancer," says study lead author Joyce Lee, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric endocrinologist at U-M's C.S. Mott Children's
Hospital. "The amount of excess weight that you carry, and the number of years for which you carry it, dramatically increase your
risk of diabetes."
The study appears online ahead of print in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine.
"We know that, due to the childhood obesity epidemic, younger generations of Americans are becoming heavier much earlier in
life, and are carrying the extra weight for longer periods over their lifetimes," says Lee. "When you add the findings from this
study, rates of diabetes in the United States may rise even higher than previously predicted."
Researchers found that a measure of degree and duration of excess weight (based on the number of years body mass index, a calculation
of weight and height, of 25 or higher) was a better predictor of diabetes risk than a single measurement of excess weight. A BMI
over 25 is considered overweight and over 30 is considered obese.
Lee and colleagues also found that black and Hispanic compared with white individuals had a higher risk for diabetes, for a
same amount of excess weight over time.
For example, individuals with a BMI of 35 (10 points higher than healthy weight) for 10 years would be considered to have 100
years of excess BMI. Hispanics in this group were twice as likely to develop diabetes compared to whites, while blacks in this
group had one-and-a-half-times greater risk than whites.
Based on the latest findings, Lee suggests obesity prevention and treatment efforts should focus on adolescents and young adults,
especially racial minorities.
Programmers and system administrators can do much better is maintaining their health. And they are naturally equipped for dealing
with complex system and thus able to navigate the maze of the USA "medical industrial complex"
A lot of outcomes depends on the level of individual knowledge. Knowledge is power both for avoiding unnecessary procedures (with
some causing irreversible damage) , unnecessary overprescribed drugs, and when negotiating with health care providers.
Some facts:
Not enough preventative care. Even adults with private health insurance or Medicare do not get life-saving and money-saving
preventive care much of the time, the report found. Barely half of adults (49 percent) received preventive
and screening tests according to guidelines for their age and sex
Lackluster or average (but generally depending on your wealth) record in mortality in case of serious diseases. The United
States scores 15th out of 19 developed nations on deaths from causes that are easily prevented if timely medical care is provided,
such as heart attacks. France scores the best, with 75 deaths per 100,000, while the United States weighs in with 115 per 100,000.
Only Ireland, Britain and Portugal score worse.
High cost of private medical insurance. The USA are by far and away the leader on costs. Unless
you employer provides medical insurance you are in trouble: Americans spend 16 percent of gross
domestic product on health care — double the median for all industrialized countries.
Sounds strange but U.S. infant mortality is far higher than in any of the other 23 countries measured, with a rate of
7 deaths per 1,000 births. The next worst is New Zealand, with 5.6 per 1,000, while Iceland scores the best with 2.2 per 1,000.
Only a quarter of U.S. doctors have computerized their record-keeping or writing of prescriptions (which is actually not
a bad thing as hacking is probably more dangerious problems that overhead is searching for necessary information. Also you can probably
use "on the spot" scanning.
That probably is not true for Delta variant. Israel data suggest that it stops to something
between 60and 70 percents. So approximately one third of vaccinated can be infected with
Delta.
The effectiveness of Pfizer's COVID-19 shot can drop to 83.7% within four to six months
after getting the second dose of its vaccine. This is the latest indication that
vaccine-induced immunity to the virus can wane and some kind of boost may be necessary in the
future.
New research published Wednesday as a preprint indicates that the Pfizer Inc. shot provides
96.2% protection for the first two months, 90.1% effectiveness between the second and fourth
months, and 83.7% of protection for the fourth, fifth, and six months.
"We will need a booster eight to 12 months from the second dose," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla
said Wednesday, according to a FactSet transcript of the company's second-quarter earnings
call.
The drug maker has been making the case for booster shots, citing limited data from its own
clinical research and real-world data out of Israel, where Pfizer's vaccine is the predominant
shot in circulation.
... ... ...
When speaking to investors this week, company officials attributed waning immunity levels in
Israel to the much earlier vaccination campaign that rolled out in that country. (In fact,
Israel announced Thursday that a third dose will now be available to people who are at least
60.) Pfizer also mentioned that there will be data in a few months coming out of the U.K.,
where doses were sometimes spaced out, that indicates "long-lasting protection."
... ... ...
Pfizer is expected to generate $33.5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine revenue this year, and Wall
Street analysts have already baked boosters into their financial models for Pfizer and BioNTech
SE which developed the vaccine with Pfizer.
"The largest remaining uncertainty is whether this third boost is simply the third dose in a
three-vaccine schedule to achieve lasting, broad protection or is the first of a periodic
(annual) boosted vaccine," SVB Leerink analysts told investors on Thursday.
The fact Delta remains dominant worldwide, and this is a sign Delta Plus might not overtake
it soon. Delta Plus (also known as AY.1) has an extra mutation in the code for its spike protein,
which helps the coronavirus access human cells. India's health ministry said last month that
Delta Plus appeared to spread more easily than Delta and might be able to bind more easily to
lung cells or resist antibody drugs.
In the US, Delta Plus cases peaked in late June at less than 5% of the nation's sequenced
cases, according to Outbreak.info .
Health experts say it's a sign Delta Plus isn't outcompeting other variants.
Public Health England suggested June that there was no evidence Delta Plus' extra mutation
made the virus any more severe or reduced vaccine effectiveness relative to Delta.
While Delta seems to have challenged how well vaccines prevent infection and transmission,
recent CDC data indicates coronavirus shots still reduce the risk of getting COVID-19 several
times, and the risk of hospitalization or death by vaccinated within the last six months by an
order of magnitude, although the protective effect of Pfizer and other vaccines fade with
time.
On Tuesday South Korea announced that it had detected two cases of the Delta Plus variant,
one in a man who had recently returned from the U.S.,
Reuters reports. Some experts believe the Delta Plus variant could be more contagious than
the Delta variant.
The Lambda variant, which originated from Peru last year, has
already been detected in the U.S.
Recent studies indicated that Lambda could be more resistant to the current COVID-19
vaccines, according to
Reuters .
The Centers for Disease
Control Prevention has a COVID-19 case tracker
that shows the percent of the total population vaccinated against COVID-19. The map shows the
percent of the total population fully vaccinated and then compares it with the cases per
100,000 people.
For example, much of the Northeast has a high number of vaccinations and low number of
cases per 100,000 people. So the area is green on the map.
However, the Southeastern U.S. is mainly colored in red due to low vaccinations and a
high number of people infected.
... ... ...
The CDC advises caution about
traveling to areas with low vaccination rates and a higher number of cases per 100,000
people.
An analysis by British academics, published by the UK Government's official scientific
advisory group, says that they believe it is "almost certain" that a SARS-Cov-2 variant will
emerge that "leads to current vaccine failure." SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes
Covid-19.
The analysis has not been peer-reviewed, the early research is theoretical, and does not
provide any proof that such a variant is in circulation now. Documents like it are released "as
pre-print publications that have provided the government with rapid evidence during an
emergency."
The paper is dated July 26, and was published by the British government on Friday.
The scientists write that because eradication of the virus is "unlikely," they have "high
confidence" that variants will continue to emerge. They say it is "almost certain" that there
will be "a gradual or punctuated accumulation of antigenic variation that eventually leads to
current vaccine failure."
They recommend that authorities continue to reduce virus transmission as much as possible to
reduce the chance of a new, vaccine-resistant variant.
They also recommend that research focus on new vaccines that not only prevent hospital
admission and disease, but also "induce high and durable levels of mucosal immunity."
The goal, they say, should be "to reduce infection of and transmission from vaccinated
individuals," and to "reduce the possibility of variant selection in vaccinated individuals."
Research is already underway at several companies that make the Covid-19 vaccines to address
new variants.
The views were expressed in a paper "by group of academics on scenarios for the longer
term evolution of SARS-CoV-2," and discussed and published by the UK's Scientific Advisory
Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
They write that some variants that have emerged over the past few months "show a reduced
susceptibility to vaccine-acquired immunity, though none appears to escape entirely."
But they caution that these variants emerged "before vaccination was widespread," and that
"as vaccines become more widespread, the transmission advantage gained by a virus that can
evade vaccine-acquired immunity will increase."
This is an issue that SAGE has warned about before.
In minutes from its July 7 meeting, SAGE scientists wrote that "the combination of high
prevalence and high levels of vaccination creates the conditions in which an immune escape
variant is most likely to emerge." It said at the time that "the likelihood of this happening
is unknown, but such a variant would present a significant risk both in the UK and
internationally."
Hundreds of staffers at two major hospitals in San Francisco have tested positive for
coronavirus in July, with most of them being breakthrough cases of the highly infectious Delta
variant, The New York
Times reported Saturday evening.
The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center told media outlets that 183 of
its 35,000 staffers tested positive. Of those infected, 84% were fully vaccinated, and just two
vaccinated staff members required hospitalization for their symptoms.
At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, at least 50 members out of the total 7,500
hospital staff were infected, with 75-80% of them vaccinated. None of those staffers required
hospitalization.
... ... ...
Day also
told ABC7 News that at least 99% of the cases at UCSF were traced back to community spread,
but that hospital officials are still investigating and conducting contact tracing.
He added that most of the cases presented mild to moderate symptoms, and some were
completely asymptomatic. He said the cases were spread among doctors, nurses, and ancillary
staff.
"We sort of are seeing that across the board," he said. "We have so far not detected any
patient-to-staff or staff-to-patient transmission right now."
The Delta variant has also been known to spread among vaccinated people in breakthrough
cases, prompting the agency this week to recommend that even fully vaccinated people
wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission rates.
The CDC emphasized that getting vaccinated is still highly beneficial and is a crucial
component to combatting the coronavirus - even the Delta variant.
"Getting vaccinated continues to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even
with Delta," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told media on Tuesday.
4 This is what Republicans said as Capitol police told their stories on the Hill Russia
Calls Joe Biden's Comments on Nation's Economy 'Inherently
A reversal in federal health guidance calling for fully vaccinated individuals to don masks
in certain indoor areas amid high and substantial viral spread has left some experts
divided.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rolled out the latest guidance on
Tuesday, with agency head Dr. Rochelle Walensky citing "worrisome" new science necessitating
the update.
"In recent days, I have seen new scientific data from sequenced outbreak investigations
showing that the delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that
cause COVID-19," Walensky told reporters over a call. "Information on the delta variant from
several states and other countries indicate that in rare occasions, some vaccinated people
infected with the delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to
others."
"... If there's any demographic that isn't at risk, it's children. Children were never an issue when it came to COVID. Their caseload was never the majority, the plurality, or even a fraction that you could call 'significant.' ..."
"... If they do contract COVID, it's usually not a bad case. A child's survival rate is a whopping 99.995 percent when it comes to infection. They're virtually bulletproof. ..."
"... Since the start of the pandemic, only 335 kids under the age of 18 have died from COVID. Is one too many? Of course. It's tragic but hardly cause for a national panic. By this logic, we can no longer drive automobiles. Too much death. ..."
"... Schools have also never been a source of super spread. The schools in Irvine, California reopened in September of 2020. A report last March noted at the time, that of the 23,000 students in the Irvine School District, just 17 contracted COVID. How many of the 3,000 employees? Only three. And this was when the vaccine was not readily available. ..."
"... Should people still be careful? Sure, but this isn't a 'Apocalypse Now' mentality. ..."
They have nowhere to go. The liberal media and the experts see another avenue to lock us
down -- and they're going full bore. The Delta variant, which doesn't make you sicker nor is it
more lethal, is a problem for the unvaccinated. But we're not locking down again. No way.
There's a midterm election coming up, so no -- not even Joe Biden is going to back such a move.
It's the same reason why there will be no mandatory vaccination protocol. There's an election
coming up. If this were a national emergency, politics be damned -- everyone gets a shot,
right? They're readily available to everyone who can get them. That should be the mindset. It's
not. Why? Because obviously, it's not a do-or-die situation. If a mandatory vaccination mandate
is being kept in the desk until after an election, it's all politics. We've known this for
months.
And now, they're trying to gaslight us on children and COVID. Fellas, I have bad news. We've
been paying attention. If there's any demographic that isn't at risk, it's children.
Children were never an issue when it came to COVID. Their caseload was never the majority, the
plurality, or even a fraction that you could call 'significant.' This notion that children
are under threat is science fiction and it doesn't help that a hyper-partisan Surgeon General,
Vivek Murthy, who was not shy about wanting to declare gun violence a national health issue, is
peddling this fearmongering.
The science is clear. Children generally do not get it or spread it. If they do contract
COVID, it's usually not a bad case. A child's survival rate is a whopping 99.995 percent when
it comes to infection. They're virtually bulletproof.
Since the start of the pandemic, only 335 kids under the age of 18 have died from COVID.
Is one too many? Of course. It's tragic but hardly cause for a national panic. By this logic,
we can no longer drive automobiles. Too much death.
Schools have also never been a source of super spread. The schools in Irvine, California
reopened in September of 2020. A report last March noted at the time, that of the 23,000
students in the Irvine School District,
just 17 contracted COVID. How many of the 3,000 employees? Only three. And this was when
the vaccine was not readily available.
The vaccines right now are not available for kids under the age of 12. They're not at-risk.
They're not carriers. Should people still be careful? Sure, but this isn't a 'Apocalypse
Now' mentality. Also, the store-bought masks that people, like Fauci, are saying kids
under three should wear don't stop the spread of COVID. Fauci mentioned
that in his emails .
After the virus infects a person itdoes not care whther the person vaccinated or not. The
person spread virus like any other infected person, depending of course on the severity of
symptoms, which supposedly should be lighter n vaccinated people. Is this so difficult to
understand that for vitus any infected person is a lunchpad for infections, vaccinated or
unvaccinated... A lot of pseudoscience is typical for neoliberal MSM.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the Delta
variant of COVID-19 is equally contagious whether it's contracted by a vaccinated or
unvaccinated person.
A week after the crowds descended upon Provincetown, Massachusetts, to celebrate the Fourth
of July -- the holiday President Joe Biden hoped would mark the nation's liberation from
COVID-19 -- the manager of the Cape Cod beach town said he was aware of "a handful of positive
COVID cases among folks" who spent time there.
"We are in touch with the Health Department and Outer Cape Health Services and are closely
monitoring the data," Alex Morse told reporters.
The announcement wasn't unusual with roughly half of the country still unvaccinated and
flare-ups of the virus popping up in various states.
But within weeks, health officials seemed to be on to something much bigger. The outbreak
quickly grew to the hundreds and most of them appeared to be vaccinated.
As of Thursday, 882 people were tied to the Provincetown outbreak. Among those living in
Massachusetts, 74% of them were fully immunized, yet officials said the vast majority were also
reporting symptoms. Seven people were reported hospitalized.
The initial findings of the investigation led by the Massachusetts Department of Public
Health, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seemed to have huge
implications.
CDC Warns Vaccinated People Can Pass COVID to Others Even if you're vaccinated, you should
wear a mask in places of high transmissibility -- and you could give COVID to someone else.
These eyebrow-raising facts were revealed yesterday by the CDC.
In response, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky joined SiriusXM's Doctor Radio Reports and
opened up to show host Dr. Marc Siegel about the delta variant and evidence that it's something
that fully vaccinated people may pass along to others, and the idea of making COVID-19 vaccines
mandatory.
Their work is funded through a more than $300,000 contract with the city. The Missouri
Department of Health and Senior Services with the University of Missouri is assisting in
analyzing the data, through a
$2 million National Institutes of Health grant .
The team began testing rat feces for the coronavirus to see whether that was the source of
the new spike protein mutations -- but nothing matched their initial finding.
They then surveyed the sewage, using a process called "deep sequencing," for animal DNA.
They found evidence of various mammals, such as cows, pigs and sheep, which likely came from
human food consumption, along with evidence of dogs, cats and rats.
But most of the mutations were found over three different wastewater plants spanning months.
That meant the "animal reservoir" would have to be living in or near the sewershed; largely
constrained to their geographic location; and in big enough numbers to sustain an epidemic for
six months.
The most likely culprits: rats and dogs.
"These novel lineages could be relevant to public health and necessitate further study," the
researchers wrote in the study.
As for the mutations themselves, their origin remains an open question.
The researchers hypothesize that since not all COVID-19 cases were diagnosed and not all
positive samples were sequenced, the "cryptic lineages" could come from "asymptomatic,
vaccinated, immunosuppressed, pediatric, or chronically infected patients who are not being
sampled in clinical settings."
COVID-19 could also linger in different areas of the body, such as the gut, long after it's
been cleared in other areas, like the respiratory tract -- potentially explaining the presence
in wastewater.
... ... ...
Signs of More Rats
If the new spike protein mutations the researchers discovered points to an outbreak of
coronavirus among city rats, they would not be the first animal to contract the virus.
There have been reports of dogs, cats and even a New York City tiger catching the virus,
according to the CDC .
A
study published Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service found that white-tailed deer populations in New York, Michigan, Illinois and
Pennsylvania had coronavirus antibodies, meaning they had previously contracted the virus,
although they did not show signs of an active infection.
In November,
Denmark culled 17 million minks after the virus jumped from a human handler to the minks,
then back to humans. In Michigan, a taxidermist became infected with coronavirus and, after his
test results were sent to a lab, it was determined that there was a mutation in his sample that
came from an infected mink.
The authors of this study reported that the WT strain of SARS-CoV-2 was best neutralized by
Natural Infection 2020 when compared to CoronaVac and Natural Infection 2021 sera. However, the
Alpha variant was best neutralized by Natural Infection 2021 sera, when compared to CoronaVac
and Natural Infection 2020 sera.
In the case of the Beta variant, this form of SARS-CoV-2 was best neutralized by Natural
Infection 2020 and 2021 sera with higher NAb titer levels. Although the Delta variant was
neutralized well by Natural Infection 2020 and 2021 sera, levels of NAb titers were much lower
when compared with the Alpha and Beta variants.
In summary, the results of the current study indicate that NAb titers elicited by CoronaVac
are much lower when compared to natural infection.
If a vaccinated person experiences any symptoms of COVID-19 listed by the CDC, the public
health agency recommends getting tested and isolating from others until a result is received.
If the test is positive, an infected vaccinated person should isolate at home for 10 days.
According to the CDC's guidelines
for the fully vaccinated, those infected with the delta variant can spread it to
others.
The existence of breakthrough cases doesn't mean that vaccines aren't doing their job,
experts say. In fact, merely coming down with a mild infection rather than a severe one is
often evidence that the vaccine is doing its job in helping your immune system fight the virus.
Since the existing vaccines were developed to combat the alpha variant of SARS-CoV-2, it makes
sense that they're not as effective in combating the delta variant, whose mutations have shown
to some extent to evade the immune response from the vaccines. Yet all the COVID-19 vaccines
are mostly able to stop the infection worsening.
"In a vaccinated person, what will happen is that we already have cells that very
specifically recognize an infected cell, and can aggressively target that infection so that the
virus can no longer replicate," said Dr. Nicole Baumgarth, a professor of Immunology and
Infectious Diseases at University of California–Davis. "Even if we cannot stop the
infection from happening, [the vaccine] stops it very early in its tracks; the less virus
replication you have, the less symptoms you will have, the less disease and it gets easier for
the immune system to mop up the little bit of virus."
Signs of infection, like a fever, develop when the immune system has been activated to fight
it.
"Some of the signs of disease are actually signs that the immune system has been activated,"
Baumgarth said. "That's one response to the body to fight the viruses, to increase the
temperature."
Baumgarth said it is in fact accurate to think of a breakthrough infection as a "booster
shot." However, Baumgarth would not advocate for people to purposely expose themselves to the
virus. Yet a mild breakthrough case does build one's immunity against the virus.
Of course, given the possibility of spreading the virus further, it is best not to get
infected at all.
Last week, Israel's health ministry
released preliminary data suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine's ability to
protect against a mild coronavirus infection may have decreased precipitously, even though it
remains effective against severe illness and death from COVID-19. The reason for the decrease
in the vaccine's effectiveness may be both because of transient immunity and the virulent
delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is more adept at overcoming the vaccine's defenses.
The delta variant is now the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in Israel, where researchers now
estimate that the two-shot Pfizer vaccine is only 39% effective in preventing an infection
within the country. That is about half as effective as the vaccine was two weeks ago, when it
purportedly exhibited
64% effectiveness against coronavirus infection in Israel -- though at that point in time,
the delta variant was less widespread. Upon its public release in late 2020, Pfizer-BioNTech's
mRNA
vaccine was reported to have an efficacy of 95%.
On a positive note, research data shows that the Pfizer vaccine is still effective at
preventing serious illness; at least 88 percent effective in protecting against
hospitalization; and 91 percent effective at preventing severe illness.
The key issue problem is whether Delta can successfully spread in fully vaccinated
population? If the answer is yes, then the current policy is stupid. Another important question
is whether the current generation of vaccines provides any real benefits for people younger then
30?
In short, the article like this looks like another attempt to change the narrative as it
demonstrates abandonment of the previous idea of herd immunity. Suddenly, because of
proliferation of breakthrough infections, it is not longer a goal.
Post-vaccination infections, or breakthroughs,
might occasionally turn symptomatic , but they
aren't shameful or aberrant . They also aren't proof that the shots are failing .
These cases are, on average, gentler and less symptomatic;
faster-resolving, with less virus lingering -- and, it appears, less likely to pass the
pathogen on. The immunity offered by vaccines works in iterations and gradations, not
absolutes. It does not make a person completely impervious to infection. It also does not
evaporate when a few microbes breach a body's barriers. A breakthrough, despite what it might
seem, does not cause our defenses to crumble or even break ; it does not erase the
protection that's already been built. Rather than setting up fragile and penetrable shields,
vaccines reinforce the defenses we already have , so that we can encounter the virus
safely and potentially build further upon that protection.
To understand the anatomy of a breakthrough case, it's helpful to think of the human body as
a castle. Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, compares
immunization to reinforcing such a stronghold against assault.
Without vaccination, the castle's defenders have no idea an attack is coming. They might
have stationed a few aggressive guard dogs outside, but these mutts aren't terribly discerning:
They're the system's innate defenders , fast-acting and brutal, but short-lived and woefully imprecise.
They'll sink their teeth into anything they don't recognize, and are easily duped by stealthier
invaders. If only quarrelsome canines stand between the virus and the castle's treasures,
that's a pretty flimsy first line of defense. But it's essentially the situation that many
uninoculated people are in. Other fighters, who operate with more precision and punch -- the
body's adaptive
cells -- will eventually be roused. Without prior warning, though, they'll come out in full
force only after a weeks - long delay , by which time the virus
may have run roughshod over everything it can. At that point, the fight may, quite literally,
be at a fever pitch, fueling worsening symptoms.
Post-vaccination infections, or breakthroughs,
might occasionally turn symptomatic , but they
aren't shameful or aberrant . They also aren't proof that the shots are failing .
These cases are, on average, gentler and less symptomatic;
faster-resolving, with less virus lingering -- and, it appears, less likely to pass the
pathogen on. The immunity offered by vaccines works in iterations and gradations, not
absolutes. It does not make a person completely impervious to infection. It also does not
evaporate when a few microbes breach a body's barriers. A breakthrough, despite what it might
seem, does not cause our defenses to crumble or even break ; it does not erase the
protection that's already been built. Rather than setting up fragile and penetrable shields,
vaccines reinforce the defenses we already have , so that we can encounter the virus
safely and potentially build further upon that protection.
To understand the anatomy of a breakthrough case, it's helpful to think of the human body as
a castle. Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, compares
immunization to reinforcing such a stronghold against assault.
Without vaccination, the castle's defenders have no idea an attack is coming. They might
have stationed a few aggressive guard dogs outside, but these mutts aren't terribly discerning:
They're the system's innate defenders , fast-acting and brutal, but short-lived and woefully imprecise.
They'll sink their teeth into anything they don't recognize, and are easily duped by stealthier
invaders. If only quarrelsome canines stand between the virus and the castle's treasures,
that's a pretty flimsy first line of defense. But it's essentially the situation that many
uninoculated people are in. Other fighters, who operate with more precision and punch -- the
body's adaptive
cells -- will eventually be roused. Without prior warning, though, they'll come out in full
force only after a weeks - long delay , by which time the virus
may have run roughshod over everything it can. At that point, the fight may, quite literally,
be at a fever pitch, fueling worsening symptoms.
... ... ...
The choice isn't about getting vaccinated or getting infected. It's about
bolstering our defenses so that we are ready to fight an infection from the best position
possible -- with our defensive wits about us, and well-armored bodies in tow.
Three antiviral monoclonal antibody treatments to prevent severe Covid-19 and
hospitalization. Shipments of one such drug are paused because it wasn't effective against
variants, but doctors can continue prescribing the two others: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Inc.'s REGEN-COV and Vir Biotechnology Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC's sotrovimab.
The antiviral remdesivir , made by Gilead Sciences Inc., to help clear the virus in
hospitalized patients.
Convalescent plasma , a highly concentrated solution of antibodies taken from recovered
Covid-19 patients, also for use in hospitals.
The immune-suppressing rheumatoid arthritis drugs baricitinib and tocilizumab , to rein
in the potentially lethal inflammation experienced by many hospitalized patients.
Dexamethasone , a generic steroid, recommended for use in severely ill patients. It is
now the most common treatment in hospitalized patients.
"... Federal officials concentrated their resources on quickly developing vaccines, with success. However, a relative dearth of drug research focused on coronaviruses, despite previous outbreaks, held back a fast response on treatments ..."
"... Red Texas btw had 1,387 new cases today. A state with 30 million people. 5 (yes that's five) deaths. The fourth straight day new cases fell. Weird how those stats aren't making it into the fear-mongering articles. ..."
"... Israel is struggling with a fourth wave of infections, and the Israeli Health Ministry announced at that Pfizer vaccine is only 39% effective against the Delta variant there. People who have had Covid and recovered are not being reinfected at a high rate. ..."
"... Time to stop the fear-mongering and hysteria. There is risk to everything in life, and you can't hide under the bed for the rest of your lives because something might happen. Let's get back to normal and stop being held prisoner by confused people like Fauci who don't understand their 15 minutes of fame are long over. ..."
Federal officials concentrated their resources on quickly developing vaccines, with
success. However, a relative dearth of drug research focused on coronaviruses, despite previous
outbreaks, held back a fast response on treatments . Scattered U.S. clinical trials
competed against each other for patients. When effective yet hard-to-administer drugs were
developed, a fragmented American healthcare system struggled to deliver them to patients.
Covid-19 cases, and the need for treatments, are continuing. U.S. hospitals are bracing for
new surges of cases with the
Delta variant spreading
... The Biden administration recently said it would
spend $3.2 billion to support the development of Covid-19 antiviral pills.
... ... ...
A lack of knowledge among healthcare providers has made it difficult to get even the
available treatments. When Bob Bellin of Austin, Texas, tested positive for Covid-19 last
December, he remembered that then-President Donald Trump had
taken a monoclonal antibody treatment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Suffering from a mild cough and a headache, the retiree was worried about his chances of
developing a bad case of the virus because he has a compromised immune system condition. He
says he called a telemedicine provider to inquire about antibody treatment, but the physician
assistant on the call initially didn't know about it. After some pleading, the healthcare
worker agreed to research the drug's availability, he says.
Several minutes later, she got back to him with the names of sites where he could get the
antibody treatment. The next week, Mr. Bellin received the infusion over a three-hour visit. A
week later, he started his regular running routine again.
... ... ...
Remdesivir, first authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in May 2020 and later
granted full approval, is now given to roughly half of all hospitalized patients. Yet patients
often recover slowly regardless of whether they receive the treatment or not, doctors say.
"The effect of remdesivir is something a statistician can show you in a trial of 1,000
people, but it's not something where you really can see a day-to-day impact on your patients,"
says Dr. Griffin of ProHealth.
... ... ...
The Recovery study, which has examined at least 12 drugs so far, found the most effective of
all Covid-19 treatments for hospitalized patients to date, dexamethasone, which cut the risk of
death in patients on ventilators by a third. The Oxford scientists
reported the results in June 2020 , less than three months after they first began
evaluating it.
... ... ...
Last November, the FDA authorized the first drugs designed specifically to target Covid-19
in people who weren't hospitalized based on preliminary trial results. These monoclonal
antibodies were modeled after the natural antibodies people produce to fight the new
coronavirus.
Researchers at companies including Regeneron and Eli Lilly & Co. developed these monoclonal
antibody therapies in less than a year, compared with the decade or longer it usually takes to
bring a drug to market. The work was sped by earlier research by Regeneron and others to
develop antibodies for the MERS virus. The new drugs worked well in early Covid-19 patients,
reducing the risk of hospitalization or death by 70% in trials.
Yet of the nearly one million doses shipped to hospitals and clinics from November through
early May, just 49% were used by patients over the period.
One factor in their limited use was the fact that influential panels that issue Covid-19
treatment guidelines balked at endorsing them before full clinical trial data was available.
The NIH and the Infectious Diseases Society of America didn't recommend using the drugs until
February and March, respectively, after Lilly provided results from a Phase 3 study.
... ... ...
The hospital treated 1,469 patients with the drugs through early July, and as many as 30
people a day at the peak, says Jonathan Parsons, a pulmonologist and executive vice chair of
clinical operations for Wexner's internal medicine department.
Of the patients treated so far, 4.8% have gone on to be hospitalized, compared with an
estimated 8% to 9% for similar patients not infused with the drug, he says.
Looking ahead, the best solution would be an antiviral that can be taken early in the
disease as a pill, doctors say.
Finding highly effective treatments with tolerable side effects is likely to take years and
require more coordination between government, universities and industry...
The posts below are sad - Trump, Trump, Trump. A man who's been gone for eight months. I
guess that's better than dealing with Biden's endless problems. I suppose letting in
thousands of illegals, many with covid, still isn't an issue?
Love the constant blaming of "delta" on unvaxxed Trump supporters. Sure, it's mostly red
states, but the enormous fact that keeps getting ignored is the fact over 60% of whites have
vaxxed. African Americans? 9%. Yes 9%. That means millions of adult AAs who can get shots,
won't.
Not surprising is AAs make up a large portion of the current hospital load (which still
isn't bad). Of course all the media and the people making this political want to say
is...it's "red states". I guess they don't want to offend Biden's voting base?
Red Texas btw had 1,387 new cases today. A state with 30 million people. 5 (yes that's
five) deaths. The fourth straight day new cases fell. Weird how those stats aren't making it
into the fear-mongering articles.
jack Canzonetta SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
FDA, CDC, FAUCI all downplayed Regeneron's treatment--a super treatment --I also asked my
about DR above Regeneron's treatment .. We were discussing a plan in case I contracted the
Wuhan lab virus, he didn't say much Regeneron - I also found out the outlets to receive it
were limited and they had produced many of product.. Fauci was singing only one note--Moderna
--
Catherine G Attara-Fink SUBSCRIBER 27 minutes ago
How about we need treatment for those who have been vaccinated and get Covid after the
fact???
thomas barloon SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
Today I saw a 50 year old man with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) . Each time he coughs,
he releases millions of tuberculosis organisms into to the air and fills the rooms he enters
with infectious active bacteria. Should our patient with active tuberculosis be allowed to go
when and where he wants? Would you enter a cafe where he is eating or enter a room where he
is living? Of course, most would hope the man with active TB stays home and takes medication
to treat his active infection. Now, in many states, people with active COVID are allowed to
enter cafes and stores. Who are those with acitive COVID? One does not know until one tests
and traces and isolates. And an effective vaccine is also available and monoclonal antibodies
are available to all. Why do doctors not use HCQ and Invermectin and zinc? Simple. These and
many other medications do not work. Yes, the results are available for all to read for free
in NEJM, JAMA, Nature. Follow facts not fantasy.
William Lamb SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
I guessed face mask might not be in this picture, since there are those who claimed it is
ineffective and covered one smile. Beside, it is their constutional rights to infect others
and care less for their fellow American, when they see that it is good to share the same
misery to others.
Dick Motley SUBSCRIBER 56 minutes ago
What an ironic post. You DO realize the vaccines are also categorized as emergency use
because they're also considered experimental right? And you HAVE heard about adverse
reactions to the vaccines, right? And you HAVE heard about "breakthrough" cases (reinfection)
among the vaccinated, right?
Sorry, did I say "ironic"? I meant "moronic".
Jamilla Graves SUBSCRIBER 2 hours ago
It would be irresponsible for the WSJ to spread propaganda about drugs that have been
disproven as treatments against and to prevent COVID-19.
jes merrell SUBSCRIBER 2 hours ago
Agreed. It is equally irresponsible for the layman poster to spread propaganda such as "tens
of thousands" of doctors are doing what?
If the poster is a physician, virologist or immunologist, offer your credentials along with
your medical advice. It will then have credibility, your opinions have none.
Mikey Metz SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago
"Fragmented health care" is correct. When will Congress and at least 60 percent of Americans
wake up and realize health care in a capitalized society does not work like Target Corp. or
any business that works in a competitive environment. And to read how little money is spent
in this area is horrible. The world has dealt with terrible viruses forever--and the feet
dragging continues.
We are not in Russia or China where the state mandates what to do. with your thinking it has
to be difficult for you to be in a country where there is freedom of choice.
Who are you to tell 50% of the population of the country what to do? Who are you to mandate
to get an experimental vaccine? This is everyone's individual decision. If you are vaccinated
you are safe. Didn't Biden say you are 100% safe?
Richard Dole SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago
Let's see, all the Science (actual peer reviewed studies) indicate that those who have
recovered from COVID (naturally vaccinated) or been jabbed are good to go, have broad
immunity. So why worry about others if you are protected........
J Domingo SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago (Edited)
So why worry about others if you are protected........
Because this is not about protecting people.
It is about controlling people.
That is the only explanation for why Covid survivors are put on the BAD list. If they
don't line up and demonstrate their servility, they are in trouble.
T
Now, a new NIH-supported study shows that the answer to this question will vary based on how
an individual's antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were generated: over the course of a naturally
acquired infection or from a COVID-19 vaccine. The new evidence shows that protective
antibodies generated in response to an mRNA vaccine will target a broader range of SARS-CoV-2
variants carrying "single letter" changes in a key portion of their spike protein compared to
antibodies acquired from an infection. These results add to evidence that people with
acquired immunity may have differing levels of protection to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
More importantly, the data provide further documentation that those who've had and recovered
from a COVID-19 infection still stand to benefit from getting vaccinated.
J Domingo SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago (Edited)
Israel is struggling with a fourth wave of infections, and the Israeli Health Ministry
announced at that Pfizer vaccine is only 39% effective against the Delta variant there.
People who have had Covid and recovered are not being reinfected at a high rate.
Now, a new NIH-supported study shows that the answer to this question will vary...
Quoting a study that is not yet published provides little useful information,
and cannot be used to conclude vaccination is superior to recovery from natural infection.
Thomas Erb SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
you missed a part of the Israeli quote
The two-dose vaccine still works very well in preventing people from getting seriously
sick, demonstrating 88% effectiveness against hospitalization and 91% effectiveness against
severe illness, according to the Israeli data.
David Richardson SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
Because I still have about a 20% chance of getting the Delta virus if I am in direct contact
with unvaccinated and unmasked people. I then have a 10% chance of getting seriously ill.
But, the many people who post exactly the same question know this data. It is reported daily
by outlets ranging from the MSM to Fox. You just don't like it . It cuts your argument that
unvaccinated people are not a concern or threat to vaccinated people to shreds Man up. Or, at
least, shut up. If you or others decide not to get vaccinated you are materially raising the
immediate risk to others and--perhaps even worse--the odds that you will bread an even worse
variant.
Hersh Goel SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago
you do not have a 20% chance of getting Delta virus from unvaccinated pople - dont shake
hands, dont hug or kiss. dont get in crowded places like elevators. wear an eye shield and
mask - your risk is essentially zero. The evidence is the thousands of unvaccinated health
care workers who took care of covid 19 cases for over a year.
But if you want to have 'direct contact' with people, thats a choice you make.
T Swan SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
This from India news, July 1, 2021
'Not a long-drawn process': Bharat Biotech expecting WHO approval soon As several European
countries are accepting WHO-listed Covishield, Covaxin too is expected to receive WHO
approval soon.
Stephen Carroll SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago
The highest rates of unvaccinated people live in the inner cities. In order to get support
from liberals the Democrats have neglected these inner city people so it would not disprove
their narrative that it is suburban conservatives that are failing to get vaccinated.
Nikola Sizgorich SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago
Time to stop the fear-mongering and hysteria. There is risk to everything in life, and
you can't hide under the bed for the rest of your lives because something might happen. Let's
get back to normal and stop being held prisoner by confused people like Fauci who don't
understand their 15 minutes of fame are long over.
K Baker SUBSCRIBER 4 hours ago
Everybody knows a person can still get covid even if a person is fully vaccinated and spread
it to other people. Except JD. He will Spin that a 1000 different ways to try to confuse
people. He is talking to himself.
J Domingo SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
Everybody knows a person can still get covid even if a person is fully vaccinated...
That's truly funny.
"You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations." Joe Biden, speaking
at the CNN Town Hall in Cincinnati, OH, July 21, 2021
K Baker, and most D's don't even know what their confused leader believes and is
saying publicly about the vaccine.
Without misinformation, the Left would be bereft of information.
There is clear and mounting evidence that – though rare – breakthrough COVID-19
infections can occur, even in the fully vaccinated. This is particularly true with emerging
variants of concern.
The CDC has been following these data closely. By mid-July 2021, nearly 60% of the U.S.
population age 18 or older had been fully vaccinated. Infections in those who are fully
vaccinated are rare, and serious outcomes from COVID-19 in that population are even rarer
– though they do still occur. However, the CDC stopped tracking nonhospitalized cases of
COVID-19 for people with and without symptoms among fully vaccinated individuals on May 1,
2021.
The risk of infection leading to serious illness and death, however, differs starkly between
vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
... ... ...
One recent preliminary report from Israel is sobering, however. Before the delta variant
became widespread, from January to April 2021 , Israel reported
that the Pfizer vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease. However,
since June 6 ,
with the delta variant circulating more widely, the Pfizer vaccine has been 64% effective in
preventing symptomatic disease, according to preliminary data reported by Israel's Ministry of
Health in early July.
And in another new
report that is not yet peer-reviewed , researchers compared blood serum antibodies from
people vaccinated with Pfizer Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and found that the
J&J vaccine lent much lower
protection against delta, beta and other variants, compared with the mRNA-based
vaccines.
Despite the power of Covid-19 vaccines in cutting the risk of hospitalization and death from
the disease,
fully vaccinated people can get very sick and die from the virus in rare cases. Those
individuals tend to be older than 65 or have weakened immune systems or other severe medical
conditions, an NBC News survey of health officials nationwide found.
"Throughout the pandemic, people who died of Covid-19 were most likely to be older, and that
continues to be true with breakthrough cases," a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department
of Public Health said in an email.
In Oregon, about 10 percent of the breakthrough infections reported to the state were in
people living in nursing homes or congregate care facilities, and the majority of deaths were
older people.
Shira Doron on All Things Considered | July 19, 2021
COVID-19 cases are trending upwards across the country. In Massachusetts, where vaccination rates are relatively high, cases
are still on the rise" and a cluster in Provincetown among mostly vaccinated individuals caused the town to issue a new mask advisory
Monday. Tufts Medical Center epidemiologist Dr. Shira Doron spoke with Arun Rath on GBH's All Things Considered about where
thing stand in the Commonweath and the nation.
Arun Rath: It probably makes sense to start with today's news out of Provincetown. The town is putting its indoor mask
advisory back in place after more than 100 new COVID cases popped up after the July Fourth holiday. What do you make of that uptick
and the response?
Shira Doron: Well, the outbreak is unexpected. It's not what we've been seeing. There's quite a bit of transmission there
reported between vaccinated individuals. And really, what we've seen so far, has been that, certainly, breakthrough cases occur in
vaccinated individuals" usually they have mild symptoms, which we do believe to be the case here" but usually they don't transmit
to others, so the fact that there are so many cases" 132 reported" that a good proportion of them are vaccinated and that it appears
that there was transmission among them is unusual. And so it makes sense for health authorities there to take some swift and rather
aggressive action, at least for the moment, to try to control the outbreak, and then continue to study what might have happened there,
because there's still so much we don't know.
Rath: Interesting. So that uptick of 100 cases is as unusual as it sounds, that's sort of why the response is what it is.
Doron: Yes, we really haven't seen anything quite like this yet.
Rath: Are you concerned that we will start to see other incidents like this?
Doron: I hope not. I hope that this was, you know, an anomaly that was probably related to the fact that the delta variant
is so very contagious that some people who harbor it have very, very high viral loads in the respiratory tract. The fact that it
was a holiday weekend, very crowded bars and nightclubs, some rain that drove people inside more than usual, and that perhaps all
of those things came together this one time to cause this outbreak...
"Researchers estimate that 25 deaths in a population of some 12 million children in
England gives a broad, overall mortality rate of 2 per million children."
Despite the above-cited statistics, 56% of big-D
Democrats supported mandating vaccines for schoolchildren in a July 2021 poll.
4 Details on FBI inquiry into Kavanaugh draw fire from Democrats Democrats' divide on voting
rights widens as Biden faces pressure
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced on Thursday that 20
percent of new COVID-19 cases identified in Los Angeles County were in vaccinated
individuals.
..."The Delta variant is a game-changer," Ferrer said. With the Delta variant driving
community spread and positive case numbers up in LA County, the percentage of breakthrough
cases in fully-vaccinated people has gone up as well. The daily average case rate was 7.1 per
100,000 people on July 15 and shot up to 12.9 on Thursday.
... about 53 percent of LA County residents are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. About
58 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are fully vaccinated.
... Vaccinated people are still far more likely to be able to fight off the virus when
exposed. Vaccinated people are also much less likely to advance to serious illness or death,
with 90 percent of nationwide hospitalizations or fatalities occurring in unvaccinated
people.
...
new data shows people infected with the delta strain can carry up to 1,000 times more virus
in their nasal passages than those infected with the original strain.
"I think people are underestimating how bad this is going to get," said Dr. Ashish Jha. "We
are in for a very tough August, probably a very tough September before this really turns
around."
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the delta variant "is one of the most infectious
respiratory viruses we know of, and that I have seen in my 20 year career."
Jha told CNBC's " The News with Shepard
Smith ," that the infection rate could be worse if it were winter, and predicted the delta
spike could peak within two months.
"It might peak in September, but we are far away from the peak, right now we are doing
40,000 cases a day, it's going to go substantially higher before it peaks," Jha said.
The delta variant has spread rapidly through the U.S., accounting for more than 83% of
sequenced cases in the U.S. right now, up from 50% the week of July 3, according to the
CDC.
At delta variant of Covid-19 spreads across many Western and
Southern U.S. states, its high transmission rate could increase them number of immune to the
virus people from about 50% to 85%" even if vaccination rates continue to plateau, Dr. Scott
Gottlieb, a former chief of the Food and Drug Administration, said.
Gottlieb noted that millions of Americans remain vulnerable and now
have a "choice in terms of how [they] acquire immunity."
Both vaccinated and those who have natural immunity still have
increased risk Gottlieb said, pointing to data showing immunity among individuals naturally
infected with Covid-19" and particularly those who are older" declines after about eight
months. It looks like the decline for vaccinated people is even faster and that's why there are
talks about booster shots
He predicted Covid will effectively act as a "second circulating flu
this winter," though he said its prominence "could be a little worse."
In Mexico, an estimated 84% of cases are delta infections, which may be a warning that this
variant may also be endemic in Latin America.
If the virus continues to mutate as fast as did in 2020 and 2021 herd immunity against this
virus might never be achieved.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
"I wouldn't be declaring mission accomplished. I think this is going to be a long fight,"
Gottlieb said Sunday. "You're seeing a decoupling between cases, hospitalizations and deaths
because there's so much immunity in the population""not just through vaccination""but also
through prior infection... But this is likely to become an endemic virus. We're going to have
to deal with it."
KEY BACKGROUND
Since the start of the pandemic, experts have long said Covid-19's threat would largely
wane once herd immunity is reached,
referring to a large-enough proportion of immunity that effectively makes
person-to-person transmission highly unlikely within a community. If the virus cominutes to
mutated in a ways it did in 202 and 2021 this might not happen all and herd immunity against
this virus might never be achived.
Patients receiving emergency medical care would no longer get surprise medical bills from providers outside their insurance network
under a rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration.
The long-awaited rule is the first to follow the so-called No Surprises Act, passed in December 2020 by Congress that sought
to protect patients from receiving significant medical bills when they are unwittingly treated by an out-of-network doctor, lab,
or other type of provider.
The rule seeks to implement key parts of the legislation protecting patients from being billed by out-of-network doctors who provide
treatment at in-network hospitals, as well as protecting them from surprise bills for both emergency and nonemergency care. The
interim final rule will
undergo 60 days of public comment and largely go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, when the law takes effect.
"No patient should forgo care for fear of surprise billing," said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement.
"Health insurance should offer patients peace of mind that they won't be saddled with unexpected costs."
Congress and policy makers
have sought to tackle surprise medical bills because patients are paying more out-of-pocket for their care, and many out-of-network
charges can occur when patients are unaware that they are being treated by a provider who isn't covered by their health insurance.
Out-of-network charges have added to medical debt and rising out-of-pocket payments for consumers: An April 2021 study in the
journal Health Affairs found that patients receiving a surprise out-of-network bill for emergency physician care paid more than 10
times as much as in-network emergency patients paid out-of-pocket .
The interim final rule is expansive. Emergency services, regardless of where they are provided, would have to be billed at lower,
in-network rates without requirements for prior authorization.
The rule also bans higher out-of-network cost-sharing, such as copayments, from patients for treatment they receive either
in an emergency or nonemergency situation. Under the rule, any coinsurance or deductible can't be higher than if such services were
provided by an in-network doctor.
The interim final rule also stipulates that patients can't be charged out-of-network for "ancillary" care, which can happen when
an out-of-network anesthesiologist or assistant surgeon provides treatment at an in-network hospital.
Regulations that will be released at a later time will implement a procedural process so medical providers and insurers can arbitrate
out-of-network payment disputes, a solution that was so contentious it threatened to scuttle passage of the No Surprises Act. Insurers
raised concerns that arbitration could put them at a disadvantage and instead favored linking out-of-network reimbursement to a benchmark
rate.
The legislative fight over the No Surprises Act that spurred the interim rule was contentious. The American Medical Association
and some state medical associations worried it could financially hurt small physician practices that were still reeling from the
pandemic. The American Hospital Association supported the arbitration provision but raised concerns about the possibility for uneven
enforcement of the law.
The bill will lead to "dangerous, unintended consequences, right in the middle of a surging pandemic," according to a Dec. 15,
2020, letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) from conservative groups such as Action for Health.
Cost-sharing includes deductibles, copayments paid at the time of treatment, and coinsurance, which is the percentage of a bill
that consumers pay that isn't covered by insurance. Patients are paying increasingly more for their own care because cost-sharing
has increased over time, research shows. Most workers also face additional cost-sharing for a hospital admission or outpatient surgery.
Sixty-five percent of workers with employer-sponsored coverage have coinsurance and 13% have a copayment for hospital admissions,
according to a 2020 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Out-of-network charges from anesthesiologists, pathologists, radiologists and assistant surgeons increase spending by $40 billion
annually, according to researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.
Congress in its legislation sought to protect patients from unknowingly receiving care from an out-of-network provider. To that
end, the rule bans other out-of-network charges without advance notice.
The regulations issued Thursday will take effect for healthcare providers and facilities Jan. 1, 2022. For group health plans,
health-insurance issuers and Federal Employees Health Benefits program carriers, the provisions will take effect for plan, policy
or contract years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2022.
If we assume that 80% of population is vaccinated and 30-40% of vaccinated can be infected and spread the virus, that simply means
that like in case of flu and other coronaviruses herd immunity from COVID-19 will never be achieved as in one year the virus sufficiently
mutates to infect significant percentage of previously vaccinated people. The situation with mass vaccination of children looks pretty
absurd, if not criminal
The news is peppered with anecdotal evidence of breakthrough cases. The headlines are terrifying and the personal stories are
tragic:
Boston Globe : "79 fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents have died, 303 hospitalized in very rare COVID "˜breakthrough'
cases, officials say"
The Guardian : "COVID outbreak among vaccinated Vegas hospital workers underscores Delta risks"
NBC : "Illinois Coronavirus Updates: Breakthrough COVID Cases Are 2% of State's Deaths This Year"
So, why do breakthrough cases happen?
We shouldn't think of vaccine protection as binary (yes or no). It's better to think of protection on a spectrum: On one end the
vaccine will protect people in every situation and on the other end it doesn't protect people at all. And each of us land somewhere
in between.
There are many factors that determine where we land:
There's of course the variants. Depending which variant you come in contact with determines your level of protection. mRNA
vaccines' efficacy is now ~88% against Delta. If 100 people got COVID19, Pfizer/Moderna could have prevented 88 of them. 12 people
would have still gotten some form of the disease. On the other hand, if people came in contact with the original strain, 95 (out
of a 100) would have been prevented.
Some of us just don't have immune systems that can build protection. For example, it looks like
certain drugs for
immunocompromised patients reduce and/or prevent protection. Also, older adults are less protected.
Behaviors, too, can predict your place on this spectrum. If a vaccinated person is exposed to a large enough dose of a virus
OR exposed to enough unvaccinated people where transmission is high, the virus can overcome the vaccine and cause infection, even
among the sturdiest of immune defenses.
And then there's just luck. Even if you compare
twins , the level of protection
can differ. Some people will just create fewer or less strong defense mechanisms (antibodies, T cells, and/or memory B cells).
And we don't really know why.
Nonetheless, should the virus make it through, Dr. Ali Ellebody, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis,
said it best:
"It becomes a race [against] time. The pathogen rushes to copy itself, and the immune system recruits more defenders. The longer
the tussle drags on, the more likely the disease is to manifest."
It's important to monitor all breakthrough cases.
If we closely monitor them, we can answer some very critical questions like"¦
Are breakthrough cases happening at the rate in which we expect?
Who's most likely to break through?
What is the rate of a mild breakthrough case vs. severe breakthrough case?
Are variants, like Delta, causing more (or more severe) breakthrough cases than other variants?
A study was published describing breakthrough
cases between January 1-April 30. During this time among 101 million fully vaccinated Americans, 10,262 breakthrough infections were
reported to the CDC. Who were they?
63% female
Median age was 58 years (age range was 40""74 years)
10% were hospitalized
2% died. Median age of patients who died was 82 years (age range was 71""89 years)
Genomic sequence data were available for 5% of breakthrough cases
64% were identified as a Variant of Concern (this was before Delta emerged)
Beginning May 1, 2021, though, the CDC transitioned from monitoring all breakthrough infections to investigating only those among
patients who are hospitalized or die. The CDC doesn't have the infrastructure to rigorously investigate all breakthrough cases. They
needed to prioritize their operation, so they decided to focus on cases of highest clinical and public health significance.
The CDC continuously publishes the latest count on their
website . As of July
6, there were 5,186 severe breakthrough cases. This includes 988 deaths (although it's important to notice the footnote stating
that 255 of these were not directly related to COVID19).
... ... ...
From February 1 to June 21, 123,620 Delta cases were sequenced in the UK. Among those, 10,834 cases were among fully vaccinated
( i.e. breakthrough cases) and 71,932 cases among the unvaccinated. While this isn't all of the breakthrough cases, this gives
an even closer estimate to the "true" rate of breakthrough cases due to Delta. But even this is among patients who went to the hospital.
We still don't know the asymptomatic and/or mild breakthrough rate.
It really angers me that the CDC isn't tracking all breakthroughs even if they don't investigate everything, because we are
losing so much information, such as what's going on here.
There have been a couple of Delta breakthrough CLUSTERS in the news lately, so there may be fully vaxxed people who are superspreaders.
I don't think you can attribute these to individual immune system issues.
In this cluster, the sources had a vaccine with lower effectiveness, and they probably stood pretty close together, even though
outdoors. But the other folks had mRNA. All guests were required to be fully vaxxed.
Question: Many of the news reports about breakthrough cases show that groups of friends or couples who are all fully vaccinated
but spent time together somehow *all* ended up as breakthrough cases. With the 88% vaccine efficacy rate, how does that work? For
example, if a husband who is fully vaccinated is infected as a breakthrough case, shouldn't it be highly unprobable mathematically
that his fully vaccinated wife also then contracts it from him?
Thanks for this! Katelyn, you are a gem. As a retired fed health professional, I have kind of an embedded risk vs threat meter
after all those years of working. I am cringing at everyone going back to normal, like the pandemic is over. I over quote Yogi Berra
- it ain't over till it's over.
As a fully vaccinated person, I have continued to mask indoors as my kids are not vaccinated and I do not want to risk spreading
it to them. I am now getting nervous about outdoor interactions i.e school dropoffs, outdoor bday parties, etc. with potentially
unvaccinated individuals. The wedding and Vegas pool party stories have made me a bit nervous. Any thoughts?
I wish I could put an attachment here but in the same vein of all of this, my sister , who is a diehard anti vaxxer sent me a
snip of the Israel Health ministry case reporting from last week which breaks down cases of fully vaccinated and non vaccinated by
age group. The chart shows almost higher percentage of vaccinated individuals with cases and show small case load but overall high
percent . She is running with this information saying this proves that the vaccine makes you more suspepticle to covid and is causing
the current issues. Local, I know you have explained this data reporting misunderstanding before but can you explain again why the
data looks skewed in Israel ? Also check me on my chart
...breakthrough infections among the vaccinated, which is another reason that there are
increasingly louder questions about whether immunity may be waning among some people who have
been vaccinated and
if boosters are needed to combat declining protection.
The booster debate has also been fueled by preliminary data out of Israel that indicates
BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc.'s shot is
64% effective against delta -- a significant decline from the
95% efficacy rate reported in clinical trials.
"We have the same data as Israel," Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said
during Tuesday's Senate HELP committee hearing. "Why aren't we making the same decisions?"
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, later responded, saying:
"Right now we are doing studies to determine whether or not we will need boosters, to increase
the durability of protection. We don't want people to believe that when you're talking about
boosters that means that the vaccines are not effective. They are highly effective. We're
talking about the durability."
It's still unknown how long immunity to SARS-CoV-2 lasts, whether from a previous infection
or from vaccination. Pfizer recently said it believes immunity from its shot begins to wane
between six and 12 months after vaccination. Some countries, including Israel, Canada and the
U.K., are providing or considering booster shots for certain high-risk patient groups.
Fauci said that the CDC is currently tracking 20 groups of people who have been vaccinated
to better understand whether there is or will be a need for boosters. This includes thousands
of healthcare workers and people from long-term-care facilities and nursing homes.
"We're anticipating that this will wane and not plummet," CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky
said during the hearing. "As we see that waning, that will be our time for action."
Johnson and Johnson vaccine was ineffective against South African mutation. So why Delta, and
especially Delta Plus variant which has the same mutation as South African variant (Beta in new
classification). Thus like South African variant is has further advantages in infected already
vaccinated people
Delta plus variant of SARS-CoV-2- What do we know so far
The Delta
variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread. It now
constitutes 83% of the COVID cases in the U.S.
And now, as CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported Wednesday, a preliminary study not yet peer
reviewed suggests that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may
not be as effective against the Delta variant as the other two authorized vaccines.
... The J&J vaccine has been given to more than 13 million people
Those conclusions differ from smaller clinical results released by J&J earlier this
month that said a single dose of their vaccine did protect against Delta, even eight months
after inoculation.
Those differences could be because the new study looked at antibodies in the lab compared to
real world immunity in people, which would include T-cell immunity. Peer review would help
determine that contribution to protection.
To come to this conclusion, scientists from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic
Immunology and Infectious Disease looked at more than 100 health workers at three centres
across India. Titled "Sars-Cov-2 B.1.617.2
Delta Variant Emergence and Vaccine Breakthrough: Collaborative Study". One of the centres
was Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in Delhi. It is yet to be peer reviewed.
Researchers of this study found that the Delta variant, which emerged in India, dominates
vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-Delta
infections.
They also saw that this variant generates greater transmission among the fully vaccinated
healthcare workers. Moreover, the study found that, in vitro, the Delta variant is around
eight-fold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies compared to the original
virus.
Hence, they came to the conclusion that Delta variant is both more transmissible and
better able to evade the immunity a patient gets from previous infection as compared to
previously circulating coronaviruses.
Neoliberalism is the key reason fro the drop in life expectancy
Notable quotes:
"... Declines or stagnation in longevity can signal catastrophic events or deep problems in a society, researchers say. ..."
"... More deaths from homicide, diabetes and chronic liver disease -- which is related to heavy alcohol use -- also contributed to last year's life expectancy drop, the CDC said ..."
"... The declines were largest for Hispanic and Black people, who as population groups were disproportionately affected by the pandemic . The largest drop for any cohort was 3.7 years, for Hispanic men, bringing their life expectancy to 75.3 years of age. ..."
Life expectancy in the U.S. fell by 1.5 years in 2020, the biggest decline since at least
World War II, as the Covid-19 pandemic killed hundreds of thousands and exacerbated crises in
drug overdoses , homicides and some chronic diseases.
... ... ...
The full toll of the pandemic has yet to be seen, doctors and public-health officials said.
Many people skipped or delayed treatment last year for conditions such as diabetes or high
blood pressure and endured isolation, stress and interruptions in normal diet and exercise
routines.
"That has led to intermediate and longer-term effects we will have to deal with for years to
come," said Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern
University Feinberg School of Medicine and president of the American Heart Association.
Life expectancy is a measure of a nation's well-being and prosperity, based on mortality in
a given year. Declines or stagnation in longevity can signal catastrophic events or deep
problems in a society, researchers say. Life expectancy fell in the U.S. by 11.8 years in
1918, during a world-wide flu pandemic. Many victims were young.
... ... ...
More deaths from homicide, diabetes and chronic liver disease -- which is related to
heavy alcohol use -- also contributed to last year's life expectancy drop, the CDC said...
Life expectancy would have fallen even more, the CDC said, if not for decreases in mortality
due to cancer, chronic lower-respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, and
other factors.
The declines were largest for Hispanic and Black people, who as population groups were
disproportionately affected by the pandemic . The largest drop for any cohort was 3.7
years, for Hispanic men, bringing their life expectancy to 75.3 years of age.
U.S. longevity had been largely stagnant since 2010, even declining in three of those years,
due in part to an increase in
deaths from drug overdoses , rising death rates
from heart disease for middle-aged Americans and other public health crises. "Getting back
to where we were before the pandemic is a very bad place," said Steven Woolf, director emeritus
of the Center on Society and Health at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
and author of a recent study comparing the effects of the pandemic on life expectancy in the
U.S. and other high-income countries. "We've got a larger problem here."
... ... ...
Drug-overdose deaths rose nearly 30% last year, driven by a proliferation of the deadly
synthetic opioid fentanyl as well as stress, isolation and reduced access to treatment during
the pandemic, public-health experts said. One study published this month found a 28.3%
decline in initiation of addiction treatment in California from March through October
2020..... ...
Life expectancy for white people dropped 1.2 years to 77.6 years in 2020, the lowest level
since 2002.
What is missing from this article is a comparison of the US with other advanced economies in
Europe and Asia. What is disturbing is how the US spends the most and achieves less than our
economic peers starting with expected average longevity. We had the lowest longevity averages
pre-pandemic and now we have dropped further. This is happening despite the fact that our
health care spending is twice the per capita of other advanced economies (Approx. $11K in the
US vs. $6K based on 2019 data). Contributing to our dismal longevity statistics, with respect
to other wealthy economies, are the highest rates of drug overdose deaths and suicides by
gun. This is just the tip of a long list of sad statistics where we are unfortunately number
1 or close to it. The usual (partisan) response is to claim its government's fault or the
fault of a greedy healthcare system or just say the data is wrong. So far, none of these
strategies is working very well.
Dave Berg SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
Life expectancy is the wrong phrase. It's current average life duration. COVID will have no
impact on the life expectancy of babies being born right now. I have two new grandchildren,
their life expectancy will be impacted by things we don't even know about yet.
Over 200 People In 27 States Being Monitored For Monkeypox: CDC BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JUL 21, 2021 - 08:55 AM
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is monitoring over 200 people in 27 states for
potential exposure to monkeypox after their contacts were traced with
a Texan who contracted the rare disease while traveling in Nigeria weeks ago.
According to
Stat , state and local health officials are working with federal authorities to monitor
those who were in contact with the monkeypox patient, who flew into Atlanta international
airport on July 8, and then on to Dallas Love airport the next day. One week later, he was
diagnosed with the rare disease , which can be transmitted through bodily fluids and
respiratory droplets, according to the CDC.
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Monkeypox has an incubation period of three to 17 days.
The individuals who came in contact with the man include passengers who sat within six feet
of the patient, or used the mid-cabin bathroom during the overseas flight . They will be
monitored until July 30, according to the report. Also included are airline workers and family
members.
"It is a lot of people," said Andrea McCollum, epidemiologist for the National Center for
Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases. "We're in the timeframe where we certainly want to
closely monitor people."
"We define indirect contact as being within 6 feet of the patient in the absence of an N-95
or any filtering respirator for greater than or equal to three hours," McCollujm continued.
Monkeypox is caused by a virus that is related to smallpox, the only human virus to have
been eradicated. It causes less severe illness than smallpox, but is still quite dangerous .
The CDC said that the fatality rate for the strain of monkeypox seen in the Dallas case is
about 10%.
Monkeypox is rarely seen in people. There was a large outbreak in the U.S. in 2003
, when a shipment of animals from Ghana contained several rodents and other small mammals
that were infected with the virus; 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in five
states. The outbreak was the first time human cases of monkeypox were reported outside of
Africa. -Stat
Nigeria has seen a sharp uptick of monkeypox cases over the past few years, while seven
cases have been reported outside its borders; four in the UK, and one in Singapore, Israel and
the United States. One of the UK patients was a local healthcare worker who had unprotected
contact with a monkeypox patient.
First identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the original source of the
monkeypox virus has yet to be identified - however cases have been linked to the handling of
bushmeat as well as the trade of exotic small mammals, according to McCollum.
Those who contract the disease experience fever, chills, swollen glands, and its namesake
rash that spreads across the body . It can spread via inhalation of respiratory droplets from
infected individuals, or contact with their lesions or bodily fluids. It can also be
transmitted via bed linens or other items used by an infected person.
Truetox Laboratories of Garden City Park performed tests for drugs in urine on more than
140,000 samples between Jan. 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018, the audit said. It is one of Medicaid's
highest paid providers of laboratory services.
While Truetox was charging other payers $3 per test, it billed the New Jersey Medicaid
program between $1,300 and $1,500 for the same test, the state's audit found. Medicaid didn't
pay the full charges, but it paid Truetox $250 for each test.
State law prohibits Medicaid providers from charging Medicaid higher fees than other payers
for the same service.
Repayment of the overcharges to the state is "especially important given New Jersey's
ongoing opioid crisis," said the acting State Comptroller, Kevin D. Walsh. "By our office
recouping these funds, more money will go back to the Medicaid program, which will in turn
provide more services for this population in suffering."
Lindy Washburn is a senior health care reporter for NorthJersey.com. To keep up-to-date
about how changes in the medical world affect the health of you and your family, please
subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Mandatory vaccination with experimental vaccines is abhorrent and it should have us all
worried.
Unfortunately majorities in many countries have accepted this in the name of protecting
public health.
This is a very tragic situation and should be given our full attention.
And no, no one should be blackmailed to have these vaccines because they work in a
hospital, or a care home. They have the right to refuse at least as long as these vaccines
are in the experimental phase.
In Greece they are already preparing laws to make vaccination mandatory for doctors,
health workers, teachers and firefighters.
60% of people being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in England are fully vaccinated,
Sky News
reported .
According to Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific advisor, Covid patients
have received two doses of the Covid vaccine.
"In terms of the number of people in hospital who've been double-vaccinated, we know it's
around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with COVID," Vallance said.
"We do expect there to be over 1,000 people per day being hospitalized with coronavirus
because of the increase in infections," he added. "But the rates should be lower than they have
been previously because of the protective effects of vaccination."
Update: Now Sir Patrick Vallance is claiming he misspoke during Monday's presser!
"Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of
hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of
hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people." Vallance said in a
tweet.
Daniel Kotzin @danielkotzin · May 28 The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that
children in diapers wear masks until they are fully vaccinated. Coincidentally, Yvonne
Maldonado is the Chair of the AAP's Committee on Infectious Diseases AND she runs the trial of
the Pfizer vaccine on 2 to 5-year-olds.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that
children in diapers wear masks until they are fully vaccinated. Coincidentally, Yvonne
Maldonado is the Chair of the AAP's Committee on Infectious Diseases AND she runs the trial of
the Pfizer vaccine on 2 to 5-year-olds.
"This is a dramatic increase, up from 50% [in] the week of 4 July," Rochelle Walensky,
director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in Senate testimony.
Walensky also said Covid fatalities had risen by nearly 48% over the past week to an average
of 239 a day.
"Each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these
deaths could be prevented with a simple, safe available vaccine," she said.
A cluster of midwestern and southern states have emerged as the new hotspots for
Covid-19.
60% of people being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in England are fully vaccinated,
Sky News
reported .
According to Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific advisor, Covid patients
have received two doses of the Covid vaccine.
"In terms of the number of people in hospital who've been double-vaccinated, we know it's
around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with COVID," Vallance said.
"We do expect there to be over 1,000 people per day being hospitalized with coronavirus
because of the increase in infections," he added. "But the rates should be lower than they have
been previously because of the protective effects of vaccination."
Update: Now Sir Patrick Vallance is claiming he misspoke during Monday's presser!
"Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of
hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of
hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people." Vallance said in a
tweet.
As the Delta variant of COVID-19 makes its way across the globe, a new report from Israeli
website Ynet has some good news
about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine -- and some bad.
First, the good news: Data from the Israel Health Ministry find the vaccine holds up well
against the variant when it comes to hospitalizations and serious illness, with an efficacy
rate of 93 percent according to data from June 6 to July 3, when the Delta variant really began
to take hold, Bloomberg reports . That's down from 98.2 percent compared to the variants that came
before, but still very good.
The bad news is the data appear to indicate a significant drop in efficacy when it comes to
the Pfizer vaccine preventing infection overall. Between May 2 and June 5, the vaccine had a
94.3 percent efficacy rate at preventing infection, Bloomberg explains. That rate dropped to 64 percent in the month that
followed.
If the data are correct, it means that even if you're fully vaccinated, you could still
catch and show symptoms of COVID-19. That's always been the case, but the Delta variant makes
it more likely. But the immunization still significantly reduces your chances of landing in the
hospital.
Vaccinated people who have experienced Covid-19 symptoms in the past 10 days, however,
should get tested and isolate themselves from others for 10 days if their test is positive, the
CDC has recommended.
Look like Delta variant is less toxic then previous and led to fewer deaths and
hospitalization, as often happen with later mutations of the virus.
The key here is the rate of infection of already vaccinated, not the fact that
hospitalizations and death stats decoupled from new cases stats. If the significant percentage of
vaccinated can be infected by Delta (say, over 20%) that could well be the last nail into the
coffin of "herd immunity" delusion promoted by Fauci and other high level medical bureaucrats.
There were never herd immunity from coronaviruses as they mutate too quickly to achieve it. That
does not means that vaccination is useless, especially for those who live in big cities and use
public transportation or need to meet customers during each working way. But that makes the idea
of "total vaccination" effort including children over 12 as useless as quarantine efforts before
widespread riots.
Two weeks ago, when markets were merrily melting up without a worry in the world, and
certainly were not paying attention to the recent spike in Delta cases, we showed that unlike
in 2020 when covid hospitalizations and deaths promptly followed - with a slight lag - any move
higher in new covid cases, now that vast swaths of the population have been vaccinated, there
has been a clear decoupling between new cases on one hand, and hospitalizations and fatalities
on the other
... Yet while infections may indeed be rising, Fauci purposefully refused to address the
real elephant in the room: is there a concurrent surge in hospitalizations and/or deaths: after
all, it those that matter - especially if the Delta variant results in a much weaker form of
covid as many have speculated - and not the cases outright.
...
Where we do agree with Kolanovic, however, is where he repeats what we said two weeks ago
with the chart shown at the top of this post, namely that the "Delta variant is a key risk to
the call, but encouragingly the link between the case count and hospitalizations/deaths in the
UK and other countries has weakened meaningfully (Figure 1)." In short cases and
hospitalizations have decoupled... just as we showed they have even if the government's
propaganda spin masters refuse to acknowledge.
As the Delta variant takes hold, some of the first COVID-19 cases among the vaccinated
population are being detected. According to the states data, 74 vaccinated California's have
died, however, the report states it is unknown if the primary cause of death in these cases was
COVID-19 or if there were other alternate causes.
... At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital one of seven COVID patients was vaccinated.
According to the latest
state data, 20.4 million fully vaccinated individuals, 10,430 post-vaccination cases
(0.051%) have been identified.
Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter If
you're wondering how bad Delta really is, even in highly vaccinated SF (76% of >age 12 fully
vaxxed) & still w/ a lot of masking (most folks in stores), we're seeing a pretty steep
Covid uptick. Daily cases up 4-fold (10->42; Fig L), hospital pts doubled (9->19;
R)(Thread 1/4) 3:41 PM · Jul 15,
2021 · Twitter Web App 2,064
Retweets 285 Quote Tweets 3,874 LikesBob Wachter @Bob_Wachter · Jul 15 Replying to
@Bob_Wachter Uptick mirrored
@ucsfhospitals : Covid
inpatients (we were at ~3 pts two-wks ago) now 13 (Fig L). Overall test positivity rate was
well below 1%; it's now up to 2.6% (Fig R). Even more worrisome, test positivity rate in
asymptomatic pts was ~0.15%, now up 6-fold to 0.9%. (2/4) 14 93 362 Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter · Jul 15 I don't have
vaccinated/unvaxxed breakdown for SF & UCSF – I assume most severe cases are in
unvaxxed. But even for vaxxed, w/ more Covid in air expect more breakthru cases. As for me, I'm
back to double-mask in stores. Still indoor dining but might abort if trends continue.(3/4) 88
197 719 Bob Wachter @Bob_Wachter
· Jul 15 The SF # s are still
fairly low, & are cause for caution, not panic. But this kind of uptick in SF (U.S.'s
vaccination leader) shows that Delta is very real – the places w/ much lower vax rates
may well get clobbered. Alas, doesn't seem like there are many persuadables left.(4/4) 67 185
854 Derek Reilly @DerekReilly19
· Jul 15 Replying to
@Bob_Wachter 42 and 19? Come on
Bob seriously. 1 1 8 kenlipartito
@kenlipartito · Jul 15 Really. It's not like
this thing grows exponentially, right? 3 26 Show replies geva kra oz @gevakraoz · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter @Meir_Rubin Can't Working
@ArianneM12 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Was waiting on the post 4th of
July consequences. Hopefully they all live 1 5 Stressedout @TMD666 · Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Any advice for @CDCgov ? They missed the window of opportunity.
What can @CDCgov do in addition to
vaccine to bring delta under control? 6 6 Michaela Barnes @mabarnes9 · Jul 15 Replying to
@Bob_Wachter Montgomery County MD
where I live has 81.8% of 12yo and up fully vaccinated per CDC and we're also seeing big %
upticks from very low numbers. 6 10 75 Show replies 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺
𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗿, 𝗠𝗗 @grahamwalker
· Jul 15 Replying to @Bob_Wachter Same Bob; anecdotally have
started seeing COVID again in the ED when previously hadn't seen any in months, thus far only
in unvaccinated patients. It's baaack, despite us being probably the most vaccinated large city
in the US.
In the last month or so, about 20-25% of the cases in Fayette County have been
breakthroughs. Health leaders say it was expected that vaccinated people could still catch the
virus, but the important thing is they are much less likely to get severely ill as a
result.
... "Some of that is likely because of the Delta variant, but also because people who are
vaccinated are likely not taking as many precautions as they did before," spokesperson Kevin
Hall said. "This could be compared to wearing your seatbelt. It does protect you, they still
don't go 120 miles an hour down the interstate. You need to still take precautions."
Hall said they've also seen a few cases where unvaccinated people bring the virus home and
infect vaccinated family members.
He said even though there isn't a mandate, those safety precautions, like wearing a mask
around crowds, are still encouraged.
Neoliberal MSM now are trying to swipe under the carpet the bankruptcy of the idea or achieving "herd immunity"
via mass vaccination campaign. Which was sent to its grave by Delta variant.
The fact that CDC does not track mild cases does not prevent estimate them from other statistics relying of percentage of
hospitalization cases to total cases and deaths to total cases. If we use death state for the USA (624746 death for 34994151
cases), then for 1063 death of vaccinated people we will have around 60K infected. Of we assume that death of vaccinated is
ten time less probable then for non vaccinated the number will 600K. As such cases are concentrated in a few big cities
they probably ensure the spread of the virus even in totally vaccinated population. Then the question arise: was the gain from
this mass campaign ? And high level medical bureaucrats already failed us with the lockdown and quarantine which did not have
any noticeable effect of epidemic and then made all sacrifices a joke by riots in major cities.
As CDC admits: "The findings in this report are subject to at
least two limitations. First, the number of reported COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases is likely a substantial undercount of all
SARS-CoV-2 infections among fully vaccinated persons. The national surveillance system relies on passive and voluntary reporting,
and data might not be complete or representative. Many persons with vaccine breakthrough infections, especially those who are
asymptomatic or who experience mild illness, might not seek testing. Second, SARS-CoV-2 sequence data are available for only a small
proportion of the reported cases."
Fauci and other high level medical bureaucrats, who put all eggs into vaccination basket made a very risky move. They knew
that there were no successful vaccine against coronaviruses, because they constantly mutated, and still put them whole country into
questionable path of "total immunization"
Notable quotes:
"... The COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective, but a few vaccinated people have gotten sick. ..."
"... "Breakthrough" infections are typically mild and might be less contagious than other cases. ..."
"... Out of more than 157 million fully vaccinated Americans, only 733 people had died of COVID-19 as of July 6, according to CDC data . At least 3,554 people had been hospitalized and survived. The CDC is no longer tracking mild breakthrough cases. ..."
The COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective, but a few vaccinated people have
gotten sick.
"Breakthrough" infections are typically mild and might be less contagious than other
cases.
... ... ...
The COVID-19 vaccines have been extremely successful at preventing serious illnesses that
could lead to hospitalizations and deaths. But no vaccine is 100% effective at preventing
infection, Dr. Lisa V. Adams, an associate dean for global health at Dartmouth College, told
Insider.
"We know there are and will be some breakthrough infections in individuals who are
vaccinated - at least until we get to a point where there is very little virus circulating,"
Adams said. "The good news is that their illness should be very mild."
The vaccines
are designed to prevent hospitalizations and deaths
In early July, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention,
said new data indicated that 99.5% of COVID-19 deaths in the US were in unvaccinated
people.
Out of more than 157 million fully vaccinated
Americans, only 733 people had died of COVID-19 as of July 6, according to CDC
data . At least 3,554 people had been hospitalized and survived. The CDC is no longer
tracking mild breakthrough cases.
About 75% of breakthrough infections occurred in people 65 and older. That included cases in
nursing homes ,
whose residents and staff members were among the first Americans to get vaccinated.
Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia, told Insider that even with a smattering of breakthrough infections taken into
account, the vaccines had met the goal of protecting most people from severe illness.
"The goal of these vaccines is to keep you out of the hospital and keep you out of the ICU
and keep you from dying. If you have a mild infection where you're PCR positive and have
essentially an asymptomatic infection, that's fine," Offit said, referring to a type of
COVID-19 test.
'Breakthrough' cases might cause some symptoms, but they're usually mild
Emerging data suggests many breakthrough infections are so mild that they might as well be
asymptomatic.
A
recent analysis of breakthrough infections in the UK indicated that the top symptoms of
Delta-variant COVID-19 were a runny nose and a headache, largely because most people mingling
and exposed to the virus were younger or fully vaccinated.
As of Monday, there were 3,200 new COVID-19 cases in California, and now, medical doctors
are noticing some of the first numbers of COVID vaccine breakthrough cases.
...According to the states data, 74 vaccinated California's have died, however, the report
states it is unknown if the primary cause of death in these cases was COVID-19 or if there were
other alternate causes.
... According to the latest
state data, 20.4 million fully vaccinated individuals, 10,430 post-vaccination cases
(0.051%) have been identified.
That's one in almost 2,000 vaccinated Californians reporting a breakthrough case.
Recently, India has seen a significant rise in new COVID-19 cases predominantly caused by
the delta variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2. Similar to the alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351),
and gamma (P.1) variants, the delta variant has gained beneficial mutations in the spike
protein , which make it more infectious and pathogenic than previously circulating
variants.
The delta variant belongs to the B.1.617 lineage that is currently circulating in more than
50 countries. Because of its significant threat to public health, the delta variant has been
designated as the Variant of Concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization.
Studies investigating vaccine efficacy against
emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have indicated that the delta variant is partially resistant to
vaccine-induced antibodies. A study conducted in the UK has indicated that the Pfizer/BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccines is 88% effective in preventing symptomatic disease caused by the delta
variant.
In the current study, the scientists have described the transmission of delta variants among
family members who were attending a wedding ceremony with 92 guests. The wedding events were
held outside in a large open-air tent, and all guests were fully vaccinated.
Important
observations
The scientists identified a total of six individuals at the wedding ceremony who tested
positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were symptomatic. Of them, one developed severe COVID-19 requiring
monoclonal antibody infusion and one died eventually. Based on encounter timings and viral
sequence similarities, the scientists suggested that two persons traveling from India probably
have transmitted the delta variant to other guests during the wedding events.
Of two guests from India, one was a man without any comorbidities, and one was a woman with
diabetes. They both received the 2 nd dose of Covaxin (BBV152) 10 days before
traveling to the wedding venue. Moreover, they tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 before boarding
the flight.
Soon after developing symptoms including fatigue, cough, and fever, both guests from India
tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. At day 6 post-wedding, the man without comorbidity
was admitted to a hospital because of worsening symptoms. One month after the wedding, he died
due to COVID-19 related complications.
Four other guests who also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 had confirmed interactions with
the guests from India. Of 4 guests who were fully immunized with the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna
COVID-19 vaccine, one developed severe COVID-19 that required infusion of monoclonal
antibodies.
Testing of viral variant
Nasopharyngeal
swab samples were collected from all six guests and analyzed by reverse
transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect viral variants. All samples tested
positive for the original Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2 and negative for the alpha variant. All
positive samples were subsequently sequenced by Swift Normalase Amplicon Panels with multiple
overlapping amplicons to identify the causative variant. The findings revealed that all six
guests were infected with the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.617.2).
Study
significance
Six vaccine breakthrough cases identified in the study highlight the notion that
antibodies elicited by Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2, Moderna mRNA-1273, and Covaxin BBV152 may not
be sufficient to provide full protection against the delta variant. Although some people fail
to develop adequate immunity in response to vaccination, none of the patients identified in the
study had a history of vaccine failure.
As mentioned by the scientists, mutations in three antigenic regions of the spike
receptor-binding domain (450–469 IDf, 480–499 IDg, and 522–646 IDh) could
potentially reduce the susceptibility of delta variant to antibody-mediated neutralization.
For the purpose of this surveillance, a vaccine breakthrough infection is defined as the
detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14
days after they have completed all recommended doses of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)-authorized COVID-19 vaccine.
Identifying and investigating hospitalized or fatal
vaccine breakthrough cases
As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases
to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases due to any cause.
This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical
and public health importance.
Previous data on all vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC from January–April
2021 are available .
State health departments report vaccine breakthrough cases to CDC. CDC now monitors reported
hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases for clustering by patient demographics,
geographic location, time since vaccination, vaccine type, and SARS-CoV-2 lineage. Reported
data include hospitalized or fatal breakthrough cases due to any cause, including causes not
related to COVID-19.
... ... ...
As of July 12, 2021, more than 159 million people in
the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,492
patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC
Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC
Infections and even hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have begun to increase since the Fourth
of July weekend. And it turns out that those vaccinated against the disease aren't completely
immune, as state officials revealed that there have been thousands of breakthrough infections
-- and even dozens of deaths -- among people who have gotten their shots since the rollout
began.
... ... ...
As of July 10, 4,450 vaccinated people in Massachusetts had tested positive for COVID-19
since the rollout began this past winter, according to the state's Department of Public
Health.
That 's just over 0.1 percent -- or one in a thousand -- of the 4,195,844 people in
Massachusetts who were fully vaccinated at the time.
Of that tiny faction, the overwhelming majority of cases weren't severe.
DPH officials say that 303 -- or 6.8 percent -- of the breakthrough infections involved
hospitalization and a total of 79 vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts have died.
... ... ...
Since June 25, the average number of new positive COVID-19 tests in the state has nearly
doubled, from 64 to 122. DPH officials also reported 208 new confirmed COVID-19 cases
Wednesday, the first single-day report over 200
since early June , a time when the state's testing rate was nearly a third higher.
Over the same time period, the state's positivity rate more than doubled from 0.31 percent
to 0.72 percent.
Following a steady decline this spring, hospitalizations have also increased from a low of
80 statewide COVID-19 patients on July 4 to 102 as of Tuesday.
...
According to the CDC, the Delta accounted for 10 percent of new cases in Massachusetts as of
June 22, but that data is now nearly a month old -- and predates the current uptick.
Cassandra Pierre, a Boston Medical Center epidemiologist and Boston University professor,
says the recent uptick in overall cases in "somewhat concerning" given the national rise of the
Delta variant.
"We have some data to show that the delta variant is responsible for more hospitalizations
than the previous dominant variant and while the jury is out on whether it's also more virulent
(capable of causing severe illness) we've begun to see COVID-related death rates rise in some
of the hardest hit states," Pierre told Boston in an email.
... ... ...
While experts have
predicted a mild, seasonal uptick in COVID-19 cases this fall, Pierre says the recent
increase is earlier than anticipated. She noted that the rainy weather over the Fourth of July
weekend may have pushed more gatherings and activities indoors.
DPH guidance says that unvaccinated resident should continue to wear masks when near people
outside their household, especially indoors. While the Delta variant has caused some cities and
organizations to extend that mask guidance to all individuals, regardless of vaccination
status, the still-low case rates have yet to induce such a move in Massachusetts.
... ... ...
State officials say they don't have a breakdown of the recent infections among vaccinated
and unvaccinated individuals, in part because the data on breakthrough cases is reported
separately (while health care providers report all positive tests directly to the state,
breakthrough cases are first reported to the CDC, and then to state officials).
However, earlier data on breakthrough infection
obtained by the Herald through a public records request suggests that there have
been 543 breakthrough cases between June 19 and July 10. That's roughly 30 percent of the 1,809
positive cases reported by the state over the same time period, meaning 70 percent of new cases
were among the minority of residents who were not fully vaccinated.
... over 83 percent of Massachusetts adults have gotten at least one shot
There's quite a bit about COVID-19 and vaccines that we still don't know.
While the vaccines are up to 95 percent effective against COVID-19, there have been
breakthrough cases. That's where those who are vaccinated test positive. The CDC
was monitoring all reported breakthroughs . However, back in May, as more people got
vaccinated, the feds transitioned to focusing on cases where someone went to the hospital or
died. They said that data would have the greatest importance.
"The question is are we getting more cases than we should be seeing as breakthrough cases,"
Dr. Jill Roberts at USF Health said. "That's really hard to determine because there isn't a
good source of data, so there's a lot of people looking at this. They're sequencing this strain
from the people who got breakthrough cases to see if it's really Delta variant or if the thing
has mutated again."
"We're trying to figure out what's going on. Is this really, truly a vaccine failure or is
it expected numbers? And without the data, we can't tell," she added.
Dr. Roberts says she would like to see
more information on variants – like which populations contracted them, if they're
vaccinated, and what they do for living so doctors can have a better idea of infection
control.
As states cut back on their COVID-19 data collection and fail to document
"breakthrough" cases , we are left to guess how often and where people are being infected.
I have said this a few times and now it is becoming real.
Read deeper to let me explain why the phrase "breakthrough" may be a disservice to the
public.
At least 11 employees of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center tested positive for COVID-19
after attending a party on June 7, according to Southern Nevada Health District emails
obtained through records requests by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation's Documenting COVID-19
project . The emails, which were shared with the Review-Journal, indicate that eight of
the employees had been fully vaccinated in December and January, meaning that the virus had
"broken through" the protection of inoculation.
Two other employees who were infected had received one dose of a double-dose vaccination.
One was unvaccinated. At least 10 of the 11 had the delta variant, a more easily
transmissible strain of the virus.
One question is whether the vaccines had been properly stored. But the hospital that
administered them said there was no problem with storage. Was there something unique about this
party that made transmission more possible?
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some states have stopped
gathering as much data as they once did. Again, the Las Vegas Journal-Review:
Beginning May 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped monitoring all
reported vaccine breakthrough cases, focusing instead on those resulting in hospitalization
or death. The state of Nevada and the health district, in turn, stopped reporting totals of
identified cases.
However, in a June 22 email, a health district official told other agency officials there
had been 471 identified breakthrough cases in Clark County, with 53 resulting in
hospitalization and eight in death. In other words, there were nearly 10 times as many
breakthrough cases identified as were publicly disclosed.
Nobody promised that there would be no breakthroughs. As WCVB explains , as with
any vaccine -- especially one protecting against a fast-changing virus -- some fully vaccinated
people will still get sick or become virus carriers. Remember, even in breakthrough cases,
vaccinated patients are far less likely to become seriously ill.
The Atlantic raises the issue of whether using the word "breakthrough" is harmful to the
public's understanding. Because, really, these are expected infections:
The thing to know about the COVID-19 vaccines is that they're flame retardants, not
impenetrable firewalls, when it comes to the coronavirus. Some vaccinated people are still
getting infected, and a small subset of these individuals is still getting sick -- and
this is completely expected .
We're really, really bad at communicating that second point, which is all about
breakthroughs, a concept that has, not entirely accurately, become synonymous with vaccine
failure. It's a problem that goes far beyond semantics: Bungling the messaging around our
shots' astounding success has made it hard to convey the truly minimal risk that the
vaccinated face, and
the enormous gamble taken by those who eschew the jabs .
As of July 6, 2021, more than 157 million people in
the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,186
patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
(CDC)
Keep in mind that the CDC no longer gathers "breakthrough" data unless the person ends up in
the hospital. This means that it misses a lot of cases since we know from the data that most
breakthrough cases do not result in sickness serious enough to send a person to the hospital.
To get an idea of what the data looks like when all "breakthrough" cases are reported,
look at the
January through April data , before the CDC changed its rules. More than 10,000 cases were
reported in that timeframe.
I like the way The Atlantic put all of this in perspective:
The overwhelming majority of the COVID-19 cases we're seeing are among the unvaccinated.
And when the virus does affect the immunized, it seems to accumulate to lower levels, and
spread less enthusiastically to new hosts; it's causing, on average, milder and more
transient symptoms.
But resistance has also formed among conservatives who are skeptical of pronouncements by
public-health experts and politicians, many of whom insisted without evidence that school
closures and economic lockdowns were necessary to contain the virus. Many Democrats, including
Kamala Harris and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, politicized the vaccines last fall to take down
Donald Trump .
Now some of the same people are disparaging the unvaccinated as backwards or crazy, much as
they do people who hold sincere religious beliefs. Many of them, including Anthony Fauci and
Democratic politicians, have little credibility with half the country.
government health bodies in the U.S. and other countries have analyzed rare adverse side
effects. These include myocarditis in young adults from the Pfizer vaccine, and
Guillain-Barré syndrome from the J&J vaccine. Their conclusion is that the benefits
outweigh the potential risks even in sub-populations.
The calculus for school-age children will be different because their Covid risks are so much
lower, and trial data won't identify 1 in 50,000 events. There's no need for K-12 schools to
mandate vaccines
SUBSCRIBER 2 hours ago Los Angeles just re-instituted its mask mandate for
everyone, vaccinated or not, indoors in a public building. Las Vegas is considering the same.
SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago According to the CDC as of today:
68% of those over 18 have received at least one dose.
59% of those over 18 are fully vaccinated.
89% of those over 65 have received at least one dose
79% of those over 65 are fully vaccinated
That sounds like mass vaccination has been achieved, and those who are at the highest risk
have almost all be vaccinated.
Given that, why force those who do not want it or those who have close to 0 risk of adverse
effects from covid to get it?
Per the state of TN, your survival rate for a CONFIRMED Covid case is 99.99% if you are
1-10, 100.00% if you are from 10-20, and 99.97% if you are from 20-30. Why are forcing the
folks to get shots they do not really need?
That is what most of us are objecting to. SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago But an American 15 year
old's probability of dying in the next year is 0.0005, according to actuarial tables at the
Social Security Administration. Catching COVID increases their chance of death by 60 pct.
That is how a lot of families think about it. Like thumb_up 3 Reply reply Share link Report flag
B
Brian Johnson SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago
And what is the probability they will catch COVID?
What is the probability of dying from the vaccine?
I am not against vaccines. I am fully vaccinated. In my case the risk reward was pretty
clear cut.
However, when the heart issues from the vaccines came to light, I paused about getting my
children vaccinated. What other side effects are their for children?
All summer I heard about the heart issues with athletes and covid. It was used as a
justification for the Big 10 not playing football.
The severity of the heart issues are pretty close between COVID and the vaccine. The
difference is there is a low chance of my child getting COVID but a 100% chance of vaccine
exposure if they get the shot.
So now, am I not supposed to worry about the heart issues?
BTW, I have a 16 year old who is about to get their license. I can't imagine what that
does to the probability of dying in the next year.
richard cheverton SUBSCRIBER 4 hours ago
First, take a deep breath, sit down with a cuppa tea, relax, and think.
Think about the phrase, "... the benefits outweigh the potential risks..." And reflect
that the so-called risks are not potential, but very real and documented with government
figures. Then assume that you are one of the "rare" cases of some complication; you took the
jab and paid the price for herd immunity. Congratulations!
Then contemplate the mutterings about "boosters," on top of the two required shots. How
come, you might wonder. Then look at spikes in infections in the UK and Israel, which are
highly-vaccinated nations. Why?
Then consider that government has offshored the enforcement of vaccine coercion to private
corporations, none of which have any expertise in virology, or epidemiology, and which are
not licensed to practice medicine.
Think about that.
Brian Johnson SUBSCRIBER 3 hours ago
All six Yankees players who have COVID were vaccinated, and they still need to sit out.
40% of COVID hospitalizations in Israel this week were vaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine is
at 60% effectiveness at preventing COVID in Israel and falling.
The vaccines do help, but they will not end COVID. At best, they will limit the damage to
high risk patients.
If you are at low risk of severe symptoms, why do you need the vaccine? Why are you being
forced to take it to go to school?
Robert Houston SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
The New York Public Health response to Covid was really ugly. The number of ICU beds per
population, ventilators, masks and lack of public health nursing services were critical to
the disaster. The Gov sent the infected elderly from public hospitals to private nursing
homes unprepared for their new public need (they didn't have refrigerated trucks and the
mortuaries would not take the infected dead). A vaccine will not cure these shortages and
their Public Health poor planning.
MARK VANDERMAUSE SUBSCRIBER 49 minutes ago
We all take risks every day, and consciously and not, weigh the benefit to be gained against
the inherent risk of an activity we participate in.
For the great majority of people getting vaccinated makes sense. If you have a conviction to
not get vaccinated you have decided to bear the risks associated with that decision.
William Cnossen SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
"Most Americans believe the personal benefits from vaccination outweigh the potential risks."
And for most people that is true. But for children and young adults with no amplifying
problems it may not be. Also if you have already had the disease the vaccine could do more
harm than good. For teacher's unions and government officials to make any blanket requirement
about mandating vaccine use just won't work.
There is a reason that freedom is such a powerful force in this country. Individuals
assessing their own conditions and risk tolerance is always better than one-size-fits-all
government edicts.
Robert Houston SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
The current administration has millions of "last year's" vaccines that they can't give away.
Yes, they ordered all of them because they thought that they would need to vaccinate
everybody: Fauci kept moving the goalposts. Unfortunately, (me being Swedish), the "natural
herd immunity" theory was actively censored as "too dangerous." Well, who is right and who is
wrong?
Look at the Covid death rates on the CDC web site. The pandemic in the USA is over. It
looks like we only needed to vaccinate the "high risk groups." Yes, we may need to get the
2021 updated Covid vaccine this fall (all for that). With the objective success in the USA,
forcing vaccinations with the current vaccines makes as much sense as selling lottery tickets
after the prize winner has received the payout.
richard crane SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago
... it's pretty clear that Fauci et al destroyed their own credibility by lying and
guessing.
Alan Rigg SUBSCRIBER 6 hours ago
We have already had all the "mass vaccination" we have ever needed to have... of high-risk
individuals. Why should people who have a 99.98% chance of surviving coronavirus (which is
people under 50) and people with natural antibodies (as a result of recovering from
coronavirus) pursue vaccination?
Tom Richard SUBSCRIBER 7 hours ago
1. No mention of natural immunity of those who have had the virus. They are a legitimate part
of the percentage necessary for herd immunity and have no need of a vaccine.
2. Healthy children are at vanishingly low risk of Covid, and some risk from myocarditis and
associated side effects of the vaccines. Any mandatory vaccination of children is tantamount
to child abuse.
Jeffrey P SUBSCRIBER 7 hours ago
Tom
You should update yourself. Past infection isn't enough.
Incorrect: As a recent article in Nature points out vaccination after infection results in a
much more robust antibody response and likely longer immunity (which can be less than a yr
after natural infection) and better coverage for infections with variants.
350+ children have died of covid far more that from seasonal flu for which we routinely
vaccinate. Covid itself causes myocardial inflammation and inflammatory disease at a rate
much greater that the vaccine.
Tom Richard SUBSCRIBER 5 hours ago
T cell and B cell response also lasts far longer than the initial antibodies that are
produced in response to the initial infection. Natural immunity could last far longer than
that produced by vaccines. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-00436-4
So now the neoliberal MSM narrative became that people who recovered from COVID-19 need to be
vaccinated as this strengthen their immune response to the new infection. So they are still
pushing "total vaccination of population" agenda, despite obvious fiasco of this agenda after
emergence of Delta variant. This valiant along with South African variant had shown that the
virus remains a threat and can propagate in fully vaccinated population. It is logical to expect
that it will mutate in the direction of of evading the protection provided by the first
generation vaccines and new variants after Delta will be even more efficient in infecting
vaccinated people. Corrupt neoliberal medical establishment does not have the courage to admit
that the virus outplayed them. This is a very questionable assumption indeed.
Most WSJ comments are highly skeptical of the official coverage... How thos medical brass
can't understadn that emergence of Delta variant was the writing on the wall? Why they behaved is
such strange and stupid way? What are their hidden assumption that dictated "there is no tomorrow
without total vaccination" response. Mortality does not justifies such a response and there are a
dozen more dangerious infectional desease in circulation that have higher mortality then
COVID-19. Is this because they suspect that the virus has artificl origin or what?
Also the whole idea of booster shots undermine the idea of "total immunization" and makes
achieving "herd immunity" impossible.
The durability of immune response after Covid-19 infection or vaccination is one of the most
important factors in the trajectory
of the pandemic , health experts say. Exactly how long the immune response might be
protective isn't clear, in part because the earliest known infections and vaccinations stretch
back only some 18 months at most.
The durability of immune response after Covid-19 infection or vaccination is one of the most
important factors in the trajectory
of the pandemic , health experts say. Exactly how long the immune response might be
protective isn't clear, in part because the earliest known infections and vaccinations stretch
back only some 18 months at most.
"We shouldn't get scared when we see the antibody response go down," said Miriam Merad,
director of the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai.
Some immunologists have also reported other parts of the immune system adapting to recognize
the virus that causes Covid-19, such as Memory B cells that churn out antibodies and T-cells that can
direct an immune response or kill infected cells.
In a May study in the scientific journal Nature, researchers found Covid-19-specific immune
cells in the bone marrow from 15 of 19 patients who had experienced a mild infection as much as
eight months earlier. That indicates that their bodies were forming a lasting immune memory
against the virus, said Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at the
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the senior author on the study.
"Those people have some partial protection remaining for a long time," Dr. Ellebedy
said.
Immunologists and health authorities caution that not everyone generates a robust immune
response following a Covid-19 infection, especially people who are older or have weakened
immune systems
... many people who are immunocompromised fail to elicit a strong immune response even after
full vaccination.
Israel has started giving booster shots to people with weaker immune systems as cases
caused by the Delta variant increase in the country.
... ... ...
Both Pfizer Inc.
and BioNTech SE as
well as Moderna Inc.
have demonstrated that their mRNA vaccines are effective for at least six months. A CDC
official earlier this week said the agency hasn't yet seen evidence of waning immunity among
people vaccinated as far back as December and January.
Covid-19 vaccines strengthen the immune response among people who have been previously
infected, immunologists say. In one cohort of 63 previously infected participants, 41% of whom
were subsequently vaccinated, researchers found that people who had been infected but not
vaccinated generated an immune response up to a year later.
People who were vaccinated after being infected generated more-effective antibody responses
against viral mutations.
"They basically become bulletproof," said Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at the
Rockefeller University and senior author on the study. "It's a big difference."
The CDC and many health authorities recommend that people who have previously had Covid-19
still get vaccinated to boost their immune response.
John Pound SUBSCRIBER 55 seconds ago
Man, the non-stop drug pushing in the media is bizarre.
Google T and B cells as regards immunology and sleep easier.
Taiwan suffered less than 15 deaths from covid in 2020 and only 749 total to date from
both covid and the Delta variant despite a population of 24M and relatively lax covid
policies.
Why? Blood serology showed massive cross-immunization from SARS 2003 that swept through
Taiwan 18 years ago.
Mother nature was saving human lives long before Pfizer....
Girish Kotwal SUBSCRIBER 2 minutes ago
I am making a strong case for Covid-19 Immune Response being longer lasting, more robust and
broader in terms of emerging variants, than any of the current first generation vaccines
against COVID alone. I am gathering a ton of evidence not just theoretical prediction to
submit to a top journal for Med. Research. But let me summarize my rationale for making a
bold statement.
1) An average vaccinee has no higher antibody level against the surface glycoprotein of
SARSCoronavirus 2/COVID after the first vaccine dose of Pfizer or Moderna or after the single
dose of J&J.
2) A vaccinee who is not immunocompromised or immunosuppressed elicits an antibody and
cellular response exclusively against a single surface protein of COVID, where as a
previously confirmed +ve person who recovered from COVID and has been subsequently and
consistently negative for COVID genomic RNA as determined by PCR, will have elicited immunity
to all proteins of COVID including the most abundant nucleocapsid protein.
Gregory Gustilo SUBSCRIBER 37 minutes ago
Are none of our health and govt officials going to bring up the possibilities, that, most
likely, after studying and comparing Sars 2 with the other 11 man made virus', it shares the
same unique fingerprint, that maybe, just maybe this is not a mutation at all, but a
completely different man made creation? Asking for a friend. Are we about to be bombarded by
"new" virus', which will create "new" vaccines and an eco system of big Pharma creating a
never ending source of revenue? Asking for a f different friend.
Ken Belcher SUBSCRIBER 5 minutes ago
As it is, marketing has driven the increase in diabetes, and lowered people's opportunities
to acquire immunity to common infections by pushing 'cleaning' products to needlessly
sterilize ones environment.
Even if Covid-19 was man-made, how would that change the rational responses to protect you
and your family from it?
kris thiruvillakkat SUBSCRIBER 46 minutes ago
Speculations, hypothesis, steady streaming by WSJ (and others). Long term? What months,
years? No clinical evidences, only studies; we haven't been on it long enough. Simple known
facts about most (if not all) viruses are known for years. So, in this respect, covid will
not be much different, say, from the flu viruses; it's just another "variant". And, we know
that flu vaccines offer limited immunity (months to a year), as they are mutating (into
different variants, fast- that's how they work). It would help to put this kind of facts in
perspective with covid also. Don't get stressed out or overly hopeful by reading these kinds
of coverage.
Dom Fried SUBSCRIBER 37 minutes ago
It is not a flu. I wish people would stop saying that. The mRNA vaccines are novel. No prior
flu vaccine has been mRNA. Neither the vaccines nor the viruses are the same, so any
conclusions you just drew based on past flu experiences are invalid and pure nonsense.
John C SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago
Here is some news for you, T Swan. CA hospitals are now seeing a surge in Delta (or Epsilon,
I'm not sure which) cases in previously-vaccinated people. But Gov Gav CAN'T lockdown again
because he has a recall election this fall. So regardless of the science, Gav can't shut down
again because he knows he will be victim-blamed for the upsurge. He won't "follow the
science" because now it's politically inconvenient for him. But there will have to be new
mask mandates shortly in CA and that alone might create enough of a political whirlwind to
recall the governor.
In recent weeks, Israeli media has become a factory for stories that cut against the
'official' 'scientific' narrative about the COVID-19 vaccines. Most visibly, I srael
has made a deal with Pfizer to start doling out "booster" shots for the most vulnerable
Israelis, despite the FDA's insistence that there's "no evidence" that a booster shot is
necessary.
Now, the Israeli Health Ministry has discovered that the number of patients who had been
infected prior to becoming infected again during the latest Delta-driven wave of the pandemic
were less likely to be reinfected than patients who have only been vaccinated. The finding
directly contradicts research spouted by American experts like Dr. Fauci, along with Pfizer and
Moderna, who have previously insisted that the antibodies created by their jabs are more
powerful than antibodies produced by natural infection (which is one reason even the previously
infected have been asked to get vaccinated).
According to Israel National News , more than
7.7K new cases of the virus have been detected during the most recent wave (beginning back in
May). However, just 72 of the confirmed cases were reported in people who were known to have
been previously infected - that is, less than 1% of the new cases.
Roughly 40% of new cases "" involving more than 3K patients "" were infected despite being
fully vaccinated.
By this count, Israelis who had been vaccinated were 6.72x more likely to get infected after
the shot than after natural infection, with more than 3K of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of
Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave. The disparity has confounded
Health Ministry experts, with some saying the data proves the higher level of immunity provided
by natural infection versus vaccination. However, others remain unconvinced.
Israel's Health Ministry previously estimated that the efficacy of Pfizer's COVID jab
was only 64% against the Delta variant , which helped prompt Pfizer and its partner
BioNTech to develop a new jab designed to protect against variants including Delta and Beta
(the variant first discovered in South Africa).
Lord Baltimore 3 hours ago remove link
"Roughly 40% of new cases "" involving more than 3K patients "" were infected despite
being fully vaccinated."
Which implies that it's not really a vaccine.
Plus Size Model 2 hours ago
It was a privilege worth waiting for hours in line a few months ago! Ha
I'll never forget watching some poor guy on CNN suffer while being taunted by a bunch of
newsmen hyping up the juice. The poor guy looked like he was dying from COVID and the
interviewer claimed that, anecdotally, the vaccines can work miracles. He also claimed that
the vaccine can, anecdotally of course, clear up this guy's symptoms that he's been having
for the past year.
The guy was just wrecked. He could hardly sit up without fainting, couldn't sleep, and
often had to cool his feet off in icewater.
At the end of the vaccine advertisement, the interviewer had the audacity to claim that
he wasn't eligible for the vaccine yet and had to suffer for a few more months.
Sadists!!
GreatUncle 1 hour ago remove link
Those participating in the experiment ... the issue is not necessarily the vaccine i t
is what changes it makes to the rest of your immune system . If you had measles ... has
that immunity been wiped people should be asking because NOBODY KNOWS!
This is why people with a poor disposition to vaccines will get an adverse outcome.
Do the test ... let 10000 people be vaxxed and now write down on the persons vaxxed card
this one gets Guinne & Barrie. Get 100% right and no errors or guesses then I would
consider you a real pro.
But then if you were that good you should be pulling that person out and saying no vaxx
for you ... so in effect those vaxxing are no better than murderers and fast approaching
10K kills.
THAT LOGIC TELLS ME THIS MASS VACCINATION IS MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE.
By definition, the mRNA and DNA devices are experimental gene therapies, not vaccines.
Their issued patents confirm this.
Even according to the manufacturers, these products do NOT induce immunity and do NOT
prevent transmission.
They are, in fact "leaky" prophylactic therapies which simply claim to reduce the
severity of symptoms. There are risks of using such products in the middle of a pandemic,
as set forth by Dr Geert Vanden Bossche.
HowdyDoody 2 hours ago
"Which implies that it's not really a vaccine."
Pfizer/Moderna/AZ are not. The acceptance criteria for a 'successful vaccine' was never
'reduction of symptoms in some cases of the disease.'
LetThemEatRand 3 hours ago
Funny how the "conspiracy theorists" predicted this months ago. I suppose social media
and other big tech will allow people to post comments and videos about this now that mother
Israel said it's true? Or not. Maybe they will ban the Israeli government for spreading
disinformation for a while before they get a call from the ADL.
serotonindumptruck 3 hours ago
The propaganda is now coming fast and hard.
Not only are "vaccine" passports being suggested (and implemented), but now "booster"
shots are being forced down everyone's throats.
Masking these mandates behind Israel only raises my suspicions.
Are Israelis receiving placebos and vitamin shots in lieu of the genocidal kill
shots?
Plus Size Model 3 hours ago
I'm seeing some goofballs / paid agents / bots requesting a drip line like it's
chemotherapy. It's hilarious making them explain their logic. It's even funnier what they
come up with.
Plus Size Model 2 hours ago
Doesn't look like it. They've got the same drama going on there too. This guy claims the
vaccines killed lots more than the virus itself and got "fact checked" by some whatever
website.
With the exception of high risk group (mostly the age cohort > age 70), natural
infection is better protection for everyone against any Covid in terms of the risk/benefit
equation (a/k/a informed consent). The survival rate in this group is 99.95% whereas the
vaccine AE risk is not insignificant. Natural immunity also provides a broader, deeper and
longer-lasting.
But we are still being lied to about :
Naturally immune people still need vaccination. The scientific fact is they don't and
in fact there may be dangers (ADE, or Pathogenic priming) in doing so. Why the
lies?
Herd Immunity can only be achieved through vaccination. The WHO has changed its
definition and M-W dictionary has revised its defintion accordingly. But again the
science does not support this. In fact, the experiences of both Diamond Princess and USS
Theodore Roosevelt both suggest (albeit only anecdotally) that only 20% of the population
will ever become infected. This is consistent with scientific assessments which have
variously estimated that up to 80% may have pre-existing immunity. There is a good
possibility that Herd Immunity had already been reached BEFORE the "vaccine" rollout
started and that the "fall in new cases" was more attributable to the decline in
testing.
So why all the lies and denial of science? Are there other reasons, perhaps, for the
obsession with "vaccinating" everyone, even those who don't need it (the already immune and
children) and pregnant women, where normal medical precaution suggests that it could at
least wait until after delivery?
Kassandra 2 hours ago (Edited) remove link
Unlike some say, it's a real illness. Had it early on, Dec 2019 into Jan 2020. Dry,
brutal cough. Felt like I broke a rib. Fever went to 104.2 after that I can't remember. Too
sick to go to Dr. Sweats to make the sheets wet. I realized if it got any worse, I should
go to ER. Also realized all I had to do was breathe. Lay on my side and had the heating pad
on high on my upside lung area..and concentrated on breathing. And everything tasted like
nothing..cardboard or worse. I'm in my 60s..decent health. But it was no joke. I've
survived a lot of nasty **** including staph pneumonia, twice, as a child. This was worse.
They can't possibly make a vaccine against this. You couldn't pay me any amount of money to
take the vaccine.
CatInTheHat 1 hour ago
The tests were/are a FRAUD..
They were deliberately run at high cycle thresholds (35-42), guaranteeing FALSE
positives.
The American people have beem so dumbed down, that stupid gov slogans like flatten the
curve, social distancing and my personal favorite ASYMPTOMATIC, that convinced a nation of
healthy people that they were sick FOR OVER A YEAR, they no longer recognize truth and
******** out of gov.
THAT is frightening. Honestly stupidity ignorance and flat out NARCISSISM from Dem
voters via this massive hoax they bought into hook line and sinker does NOT bode well for
the future. One wonders what it will take to wake them up. I thought dead and injured
CHILDREN would do it. But NOPE.
What kills me is that these murderers call myocarditis MILD..
If you get onto Telegram and head over to the MRNA DEATH TOLL group you'll see just how
"mild" this is for CHILDREN
rejectnumbskull 1 hour ago
The bitchute video with the doctor was really good. Very important. EVERYBODY should
watch it.
Sluggo315 2 hours ago remove link
Dr. Kurt Vanden Bossche predicted this would occur. He made videos proclaiming that the
world should not be vaccinating during a pandemic because of exactly this reason. I just
did a Google search and his name never even appeared in the predictive function when typing
his name. Why? The vax should be stopped immediately and anyone associated with Phizer,
BioNTech, Moderna, J and J, Gates Foundation, Schwab Foundation should all be put on trial
somewhere for crimes against humanity!! IMO. Will they? Hell no, the media will just say
this is all a big conspiracy...
Multi 1 hour ago
France (Macron) just made mandatory proof of vaccination to ENTER SHOPS and USE PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION .
ay_arrow
Jim in MN 1 hour ago
Let's also please keep reminding people of the new UK data on children in which less
than one in FOUR MILLION healthy children actually died from this. Compare that to the risk
of a completely new mRNA serum that actually targets an extremely rare and poorly
understood type of immune cell--and one of the only things we do know about these immune
cells is that altering their function plays a major or even key role in autoimmune
disorders.
Millions of kids. Playing Fauci Roulette with life-long debilitating or fatal side
effects.
Just stop all of this. It's madness, or worse.
fackbankz 1 hour ago
All I hear on the news is how 99% of "cases" in the US are in unvaccinated people.
Somebody's lying, and in this case, I definitely trust Israel's numbers.
JD59 2 hours ago (Edited)
The US Gov., big pharma, and the media have been lying to the world the entire time
about this bug.
trailer park boys 1 hour ago
What am I missing here?
"...less than 1% of the new cases were reported in people who were known to have been
previously infected."
"Roughly 40% of new cases "" involving more than 3K patients "" were infected despite
being fully vaccinated."
"By this count, Israelis who had been vaccinated were 6.72x more likely to get infected
after the shot than after natural infection."
The math doesn't add up - or am I reading this wrong?
Lots of politicians, doctors and corporations and esp Big Pharma are benefiting greatly
either financially from this or enabling them to exert more CONTROL on people. It comes
down to:
Money, and,
Power
USGrant 1 hour ago (Edited)
If the population of Israel is 9 E6 and the number of delta cases is 7.7 E3 then there
is to date a 7.7E3/9E6 =.000856 or .0856% chance of coming down with it. It may be more
likely you will choke on a mouthful of steak.
5.1E6 have been jabbed or 5.1E6/9E6 or 56.6% jabbed and then 3.9E6/9E6= 43.4% unjabbed.
So getting delta if unjabbed is 3.08E3/3.9E6=.00079 or .079%. So .0856/.079=1.1 times more
likely to come down with delta if jabbed versus unjabbed. So jabbing confers nothing.
Natural immunity confers a large advantage as a minuscule number of 72 is assigned to those
confirmed to have been originally infected.
Captive 34 minutes ago (Edited)
All we can say is that so far, the number of individuals being infected by the delta
variant who had previous infections is small and the number of those infected who were
previously vaccinated is similar to the background rate of infectivity. Which, like you
concluded, likely means that vaccination imparts little added benefit but natural recovery
is likely protective. Quantifying it... I agree, not possible without knowing precisely how
many in Israel had previous infections.
Bob Lidd 2 hours ago remove link
Until an infectious disease crisis is very real, present, and at an
emergency threshold, it is often largely ignored.
To sustain the funding base beyond the crisis, we need to increase public
understanding of the need for MCMs such as a pan-influenza or
pan-coronavirus vaccine.
A key driver is the media, and the economics follow the hype. We need to use
that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they
see profit at the end of process,
Peter Daszak - President of EcoHealth Alliance
2015
Similar results to the 52,000 participant cohort of the Cleveland Clinic recently
published, showing dramatically better response from naturally-developed immunity than from
the vaccinated.
But Professor Sucharit Bhakdi is a kooky conspiracy theorist,
and Fauci is not a politician.
Po0h Bear 1 hour ago
Italian Neurosurgeon Who Operated on Young Covid Vaccine Victim Says "Never Seen
Anything Like This"
Neurosurgeon interviewed by Italian media says brain of 18-year-old girl swelled to
point that skull was opened to relieve pressure. She passed away days later
'I had never seen a brain that was affected by such an extensive and severe
thrombosis.'
New cases among recovered = 72 or .00862% infection rate
'Vaccinated' = 5,193,499
New cases among vaccinated = 'over 3,000' but we'll call it 3,000 or .0578% infection
rate
That leaves 4,628 new cases among the rest of the 'status unknown' population of
3,342,079. 0.139% infection rate.
A few observations, first, 7,700 'cases detected' is itself in total less than one tenth
of one percent of the population. Just saying.
The infection rate among the vaccinated is indeed 6.7 times that of the 'recovered'. The
'status unknown' rate is another 2.4 times that.
OutaTime43 22 minutes ago (Edited)
People in their 30's are dying from Covid (delta). Even those without pre conditions.
So, stop listening to this misinformation targeting conservative readers please. It's
probably being done on purpose.
99% of those right now being hospitalized with Covid 19 are unvaccinated.
green_dog 10 minutes ago
Please, provide a link to data supporting your claim about the deaths in the younger age
group with no co-morbidities.
C0rnelius 11 minutes ago
where is your source that 99% of those hospitalized with delta are unvaccinated? The
first delta case in the US was back in March and deaths have continued to trend down. Covid
is clearly becoming less deadly as it mutates.
Moderna's Next Act Is Using mRNA vs. Flu, Zika, HIV, and Cancer
The biotech has reached a $100 billion market cap. But after Covid, the challenges get even bigger.
By Robert Langreth July 14, 2021, 5:00 AM EDT Updated on July 14, 2021, 10:15 AM EDT SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share Tweet Post Email
A year ago, Moderna Inc. was an unprofitable company with
no marketed products and a promising but totally unproven technology. None of its experimental drugs and vaccines had ever completed
a large-scale trial. Experts were divided on how well the mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine it was about to enter in a Phase III trial
would stack up against older, more established vaccine technologies.
This year, Moderna could deliver 1 billion doses of its Covid shot and bring in $19 billion in revenue. It's become the rare biotech
to hit the big time without being gobbled up by, or splitting profits with, a larger, more established company. Its market value""which
hit $100 billion for the first time on July 14th""exceeds that of stalwarts such as
Bayer AG , the German inventor of aspirin, and biotech peers
such as Biogen Inc. , founded three decades prior.
The speed with which Moderna and its primary mRNA competitor, a partnership between
Pfizer Inc. and
BioNTech SE , devised their shots has made a major contribution
to the fight to end the pandemic. With strong efficacy, steady supply, and no show-stopping safety scares (officials are carefully
monitoring rare heart inflammation cases in teenagers and young adults), mRNA shots have become the vaccines of choice, at least
in countries that can get them.
In the past 40 years, more than 50 new human viruses have been discovered. Only three have authorized vaccines. Bancel views that
as an opportunity. "We are going to totally disrupt the vaccine market," he says during a late May interview at Moderna's Cambridge,
Mass., headquarters, which fills a 10-story building north of the MIT campus. The Swiss drugmaker
Novartis AG occupies labs in an adjacent building, and Pfizer
and Merck & Co. have offices a few blocks away.
Bancel, who's 48, wears a pressed blue shirt, dark blue jeans, and a black Hermès belt. An avid runner, he appears even trimmer
in person than on his frequent virtual conference appearances. He repeatedly jumps to his feet during the interview to graph on a
whiteboard how the Covid outbreak could evolve. One chart forecasts seasonal waves, declining each passing year but still significant.
Another projects the possible decay of vaccine efficacy over time, with mRNA shots like his starting in the best position but gradually
declining. The take-home message coincides neatly with Moderna's business prospects: Countries may want to stockpile
booster shots soon. "My mother is 72, and she has leukemia," he says. "I don't want her to go through the fall without a boost."
The company has vaccines for 10 viruses that are in, or about to be in, human trials. These include three types of Covid-19 boosters
that are in midstage trials, a seasonal flu shot that began its first human study in July, and HIV shots that are slated to begin
studies later this year. The furthest along besides the Covid shots combats cytomegalovirus, a ubiquitous bug that spreads through
bodily fluids and is a common cause of birth defects; it's set to begin a Phase III trial this year in women of childbearing age.
In the long term, Moderna is aiming to develop an annual supershot that could suppress numerous respiratory ailments, including Covid,
the flu, and others. "Our goal is to give you several mRNAs in a single shot at your local CVS or GP every August or September,"
Bancel says.
Now comes the difficult part: delivering on that promise while keeping ahead of just about every other vaccine company in the
world as they rapidly invest in mRNA. In the future, Moderna won't have the pandemic to highlight mRNA's most obvious advantages
over older technologies""speed and flexibility. Future vaccines and drugs will usually have to go through the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's normal approval process, meaning longer follow-ups to gather data and 6- to 10-month review timelines. That time
frame will provide space for mRNA-wielding rivals and older technologies to compete.
Pfizer, with its partner BioNTech, has become an mRNA manufacturing juggernaut and
expects to produce 3 billion doses this year; it has also dominated foreign distribution of mRNA vaccines so far. Another vaccine,
from CureVac NV in Germany, which took a different approach
to mRNA, performed tepidly, proving only 48% effective in Phase III trial data released in June, but still another, from China's
Walvax Biotechnology Co. , will soon begin Phase III testing
in seven countries.
More established technologies are reasserting themselves, too. On June 14,
Novavax Inc. said its recombinant protein vaccine was
90% effective in a nearly 30,000-person trial in the U.S. and Mexico, with relatively few side effects""results that more or
less matched those of the best mRNA shots. Vaccine giants Sanofi
and GlaxoSmithKline Plc are in Phase III trials on their
own protein-based Covid vaccine, which could hit the market by yearend.
Mani Foroohar, an analyst at SVB Leerink LLC, calls Moderna's accomplishments with the Covid vaccine "truly breathtaking." But
he also says it's far from certain whether such vaccines will have clear efficacy advantages with other viral diseases. And how big
a role the technology could play in treating noninfectious diseases such as cancer is unknown. So though public expectations are
boundless, he says, "the revenue opportunity is not."
The reply, for Bancel and the others pouring money into tiny RNA strands, lies in those two key advantages of speed and adaptability.
At their heart, mRNA vaccines are a modular technology; they deliver the genetic code telling cells how to make the virus proteins
that provoke an immune response, and the cells do the hard work from there. Now that Moderna is profitable and sitting on almost
$8 billion in cash""Bancel's own stake, including options, is worth around $7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index""it
can move quickly and aggressively into numerous new applications simply by changing the genetic code it puts into the mRNA. While
Moderna's shot appears to be holding up well against the currently surging delta variant, for example, it's a straightforward process
for the company to incorporate mutations into the vaccine if needed. "We don't have to introduce new technology or new processes,"
Bancel says. "It's exactly the same thing."
Starting in 2005, two researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, managed to slightly modify
mRNA so it generated less of an immune reaction in the body. The finding drew little recognition at the time, but it turned out to
be a critical advance. (Katalin left Penn to join BioNTech in 2013.) In 2010 a trio of Harvard and MIT scientists funded by venture
firm Flagship Pioneering picked up on the idea and founded Moderna, bringing Bancel on the next year. Moderna and BioNTech later
licensed the Penn technology.
Bancel recalls telling his wife before he changed jobs that there was a 5% chance the mRNA concept would succeed, but if it did,
it would be huge. When Bancel pitched Moderna's now-president, Stephen Hoge, on the company the following year, Hoge says, his reaction
was, "He's either brilliant or crazy." Hoge was then a McKinsey & Co. partner with a medical degree, and he was interested in doing
something that would have more societal impact. He slowly came around to Bancel's view that mRNA therapy, if it worked, "was really
going to transform medicine."
"The smart countries are saying, "˜I'd rather be two months too early than two months late'"‰"
The concept behind mRNA vaccines is simple. When the shots bring those protein-making instructions to cells, they effectively
turn them into microscopic vaccine factories in their own right. This allows developers to streamline what is normally a messy manufacturing
process. Many flu vaccines, for example, are made inside chicken eggs, and even newer genetically engineered vaccines still require
growing viral proteins inside vats of live cells. Bypassing such steps lets mRNA vaccine manufacturers shift gears fairly quickly.
It also appears to be relatively easy for them to make complicated vaccines involving multiple viral proteins.
"Everything with mRNA is just simpler," says Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), whose lab has been formally collaborating with Moderna since 2017. "For me, making vaccines
that are as simple as possible is the way to go." Graham says gene-based shots such as mRNA vaccines are particularly well-suited
to fighting viruses, because they seem to be adept at producing the so-called killer T-cells that destroy virus-infected cells.
Before Moderna could create an mRNA-based product, it had to crack the problem of how to protect the molecule from the body's
defense systems. By modifying the RNA, the Penn researchers had figured out how to dampen the hair-trigger immune response it provoked,
but their approach would be useless if it were broken down by enzymes before it could reach cells. The key to solving that problem
turned out to be adding protective lipid nanoparticles to surround the mRNA molecules""essentially creating "balls of fat with little
bits of RNA mixed in there," says Kerry Benenato, a chemist who left AstraZeneca Plc to join Moderna in 2014.
When Moderna started working on this approach in 2013, it had been tried mostly on much smaller types of RNA molecules, and there
were concerns about side effects. "People had decided they were toxic," Hoge says. Nanoparticles contain synthetic fats, and in
early iterations some of those fats tended to accumulate in cells, building up over time and potentially causing liver damage or
other side effects.
Benenato's assignment was to devise nanoparticles that could safely and efficiently carry the mRNA into cells, release the payload,
and then quickly break down. When she started, the chemistry involved in using nanoparticles with mRNA was so unexplored that there
were few published scientific papers to guide her. She and her team made one tweak after another, pinpointing changes that improved
tolerability without harming their ability to deliver mRNA. By 2015, Moderna had made a breakthrough, finding a series of lipid molecules
that fit the bill. "Then it was off to the races," Benenato recalls. They patented the formulas and started deploying them in vaccines.
In its early years, Moderna had focused on therapeutics, including programs for cancer, heart disease, and other lucrative areas.
The company gradually turned to vaccines as Bancel realized they would be the best way to prove mRNA technology worked. You have
to inject only a couple of doses to stimulate a long-lasting immune reaction.
Working with Graham's team at Niaid, Moderna began formulating a Covid vaccine as soon as Chinese scientists released the coronavirus
RNA sequence in early January 2020. Later that month, Bancel asked his manufacturing chief what it would take to make a billion vaccine
doses in 2021. "He looked at me like I was insane," Bancel recalls. The Moderna plant had never made more than 100,000 doses of
anything in a year. The U.S. government agreed to pay $955 million for the vaccine trials and initial small-scale production, but
Bancel says he couldn't initially persuade any country to pay for a full scale-up. Moderna instead raised $1.3 billion in a May 2020
stock offering for the purpose. The move allowed the company to take its leap onto the world stage""and laid the groundwork for what
comes next.
Moderna produces its nanoparticles and mRNA in a former Polaroid factory in the Boston suburb of Norwood, 15 miles south of its
headquarters. The plant, which opened in July 2018, has been running around the clock since November. It looks less like a factory
than like a cross between a tech startup and a molecular biology lab. Dozens of operations and quality-control workers dressed in
casual clothing occupy a large warren of open-layout desks in the front of the building. Covid vaccines are produced in clean rooms,
some of which are visible behind glass panels in the back. There are nine of these clean rooms making the shot here, up from three
in December, and six more are scheduled to be running by the end of the year. The suites, which are roughly 1,000 square feet each,
were built for flexibility, with mixing reaction vessels, chromatography instruments, and other equipment on wheels so they can be
easily reconfigured.
The process starts with pieces of DNA called plasmids that Moderna brings in from a contract manufacturer. These plasmids contain
the genetic blueprint for the Covid-19 spike protein. In one set of clean rooms, the spike protein DNA is synthesized into mRNA using
a technique called in vitro transcription. It's basically the laboratory version of a process that normally occurs in cell nuclei.
The mRNA solution can be made in a matter of hours, says Scott Nickerson, a senior vice president who oversees the site. It then
takes several days to purify unreacted enzymes and other extraneous material. From there, the purified mRNA goes to a separate set
of clean rooms, where workers spend another few days formulating it with the lipid nanoparticles. The final product is frozen in
sterile bioprocessing bags, encased in a protective shell, and shipped in temperature-controlled trucks to Catalent Inc.'s plant
in Bloomington, Ind. There the vaccine is diluted, put into vials, labeled, and shipped. When Moderna started making the Covid vaccine
in commercial quantities last year, the process took as long as 19 days to complete. Now it takes only 10 days to prep a batch for
shipping to Catalent.
Moderna's production this year, 800 million to 1 billion doses, will amount to only about a third of Pfizer and BioNTech's output.
Pfizer had "100 times more people" at the start of the pandemic, along with existing plants it could retool for vaccine production,
Bancel says. Moderna's head count has almost doubled since last year, to 1,500. Next year, with more capacity and a significant portion
of its output potentially going into booster shots and pediatric formulations that use lower doses, the company and its partners
expect to produce
as many as 3 billion doses , approaching Pfizer and BioNTech's projected 2022 supply of 4 billion. If Novavax meets its production
goals, Sanofi's protein-based vaccine also works, and companies such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca solve their manufacturing
bottlenecks, at some point next year the world could shift from being desperately short of Covid shots to swimming in them.
As the virus settles down to a more manageable threat over the next few years, Covid vaccine sales may decline""perhaps precipitously.
Morningstar Inc. analyst Karen Andersen says this market could top out at $72 billion worldwide this year, slip to $65 billion in
2022, and plummet to $8 billion a year after that. The extent of the slide will depend on how many people need booster shots, how
often, and whether Moderna, Pfizer, and others will be able to raise prices to compensate for a smaller market. The science on booster
shots is still unsettled""it's not yet clear how often, or even whether, they'll be needed in large numbers.
Moderna has three types of boosters in Phase II trials, including a lower-dose version of its existing vaccine, one booster that's
been customized against the beta variant that was first spotted in South Africa, and a third that combines both. More variants can
be added if necessary. The process for the beta booster went even faster than for the original shot. Design work started on Jan.
22, with Moderna ultimately switching out some of the chemical "letters" in its original mRNA vaccine, so they correspond to the
spike protein in the beta variant. Manufacturing began three days later, and the first trial dose was administered on March 10""only
47 days in all, compared with the 65 for the main vaccine.
Moderna is already cutting deals that encompass potential booster doses, including a June order from the U.S. for 200 million
additional shots in late 2021 and early 2022. Despite the uncertain need for boosters, Bancel's pitch is that it's best to be prepared
for an evolving virus. At an investor conference in early June, he told everyone that "the smart countries are saying, "˜I'd rather
be two months too early than two months late.'"‰"
Beyond Covid, most of Moderna's experimental vaccines remain in early stages of human trials. An exception is the shot for cytomegalovirus.
No vaccine exists for this virus now, and the shot could turn into a multibillion-dollar product if it works. Moderna also plans
human trials this year of a vaccine against another complicated pathogen, Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis.
Influenza is an obvious target, and a shot for that could be combined with Covid boosters, locking them into an existing annual
market. With the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance also slated to start trials on a flu shot later this year, researchers say they're hoping
the mRNA vaccines can improve on existing versions, which must sometimes begin production six months in advance based on experts'
assessment of which strains are likely to circulate. The shorter lead times required to make mRNA shots could, in theory, let health
officials more closely match flu strains and improve upon typical 40% to 60% efficacy rates. "The mRNA vaccines have a very high
likelihood of being better than the egg-based vaccines we use now," says Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. He adds that the shorter lead times could "shave off months" from the process. But he notes that it's an
open question whether there would be a good economic case for mRNA-based flu vaccines if they turn out to be more expensive and only
modestly better than the old ones.
Moderna is also targeting a few nasty respiratory viruses that don't have vaccines. These include metapneumovirus, which can lead
to hospitalization in infants, and respiratory syncytial virus, which causes more than 175,000 U.S. hospitalizations annually in
the elderly and about 50,000 more in young children. In the latter case, Moderna's vaccine will be competing with efforts at GlaxoSmithKline
and Johnson & Johnson that draw on other technologies and are further ahead.
Hoge says Moderna could combine as many as a dozen or more viral strains in one shot. The goal is a seasonal vaccine that "eliminates
the majority of the respiratory viral diseases that we all suffer from," he says. "The only way that we're really going to get good,
broad population immunity against these respiratory viruses is if we can make it feel like your flu shot."
The concept makes sense on paper, according to Tony Moody, a physician-researcher at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, which is
working on mRNA-based flu vaccines. Combinations are "one of the strengths of the technology," he says. He estimates that it would
cost only a few dollars more per shot to add the necessary mRNA for a given viral target. "If you could get a combo shot that gives
you a degree of protection against a lot of respiratory viruses, I think there would be a market for that," he says. It won't be
fast or easy. Researchers will first have to show that the individual vaccines work and then perform studies showing that complex
combinations don't compromise efficacy or result in troublesome side effects.
To realize its vision, Moderna will have to move quickly. Competitors are investing heavily to catch up.
Sanofi said in late June it would spend €400 million ($475 million) annually on mRNA research, focusing on stable vaccines
with few side effects. With emergency authorizations unlikely in the future, considerations such as side effects and convenience
will assume new prominence. Moderna is working on eliminating the complicated refrigeration requirements of its Covid shot. Future
products will also have to find ways to reduce the high rates of fatigue, headache, and muscle pain produced by the shot. For the
boosters, the company is testing lower doses, which may help.
How broadly mRNA can expand beyond vaccines into the far larger and more lucrative therapeutics market remains to be seen. There
will be additional technical hurdles to surmount. To treat chronic diseases, for example, companies will have to prove that they
can deliver the therapies to the target organs and that mRNA can be administered safely. And to develop cancer vaccines, mRNA researchers
will have to solve the thorny problem of teaching the immune system to distinguish between specific tumors and healthy cells. Many
previous approaches have failed.
The good news is that mRNA's adaptability also makes it easier to try out many possibilities. Within a few years, Moderna could
have 60 drugs and vaccines either in human trials or nearing them, according to Bancel. If it works out the way he hopes, mRNA will
make inventing vaccines and drugs a bit more like creating software. "We use the same four-letter code" for every vaccine and drug,
Bancel says. "We can scale the number of products we have in development at a pace that has never been done before."
Pfizer Outlines Booster Plans While Regulators Signal CautionByRobert Langreth and
Josh Wingrove July 8, 2021, 5:00 PM EDT
Updated on July 8, 2021, 9:56 PM EDT
Early human data shows third shot raises antibody levels
Federal health agencies say no need for boosters at this time
Pfizer Inc. plans to request U.S. emergency authorization
in August for a third booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, based on early data showing that it can sharply increase immune protection
against the coronavirus.
At the same time, however, federal health officials signaled that they would take a cautious approach to potential booster shots,
and underlined that the currently available vaccines are effective at keeping people from being sickened by the coronavirus.
Pfizer has received initial data from an early human study showing that a third dose of its existing coronavirus vaccine is safe
and can raise neutralizing antibody levels by 5 to 10 fold compared with the original vaccine, the company's research head, Mikael
Dolsten, said in an interview.
Once more data is in hand, Pfizer plans to ask the FDA to authorize a booster shot that could be given six to eight months after
the original two doses, Dolsten said. The drugmaker is also talking with regulators in other countries and the European Union about
the new results, he said. Pfizer produces the vaccine in partnership with
BioNTech SE .
Some New Jersey residents have become infected with COVID-19 even after receiving a first
dose of the two-shot Moderna or Pfizer COVID vaccine, and a tiny number have developed
"breakthrough infections" more than two weeks after their second dose of the vaccine.
The total number of such cases in New Jersey is not known
So it looks like NJ repeats the pattern observed in Israel -- the rise of cases with Delta
variant despite high level of vaccination. . Looks like they try to hide statistics of infections
among vaccinated... With 70% of adult population vaccinated ( NJ COVID Update- 70%
of adult population in state fully vaccinated - ABC7 New York ) NJ is one of the most highly
vaccinated state and Pfizer vaccine is predominant in this state like in Israel.
Japan warns of 'sense of crisis' about China's threat to conquer Taiwan Sen. Cotton
expresses 'real doubts' about US Navy's ability to defeat China in
The Delta variant of COVID-19 is now the predominant strain in New Jersey, according to
Governor Phil Murphy and health officials.
Pause Current Time 2:03 / Duration 2:12 Unmute 0 LQ CaptionsFullscreen Delta variant now
dominant COVID strain in NJ Click to expand The highly contagious strain that originated in
India and is surging around the globe now accounts for 41% of new variant cases in the Garden
State last month, overtaking the Alpha variant that was first documented in the United
Kingdom.
For the week ending June 26, Delta accounted for 70% of identified variant cases.
... ... ...
More than 5.1 million people have been fully vaccinated in New Jersey, Murphy said, which is
about 66% of the eligible population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, compared with about 56% for the country overall.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Jersey rose the past two weeks from
235 new cases per day on June 26 to 264 on Sunday.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths fell, going from nine deaths a day on June 26
to almost five a day on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, New Jersey's rate of transmission ticked up above 1 -- to 1.01, for the first
time since late January.
If nothing else, this simply demonstrates that "the science" is no longer the priority for
either Big Pharma, nor the federal government, since Big Pharma is now focused on maximizing
profits from its new cash cow, while the federal government is calibrating everything it says
and does with an eye toward encouraging as many American adults as possible to get
vaccinated.
And if people read that they're going to need a booster shot in a few months anyway, why
would they bother getting vaccinated now?
Anyway, having been stymied in the US, Pfizer is trudging ahead with its "booster shot"
plans by striking a deal to expedite resupply to Israel, which is planning to administer a
third "booster" jab to patients with certain high-risk comorbidities starting Aug. 1.
The
Jerusalem Post reports that the next shipment of Pfizer jabs will arrive on Aug. 1 instead
of in September (Israel also has 200K doses of Moderna on hand, but those can only be used on
adult patients).
Israeli PM Naftali Bennett said Sunday: "We have been working on the issue of vaccines for
several weeks," Bennett said. "This morning, I am pleased to announce that after a series of
discussions with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, we closed a deal last night to move up the next
vaccination delivery to August 1." "There are vaccines for everyone."
Last week, Israel announced it had agreed on a vaccine-exchange deal with South Korea. Under
the terms of the deal, Israel delivered some 700K doses to South Korea, which it will return
when it receives its next vaccine delivery.
And as we noted earlier, immuno-compromised patients will be able to receive their third
shot starting immediately, said Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
In the meantime, Israel continues to register a higher number of daily cases. At the
beginning of June, some 10-20 people were found to be new virus carriers every day. Currently,
several hundred are testing positive on a daily basis. The number of active cases (which had
shrunk to 200 recently) has rebounded to 4,000.
Pfizer will meet with top US health officials on Monday to discuss Pfizer's push to receive
federal authorization for its booster shot, according to
the Associated Press.
"Certainly, immunity decreases over time...the question is how much time," one doctor told
CNBC during an interview Monday morning.
Before Delta arrived in Israel, some believed the country had reached "herd immunity". But
as Dr. Scott Gottlieb and others have pointed out, COVID is now endemic in the human
population, and reaching "COVID zero", a standard that Israel is aiming at, simply might not be
possible. Israeli officials have already acknowledged that with the large percentage of
Israeli's vaccinated, deaths and hospitalizations associated with COVID will likely continue to
decline, even if the number of new cases does rise.
13,313 109
Bacon's Rebellion 1 hour ago (Edited) remove link
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Israel Vaccination Statistics from The
Lancet
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Take away....
The Vaccine" failed to achieve a 1% increase in the survival rate between the vaccinated
and the unvaccinated.
6,400 total deaths since day 1 of Covid19
36 deaths under the age of 45
1,500 deaths were under the age of 70
76.56% of Covid19 deaths in Israel were over the age of 70
18% of deaths were OVER 90 years old!
1,127,965 people age 65+
1,015,620 were fully vaccinated
112,345 were not vaccinated
The medicines safety body said the benefits of Covid vaccines continue to far outweigh any
risks.
But doctors and patients have been advised to be aware of the symptoms of heart
inflammation.
These include chest pain, a feeling of breathlessness and a pounding or fluttering
heartbeat. Anyone with these symptoms should see a doctor.
Two conditions were linked to the vaccines - inflammation of the heart muscle itself, known
as myocarditis, and inflammation of the fluid-filled sac the heart sits in, known as
pericarditis.
The EMA analysis of cases found:
Pfizer-BioNTech - 145 cases of myocarditis and 138 cases of pericarditis out of 177m
doses given
Moderna - 19 case of myocarditis and 19 cases of pericarditis out of 20 million doses
given
Five people died. The review said they were all either elderly or had other health
conditions.
The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has also been
investigating the link.
It reported: "A consistent pattern of cases occurring more frequently in young males and
shortly after the second dose of the vaccines.
"These reports are extremely rare, and the events are typically mild with individuals
usually recovering within a short time with standard treatment and rest," it added.
Most cases are thought to be within 14 days of vaccination.
While the risk is very rare, it is more likely to develop in young people - who are
currently the focus on the vaccination campaign in the UK.
"The chance of these conditions occurring is very low, but you should be aware of the
symptoms so that you can get prompt medical treatment to help recovery and avoid
complications," the EMA said.
The link with heart inflammation was found only in the vaccines that rely on mRNA technology
to train the immune system.
The was no link found for vaccines such as Oxford-AstraZeneca or Janssen, which use a
genetically modified virus.
However, the EMA has advised anyone with a history of capillary leak syndrome should not be
given the Janssen vaccine. This is a rare but serious syndrome in which fluid leaks from blood
vessels in the body.
Keith Speights: Some findings were recently published in Nature magazine that
indicate that the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines may provide protection for
years.
Many investors are and were hoping for annual recurring revenue from these companies'
vaccines. Brian, how troublesome is this latest data for the prospects for Pfizer, BioNTech,
and Moderna?
Brian Orelli: There's a bit of an extrapolation going on here. The researchers looked at
memory B cells, which tend to provide more long-term protection than, let's say, antibodies.
They looked at those in the lymph nodes and found the cells were there as long as 15 weeks.
Typically, they'd mostly be gone by four to six weeks. So that's the basis of this claim
that it could offer protection for years. If true, that will be a big blow obviously to vaccine
makers, at least for Moderna and BioNTech.
Pfizer would be fine because it's so diversified. It's really hard to make an argument for
the valuations of Moderna and BioNTech right now if these vaccines are one and done over a
couple of years. They really need to have ongoing sales until they can get growth from other
drugs in their pipelines.
Speights: Brian, when I first saw the story, I went to check out to see how the stocks were
performing, and Moderna is up, BioNTech was barely changed, Pfizer barely changed. It seems to
me that investors really aren't making much of this news. Do you think that's the right take at
this point?
Orelli: I think it's still too early to be able to conclude that it's definitely going to
work for years. The other issue is that we're looking at, will those B cells actually protect
against the variants?
If they don't protect against the variants, then it doesn't really matter if you have B
cells in your lymph nodes. If they're not going to protect against the variants then we're
going to have to get a booster shot anyway.
Speights: Right. Obviously, if these vaccines provide immunity for multiple years, these
companies aren't going to make nearly as much money as they expect and a lot of investors
expect. So this is a big story to watch, but like you said, really, really early right now and
too soon to maybe go drawing any conclusions at this point.
The delta variant was estimated by health officials is perhaps twice as contagious as the
original virus and at least 20 percent more contagious than Alpha.. It was first identified in
India a wave of infections there in April and May.
LaCount has lived in Grand Junction, Colo., a city of 64,000, nearly her whole life. As a
hospital pathologist, she knows better than most that her hometown has become one of the
nation's top breeding grounds for the delta variant of COVID-19.
"The delta variant's super scary," LaCount said.
That highly transmissible variant, first detected in India, is now
the dominant COVID-19 strain in the United States. Colorado is among the top
states with the highest proportion of the delta variant, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Mesa County has the most delta variant cases of any county in Colorado, state health
officials report, making the area a hot spot within a hot spot. A CDC team and the state's
epidemiologist traveled to Grand Junction to investigate how and why cases of the variant were
moving so quickly in Mesa County.
... ... ...
A few yards away from LaCount and her son on the playground, a man fished in a still pond
with his 10-month-old daughter in a backpack. Garrett Whiting, who works in construction, said
he believes COVID is still being "blown out of proportion," especially by the news media.
"They got everybody scared really, really fast," said Whiting, slowly reeling in a sparkly
blue lure from the water. "There's no reason to stop living your life just because you're
scared of something."
Whiting tested positive for COVID about three months earlier. He said he doesn't plan to get
vaccinated, nor does his wife. As for the baby on his back, he said he's not sure whether
they'll have her vaccinated when regulators approve the shot for young children.
Warnings
from around the world
The delta variant is one of four " variants of
concern " circulating in the U.S., according to the CDC, because the delta strain spreads
more easily, might be more resistant to treatment and might be better at infecting vaccinated
people than other variants.
The delta variant has raised alarms around the world. Parts of Australia have
locked down again after health officials said the variant leapfrogged its way from an
American aircrew to a birthday party
where it infected
all unvaccinated guests , and after it also is reported to have jumped between shoppers in
a "
scarily fleeting " moment in which two people walked past each other in a mall.
A rise in delta variant cases delayed the United Kingdom's planned reopening in June. But
public health officials have
concluded after studying about 14,000 cases of the delta variant in that country that full
vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalization. Studies
around the
world have made similar findings. There is also evidence the Moderna and Johnson &
Johnson vaccines
are effective against the variant.
Los Angeles
County recently recommended that residents resume wearing masks indoors regardless of
vaccination status, over concern about the delta variant. The World Health Organization is
also urging vaccinated people to wear masks, though the CDC hasn't changed its guidelines
allowing vaccinated people to gather indoors without masks.
After months of data collection, scientists agree: The delta variant is the most contagious
version of the coronavirus worldwide. It spreads about
225% faster than the original version of the virus, and it's currently dominating the
outbreak in the United States.
A new study,
published online Wednesday, sheds light on why. It finds that the variant grows more
rapidly inside people's respiratory tracts and to much higher levels, researchers at the
Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
On average, people infected with the delta variant had about 1,000 times more copies of the
virus in their respiratory tracts than those infected with the original strain of the
coronavirus, the study reported.
In addition, after someone catches the delta variant, the person likely becomes infectious
sooner. On average, it took about four days for the delta variant to reach detectable levels
inside a person, compared with six days for the original coronavirus variant.
In the study, scientists analyzed COVID-19 patients involved in the first outbreak of the
delta variant in mainland China, which occurred between May 21 and June 18 in Guangzhou, the
capital of Guangdong province. The researchers measured the levels of virus in 62 people
involved in that outbreak and compared them with the levels in 63 patients infected in 2020
with an early version of the virus.
Their findings suggest that people who have contracted the delta variant are likely
spreading the virus earlier in the course of their infection.
And the scientists underscore the importance of quarantining immediately for 14 days after
coming into contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, as the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention recommends.
Or even better, getting fully vaccinated. Preliminary data shows that in some U.S. states,
99.5% of COVID-19 deaths in the past few months were among people who weren't vaccinated, the
CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Thursday at the White House.
"We know that the delta variant ... is currently surging in pockets of the country with low
vaccination rates," Walensky said. "We also know that our authorized vaccines prevent severe
disease, hospitalization and death from the delta variant."
Los Angeles County is reporting a 165 percent spike in coronavirus infections in a single
week amid the rise of the highly contagious delta variant.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health said in
a statement that 839 new coronavirus infections had been reported as of Thursday. The daily
average case rate is at 3.5 per 100,000 people, up from last week's 1.74 cases per 100,000
people.
The agency said that the delta variant of the coronavirus first identified in India has
become the most commonly sequenced variant in the county since the beginning of June, and now
accounts for the majority of variants identified by labs, "consistent with what other parts of
the U.S. are seeing."
...According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the variant now makes up the
majority of new cases in the United States, driving spikes in infections in several states.
...The county said that slightly less than 4 million of its residents are still not
vaccinated, while 4.6 million are fully vaccinated.
... There are currently 296 people hospitalized, of which 24 percent are in intensive
care.
It's peak mosquito season, and the little bloodsuckers have already tested positive for West
Nile virus in at least six US states.
West Nile virus is the
leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental US, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. The illness typically peaks around this time of year.
New York was the latest state to report infected mosquitos last week. In a
press release , Rockland County reported two groups of mosquitos carrying the virus in
Orangetown and Clarktown. Fortunately, no humans have been infected yet.
Massachusetts also reported its
first West Nile-infected mosquito of the season with no known human cases. However,
Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, and Iowa have each seen one or two people fall severely ill with
the virus this summer, according to the CDC
.
New York and Massachusetts found mosquitos infected with West Nile virus this month.
In Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, and Iowa, a few humans have also been infected.
West Nile virus is typically mild, but can lead to paralysis or death in severe
cases.
It's peak mosquito season, and the little bloodsuckers have already tested positive for West
Nile virus in at least six US states.
West Nile virus is the
leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental US, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. The illness typically peaks around this time of year.
New York was the latest state to report infected mosquitos last week. In a
press release , Rockland County reported two groups of mosquitos carrying the virus in
Orangetown and Clarktown. Fortunately, no humans have been infected yet.
Massachusetts also reported its
first West Nile-infected mosquito of the season with no known human cases. However,
Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, and Iowa have each seen one or two people fall severely ill with
the virus this summer, according to the CDC
.
West Nile virus is usually mild, but can be fatal in rare cases
Small as they may be, mosquitos kill more
people than any other creature in the world. The insects are known to carry several
dangerous diseases including malaria, dengue, Zika, and more.
Most people infected with West Nile virus don't even know they're sick, and it's rarely
spread from human to human. But about one in five people infected will come down with a fever
and flu-like symptoms such as headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash.
An even smaller contingent go on to develop severe illness that can lead to paralysis or
death. West Nile cases are considered neuroinvasive if people experience inflammation in or
around the brain, such as encephalitis or meningitis.
Two people in Arizona and three people across Arkansas, Illinois, and Iowa have experienced
such severe cases. In Arkansas, the infected person died.
Last
year , 39 US states reported cases of West Nile virus. Of those cases, 505 were severe or
neuroinvasive, and 52 people died.
The Alpha version of supposed SARS-CoV-2 was supposedly the most transmissible and
infectious pathogen ever. With a transmission rate of at least 3.8 and reported to be perhaps
as high as 9.
Meaning each infected person infects at least 3.8 other people, and perhaps up to nine.
During the year we were told one infected choir singer passed the infection on to at least 220
people in one church. If Delta is 50-60% more infectious than Alpha, then each person will
infect at least six others. Perhaps dozens.
The problem with that, is Delta is from last year in August. That is when it was first
"identified". A pathogen that infectious would have infected over 8 billion people in less than
five weeks.
The supposed Alpha strain would have infected the entire world by the middle of last June.
After a year, the cases would measure in the trillions if the exponential progression
continued. Obviously there aren't trillions of people on the planet.
What that proves is either SARS-CoV-2 isn't as infectious as claimed, or every single person
on the planet has been exposed multiple times and simply didn't even know.
There is a certain definitive fact. Whatever the government tells you is for sure an
absolute lie. lay_arrow
OliverAnd 7 hours ago
Mutations are usually deleterious; one small percentage will mutate into a strain that
may be more or less pathogenic; the purpose of the mutation is so that the virus becomes
less pathogenic so that it can live symbiotically with its host.
We humans are a hilarious bunch; for example we sleep with whores knowing they are
walking STD labs catching herpes, HPV, gonorrhea, etc increasing our chances of cancer
while decreasing our lives by decades, yet we worry about getting vaccinated. We eat
processed foods, junk food, high sugar and salt foods, smoke, speed, drink, etc taking many
years off our lives yet we worry about a jab. Where are all those people not wanting the
vaccine? They are eating at the fast food chains sleeping with that one who has been around
the block stressed out because they are unable to go shopping with their empty pockets.
Q. The Delta variant (first identified in India) is estimated to be 50-60% more
transmissible than the Alpha variant (first identified in the UK). How effective are the
Western vaccines against the Delta variant?
A. While the Delta variant weighs on the efficacy of vaccines (and especially single doses)
at preventing infections (especially asymptomatic infections), Pfizer and AstraZeneca full
vaccinations remain highly effective at protecting hospitalizations, and Moderna and J&J
lab results look encouraging
A study from Public Health England estimates elevated Delta-specific efficacies at
preventing hospitalizations of 94%/96% after one/two Pfizer doses and 71%/92% after one/two
AstraZeneca doses. Public Health England estimates lower efficacies at preventing symptomatic
disease after two doses for Pfizer of 88% and 60% for AstraZeneca. Similarly, a new study from
Canada also estimates an 87% efficacy of full Pfizer vaccinations to prevent symptomatic
disease. The symptomatic efficacy, however, is lower after one dose and estimated at one-third
for both Pfizer and AstraZeneca in the English study, and 56%/72% for Pfizer/Moderna in the
Canadian study
Yesterday, Israel's Health Ministry reported a 64% effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in
preventing any infections and a 93% effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations. The 64%
estimate likely corresponds to the effectiveness to prevent both asymptomatic and symptomatic
infections while the studies from England and Canada and clinical trials assess symptomatic
infections. Taken at face value, these headline numbers suggest a reduced ability of the Pfizer
vaccine to stop the transmission of Delta infections relative to previously dominant strains,
although the "additional" infections are more likely to be asymptomatic.
Finally, in vitro studies from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson demonstrate their ability
to neutralize the Delta variant with neutralizing titers that were lower compared to the
ancestral strain but higher than for the Beta variant (first identified in South Africa), where
high efficacy against severe disease was clinically demonstrated.
Q. How effective are the Eastern vaccines against the Delta variant?
A. Although data remain very limited, Chinese and Russian expert commentary and clinical
trial results from India's Bharat Biotech suggest that the Sinopharm, Sputnik V, and Bharat
Biotech vaccines provide solid protection against severe disease.
Q. What about Delta's impact on reinfection risk?
A. Although the data are particularly limited, research and experts suggest that prior
infections continue to provide some protection against Delta, especially against severe
disease.
Q. The UK is experiencing a surge in infections although hospitalizations and especially
fatalities remain relatively low (Exhibit 2). What drives this "decoupling" and will it
continue?
A. This mostly reflects the concentration of new infections among younger individuals but
also a stronger vaccine protection against hospitalizations than against infections (especially
for AstraZeneca). We therefore expect this decoupling to continue.
Q. Are infections and hospitalizations/fatalities also "decoupling" outside of the UK?
A. Most other economies with high vaccination rates and Delta outbreaks are also
experiencing this decoupling, although it is particularly pronounced in the UK. We expect
hospitalizations to remain relatively low in high vaccination countries.
Q. Does the virus still matter for activity in North America and Europe if hospitalizations
stay low?
A. Yes. The virus GDP drag should, however, be much diminished and reflects travel
restrictions, consumer risk aversion, and lingering softness in labor supply
... ... ...
Q. The Delta variant has raised the theoretical bar to achieve herd immunity to probably at
least 85% of the population. Does vaccine hesitancy imply that countries will never approach
such high immunity levels?
A. Not necessarily, and many medical experts believe the coronavirus will eventually turn
from a pandemic to an endemic stage. The Delta variant likely implies higher ultimate
vaccination rates (and immunity rates). In fact, further outbreaks appear to be sharply
boosting demand in several countries, including the US, China, Australia, Israel, and
especially Portugal (Exhibit 13).
EatMyAssLibtards 9 hours ago
How anyone can believe this $hit anymore is a question not even God would have an answer
for
Four chan 6 hours ago
ITS GLOBALIST ******** FOLKS.
MaxmaxExtreme 5 hours ago remove link
Wait until the vaccine pushers hear about booster shots until the day they die, or
rather until it kills them.
The Ingenious Gentleman 7 hours ago
The vaccine is the new god. People who get it seem to positively religious about getting
others to do the same. Almost like they have been programmed.
Nona Yobiznes 5 hours ago
Have you seen the reddit community called ChurchOfCOVID? Worth checking out for some
laughs.
HowdyDoody 3 hours ago
What has happened to Goldman Sacks? They are way behind the curve. Delta is yesterday's
news. Lambda is where the action is.
The World Health Organization is recommending that everyone, even the fully vaccinated,
continue to wear masks because of the highly transmissible variant.
In an alarming new development, the particularly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 has infected some
fully vaccinated adults in Israel, officials there have reported.
Of more than 100 daily cases amid an outbreak of the delta variant, half were children
younger than 16.
... Spurred by the new information, the Israeli government has now reimposed an indoor mask
mandate and quickly expanded its vaccination program to include children ages 12 to 15.
The World Health Organization
on Friday also warned everyone, even those fully vaccinated, to
"play it safe" and continue to wear a mask and maintain social distancing in light of the
large numbers of people who remain unvaccinated and the emergence of the delta variant, which
it called the "
most transmissible " form of the coronavirus identified to date.
"People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect
themselves," Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines, said
at a news briefing in Geneva. "Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission."
"People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, [use] hand
hygiene ... [practice] physical distance, avoid crowding."
Critique of this finding by Reuters look weak. I think the finding still stands and is an
interesting statistics pointing to the unforeseen danger of vaccination.
Referring to data compiled by Public Health England (PHE) in a technical briefing released
on June 18 regarding the SARS-CoV-2 variants (
here ), the authors of the blogs make several calculations.
On page 12 of the briefing, it shows that 26 people have died since February 1 after testing
positive for the Delta variant of the virus, having also been fully vaccinated for more than
two weeks. In total, 4,087 tested positive more than two weeks after their second dose.
Meanwhile, 35,521 people who were unvaccinated tested positive for the Delta variant and 34
people died.
The authors then divide the number of deaths by the total number of people who tested
positive for the Delta variant and found the rate of death to be 0.000957 for unvaccinated
individuals and 0.00636 for those who have been inoculated.
... ... ...
In England, approximately 85% of the adult population have had one dose of a COVID-19
vaccine and 65% are fully inoculated, Dr Cevik said.
"When most people are vaccinated, most infections and deaths are expected to be among those
vaccinated," she added.
The vaccination program also prioritised "clinically vulnerable" individuals, and thus the
majority of those vaccinated will "disproportionately represent elderly and those with
underlying comorbidities, who are already at significant risk of hospitalisation and death," Dr
Cevik, said.
The posts do not consider the overall higher number of cases due to the Delta variant for
those who are unvaccinated compared to those who are inoculated (
here ).
That means that 64% of vaccinated can get Delta variant and spread it. This is the last nail
in the coffin of idiotic (in case of coronaviruses) Fauci idea of "herd immunity" and connected
with this fiasco of (1)vaccination of teenagers (and generally people younger then 30), pregnant
women and people who already recovered from COVID-19 and thus has natural immunity
Please note that COVID vaccines are experimental, unproven drugs (or gene therapy in case of
Pfizer and Moderna) and Fauci and other high level medical bureaucrats should be liable for any
negative consequences of this campaign.
The Israeli Ministry of Health announced that an epidemiological analysis had found that
since June 6 there was a "marked decline in the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine in preventing
infection (64%) and symptomatic illness (64%)."
"This decline has been observed simultaneously with the spread of the Delta variant in
Israel," t he
ministry said in a statement .
At the same time, "The vaccine maintains an efficacy rate of about 93% in preventing serious
illness and hospitalization cases," the officials emphasized.
... Professor Nadav Davidovitch, who sits on the government's expert advisory committee on
the coronavirus, told the Financial Times
the new finding was based on "preliminary" figures gathered by health authorities. "Delta is a
lot more infectious, but appears to not lead to as much serious illness and death, especially
given that we now have the vaccine," he said.
Non-profits hospitals are actually wolfs in sheep skin. Hospital administrators are basically
real estate developers, and that is where the profits go. They have become monsters, quite
uninterested in serving the public good. The average CEO makes well more than an order (or two)
of magnitude more than the average physician and has much less time and money invested in
training. Most of the CEO's are grossly over compensated.
It is time to rein in aggressive tactics used by nonprofit hospitals to collect unpaid bills,
including suits and garnishing of wages. The fees are not published. The rates for procedures are
unknown until you get the bill. The bill, when it finally arrives, has absolutely stupid figures
on it, such as $700 for 1 bag of intravenous saline. Which actually costs about $1. At such
prices any discout is meaningless and actually is a cruel joke on sick people.
It is asinine that hospitals don't provide pricing information before you have treatment
(obviously, emergencies would be an exception).
Nonprofits in 2016 received an estimated $9 billion in federal tax breaks
Another issue is why those people do not have health insurance. With Medicaid expansion and
liberalization there is no excuse for not having it. The one thing Obamacare did was give people
the opportunity to get insurance. There is a difference between "can't" pay and "I want to spend
my money on something else besides my medical insurance."
Maryland recently added new restrictions on
hospital debt collection , after a state report said hospitals wiped out less than half of
their charges to patients who were eligible for free care under state law in 2018.
Washington state's attorney general sued hospitals over patients' access to financial aid.
Under a 2019 consent decree, nonprofit hospitals refunded about $1.6 million to patients.
Hospitals nationally face ongoing scrutiny for their billing and pricing practices, with new
rules this year
requiring hospitals to publish prices they have previously
negotiated in secret with insurance companies. The Trump administration policy sought to
boost transparency for consumers, but
many hospitals haven't complied . According to Turquoise Health Co., a startup working with
the newly public pricing data, Ballad hospitals have generally complied with the new
transparency regulations.
Hospitals can sell unpaid bills to debt buyers in the secondary debt market, where RIP
Medical Debt typically buys portfolios for pennies on the dollar. Terms of the deal with Ballad
weren't disclosed.
... ... ...
Federal requirements for nonprofit hospitals to provide financial assistance and inform
patients about it are limited. Nonprofits have freedom to set eligibility as they choose, and
can also create their own process and forms, said Jenifer Bosco, an attorney at the National
Consumer Law Center. They are supposed to take steps to alert patients, including making their
policies widely available on their websites, Ms. Bosco said. State rules for nonprofit hospital
financial aid vary.
Please not that stent insertion is often unnecessary procedure performed not to save the life of the patient but to earn money.
The system is criminal indeed.
Non-profits hospitals those day are also governed by Wall-street sharks.
Please note that Abdominal CT scan with insurance like CIGNA would cost you $300-$600 out of the pocket depending on the
facility.
Notable quotes:
"... abdominal and pelvic scan at Avera St. Luke's cost $6,422, the highest out of a wide range of rates the Avera hospital charges for that service ..."
"... Some dominant local and regional nonprofits, including Mass General Brigham, based in Boston, and Avera, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., billed the uninsured at their general hospitals some of their highest prices while also setting some of the most restrictive financial-aid policies for free care nationwide, according to tax filings, Turquoise data and patients' medical bills. ..."
"... "It's really criminal, the mess that our current system is in," said Mary Daniel, chief executive of ClaimMedic, which helps patients negotiate payment with hospitals. "It is a deliberate attempt for these hospitals to gouge the uninsured." ..."
"... for expensive procedures like angioplasty and drug-coated stenting, the difference in the cash price within a single county can be over $100,000. ..."
"... The cash prices for patients who must pay for their own care can be equal to the sticker prices or sometimes represent a percentage lopped off that top rate. Sometimes, those cash rates are also applied to people who have some form of insurance but get a service that the insurance doesn't cover. ..."
"... The quarter of hospitals with the most generous free-care policies write off the entire bill for those with monthly incomes under about $2,600 a month, and even up to roughly $6,400 a month, for a one-person household, the Journal found. ..."
"... Those that rank in the quarter of hospitals with the most-restrictive policies draw the line at or below about 160% of the federal threshold for poverty, disqualifying for free care patients with monthly income of more than around $1,700 for a one-person household, according to a Journal analysis of nonprofit hospital tax filings. ..."
"... A patient paying cash at the hospital for the stenting procedure is charged $84,792. Local insurer Fallon Health spends $36,755 for the procedure under one of its health-maintenance organization plans. A Medicare insurance plan from Aetna, part of CVS Health Corp. , pays $16,648. ..."
"... Patients who don't qualify for financial aid at nonprofit hospitals also aren't protected by pricing limits under federal law. The Affordable Care Act requires nonprofit hospitals to cap prices for patients who qualify for financial aid. ..."
"... Hospitals apply financial aid and discount policies inconsistently, say consumer advocates and patients. Offers may be one-time-only, or discounts may emerge only when a skilled negotiator is pushing for them. ..."
"... In January 2018, Joannie Berthiaume spent two days at Broward Health Imperial Point hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and got emergency surgery to remove her appendix. She was uninsured and the hospital charged Ms. Berthiaume its highest prices. Her bill totaled about $42,000, including a $6,033 abdominal CT scan. For that same scan, an Aetna subsidiary gets a 24% break, according to the newly public data from Broward Health. That discount would have meant a fee of around $4,600 for the scan, based on the price charged in 2018. ..."
"... "If you charge me $42,000 and your costs are justified, how can you knock it in half in a matter of minutes," Ms. Berthiaume says. "You must be overcharging." ..."
"... High cash prices inflate bills that uninsured patients often struggle to pay. Hospitals collected 5% of the amount they billed uninsured patients before writing off bills after a year of seeking payment, according to Crowe LLP, an accounting, technology and consulting firm, based on an analysis of 600 client hospitals. That is compared with collecting 40% of bills sent to patients with insurance for amounts owed under deductibles, copays and other out-of-pocket costs, based on a separate analysis by Crowe of about 1,500 hospitals. ..."
"... Hospitals closely track their "payer mix," or the mix of patients with commercial insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and the uninsured, who might be unlikely to ever pay for their treatment. That could play a role in how hospitals set prices. ..."
"... Resolve also offered about $8,000, or slightly more than the company estimated Medicare would pay, for Mr. Macias's $24,800 emergency-room bill at Avera St. Luke's, Mr. Pan said. The hospital said no, and despite denying financial aid, offered to reduce the bill by 50%, Mr. Pan said. The amount excluded another $34,994 he owes Avera's heart hospital. ..."
"... Have you or someone you know faced a challenging hospital billing situation? Tell us about your experience in the form below. ..."
The 32-year-old's abdominal and pelvic scan at Avera St. Luke's cost $6,422, the highest out of a wide range of rates the Avera
hospital charges for that service based on the new data. The price billed to Mr. Macias was roughly three times the best deal negotiated
by an insurance company.
Another scan of his chest came to $4,194, approximately $280 to $2,800 more than any prices negotiated between St. Luke's and
an insurer. The prices for identical scans performed at Avera's heart hospital were also among the highest that the hospital charged. His total hospital bills came to $59,800.
... ... ...
Services including emergency-room visits, imaging scans and procedures such as an angioplasty and stenting often performed on
heart-attack patients have been identified by researchers and federal data as commonly needed in emergencies by those without insurance.
The Journal analysis looked at the 1,550 hospitals in the Turquoise data that released both insurance and cash-payment rates.
Among the Journal's findings:
Hospitals routinely bill uninsured patients at their highest rates. About 21%, or 319, of the hospitals did so for the majority
of the services included in the analysis. At 171 of those hospitals, the cash rate was higher than all of the rates billed to
insurers, or tied for the highest rate, for every service in the analysis. That was true at some hospitals owned by major systems
including Sanford Health and Yale New Haven Health System.
On average, across the 1,166 hospitals that included rates for Medicare Advantage plans in their disclosures, the fees for
uninsured patients were 3.6 times the average rates paid by the Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare rates are typically set by
the government to at least cover hospital costs and are considered a baseline for comparing prices. Rates for Medicare Advantage
plans, which are administered by private insurers, are generally close to these mandated prices.
Some dominant local and regional nonprofits, including Mass General Brigham, based in Boston, and Avera, based in Sioux
Falls, S.D., billed the uninsured at their general hospitals some of their highest prices while also setting some of the most
restrictive financial-aid policies for free care nationwide, according to tax filings, Turquoise data and patients' medical bills.
Cash prices, which haven't been available publicly to help patients choose where to seek medical care, often vary widely even
among hospitals in the same county. In the 270 counties where at least two hospitals have disclosed their cash prices, the average
spread between the lowest and highest rates for a complex emergency-room visit is $1,852.
In Shelby County, Tenn., home to Memphis, the spread for that type of ER visit is $2,054. It would cost an uninsured patient $884
at any of the three Baptist Memorial Health Care hospitals; $1,480 at Regional Medical Center; $2,653 at Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis;
and $2,938 at Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett.
... ... ...
Hospitals that offer additional discounts for the uninsured don't always automatically make the cuts to patient bills, leaving
cash-pay patients with significantly higher charges, the Journal found. It can take long negotiations, often by hiring lawyers or
professional advocates, to bring about reduced charges.
... ... ...
Those discounts slash bills by an average of 85% off its top price, the company said in a recent statement to the Journal. But
patients must apply to receive the discount. The vast majority of cash prices for emergency services at Tenet hospitals reviewed
by the Journal instead reduced bills by 20% to 30%.
"It's really criminal, the mess that our current system is in," said Mary Daniel, chief executive of ClaimMedic, which
helps patients negotiate payment with hospitals. "It is a deliberate attempt for these hospitals to gouge the uninsured."
The differences between the prices for uninsured people and insurance companies can be wide.
At Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville, Ky., an uninsured person getting a stent after a heart attack could be
billed around $66,226 for the procedure. An Anthem Inc.
health-maintenance organization plan would pay just $17,895 at the hospital, and the insurer's Medicare plan even less -- $12,445.
Ephraim McDowell Health said the cash prices are the highest rates but that it offers discounts and bill forgiveness for those
who qualify for financial assistance. In a written statement, the hospital system said, "it is rare that an uninsured patient would
pay the total gross charge amount due to the variety of financial assistance programs available."
Eligibility under the program cuts off at three times the federal poverty level, according to the hospital system, which is an
annual income of $38,640 for a single person.
Prices typically haven't been publicly available before now. Yet for expensive procedures like angioplasty
and drug-coated stenting, the difference in the cash price within a single county can be over $100,000.
The reasons for high cash prices are complex and, even to many healthcare experts, baffling.
Hospitals typically have a sticker price, often called the "chargemaster" price, that can be the starting point for negotiations
with insurers. Discounts off that sticker price tend to be steeper for those that bring large volumes of patients. Insurance plans
offered under government programs like Medicare and Medicaid get even lower rates, tied to prices mandated by federal and state agencies.
The cash prices for patients who must pay for their own care can be equal to the sticker prices or sometimes represent a percentage
lopped off that top rate. Sometimes, those cash rates are also applied to people who have some form of insurance but get a service
that the insurance doesn't cover.
Will Fox, who advises hospitals on pricing as an actuary with Milliman Inc., says hospitals often keep cash prices above the rates
negotiated by big insurers.
"They don't want to give away too much of a discount because they really want the best discounts to go to these larger volume
negotiated insured rates," he said. "Somebody walking off the street, we'll give you a 20% discount, but we're going to give our
favorite customer, who sends us millions or even billions of dollars in business, we're going to give them a much bigger discount."
Yale New Haven Health offers cash prices that represent a discount off sticker rates, but it keeps them above all of the prices
negotiated by insurers, says Pat McCabe, the system's senior vice president of finance. "We didn't want there to be that tension,
for an insurer to look at that data and say, 'you're providing better rates to uninsured patients than you are to our insureds, how
do we justify that to our members and/or employer partners?' "
For individuals who struggle to pay, financial aid is hard to get at some hospitals with high cash prices, the Journal analysis
found. That is true even among the nearly 3,000 nonprofit hospitals that get tax breaks on the condition they give back to the community.
Hospitals typically set household income limits for financial aid, with free care for patients below a cutoff.
The quarter of hospitals with the most generous free-care policies write off the entire bill for those with monthly incomes
under about $2,600 a month, and even up to roughly $6,400 a month, for a one-person household, the Journal found.
Those that rank in the quarter of hospitals with the most-restrictive policies draw the line at or below about 160% of the
federal threshold for poverty, disqualifying for free care patients with monthly income of more than around $1,700 for a one-person
household, according to a Journal analysis of nonprofit hospital tax filings.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, falls in this most-restrictive group, with income cutoffs
for free care at $1,610 a month for a one-person household. For 12 of 17 emergency services at Brigham and Women's reviewed by the
Journal, its highest rates are for uninsured patients, and insurance companies pay significantly less.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Mass., is among the group of nonprofit hospitals with the most-restrictive income cutoffs
for free care.
A patient paying cash at the hospital for the stenting procedure is charged $84,792. Local insurer Fallon Health spends $36,755
for the procedure under one of its health-maintenance organization plans. A Medicare insurance plan from Aetna, part of
CVS Health Corp. , pays $16,648.
Mass General Brigham, the system that includes Brigham and Women's, said in a written statement it has policies to prevent
someone without insurance from paying full price.
Some hospitals, including Brigham and Women's, also partially discount patients' bills for some who earn too much for free care.
Others write off bills that are large relative to a patient's income. But policies vary widely. The most-restrictive quarter of hospitals
cut off discounts at 2.5 times the federal poverty level, the Journal found.
Patients who don't qualify for financial aid at nonprofit hospitals also aren't protected by pricing limits under federal
law. The Affordable Care Act requires nonprofit hospitals to cap prices for patients who qualify for financial aid.
Hospitals apply financial aid and discount policies inconsistently, say consumer advocates and patients. Offers may be one-time-only,
or discounts may emerge only when a skilled negotiator is pushing for them.
In January 2018, Joannie Berthiaume spent two days at Broward Health Imperial Point hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and
got emergency surgery to remove her appendix. She was uninsured and the hospital charged Ms. Berthiaume its highest prices. Her bill
totaled about $42,000, including a $6,033 abdominal CT scan. For that same scan, an Aetna subsidiary gets a 24% break, according
to the newly public data from Broward Health. That discount would have meant a fee of around $4,600 for the scan, based on the price
charged in 2018.
Ms. Berthiaume, who is Canadian but was living in Florida at the time of her illness while finishing graduate school, went in
person to Broward Health to ask about the bill. She was told it could be cut in half, to about $21,000 total -- if she paid in full
right then. Ms. Berthiaume, then working in a part-time bookkeeping job, says she couldn't do that. The hospital later continued
to seek the full amount, including in letters sent by a law firm and reviewed by the Journal.
"If you charge me $42,000 and your costs are justified, how can you knock it in half in a matter of minutes," Ms. Berthiaume
says. "You must be overcharging."
Ms. Berthiaume hired attorney Jacqueline Grady to negotiate on her behalf, and in October 2019 the hospital offered to accept
$20,000, in addition to $2,000 she had already paid, if she paid within 16 days. Ms. Berthiaume declined.
Broward Health declined to comment on the details of Ms. Berthiaume's case, although she signed a consent form allowing the hospital
system to do so. The hospital system said that U.S. citizens and people with a permanent U.S. residence who come to its hospitals
for unplanned care, and don't qualify for its financial assistance program, are offered a discounted rate.
In the pricing data files Broward Health has disclosed under the federal transparency requirement, the cash prices are shown as
Broward's highest rates. However, the hospital system pointed the Journal to a consumer tool on its website that displays lower prices
for self-pay patients. Broward Health said in a written statement that the tool "provides the most current pricing for consumers,"
and "discounted prices may not be reflected" in the data files. The system didn't respond to questions about the reasons for the
discrepancy.
High cash prices inflate bills that uninsured patients often struggle to pay. Hospitals collected 5% of the amount they billed
uninsured patients before writing off bills after a year of seeking payment, according to Crowe LLP, an accounting, technology and
consulting firm, based on an analysis of 600 client hospitals. That is compared with collecting 40% of bills sent to patients with
insurance for amounts owed under deductibles, copays and other out-of-pocket costs, based on a separate analysis by Crowe of about
1,500 hospitals.
Hospitals closely track their "payer mix," or the mix of patients with commercial insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and the uninsured,
who might be unlikely to ever pay for their treatment. That could play a role in how hospitals set prices.
For Mr. Macias, debt from Avera hospitals plus other bills related to his November hospitalization amount to about 75% of his
annual income, according to Resolve Advocates, one of a growing number of companies that patients hire to negotiate hospital medical
bills on their behalf.
Mr. Macias, a superintendent for a construction company, suffered a potentially life-threatening tear in the lining of his largest
artery. He said he has largely recovered.
Avera's hospital in Aberdeen charged him the highest price for some emergency room services, according to a review of medical
bills for Mr. Macias and the Journal's analysis of Avera's negotiated rates with insurers.
Avera in some cases has multiple contracts with a single insurer and said the prices it made public are the average price it charges
an insurer for each service.
The Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota, in Sioux Falls, gave Mr. Macias a 20% discount. Even with the discount, some of the
heart hospital prices were in the top third of what the hospital charged patients with insurance for some services.
Mr. Macias, a superintendent for a construction company, earned too much for free care at Avera, where the income cutoff is among
the lowest nationally for nonprofit hospitals, ranking in the bottom quarter, according to the Journal analysis.
But he appears to qualify for other financial assistance, such as a partial discount based on income or because Mr. Macias's medical
debts are large when compared with his household finances, said Resolve's chief executive, Braden Pan.
Avera rejected the request, saying that Mr. Macias could have had workplace health benefits but didn't enroll, according to Resolve.
Mr. Macias said in an interview that he missed the sign-up after miscommunication with his former employer. Buying insurance in the
marketplace was too costly, he said.
Avera also rejected an appeal, after factoring in his assets alongside his income, according to Resolve. Mr. Macias said he needs
his years of savings for a house down payment.
Resolve also offered about $8,000, or slightly more than the company estimated Medicare would pay, for Mr. Macias's $24,800
emergency-room bill at Avera St. Luke's, Mr. Pan said. The hospital said no, and despite denying financial aid, offered to reduce
the bill by 50%, Mr. Pan said. The amount excluded another $34,994 he owes Avera's heart hospital.
Mr. Macias, citing his unhappiness about the fight, told the Journal he wouldn't give Avera permission under federal privacy laws
to speak about his interactions with it.
"Health care delivery comes with a cost -- and when individuals have the means to pay, it allows us resources to help those
most in need," Lindsey Meyers, a spokeswoman for Avera, said in a written statement. "We have thoroughly reviewed the case you
have mentioned and identified that all processes were followed as described, and we made every effort to work with the patient."
Mr. Macias said he has largely recovered with new blood-pressure medication and months of rehab exercises he devised on his own.
He now lives in Austin, Texas, with his fiancée and their children, ages 6 and 3. Avera's debt collectors call constantly, he said.
"They're still blowing me up."
It included this kind of statement "Thus, we need to accept that around 16 cases will
develop severe adverse reactions from COVID-19 vaccines per 100,000 vaccinations delivered,
and approximately four people will die from the consequences of being vaccinated per 100,000
vaccinations delivered....Adopting the point estimate of NNTV = 16,000 (95% CI,
9000–50,000) to prevent one COVID-19-related death, for every six (95% CI, 2–11)
deaths prevented by vaccinationwe may incur four deaths as a consequence of or associated
with the vaccination.
Simply put: As we prevent three deaths by vaccinating, we incur two deaths."
Another case of Swiss-paid research (as in the time of Tobacco is good?) or do they have a
point? After all, even Cuba, Russia and Iran see the need for vaccinating their
populations.
Israel was one of the first countries to get the Pfizer-BioNTech treatment some time last
year after then-PM Netanyahu pushed Israel to the front of the queue using means both fair
and foul (but perhaps more on the foul side).
The Israel People's Committee, comprised of people with medical, legal and epidemiological
expertise,
released a summary report of the country's experience with mass inoculation of the
Pfizer-BioNTech treatment in April this year. It does not make for very comforting reading so
maybe I'll allow Doctors 4 Covid Ethics to take up the narrative:
... The data collected by the group paint a grim picture:
- The overall mortality in the January-February vaccination period was higher in 2021
than in any other year within the preceding decade. In the age group of 20–29 years,
mortality in this time period exceeded that of the previous year by 32%.
- 288 deaths overall, mostly within the first 10 days after vaccination, were reported
to the group. This number is more than six times greater than the 45 deaths officially
admitted to by the Health ministry.
- The group gives the following estimates for the mortality among the vaccinated:
overall, 1:5,000; age 20–49 years, 1:13,000; age 50–69 years, 1:6,000; age 70+,
1:1,600.
- Across lethal and non-lethal adverse events there was a relatively high rate of
cardiac-related injuries, 26% of which occurred in young people below the age of 40, a high
prevalence of massive vaginal bleeding, neurological, skeletal and skin damage, and events
directly or indirectly related to coagulopathy (myocardial infarction, stroke,
miscarriages, disruption of blood flow to the limbs and pulmonary embolism).
According to the authors, the compilation of the report was severely hampered by
obstruction on the part of government authorities, involving in particular the shutting
down of all monitoring and tracking systems for adverse events ...
dustbunny,
sorry to say but the list of signatories is very impressive.
for the videos i watched of the 1st name in the list, he is not at all anti-vaxx, as he
states plainly in his talks.
Cheers. I understand part of Israel's sweetheart deal with Pfizer involves keeping most
data collected secret and sharing it only with the company so I'm not surprised data is hard
to come by. The instances of 'coagulopathy' are new to me, likely a different mechanism than
the cause of the AZ/J&J problems. The makers of Sputnik V have identified a possible
cause
of the adenovirus
clotting disorder so hopefully they are looking into the mRNA vaccines also.
Summary paragraph
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are based on a range ofnovelvaccine platforms, with
adenovirus-based approaches (like ChAdOx1 nCov-19)being one of them.Recently a rare and
novel complication of SARS-CoV-2 targeted adenovirus vaccines has emerged: thrombosis with
thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). TTS is characterized bylow platelet counts,clot formation
at unusual anatomic sites and platelet-activating PF4-polyanion antibodies reminiscent
ofheparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Here, we employ in vitro and in vivo models to
characterize the possible mechanisms of this platelet-targeted autoimmunity. We show
thatintravenous but not intramuscular injection of ChAdOx1 nCov-19triggers
platelet-adenovirus aggregate formation andplatelet activation. After intravenous
injection, theseaggregates are phagocytosedby macrophagesin the spleenandplatelet remnants
are found in the marginal zone and follicles. This is followed by a pronounced B-cell
response with the emergence of circulating antibodies binding to platelets. Our work
contributes to the understanding of TTS and highlights accidental intravenous injection as
potentialmechanism for post-vaccination TTS. Hence,safe intramuscular injection, with
aspiration prior to injection,could bea potential preventive measurewhen administering
adenovirus-based vaccines.
(emphasis mine.)
This is the very recent research that I mentioned
earlier in the thread but without attribution.
Not sure if the reaction as described in the article is triggered by the protein
impurities that Gamaleya claims to have found in the AstraZeneca vaccine.
mrna vaccines haven't been promoted as experimental... that is indeed what they
are..
Posted by: james | Jul 4 2021 20:56 utc | 41
The idea for mRNA vaccines has been around for about three decades, but until last year
clinical evidence of their efficacy was minimal. I thus was skeptical about the ones
developed for covid but so far it seems that they do work. Still, it remains to be determined
whether they are as good as traditional vaccines.
You are absolutely correct that all new vaccines and drugs are experimental at first
(whether people realize it or not), but the rules are that clinical trials must show safety
and efficacy before these are licensed for use in the general population. Sometimes things
that are useless or even harmful still manage to get pushed through, which is why postmarket
safety surveillance is so important.
It does raise questions that the cheap, non-profit, one-shot J&J, which did not need
special storage, got various problems that may also be related to the production of the
vaccines (one case was publicized, https://time.com/5951709/johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-error/).
All in all, it seems to have caused less critical effects than Pfizer, but its seems Pfizer
was "lucky" on that (grin).
What are the most common side effects from the Pfizer vaccine? It's the only one available
in my country as the Govt only accepts vaccines with 90%+ effectiveness and of the four
vaccines we did deals for (Pfizer, AZ, J&J, Novavax) only Pfizer measures up (haven't
heard about results from Novavax, too far down the queue for Moderna and Sputnik V doesn't
exist apparently as we are a 5 eyes country).
Heard of allergic reactions that can be fatal for the very old or very sick, and heart
inflammation issues. The way the heart issues were reported in the media (in the context of
the trials for 12-16 y.o.) made it seem they only effected the young but apparently a problem
for everyone. Doesn't seem as serious as the AZ/J&J clotting issues as it usually clears
up without treatment? My parents are both over 65 and have had their 1st Pfizer doses, no
side effects so far for Dad and a tetanus shot-style sore arm for Mum that lasted a couple of
days.
A Freedom of Information request to the Australian drugs regulator that approved the
Pfizer vaccine confirms that they have never seen the study data.
A freedom of information request (FOI) request was made by one of our members in
February 2021 to the Australian drugs regulator, the TGA (Therapeutic Good Administration)
to ask what should have been simple questions. The TGA is the Australian equivalent of the
FDA (US), MHRA (UK) and EMA (Europe) and is held in high regard worldwide. Essentially the
FOI questions were:
1/ Did the TGA request the raw data from Pfizer
2/ Did any of the committees approving the vaccine look at the raw data and/or discuss
it
3/ What were the "studies" referred to in the approval document relating to teratogenicity
(risk of harm to a fetus)
The rationale of the request relates to concern over the validity and verifiability of
Pfizer's data given its legal history (and expressed by Peter Doshi in the BMJ in February)
as well as the proven concerns over fraudulent data relating to Covid-19 as seen in the
"Lancetgate" scandal of June 2020.
The document ... is a redacted version of the documents that were sent by the TGA in
response to this request. What they show is that the TGA never saw or requested the patient
data from Pfizer and simply accepted their reporting of their study as true. This means
that when the head of the TGA John Skerritt said that "the safety evidence is pretty
thorough" on the 6th February (here) his words would ring hollow to most Australians who
have assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the TGA had actually looked at the patient data
themselves.
A further concerning aspect of the FOI request is the efforts to which the TGA appeared
to go to suppress the request – initially requesting a 6 months extension in view of
a "voluminous request" which eventually yielded only one document of 14 pages, heavily
redacted. This required an instruction from the Office of the Information Commissioner to
the TGA to answer the request by the 26th May, a deadline that the TGA also failed to
meet.
Eventually the only document that was produced from the FOI request was a heavily
redacted single study (not studies, as claimed in the TGA assessment document) showing that
the only investigation into the effects on the fetus was performed on 44 rats with no long
term data on the offspring. It is impossible to assess this study fully because 98% of the
document was removed in order to protect Pfizer's intellectual property (points 32-44 of
the report)...
... Doctors for Covid Ethics remain concerned that the TGA's failure to validate the
Pfizer data has been replicated at other agencies worldwide (FDA, MHRA and EMA). It is
currently not known whether any of the major agencies has independently verified, or
attempted to verify, Pfizer's data, before proceeding with provisional/emergency
authorisation of Pfizer's mRNA therapy vaccine.
Bet this information about how the TGA applied so-called rigour to checking Pfizer's data
before approving the Pfizer-BioNTech treatment sure gladdens your heart, don't it?
Why there is so much social pressure if the idea of "herd immunity" became a fiasco after
emergence of Delta variant, which like South African variant can infect vaccinated people and
thus can spread in vaccinated population (although not as quickly as in unvaccinated population).
What government medical bureaucrats like Fauci are hiding ?
I am retired in the US so I only see some of the working world through others eyes. What I
am seeing more of is pressure to take the vaccine in US even though the infection numbers are
going down in most states.
I have shared before that I have a cousin, my age, that got one of the mRNA vaccines and
now has some sort of blood cancer. I believe this is related to the mRNA vaccines and that
more cases like my cousin will occur and eventually it will effect an "important" someone who
the MSM can't suppress the connection to the vaccines and the flood gates of related cases
like my cousin will open....can you imagine what the blowback will be??.....the jaded in me
says they are planning on that blowback to keep the chaos/fear/manipulation level
high.....its all China's fault/snark
What is the final straw that will bring the barbarian shit show to a halt? Inquiring minds
want to know. What will finally break through the brainwashing?
One more post about the new coronavirus, the associated COVID-19 and the "dreaded"
vaccines. Caveat emptor, I am not a medically trained person, just a curious information
hoarder.
While sars-cov-2 primarily targets epithelial cells, the damaging COVID-19 syndrome
appears to be largely related to mast cells. Mast cells are part of the innate immune system
and are the oldest form af immune system. The mast cells are also involved in tissue growth
and regeneration.
I read an interesting article that made a link between secondary dengue syndrome and
covid, suggesting that both are forms of slow-motion anaphylaxis. Classical anaphylaxis
reactions(as eg. peanut allergy) are mediated by mast cells.
It seems that both "long covid" and similar symptoms that arise as complications from
vaccinations are related to an overactivated mast cell system. Check out "mast cell
activation syndrome" for more info. Ivermectin, quercetin and other "maverick" medications
that appear to hold no antiviral efficacy could simply be what quiets the mast cells and
dampens the inflammatory chain reaction.
On another note, there are the reported blood clotting incidents with the Astra Zeneca
vaccine. There is an ongoing discussion that these are caused by improper application of the
vaccine. It has to be injected intramuscularly, and not intravenously. In the former
case, the innate immune system (mast cells) triggers and the reaction is primarily contained
locally in the muscle tissue. From there the larger immune system is informed about the
invader. In case of accidental intravenous application, the vaccine attaches to blood
platelets. This in turn triggers a reaction in the spleen, causing the adaptive immune system
to attack the platelets and white blood cells in an autoimmune type reaction.
So, for the mRNA vaccines (and also COVID itself), it could be important to have a
stabilized mast cell system.
For the Astra Zeneca and (J&J?) vaccine, asking the person applying the vaccine to
draw blood before injecting (in order to test for accidental venous injection) is
important.
Well, at least that's what I understand from what I've picked up lately. Do your own
research and correct me on anything above that I wrote in well-meant ignorance.
Long covid, and other virus that can take a long tome to recover from I believe trigger
inflammation of the myelin sheath that insulates the nerves.
How interesting that you should mention that. The proverbial affliction featuring
inflammation of myelin sheaths is multiple sclerosis. Mast cells are suspected to play a
major role in the onset of ms.
Another similar find was that palmitoylethanolamide, which is sometimes used to ameliorate
ms progression and symptoms, was proposed for
combating severe lung inflammation in covid-19
On an entirely different track, "antiparasitic" ivermectin was shown to remarkably aid
wound healing and decrease scar tissue formation. As I stated in the previous post, mast
cells are involved also in tissue growth and regeneration, so this could be related. (I have
in the past personally used mimosa hostilis root bark infusion to heal third degree burn
wounds without any scarring, who knows if and what substance in that plant (also known as
tepezcohuite - "skin tree") might have similar effects on mast cells.)
Anyway, to end the speculation here are two medical articles pointing out the relation
between severe covid and mast cell activation:
Oh and here's the article (appears to be self-published but no less interesting)
speculating on the parallels between covid and secondary dengue virus infection syndrome:
... Watching crowds in football stadiums these latest days and reading about athletes
obliged to get vaxxxed to go to the Olympics in Japan further adds to the dismay. Live
experiment for all or house arrest for the rest of life.
The axiom of always taking advantage of a crisis, even if you have to sell the crisis, is
at play here. The facts we are seeing come out support this perspective.
Think about how much money Big Pharma saved by foisting their mRNA research costs off on
the brainwashed public. And if it doesn't work out they have immunity from prosecution....its
all legal as Obama has said about the financial rape by the global private finance
cult.....if it does work out then they have a big new income stream instead of using
out-of-patent therapies.....win-win for the wrong side.
The shit show continues until it doesn't....who is "winning" this week?
The U.K. is among the first governments to set out provisional plans for booster shots,
following advice from specialists who are concerned that possible further Covid-19 outbreaks
over the winter could coincide with
a wave of influenza and put pressure on the country's health system.
The government said the actual rollout would depend on further advice from an expert group
known as the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, based on a host of new data,
including whether protection from the vaccines
weakens after six months .
As of July 2, 2021 out of 4456 total deaths attributed to vaccination (of them 1890 after
vaccination with Pfizer), it looks like there were at least 36 death of people aged less then 30
years after vaccination with Pfizer vaccine (out of 61 total). Around 136 millions were fully
vaccinated,.
Other sources list higher figure (6113)
CDC- 6,113 DEAD Following COVID-19 Injections ("Besides the 6,113 deaths reported, there are
5,172 permanent disabilities, 6,435 life threatening events, and 51,558 emergency room visits."
)so my method of extracting those data from VAERS database might be wrong or not all death are
reported to VAERS.
Another 5 young people were crippled but survived (67 total).
Each year, more than 165 million Americans get the flu shot. There were 85 reported
deaths following influenza vaccination in 2017; 119 deaths in 2018; and 203 deaths in
2019
Between mid-December 2020 and April 23, 2021, at which point between 95 million and 100
million Americans had received their COVID-19 shots, there were 3,544 reported deaths
following COVID vaccination, or about 30 per day
In just four months, the COVID-19 vaccines have killed more people than all available
vaccines combined from mid-1997 until the end of 2013 -- a period of 15.5 years
As of April 23, 2021, VAERS had also received 12,618 reports of serious adverse events.
In total, 118,902 adverse event reports had been filed
In the European Union, the EudraVigilance system had as of April 17, 2021, received
330,218 injury reports after vaccination with one of the four available COVID vaccines,
including 7,766 deaths
In a May 5, 2021, Fox News report, Tucker Carlson asked the question no one is really
allowed to ask: "How many Americans have died after taking the COVID vaccine?"
1
Then there's not selling Syria the latest S#00 system to help keep Israel out of Syrian
skies. That tells me he's using Syria for personal / State gain and that is where he's wrong.
That's what makes him just another politician.
I totally get it, there are things that are puzzling to those of us in the audience,
watching the moves from afar.
An advanced S-300 or S-400 system could paint every F-16 as it took off from Israel. This
would be a red line for Israel and would bring in Uncle Shmuel.
Syria (and by extension Russia) has been allowing Israel to overfly her territory and bomb
Hezbollah installations.
It's puzzling – why would you allow a foreign power to bomb your territory, especially
if you have S-300's. The answer must be that Syria and Russia are holding back on purpose for
reasons only known to them. I can speculate, in that they don't want to give away military
capability unless the war goes hot.
Think about the situation now, as opposed to the 90's. Russia's military has been
modernized; Military physical fitness is up by 30% (better nutrition?); Foreign exchange is in
good shape; the economy is modernizing; food production is up – so Russia is no longer
food insecure; oil can be extracted at prices that Saudi cannot compete with; the Artic route
is opening up; national economy is more diversified thanks to the western sanctions; Yamal LNG
will be fueling Asia; Nordstream will be fueling Europe.
and if the mRNA vaccines cause the spike proteins to accumulate in the ovaries of women of
childbearing years and younger, this shared concern might play a role.
It's not the spike protein collecting in ovaries. It is the "lipid shell." The lipid is
going to the ovaries and bone marrow according to the Japanese Study. The same study says the
spike protein is going into blood plasma and traveling all over. I'm wondering if it can cross
the blood brain barrier.
Both actions are bad, so your point remains. But, it is possible the body could deal with
the lipid.
So Fauci push toward "herd immunity" was meaningless from the very beginning. In Israel 50%
(which has 85% of adults fully vaccinated with Phizer vaccine) of infected with Delta were
vaccinated.
Both South African variant and the Delta variant (also known as B.1.617.2) changed the
picture of "herd immunity". Official figure is that Two doses of Pfizer's vaccine are still 88
percent effective at preventing symptomatic Delta infections. You can probably cut this figure by
half to get more realistic estimate based on Israel experience with Pfizer vaccine. Israel has
fully vaccinated about 85 percent of adults
Worryingly, a recent study documented several cases during India's spring surge in which
health-care workers who were fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca's vaccine were infected by Delta
and passed it on.
Now there is talk about that vaccinated people
might need booster shots . Which essentally mean re-vaccination with the newer version of
vaccine.
When breakthrough cases do arise, it's not always clear why. The trio of vaccines now
circulating in the United States were all designed around the original coronavirus variant, and
seem to be a bit less effective against some newer versions of the virus. These troublesome
variants have yet to render any of our current vaccines obsolete. But "the more variants there
are, the more concern you have for breakthrough cases," Saad Omer, a vaccine expert at Yale,
told me. The circumstances of exposure to any version of the coronavirus will also make
a difference. If vaccinated people are spending time with groups of unvaccinated people in
places where the virus is running rampant, that still raises their chance of getting sick.
Large doses of the virus can overwhelm the sturdiest of immune defenses, if given the
chance.
The human side of the equation matters, too. Immunity is not a monolith, and the degree of
defense roused by an infection or a vaccine will differ from person to person, even
between identical twins . Some people might have underlying conditions that hamstring their
immune system's response to vaccination; others might simply, by chance, churn out fewer or
less potent antibodies and T cells that can nip a coronavirus infection in the bud.
The effects of vaccination are best considered along a spectrum, says Ali Ellebedy, an
immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis. An ideal response to vaccination might
create an arsenal of immune molecules and cells that can instantaneously squelch the virus,
leaving no time for symptoms to appear. But sometimes that front line of fighters is relatively
sparse. Should the virus make it through, "it becomes a race [against] time," Ellebedy told me.
The pathogen rushes to copy itself, and the immune system recruits more defenders. The longer
the tussle drags on, the more likely the disease is to manifest.The range of vaccine
responses "isn't a variation of two- to threefold; it's thousands," Ellebedy told me.
"Being vaccinated doesn't mean you are immune. It means you have a better chance of
protection."
For these reasons and more, Viviana Simon, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai, in New York, dislikes the term breakthrough case , which evokes a barrier
walling humans off from disease. "It's very misleading," she told me. "It's like the virus
'punches' through our defenses."
Vaccination is actually more like a single variable in a dynamic playing field -- a
layer of protection, like an umbrella, that might guard better in some situations than
others. It could keep a lucky traveler relatively dry in a light drizzle, but in a windy
maelstrom that's whipping heavy droplets every which way, another person might be overwhelmed.
And under many circumstances, vaccines are still best paired with safeguards such as masks and
distancing -- just as rain boots and jackets would help buffer someone in a storm.
In some ways, the shots' staggering success in trials -- where
breakthrough cases were also observed, causing appropriately minimal stir -- may have
papered over the inevitability of post-vaccination infections in more natural settings. "The
vaccines exceeded expectations," Luciana Borio, a former acting chief scientist at the FDA,
told me. Now, as we exit what Borio calls the "honeymoon phase" of our relationship with the
jabs, we need to temper our enthusiasm with the right amount of realism, especially as more
data on the shots' strength and longevity accumulate. Even excellent vaccines aren't foolproof,
and they shouldn't be criticized when they're not. "We can't expect it's going to be perfect,
on day one, always," Borio said.
A team at the CDC is tracking breakthroughs and will soon start reporting case counts, as
well as any patterns related to where, or in whom, these infections are occurring, Martha
Sharan, a CDC spokesperson, told me. Details like those matter. They can help experts figure
out why post-vaccination infections happen, and how they might be stopped. "The reassuring part
is, these cases will not go unnoticed," Omer told me.
Most of the time, vaccines are far more likely to offer some help than none. Serious
disease, hospitalization, and even death
will still occur , as will less well-studied outcomes, such as the long-term symptoms that
often arise from less severe disease. But should post-vaccination infections climb to
unexpectedly high rates, backup plans will quickly kick into gear. Some shot recipients might
get second or third shots to bolster their immune response; others might be administered a
tweaked vaccine recipe to account for a new viral variant.
There's something a touch counterintuitive about breakthrough cases: The more people we
vaccinate, the more such cases there will be, in absolute numbers. But the rate at which they
appear will also decline, as rising levels of population immunity cut the conduits that the
virus needs to travel. People with lackluster responses to vaccines -- as well as those who
can't get their jabs -- will receive protection from the many millions in whom the shots
did work. In a crowd of people holding umbrellas, even those who are empty-handed will
stay more dry.
Katherine J. Wuis a staff writer
atThe Atlantic,where she covers science.
Might be uptick might be statistical noise. The differences are stillsmall... in Israel the
Delta variant is infecting vaccinated people, who represent as many as 50% of new cases
If vaccines don't cover everyone, we need to know why and how we can fix it. Fauci is one
trick pony who made all bets of the success of the vaccines, decpite that fact that there were no
any sucessful coronavirus vaccine developered before COVID-19 epidemic.
Notable quotes:
"... Most Covid-19 patients in the Mercy hospital in Springfield are unvaccinated, though there have been a few cases among people who were vaccinated, Dr. Sistrunk said. ..."
The variant, which is about
40% to 60% more contagious than the previous dominant variant, is sending more people to
hospitals in the northern and southwestern parts of the state, health officials say.
In Springfield, Mo., Mercy Hospital had 90 Covid-19 patients on a recent day, up from 10
seven weeks ago, said William Sistrunk, lead infectious-disease doctor for Mercy, a multistate
hospital system with several facilities in Missouri. Almost all had the Delta variant, and most
were unvaccinated, he said. The hospital's caseload peaked at about 120 in late December.
Officials say the patients being admitted are younger, ages 30 to 60, a change from the last
two waves of infection. "It ramped up a lot faster than it did last fall when we had that
wave," Dr. Sistrunk said. "What's happening in Springfield may be an early warning for other
communities. This variant, we need to take this seriously."
The number of people in the hospital with Covid-19 in Missouri has started to climb in
recent weeks. The latest seven-day average is 864, up from 668 a month prior, according to the
state health department. During the winter surge in Covid-19 cases in 2020 and 2021,
hospitalizations topped 2,700 several times. Missouri has a population of 6.1 million.
... In Missouri, 55% of adults have received at least one vaccination shot, 11 percentage
points below the national rate, according to the CDC. Most Covid-19 patients in the Mercy
hospital in Springfield are unvaccinated, though there have been a few cases among people who
were vaccinated, Dr. Sistrunk said.
For the purpose of this surveillance, a vaccine breakthrough infection is defined as the
detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14
days after they have completed all recommended doses of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)-authorized COVID-19 vaccine.
Identifying and investigating hospitalized or fatal
vaccine breakthrough cases
As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases
to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases due to any cause.
This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical
and public health importance.
Previous data on all vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC from January–April
2021 are available .
State health departments report vaccine breakthrough cases to CDC. CDC now monitors reported
hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases for clustering by patient demographics,
geographic location, time since vaccination, vaccine type, and SARS-CoV-2 lineage. Reported
data include hospitalized or fatal breakthrough cases due to any cause, including causes not
related to COVID-19.
To the fullest extent possible, respiratory specimens that test positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA
are collected for genomic sequencing to identify the virus lineage that caused the
infection.
Some health departments may continue to report all vaccine breakthrough cases to the
national database and can continue to submit specimens to CDC for sequencing. However, CDC will
focus its monitoring on reported hospitalized and fatal cases.
Developing a data access
and management system for reporting COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases
CDC developed a national COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough REDCap database where designated
state health department investigators can enter, store, and manage data for cases in their
jurisdiction. State health departments have full access to data for cases reported from their
jurisdiction.
Ultimately, CDC will use the National
Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) to identify vaccine breakthrough cases.
Once CDC has confirmed that a state can report vaccination history data to NNDSS, CDC will
identify vaccine breakthrough cases through that system. At that time, the state health
departments can stop reporting cases directly into the REDCap database. After this change, CDC
will upload the available data reported to NNDSS into REDCap database for further review and
confirmation by the state health department.
Hospitalized or fatal COVID-19 vaccine
breakthrough cases reported to CDC as of June 21, 2021
As of June 21, 2021, more than 150 million people in
the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
During the same time, CDC received reports from 47 U.S. states and territories of 4,115
patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.
Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC
Hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC
4,115
Female
2,001
(49%)
People aged ≥65 years
3,124
(76%)
Asymptomatic infections
750
(18%)
Hospitalizations*
3,907
(95%)
Deaths†
750
(18%)
*1,004 (26%) of 3,907 hospitalizations reported as asymptomatic or not related to
COVID-19.
†142 (19%) of 750 fatal cases reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID-19.
Previous data on all vaccine breakthrough cases reported to CDC from January–April
2021 are available .
How to interpret
these data
The number of COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC likely are an
undercount of all SARS-CoV-2 infections among fully vaccinated persons. National surveillance
relies on passive and voluntary reporting, and data might not be complete or representative.
These surveillance data are a snapshot and help identify patterns and look for signals among
vaccine breakthrough cases.
Data on patients with vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died will be
updated regularly. Studies are being conducted in multiple U.S. sites that will include
information on all vaccine breakthrough infections regardless of clinical status to supplement
the national surveillance.
COVID-19 vaccines are effective
Vaccine breakthrough cases occur in only a small percentage of vaccinated people. To
date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine
characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections.
COVID-19 vaccines are effective. CDC recommends that everyone 12 years of age and older
get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can.
People who have been fully
vaccinated can resume activities that they did prior to the pandemic.
Looks like two doses of Pfizer vaccine are effective against hospitalization (but not from
infection) from the Delta variant, according to UK data.
Roughly 10 per cent of infections in the US are linked to the variant, but that rate is
doubling every two weeks, the former FDA chief told CBS
News on Sunday .
"That doesn't mean that we're going to see a sharp uptick in infections, but it does mean
that this is going to take over," he said. "And I think the risk is really to the fall that
this could spike a new epidemic heading into the fall."
The more-contagious B 1.161.2 variant – a common development as a virus replicates
through transmission – was first discovered in India and has emerged as a dominant
strain in the UK, responsible for roughly 90 per cent of new infections there.
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.
Throughout the pandemic, athletes have been the most tested population on the planet,
sometimes providing vivid examples of emerging theories""and sometimes helping prove them.
Now these athletes are showing that while vaccines are exceptionally effective in preventing
death and severe illness from the coronavirus and its known variants, some are far from
foolproof in preventing infection altogether.
Most of the athletes with so-called "breakthrough" infections are asymptomatic. The
infections wouldn't have been noticed except for the fact that people who work in sports are
among the last being tested intensely for the virus.
These surprising positive tests are a problem for the hosts of large events. In the case of
the Olympics, they could trigger an outbreak in the surrounding Japanese population or beyond,
to any of the 200 participating nations""in addition to creating chaos in competitions.
The positive tests also complicate the argument made to athletes that vaccination will spare
them from a positive test that bars them from competition. Now sports leaders have to contend
with questions such as: Are people who are vaccinated but testing positive for the virus
contagious? What does this mean for their close contacts? Who, if anyone, should be removed
from the biggest event of their lives?
... ... ...
Breakthrough infections also hit the New York Yankees, professional golfer Jon Rahm and NBA
star Chris Paul. In Rahm's case, he had only recently had his shot. But in the case of the
Yankees, that wasn't the obvious factor. In May, at least nine Yankees" spanning players,
coaches and staff members" tested positive for the virus. All had been vaccinated in March or
April with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine ,
which has been found to be 66.1% effective at protecting people from developing moderate
and severe cases of Covid-19 at least 28 days after vaccination.
Rahm, the golfer, got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the days leading up to the
Memorial Tournament. As he played his third round, a test he had taken after his second round
came back positive. Rahm found out at the end of his round from the PGA Tour's medical adviser,
on national television""yanking away a near-sure win in the tournament, and a payday of nearly
$1.7 million. Two weeks later, however, he was testing negative and won the U.S. Open.
... ... ...
There have been at least two prominent, apparent breakthrough cases in the NBA. The most
recent involves Paul, the Phoenix Suns' star and the president of the National Basketball
Players Association, who missed the first games of the Western Conference Finals while
sidelined by the league's health and safety protocols. Paul tested positive despite being fully
vaccinated and remained asymptomatic, according to multiple reports.
The more-transmissible delta variant first found in India and now spread widely in the U.K.
is expected to become the dominant strain in the U.S., said Rochelle Walensky, director of the
Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. She added that full vaccination provides good
protection against it.
The Los Angeles
County health agency suggested to residents that they wear masks -- regardless of vaccination
status -- due to the so-called " Delta " COVID-19 variant.
... ... ...
The World Health Organization (WHO) has similarly called on people to wear masks due to the
Delta variant, which is believed to have emerged in India. Meanwhile, Hong Kong officials also
announced this week that it will ban travelers from the UK over concerns about the
strain.
Those warnings came after officials in Israel said that half the adults infected in a recent
Delta COVID-19 outbreak fully vaccinated, according to the
Wall Street Journal late last week.
However, some have said that the concerns about the Delta strain are overblown.
"Don't let the fearmongers win," wrote Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on
Tuesday.
"New public England study of delta variant shows 44 deaths out of 53,822 (.08%) in
unvaccinated group."
Separately, pharmaceutical giant Moderna said that its two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine works
against the Delta strain, which will likely be used in future arguments against new masking or
lockdown mandates.
"These new data are encouraging and reinforce our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
should remain protective against newly detected variants," CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a
press release issued on Tuesday about the findings.
I agree. If the US scientists are so worried about the possibility the SARS-CoV-2 leaked
from a laboratory, why don't they also ask their government to investigate their own
labs?
And also, the corruption of the medical profession, to which he is now speaking (it's
running as I write this). The interviewer is using the words "medical mafia", citing the
later manifestations we've seen this year. But this interview seems that it will do much to
illustrate the long process of corruption that has happened over the years and decades, and
this is very valuable to learn.
The interviewer is using the words "medical mafia", citing the later manifestations
we've seen this year
Yes, the circuitous depravity they've engaged, the 'offer you can't refuse' has worked
wonders, as the interviewer attests his young peers who've taken the jab only to
regain their 'freedom', like my youngest daughter, 30, against my spoken preference, and my
silent prayers.
"... On Monday, health officials in Los Angeles County followed suit , recommending that "everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure." ..."
"... Natural immunity among those already infected has also kept transmission low, she noted, but it is not clear how long natural immunity will last. ..."
But that was before the spread of the Delta
variant . Worried by a global surge in cases, the World Health Organization last week
reiterated its longstanding recommendation that everyone -- including the inoculated -- wear
masks to stem the spread of the virus.
On Monday, health officials in Los Angeles County followed
suit , recommending that "everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in
public places as a precautionary measure."
Barbara Ferrer, the county's public health director, said the new recommendation was needed
because of upticks in infections, a rise in cases due to the worrisome Delta
variant , and persistently high numbers of unvaccinated residents, particularly children,
Black and Latino residents and essential workers.
Roughly half of Los Angeles County residents are fully
vaccinated , and about 60 percent have had at least one dose. While the number of positive
tests is still below 1 percent in the county, the rate has been inching up, Dr. Ferrer added,
and there has been a rise in the number of reinfections among residents who were infected
before and did not get vaccinated.
To the extent that Los Angeles County has managed to control the pandemic, it has been
because of a multilayered strategy that combined vaccinations with health restrictions aimed at
curbing new infections, Dr. Ferrer said.
Natural immunity among those already infected has also
kept transmission low, she noted, but it is not clear how long natural immunity will last.
"... On Monday, health officials in Los Angeles County followed suit , recommending that "everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure." ..."
"... Natural immunity among those already infected has also kept transmission low, she noted, but it is not clear how long natural immunity will last. ..."
But that was before the spread of the Delta
variant . Worried by a global surge in cases, the World Health Organization last week
reiterated its longstanding recommendation that everyone -- including the inoculated -- wear
masks to stem the spread of the virus.
On Monday, health officials in Los Angeles County followed
suit , recommending that "everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in
public places as a precautionary measure."
Barbara Ferrer, the county's public health director, said the new recommendation was needed
because of upticks in infections, a rise in cases due to the worrisome Delta
variant , and persistently high numbers of unvaccinated residents, particularly children,
Black and Latino residents and essential workers.
Roughly half of Los Angeles County residents are fully
vaccinated , and about 60 percent have had at least one dose. While the number of positive
tests is still below 1 percent in the county, the rate has been inching up, Dr. Ferrer added,
and there has been a rise in the number of reinfections among residents who were infected
before and did not get vaccinated.
To the extent that Los Angeles County has managed to control the pandemic, it has been
because of a multilayered strategy that combined vaccinations with health restrictions aimed at
curbing new infections, Dr. Ferrer said.
Natural immunity among those already infected has also
kept transmission low, she noted, but it is not clear how long natural immunity will last.
As the Delta variant of the coronavirus surges through the U.K., almost half of the
country's recent Covid-19 deaths are of people who have been vaccinated.
.... ... ...
The U.K. is a testing ground for how vaccines are coping. Delta is racing through the
country -- with 146,000 identified cases in the past week, 72% up on the week before. The
country is also a world leader in identifying through testing and genetic sequencing which
versions of the virus are prevalent: By mid-June, 97% of cases were Delta infections. And Delta
is spreading among a population that is among the most highly vaccinated in the world: 85% of
adults have had at least one vaccine shot and 63% have had two.
Data from Public Health England show that there were 117 deaths among 92,000 Delta cases
logged through June 21. Fifty of those -- 46% -- had received two shots of vaccine.
First, vaccines aren't 100% effective. Not everyone who is inoculated will respond in the
same way. Those who are elderly or whose immune systems are faulty, damaged or stressed by some
other illness are less likely to mount a robust response than someone younger and fitter.
Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective but some people will still be vulnerable to the virus
even after receiving their shots.
Second, the risk of dying from Covid-19 increases steeply with age. If a vaccine reduces an
80-year-old's risk of death from Covid-19 by 95%, for instance, that 80-year-old's risk of
death might still be greater than the risk faced by an unvaccinated 20-year-old. Some chronic
illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and lung disease are also associated with a higher
risk of severe illness and death.
Third, as more of the population gets vaccinated, there are fewer unvaccinated people for
the virus to infect. If the pool of vaccinated people is larger than the pool of unvaccinated
people, then it is possible and even likely that breakthrough infections resulting in death in
the older, vaccinated group would match or exceed deaths in the younger, unvaccinated group.
Consider an imaginary country with 100% of people vaccinated, where the virus can still somehow
spread. All Covid-19 deaths would be in vaccinated individuals.
Of those 50 deaths in fully vaccinated people in England, all were in people aged 50 years
and over, the data show. There have been no deaths recorded in double-vaccinated under 50s.
The data show that, overall, the fatality rate for confirmed cases of Covid-19 has been
lower than it was with the Alpha variant, which was first spotted in the U.K.
... Public Health England, using a variety of statistical analyses, has estimated that
vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalization with the Delta variant in people who have
received two doses by between 91% and 98%, with a central estimate of 96%.
Though vaccines offer substantial protection against severe illness and death, there is
growing evidence from lab studies and real-world data that Delta does have some ability to
bypass vaccines to cause milder infection.
Public Health England says that its analysis of Delta cases in England implies protection
against symptomatic Covid-19 caused by Delta of around 79%. That compares with an 89% reduction
in the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 with Alpha.
In Israel, a senior health official said in late June that in a recent outbreak of 200 or so
Delta cases, about half were in children 15 years old and younger and the other half were in
those aged 16 and above, of whom more than 80% are fully vaccinated.
British data shows Delta is even more adept at evading our immune response after just one
dose of vaccine, highlighting the importance, public health officials say, of getting two
shots. A single dose reduces the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 with Alpha by 49%, according
Public Health England, but only by 35% with Delta.
"... De Garay explained that after receiving the second coronavirus vaccine dose, her daughter started developing severe abdominal and chest pains. Maddie described the severity of the pain to her mother as "it feels like my heart is being ripped out through my neck." ..."
"... The Ohio mother added her daughter experienced additional symptoms that included gastroparesis, nausea, vomiting, erratic blood pressure, heart rate, and memory loss. "She still cannot digest food. She has a tube to get her nutrition," De Garay said to Carlson. "She also couldn't walk at one point, then she could I don't understand why and [physicians] are not looking into why...now she's back in a wheelchair and she can't hold her neck up. Her neck pulls back." ..."
"... De Garay said she had joined a Facebook support group to help people cope with the unexpected events happening from the coronavirus vaccine trial, and she said it was shut down. "It's just not right," she said. ..."
"... Sen. Ron Johnson , R-Wis., has sent letters to the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna seeking answers about adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine following a June 28 press conference with affected individuals. The conference in Milwaukee included stories from five people, including De Garay ..."
"... The Wisconsin senator noted that some adverse reactions were detailed in Pfizer's and Moderna's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) memorandums following early clinical trials ..."
"... Those reactions included nervous system disorders and musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders for the Pfizer EUA memo. The Moderna EUA memo included reactions such as nervous system disorders, vascular disorders and musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders, according to Johnson's letter. ..."
"... You missed the whole point! The issue is that the government is not acknowledging and and not reporting these side effects of the vaccine. Instead they are lying about the safety. If you are young, you are much more likely to get sick and injured by the vaccine than COVID. ..."
"... anyone under 25 should not get the vaccine because the percentages are about the same or worse having a negative impact from the vaccine versus the actual virus. ..."
"... With the Covid19 mortality rate among the children why even vaccinate? As a Chemist / Biochemist I learned that there is always unintended consequences. ..."
"... Vaccines may have long term effects that are not known today. ..."
"... The CDC's generic guidelines for getting a vaccine for any reason are very restrictive, first being, the disease you're getting vaccinated against has to pose a real, immediate danger. CV-19 poses virtually no danger whatsoever to kids under 14. Of all the deaths of children 14 and under in the last 18 months only .8% of them had a case of CV-19. That's 367 deaths out of over 46,000. (Data from CDC website) Forcing them to take an experimental vaccine that they absolutely don't need is criminal. As a parent, allowing your child to take the vaccine without spending a few hours doing some research is criminally negligent. This is like some terribly warped Kafka novel but it's real. ..."
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.
An Ohio mother is speaking out
about her 12-year-old daughter suffering extreme reactions and nearly dying after volunteering
for the Pfizer coronavirus
vaccine trial.
Stephanie De Garay told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Thursday
that after reaching out to multiple physicians they claimed her daughter, Maddie De Garay,
couldn't have become gravely ill from the vaccine.
"The only diagnosis we've gotten for her is that it's conversion disorder or functional
neurologic symptom disorder, and they are blaming it on anxiety," De Garay told Tucker Carlson.
"Ironically, she did not have anxiety before the vaccine."
De Garay explained that after receiving the second coronavirus vaccine dose, her daughter
started developing severe abdominal and chest pains. Maddie described the severity of the pain
to her mother as "it feels like my heart is being ripped out through my neck."
The Ohio mother added her daughter experienced additional symptoms that included
gastroparesis, nausea, vomiting, erratic blood pressure, heart rate, and memory loss. "She still cannot digest food. She has a tube to get her nutrition," De Garay said to
Carlson. "She also couldn't walk at one point, then she could I don't understand why and
[physicians] are not looking into why...now she's back in a wheelchair and she can't hold her
neck up. Her neck pulls back."
Carlson asked whether any officials from the Biden administration or representatives from
Pfizer company have reached out to the family. "No, they have not," she answered.
"The response with the person that's leading the vaccine trial has been atrocious," she
said. "We wanted to know what symptoms were reported and we couldn't even get an answer on
that. It was just that 'we report to Pfizer and they report to the FDA.' That's all we
got."
After her heartbreaking experience, the Ohio mother said she's still "pro-vaccine, but also
pro-informed consent." De Garay mentioned she's speaking out because she feels like everyone
should be fully aware of this tragic incident and added the situation is being "pushed down and
hidden."
De Garay said she had joined a Facebook support group to help people cope with the
unexpected events happening from the coronavirus vaccine trial, and she said it was shut
down. "It's just not right," she said.
"They need to do research and figure out why this happened, especially to people in the
trial. I thought that was the point of it," De Garay concluded. "They need to come up with
something that's going to treat these people early because all they're going to do is keep
getting worse."
Sen. Ron
Johnson , R-Wis., has sent letters to the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna seeking answers
about adverse reactions to the COVID-19vaccine
following a June 28 press conference with affected individuals. The conference in Milwaukee
included stories from five people, including De Garay.
The Wisconsin senator noted that some adverse reactions were detailed in Pfizer's and
Moderna's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) memorandums
following early clinical trials.
Those reactions included nervous system disorders and musculoskeletal and connective tissue
disorders for the Pfizer EUA memo. The Moderna EUA memo included reactions such as nervous
system disorders, vascular disorders and musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders,
according to Johnson's letter.
Pfizer and Moderna did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News about Johnson's
letters.
J jeff5150357 6 hours ago
My daughter had the same thing happen to
her after getting a flu vaccine 9 years ago. Within days of getting it, she went from being as
healthy as an ox to years of awful, unexplained illness. The short version is they concluded
that she had a severe adverse reaction to the vaccine, but from the delivery chemicals, not the
flu content itself. Formaldehyde was the likely major cause. Now she is getting ready to begin
college and is being required to get the Covid vaccine by her university and the NCAA for
athletics. It is causing her, my wife and I horrible anxiety and we feel like we are being
railroaded into something that could be very dangerous for her. Any discussion or concern
expressed on social media is immediately blocked. I know from years of working in the research
grants office at Yale University that the big pharma industry is powerful and will go to great
lengths to control the narrative. What I don't understand is why mainstream media and social
media are so willing to help them these days!
jeff5150357 4 hours ago
While the college experience is great for a young adult. I would look at getting a degree
online. Her future earnings will be based on her merit, not where she went to school. If
someone was telling me what to do with my personal health, and I was uncomfortable with their
prescription, I would follow my instincts.
LoraJane92649 jeff5150357 5
hours ago
If her flu vax is well documented she should be able to get a waiver. Hopefully you
have an able bodied family physician or medical team to advocate on your behalf.
G gunvald 7 hours ago
You know when you take it that there can be adverse
reactions. So, in that sense, you are informed. Any one of us could be the odd person. That
said, I have a problem with any child getting these vaccines, especially when most people
recover from the disease. It's one thing for me as an elderly person to make the decision to
take it as covid affects the elderly person more and I wanted to avoid that ventilator. Most of
my life has been lived and that's how I evaluated it. This will always come down to putting it
in God's hands.
TheTruthAsItIs gunvald 6 hours ago
You missed the whole point! The
issue is that the government is not acknowledging and and not reporting these side effects of the
vaccine. Instead they are lying about the safety. If you are young, you are much more likely to
get sick and injured by the vaccine than COVID.
D DontDestoryUSA
gunvald 4 hours ago
It's not being informed when you are forced to take a vaccination that they
clearly had trouble with past vaccination sounds like a lawsuit for the university is on the
horizon. With a big pay day
Tony5SFG 7 hours ago
"Ohio
mother said she's still "pro-vaccine, but also pro-informed consent." " And as a pediatrician
for over 40 yrs (retired now) and a 10 year member of my medical school's Institutional Review
Board (which had to approve all human research), THAT is a problem I have been bringing up As
far as requiring all young people, such as entering or in college, to get the vaccine Children
are a protected class and the informed consent for research on them is much more strenuous than
for adults And, requiring young people to take these new vaccines is the equivalent of doing
research on them. The issue of myocarditis is quite troubling. And while it has been seen in
natural infections, I have not yet seen an adequate risk - benefit evaluation regarding risking
natural infection versus vaccination And people say that the myocarditis is not severe, no one
can be sure of the long term effects of a young person getting it. The vaccines that we give
children have been used for decades and the risks/benefits have been well established
D DallasAmEmail Tony5SFG 6 hours ago
A friends daughter who just went through internship as
Physicians assistant based on the percentages in age groups believes anyone under 25 should not
get the vaccine because the percentages are about the same or worse having a negative impact
from the vaccine versus the actual virus. Yes, older age groups the percent having negative
impact from the virus is much greater than the vaccine, so yes older age groups should get the
vaccine. What really is bothersome is when Youtube removes Dr. Robert Malone video who helped
create the mrna vaccine express concern that normal testing has not happened and be cautious
about taking it, especially for the young.
marinesfather601 Tony5SFG 5
hours ago
With the Covid19 mortality rate among the children why even vaccinate? As a Chemist /
Biochemist I learned that there is always unintended consequences.
Hilltopper9 7 hours ago
Vaccines may have long term effects that are not known
today. The same could be said of all the chemicals we apply to our body daily through shampoos,
hair dyes, body lotions, and suntan lotions. Life's a gamble. It's up to each individual to
make the best decisions possible given the facts available.
A akbushrat
Hilltopper9 6 hours ago
The CDC's generic guidelines for getting a vaccine for any reason are
very restrictive, first being, the disease you're getting vaccinated against has to pose a
real, immediate danger. CV-19 poses virtually no danger whatsoever to kids under 14. Of all the
deaths of children 14 and under in the last 18 months only .8% of them had a case of CV-19.
That's 367 deaths out of over 46,000. (Data from CDC website) Forcing them to take an
experimental vaccine that they absolutely don't need is criminal. As a parent, allowing your
child to take the vaccine without spending a few hours doing some research is criminally
negligent. This is like some terribly warped Kafka novel but it's real.
F
Fauxguy930 Hilltopper9 5 hours ago
☢️ N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine is a
nitrosamine that has butyl and 4-hydroxybutyl substituents. In mice, it causes high-grade,
invasive cancers in the urinary bladder, but not in any other tissues. It has a role as a
carcinogenic agent. Ingredient in all shots. How did a carcinogen get FDA approved, oh it was
an emergency.
R RussellRika 6 hours ago
I have a
twelve year old, and not a chance I'd allow her to volunteer for any vaccine trial, and
especially not this one. She very much wanted to get a vaccine, until she started reading about
some of the adverse reactions. Sorry, but I'm a child, the benefit does not outweigh the risk.
MrEd50 6 hours ago
I took the vaccine because I'm 60 years old and work with special ed kids. My 18 year old child
refuses to take it and I support him on this. COVID shouldn't be an issue for most of us.
"... While general medical care is single payer in Canada, dental services are not. For major work on teeth, it is cheaper to fly to Mexico. The downside is for Mexicans -- such practices will drive the costs up in Mexico. ..."
"The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
"No, I mean I'm sorry that you've inherited such a miserable, collapsing Old Country. A place where rich
Bankers own everything, where you've got to be grateful for a part-time job with no benefits and no retirement
plan, where the most health insurance you can afford is being careful and hoping you don't get sick
Cory Doctorow;
Homeland
"Until fairly recently, every family had a cornucopia of favorite home remedies–plants and household items
that could be prepared to treat minor medical emergencies, or to prevent a common ailment becoming something much
more serious. Most households had someone with a little understanding of home cures, and when knowledge fell
short, or more serious illness took hold, the family physician or village healer would be called in for a
consultation, and a treatment would be agreed upon. In those days we took personal responsibility for our
health–we took steps to prevent illness and were more aware of our bodies and of changes in them. And when illness
struck, we frequently had the personal means to remedy it. More often than not, the treatment could be found in
the garden or the larder. In the middle of the twentieth century we began to change our outlook. The advent of
modern medicine, together with its many miracles, also led to a much greater dependency on our physicians and to
an increasingly stretched healthcare system. The growth of the pharmaceutical industry has meant that there are
indeed "cures" for most symptoms, and we have become accustomed to putting our health in the hands of someone
else, and to purchasing products that make us feel good. Somewhere along the line we began to believe that
technology was in some way superior to what was natural, and so we willingly gave up control of even minor health
problems."
Karen Sullivan;
The Complete Family Guide to Natural Home Remedies: Safe and Effective Treatments for
Common Ailments
No, I haven't abandoned Uncle Volodya, or shifted my focus to American administration; what follows is a guest
post on the American healthcare system, by our friend UCG. As I've mentioned before – on the occasion of his
previous guest post, in fact – he is an ethnic Russian living in the Golden State.
As an American in America, naturally his immediate concern is going to be healthcare in America; but there are
lessons within for everyone. Don't get me wrong – doctors have done a tremendous amount of good, and medical
researchers and many others from the world of medicine have made tremendous advances to which many of us owe their
lives. Sadly, though, once a field goes commercial, the main focus of attention eventually becomes profit, and
there are few endeavors in which the customer base will be so desperate. While there are obvious benefits to
'socialized medicine' such as Canada enjoys and American politicians scorn as 'Commie' – enough to earn the
admiration of many – it results in such a backlog for major operations that those who don't like their chances of
dying first, and have the money or can somehow get it, often flee to America, where you can get a good standard of
medical care without running out of time waiting for it.
Without further ado, take it away, UCG!!
Healthcare in America
This article is my opinion. My hope is that others will do their own research on America's Healthcare Industry,
because this is an issue that needs to be addressed, and for this article to be a mere starting point in this
research. The reason for my citations is so that you, the reader, can verify them. Once again, this is my opinion.
I write this in the first paragraph, so that I can avoid stating "in my opinion" before every sentence.
I tore my ab wall a month ago and didn't think much of it until my pain kept worsening. I went to an
immediate care facility to rule out a hernia (I had all the symptoms) and they told me to get to ER ASAP. I go to
the ER and they give me a CT scan and one x-ray and say it's not a hernia and let me go. Fast forward to today and
I got a bill for $9,200 and $3,900 of it is out of pocket. $9,200 for two tests???? No pain meds were
administered; it was literally those two tests. What should I do to contest it? I will be calling tomorrow to
demand an itemized bill, but is there anything else I should do in the meantime?
All of these took me a few minutes on Google to find, and another few minutes to post. The reason I chose that
reddit, is because one of the readers offered an ingenious solution:
Next time you hurt yourself – book a
return ticket to NZ – go to accident and emergency, say you're a tourist and you hurt yourself surfing, pay
nothing – fly home and pocket $8,000 in spare change.
If that was me, I'd spend at least $2,000 on tourism in
New Zealand. You guys have that system, so you clearly deserve the money! Anyone interested in a startup?
But I am not done with examples just yet. Shana Sweney
described her experience in the emergency room
:
I delivered in 15 minutes. During that time, the
anesthesiologist put a heart rate monitor on my finger and played on his phone. My bill for his services was
$3,000. $200/minute. I talked to the insurance company about it – and since I ran my company's benefit plans, I
got a little further than most people, but ultimately, that was what their contract with the hospital said so
that's what they had to pay. Regardless of if he worked 15 minutes or 3 hours. Similarly, my twins were born
prematurely and ended up in the NICU for 2 weeks. While the NICU was in-network for my insurance, for some
mysterious reason, the neonatologists that attended the NICU were out of network. I think that bill was $16k and
they stopped by to see each kid for an average of about 30 min/day.
$984.157 billion. That's $984,157,000,000. That is how much money I believe the United States wastes on
Healthcare. Not spends; wastes. As in money down the drain. The astute reader figured out that equates to
five percent of America's 2016 GDP
. Said reader is
absolutely correct. How did I estimate such a gargantuan amount?
According to the OECD data
,
in 2013 the United States spent 16.4 percent of its GDP on Healthcare; the two next biggest spenders, Switzerland
and the Netherlands spent 11.1 percent. Even if one was to give the United States the benefit of doubt, and claim
that the United States healthcare is just as efficient as that of Switzerland or the Netherlands – which is most
likely not true according to
an
article from Business Insider
, but even if it was – that meant that the United States wastes 5.3% of its GDP
on healthcare. Wastes. I just want to make sure that the amount of this alleged legalized corruption, which will
most likely reach a trillion dollars by 2020, is noted.
Let me place those funds into perspective: it's almost as much as the amount that
the rest of the World spends
on the military, combined
. The SCO member states, including China, Russia, India, and Pakistan spent
roughly $360 billion on the
military
. The wasted amount is equivalent to the GDP of Indonesia, and
greater than the GDP of Turkey
or Switzerland
. In 2016, the US Federal Government spent $362 billion, or 36.8% of the wasted amount,
to run all Federal Programs
, including the Department
of Education and NASA, with the exception of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Veteran's Affairs, the military,
and net interest on the US debt. All other Federal Programs were covered with the $362 billion. The US Federal
Debt
stands at $20.4 trillion
, meaning that the debt can be paid off in
30 years, merely if the Healthcare Waste is eliminated.
But why stop there? The US Housing Crisis started partly because loans were allowed to be taken out without the
20% down payment. Could this funding, if applied directly to the housing market, stop the 2008 Great Recession?
Absolutely, and
all the Federal Government had
to do
was to gear these funds towards down payment on subprime mortgage loans to meet the 20 percent barrier.
I can go on and on about what can be accomplished, like making collegiate attendance free, or at least very
inexpensive, or drastically improving the quality of education, paying off the national debt, reinvesting into the
economy, reinvigorating the rural sector, and so on, and so forth. A trillion dollars is a lot of money.
Lobbyists, the Media and the Waste
Any guess how much was spent on lobbying by the Healthcare, Insurance, Hospitals, Health Professionals, and
HMOs?
How about 10.5 billion dollars?
I knew
that was your guess! That's a lot of money, and that does not include "speaking fees", or when a politician who
constantly made calls beneficial to the Healthcare Lobby gets $150,000 to speak in front of an audience after they
retire from politics. Obama made a speech in front of Wall Street,
netting $400,000
. And by pure coincidence,
only one
Wall Street Broker was jailed
as a result of the scandal. That $10.5 billion is just a tip of the iceberg,
because "speaking fees" are notoriously hard to track, and not included in said amount.
Obama genuinely tried to reform US Healthcare to the Swiss Model. He was going to let Wall Street slide, he was
going to let Neocons conduct foreign policy, just please, let him have healthcare! First, the lobbyists laughed in
his face. Second, they
utilized the Blue Dog Coalition
to block Obama's attempt at Healthcare Reform, until it was phenomenally
nerfed, and we have the disaster that we have today. As a result, Obama's Legacy, Obamacare is having major
issues, including the rise of racism.
Obamacare helped the poor, (mostly minorities,) at the expense of the middle class, (mostly whites,) thus
transferring funding from whites to minorities. While the intent was not racial, it is being
called out
as racial by the mainstream media
. This probably suits the lobbyists, because if the debate is about racism,
one cannot have a genuine discussion about Healthcare Reform.
Racism strikes both ways. Samantha Bee came out with a
"fuck you
white people"
message right after the election. Jon Stewart, without whom she probably wouldn't have her own
show, pointed out that it was simply economics,
like the
healthcare insurance premium increase
, that brought Donald Trump to power. Interestingly enough, James
Carville made the same argument when Bill Clinton beat George Bush, but when Hillary Clinton lost, Carville was
quick to blame Russia. These delusions on the Left are letting the Right mobilize stronger than ever before. And
all of this takes away from the Healthcare Debate.
In an attempt to blame Trump's Election on white racism, rather than basic economics, numerous outlets simply
fell flat. For instance,
Eric Sasson writes
:
white men went 63 percent for Trump versus 31 percent for Clinton, and white women went
53-43 percent. Among college-educated whites, only 39 percent of men and 51 percent of women voted for Clinton
What's more, these people hadn't suffered under Obama; they'd thrived. The kind of change Trump was espousing
wasn't supposed to connect with this group.
Let's start with the banks. Medical students graduate with an average of
$416,216 in student debt
.
The
average interest rate
on said loan is
seven percent. Roughly 20,055 students
go through this
program, per year
. Presuming a twenty year loan, the banks are looking at about $7.185 billion in interest
payments. It really is a small fraction of the cost. Prescription drug prices are another story. In 2014, Medicare
spent $112 billion on
medicine for the elderly
. Oh la la! Cha-ching. I would not be surprised if at least half of that was wasted
on drug price inflation. You know the health insurance companies? It's a great time to be one, since profits are
booming – to the tune of
$18 billion in
projected revenue
for 2017.
Of course the system itself is quite wasteful, with needless hours spent on paperwork, claim verification,
contractual review, etc, etc, etc. Humana's revenue was
$54.4 billion
,
Aetna's was
$63.2
billion
, Anthem's was
$85 billion
,
Cigna's was
$39.7
billion
, and UnitedHealth's was
$184.8 billion
. Those
are just the top five companies. None of them ia a mom-and-pop shop or small business store. Do any of these
insurers support Obamacare? Even if they do, it is
without much enthusiasm
. They are leaving, and leaving quite quickly. Thirty-one percent of American counties
will have
just one healthcare insurer
. Welcome to a monopoly that is artificially creating itself. And despite the
waste,
28.2 million
Americans remain uninsured
. Mission accomplished!
Who else benefits? Those who hire illegal immigrants instead of American workers, since illegal immigrants cost
the United States roughly
$25 billion
in Healthcare spending
. Meanwhile those who hire them can avoid certain types of taxes and not have to cover
their Healthcare; communism for the rich, capitalism for the rest of us. Of course that is just a rough estimate,
since this spending is also quite hard to track.
The Future
The problem with changing Healthcare is that too many people have their hands in the proverbial pie. There is
not a single lever of power that isn't affected by Healthcare, and most of the levers that are affected, benefit
quite a bit. Insurance companies will fight to the death, because Universal Healthcare will be their death knell.
Banks will defend it, because who doesn't want to make billions from student loans? Medical schools too – since it
lets them charge higher and higher tuition. Pharmaceutical companies can use the increase in Healthcare
expenditure to justify their own price hikes, even though a major reason for those price hikes is artificial
patent based monopoly.
What is an artificial monopoly? In my opinion, it's when a patent is utilized to prevent competitors from
manufacturing the same exact drug. In less than a decade, the price of Epi-Pen soared from $103.50 to $608.61.
When asked the justify said increase,
one of
the reasons provided by the CEO
was that
the price went up because we were making investment; as I said,
about $1 billion over the last decade that we invested in the product that we could reach physicians and educate
legislatures.
"Reaching" doctors and legislators; I wonder, how was said "education funding" spent? According
to US News, a website that is extremely credible when it comes to internal decision making within the United
States,
drug companies have long courted doctors with gifts
, from speaking and consulting fees to educational
materials to food and drink. But while most doctors do not believe these gifts influence their decisions about
which drugs to prescribe, a new study found the gifts actually can make a difference – something patient advocates
have voiced concern about in the past. Do you feel educated? Would you feel more educated if I paid you a
$150,000 consulting fee? What about $400,000? What? It's just consulting; no corruption here!
Everyone knows that this is going on. But there is not going to be change. Why not? The same reason that there
was not change with Harvey Weinstein, until Taylor Swift came along. Remember how I said that almost everyone has
their hands in the Healthcare Pie? It was not much different with Weinstein. Scott Rosenberg explained
why it took so long for people to speak out against Harvey
, and the reasons were numerous. First, Harvey gave
many people their start in Hollywood, and treated all of his friends like royalty. That drastically increased
their loyalty. Second, he ushered the Golden Age of the 1990s, with movies like Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love,
Clerks, Swingers, Scream, Good Will Hunting, English Patient, Life is Beautiful – the man could make phenomenal
movies. Third, even if one was willing to go against his own friends, workers, mass media, and so on, there was no
one to tell. There was no place to speak out. Fourth, some of the victims took hefty settlements.
That fourth reason enabled mass media to portray rape victims as gold diggers. Rape Culture is alive and well.
In California, a Judge
gave minimal sentencing to a convicted rapist
, because he was afraid a harsher sentence would damage the
rapist's mental psyche for life. Uh dude, from one Californian to another, he, uh, raped. His mental psyche is
already damaged; for life. That's the kind of pressure that Rose McGowan had to deal with. She had
a
little kerfuffle with Amazon
, and she thinks it was partially because of Harvey Weinstein. How many times had
the word "socialism" been thrown around to describe Universal Healthcare? Switzerland has it – are they Socialist?
Enter Taylor
Swift
. In order to destroy allegations that women are filing sexual harassment claims as gold diggers, she
sued her alleged sexual assaulter for a buck; one dollar. She won. Swift stated that the lawsuit was to
serve
as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts.
On top
of that, Weinstein was no longer as popular as he used to be, and an avenue to tell the story, an outlet was
created. The additional prevalence of the internet caused the stories of Weinstein's sexual abuse to leak. Within
a month, the giant fell.
Something similar is needed to change Healthcare in America. But until that comes along, racism will increase,
the cost of Healthcare will rise, emergency room costs will most likely double every ten years, and the future
remains bleak. As if that was not enough, more and more upper class Americans, (like yours truly,) are seeking
treatment abroad. It cost me less money to lose five weeks of wages, spend three weeks partying in Eastern Europe,
(Prague to be more specific,) after my two weeks of treatment, buy a roundtrip plane ticket, and stay in a five
star, all-inclusive hotel, than the cost of the same treatment in the US. If anyone wants to utilize this as a
startup – let me know!
Of course its effects on Healthcare will hurt, since it is a huge chunk of business that will be traveling
across the Atlantic. But what can be done to stop it? One cannot stop Americans from traveling to other countries.
One cannot force the poor to work for free. Perhaps this is the change that is needed to make those who benefit
from the Healthcare Waste realize that this cannot continue. Perhaps not. What we do know, is that Obamacare
insured the poor,
at
the expense of the middle class
. And that is regarded as a failure in America.
"In trying to show that he was successfully managing the Obamacare rollout, the
president last week staged a high-profile White House meeting with private health insurance executives -- aka
Obamacare's middlemen. The spectacle of a president begging these middlemen for help was a reminder that
Obamacare did not limit the power of the insurance companies as a single-payer system would.
****The new law instead cemented the industry's profit-extracting role in the larger health system -- and it
still leaves millions without insurance."*** (THAT is the Achille's lower torso of the ACA)
Exactly! That's why I stated that they're now oligapolizing the market, and will slowly start to increase
their insurance rates and profits once again.
(Socialist or not..the WSWS writers continue to state that which NEEDS to be hammered home)
"The vast wealth of the financial oligarchy, expressed in their ownership of massive corporations, must
be seized and expropriated, while the complex technologies, supply chains, and advanced transportation
systems must be integrated in an organized, planned manner to harness the anarchic force of the world
economy and eliminate material scarcity.
Amazon is a prime example. Its supply lines and delivery systems could distribute goods across the world,
bringing water, food, and medicine from each producer according to his or her ability, to each consumer
according to his or her need.
The massively sophisticated computational power used by the technology companies to censor and blacklist
political opposition could instead be used for logistical analysis to conduct rescue and rebuilding missions
in disaster zones like Houston and Puerto Rico. Drones used in the battlefield could be scrapped and rebuilt
to distribute supplies for building schools, museums, libraries, and theaters, and for making Internet
service available at no cost for the entire world.
The ruling class and all of the institutions of the political establishment stand inexorably in the way of
efforts to expropriate their wealth. What is required is to mobilize the working class in a political
struggle against the state and the socio-economic system on which it is based, through the fight for
socialism.
Eric London "
Advanced technology is helpful but not essential for a humane and just society. Its what we believe and
feel that matters. FWIW, I like socialism on a national/international level and individual accountability
on a personal level.
While general medical care is single payer in Canada, dental services are not. For major work on teeth, it
is cheaper to fly to Mexico. The downside is for Mexicans -- such practices will drive the costs up in Mexico.
Mark, today's posting provided is a nice change of pace to a topic of local impact (for me at least). UGC
presented a good overview peppered with supporting data.
In an earlier career incarnation, I worked as a systems analyst involved with development of online
systems for state social services. Data showed that our systems were able to administer a comprehensive
health care program for social services recipients for about 3-4% of the cost of services. Private medical
insurance providers required approximately 20% of the cost of services to provide similar services. Yet,
private providers were supposedly driven by invisible market forces to maximum efficiency. BS. In fact, they
are driven by greed and they found it much easier to maximize profits by colluding with politicians and
health care providers. That is the trouble with free markets – its just so damn easy to cheat and cheaters
are never in short supply.
One more thing, prescription drugs costs may exceed $600 billion in the US by 2021:
That would be nearly $2,000 per year for every American!
If a tiny fraction of that amount were spent on prevention, education, improved diets and other similar
initiatives, the population ought to be healthier and richer. But, greed overpowers the public good every
time. The US health care system is a criminal enterprise in my opinion. The good that it does is grossly
outweighed by greed and exploitation of human suffering.
I agree with that. Plus, it seems like they have an entire staff dedicated to giving their "customer" the
run around. A friend of mine had to deal with several different departments regarding his healthcare
bill. The billing office told him that they only deal with billing questions, and that for explanations
for the bill, he should call the doctor's office. The doctor's office told him to call the hospital,
since that's where the service took place. The hospital told him to call his primary doctor, who sent him
there, and his primary doctor referred him back to the specialist, where he was referred back to the
billing department, which promptly told him that they're closing for the day, since he spent 6 hours
being transferred from one department to the next.
I find it terribly silly that we should even consider med student's debt as an excuse. First, American
doctors are the best paid professionals in the country. Internists make a median 190 thousand a year, and
they are among the worst paid specialties. I cannot possibly see the problem with paying your income for 5
years, knowing that you get access to a caste that will allow you make good money into your eighties.
Second, the debt is not that high as you claim. Harvard Medical School tuition is 64 thousand. You can rent
across the street with 20 thousand a year – I currently live there.
Third, med students know all this. The reason why they borrow far more is because they know they can
afford it. I went to med school somewhere in a developing world. We shared toilets in the dorm. As a matter
of fact, most under-30s in Boston live in shared accommodation. The outliers? Med students. Even the lowly
Tufts and BU students that I met own cars and live by themselves, mainly in new buildings across the street
from their hospitals.
Every time I go to the doctors, I am thinking how I am going to sue their asses if they make a mistake.
It's not an excuse. It's a bill. When you rent an apartment, did you know that most landlords also factor
in the property tax when figuring out what your rent payment should be? Similarly, the interest payments
on the doctoral students' loans are passed off to the consumer, and that is yet another reason why
Healthcare is so expensive. That's why I think that medical school should be free for those students who
promise to charge their patients no more than x amount of money.
Interesting article. Looks like the rot in the US is terminal. But Canada and its "socialized" medicine is
not far behind. Operating an emergency ward with only one doctor doing the rounds at the rest of the
hospital during the night is absurd. But that is what major Canadian hospitals do. Don't bother going to
emergency at 2 am unless you are literally dying. Wait until 7 am when the day day crew arrives and you can
actually receive treatment.
The problem in Canada, as in the USA, is overpaid doctors and not enough of them (because they are
overpaid). Instead of paying a doctor $300,000 per year or more, the system needs to have 3 or more doctors
earning $100,000 per year. Then there is no excuse about being overworked and "requiring" a high
compensation. Big incomes attract crooks and not talent. If you want to be a doctor then you should do 5
years of low income work abroad or at home. That would weed out a lot of the $$$ in the eyeballs leeches. A
nasty side effect of having overpaid doctors and living adjacent to the US, is that they act like a mafia
and extort the government by threatening to leave to the USA. I say that the Canadian provinces should make
all medical students sign binding contracts to pay the cost difference between their Canadian medical
education and the equivalent in the USA if they decide to run off to America.
At the undergraduate level, the physics courses with the highest enrollment are aimed at streams going
into medicine. There are hordes of money maker wannabes trying to make it big in medicine. But they are all
nearly weeded out and never graduate from medical school. So the system maintains the fake doctor shortage
and racket level salaries. On top of this, hospitals pay a 300% markup for basic supplies (gauze, syringes,
etc). It is actually possible for private individuals to pay the nominal price so this is not just a theory.
Clearly, there is no effort to control costs by hospital administrations since basic economics would imply
that hospitals would pay less than individuals for these items due to the volume of sales involved. At the
end of the day North American public medicine is a non-market bloating itself into oblivion since the
taxpayer will always pay whatever is desired. That is, the spineless politicians will never crack the whip.
This is part of the problem in Canada. One way to help deal with it in my view, beyond simply cutting
doctors' fees (which any government with the political will to do so can do) is to simply make it easier
for International Medical Graduates to get licensed in Canada. Canada has legions of immigrants (and
could have pretty much however many more it likes) with full medical qualifications who would be thrilled
to work for much less than the current pay rates. It's a scandal how many qualified doctors we have in
Canada driving taxis rather than practicing medicine. If we just took advantage of the human resources we
already have, we could easily say to doctors who threaten to leave for the US, "Fine, go. We've got 10
guys from India lined up to do your job." This isn't to say that doctors shouldn't be very well-paid.
Anyone who has ever known someone in med school knows it's hell. But doctors would be very well-paid at
half the rates they're getting now.
Another part of the problem is an over-reliance on hospitals. There
are a lot of people in the hospitals more in "holding" than anything else, because there's no space in
the proper facilities for them (The book "Chronic Condition" talks about this). The problem with this is
that the cost per day to keep someone in the hospital is much higher than in other kinds of facilities.
This is an entirely unnecessary loss.
For all that though, the Canadian system is leaps and bounds better than the American. We spend a
vastly smaller percentage of our GDP on health care, and in return achieve higher health outcomes, as
measured by the WHO. If we were willing to spend the kind of money the Americans do on health care, we
could have patients sleeping in golden beds even with the structural flaws of our current system. That's
worth constantly remembering, because some of the proposals for health reform floating around now lean in
the direction of privatization, and we've seen where that road leads.
Before he retired from politics, Keith Martin was my MLA, and he was also a qualified MD. He used to
rail against the convoluted process for certification in medicine in Canada, while others complained
that we were subject to an influx of doctor-immigrants from India because Canada required less time
spent in medical school than India does. I never checked the veracity of that, although we do have
quite a few Indian doctors. My own doctor – in the military, and still now since he is in private
practice – is a South African, and he explained that he had gone in for the military (although he was
always a civilian, some military doctors are military members as well but most are not) because the
hoop-jumping process to be certified for private practice in Canada with foreign qualifications was
just too onerous.
Unsurprisingly, I completely agree on the subject of privatization, because it
always leads to an emphasis on profit and cost-cutting. I don't know why some people can't see that.
Thanks very much UCG, for your article. Very interesting reading for us Australians as the Federal
Government eventually wants to shove us kicking and screaming into a US-style privatized healthcare
insurance model.
Funnily enough I'm currently considering changing my private health insurer. I'm with Medibank Private at
present but considering maybe going with a smaller non-profit health fund like Australian Unity or Phoenix
Health Fund.
I was just about to post along the lines of "I don't know if Jen has experienced this in Australia but
here in the UK ." so I'll finish the thought. In the UK, successive governments, not just Conservative
ones, have been trying to dismantle the NHS and move us to the American system. It is pure ideology – no
amount of the very abundant evidence of the inefficiencies of the US system, its waste etc makes any dint
in the enthusiasm of those pressing for change.
Thank you Jen! My advice: don't let the Government cajole you into wasting your money on Corporate Greed.
Share the article with your fellow Australians, if you must, but don't let our wasteful system be
replicated. Interestingly enough, one of my friends, Lytburger, send me a meme right after Ukraine
adopted America's Healthcare System, it said: "ISIS refused to take responsibility for Ukraine's
Healthcare Reform!" I'd be happy to provide other data or answer questions about the Healthcare System
here.
As for insurance, I'm not sure if Australia has the in-network and out-of-network rules. Does it?
Whatever insurance you get, make sure that it has good coverage. If you own a home in the US, and you end
up in a hospital's emergency room that's not covered by your insurance, the hospital can take your house
under certain circumstances. Ironically, even the Government cannot. All of my real property is in
various Trust Accounts, just in case, and I make sure that I have insurance where all major hospitals are
in-network and that's the best I can do.
This is s very interesting insight into healthcare in the USA. The cost is shocking.
I live in the UK and the healthcare system is paid for from taxation.
When it was established over 70 years ago the health service would be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which meant that people
paid into it according to their means.
It was the best thing in my view that government has ever done.
Good healthcare should be available to all and not dependent on peoples ability to pay. However there always a private healthcare system that ran alongside it
And over the years it had been unpicked as successive governments have tried to privatize it. Claiming
they will save the taxpayer money
– opticians and dentistry have become part private after 18 if you are employed.
Which many people do not mind.
-Elderly care was also privatised as it's the most expensive
-care for the disabled also is a issue for local councils
-Mental health became care in the community – society's problem!
Privatisation has meant profits for businesses, poor services to vulnerable groups.
And yet still more and more taxation is needed for the NHS!
The issue of more money was even part of the Brexit debate as it was stated that leaving the EU would mean
more money for the NHS which people are proud of.
There was a quote I was thinking of using in the lead-in, but decided in the end not to since I didn't
want to have too many and it might have become confusing. It related that you would get the best medical
care of your lifetime – after you died, when they were rushing to save your organs, for transplant.
Obviously this would not be true if you were not an organ donor (at least in this country) or died as the
result of general wasting away so that you had nothing left which would be particularly coveted. But this
is a major issue in medicine in some countries and there have been various lurid tales of bodies being
robbed of their organs without family permission, bodies of Ukrainian soldiers harvested of their organs
and rackets in third-world countries where the poor or helpless are robbed of organs while they are
alive. From my standpoint, since I haven't done much research on it, I have seen little proof of any of
them despite plenty of allegation, but it is easy to understand that traffic in organs to those who will
pay anything to live a little longer would be tremendously profitable, and the potential for
disproportionate profit seldom fails to draw the unscrupulous.
As I alluded in the lead-in, Canada has
what is sometimes described as 'socialized medicine' and alternatively as 'two-tier healthcare' although
I have never seen any real substantiation for the latter charge. My mom had an operation for colon cancer
some time back, and she paid nothing for the hospitalization or the operation. My father-in-law is
scheduled for the same operation as soon as he gets his blood-sugar low enough, and he already had one
for a hernia and removal of internal scar tissue from an old injury – again, we paid nothing. He had a
nurse come here for a couple of months, once a week, to change his dressing (because the incision would
was very slow to heal because he is diabetic – nothing. That's all great, from my point of view, and I've
paid into it all my life without ever using it because I was covered by the government under federal
guidelines while I served in the military, although I was a cheap patient because I never had to be
hospitalized for anything and was almost never even sick enough not to come to work. But the great
drawback to it, as I said, is the backlog which might mean you have to wait too long for an operation.
And in my small practical experience – the two cases I have just mentioned – both were scheduled for
surgery within a month of diagnosis. So perhaps the long wait is for particular operations such as heart
or brain surgery.
Thank you very much for a very interesting article UCG! Quite the horror story. I've heard quite a few about
the US over the years from people I know too. I think one of the BBC's former America correspondent gave an
interview to the Beeb as he was leaving America a few years back (MAtt Frei?) and was asked what were the
best and worst things about living there. The worst was certainly healthcare.
I've also read that
healthcare costs for the self-employed, independents, freelancers can also be crushing in the land of the
free where everyone can become rich. Has this changed? I would have thought that those were the ideal
Americans, making it off their own back, but apparently not.
There's also another issue that is not addressed: an ageing population. This is a very current theme and
it is now not at all unusual for people to live another 30 odd years after retirement. Now how on earth will
such people manage their healthcare for such a period? Will they have to hock absolutely everything they
have? America is already at war with itself (hence the utmost need to for
foreign
enemies), but
nothing is getting done. Just more of the same. Meanwhile the Brits are trying to copy the US through
stealth privatization of their health system. It might work as well as privatizing its rail service
Thanks for an interesting post, UCG. Hopefully this will stimulate some ideas on how to fix the American
healthcare system, which seems to be badly broken.
Broken for us but working perfectly for Big Pharma and insurance companies. That is a fundamental reason
why it will be extremely difficult to "fix" because it ain't broken as a money making machine.
With health care in general, there's a bit of a trade-off. The most cost-efficient systems, like the system
in Sweden for example, are fairly regimented and don't leave much room for individual choice (unless someone
pays out of pocket for treatment completely outside the public system). On the other hand, systems that give
people a little more choice, like the system in Germany, tend to be a little on the pricey side. I think,
given American political culture, something along the lines of the German model is much more likely to
attract widespread public support. In any case, it's still cheaper than the American system, and achieves
some of the best results in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany
Quite different from my expectation of spartan if not rudimentary medical care and overworked staff in
a small Russian town. The blog on schools was interesting as well. Given where Russia was in the 90's
compared to now, it is easy to understand the strong popular support for the government and Putin in
particular.
Off topic but just saw a 2-3 minute piece on CBS news (a very long story for an American
national news show) about a Russian woman (former Playboy "model') who is challenging Putin. The
reporter assured us the if she became too popular, Putin would never allow her to win. The last time
Russia was allowed to protest, according to the reported was back in 2011 where the masses were
demanding change. The implication being that a subsequent crackdown has suppressed further protest.
The piece showed her speaking to a group (the camera view was such that is was impossible to
determine the audience size but it had to be at least 10 and possibly up to 30 people). The reporter
also speculated that the woman coud be a Kremlin plant to create a fake opposition. Just a mishmash of
a story all in all.
Speaking as someone who has been hospitalized 3 times in Russia and still live
to talk about, I have no complaints.
In the twilight years of the USSR everything was deficit, including medicine, and the hospitals were
often dilapidated, understaffed and lacking modern equipment. It was socialized medicine, of course, but you
only got the basics for "free". They would not let you die, but if you wanted any "extras", you had to pay
or provide "gifts" to the staff. The doctors were and still are good, but were grossly underpaid.
I was first in hospital here, in isolation because I had diphtheria, in 1993. They saved me. I thought my
number was up. When I was recovering, a nurse asked me when my wife would visit me.
"I have no wife."
"Your friends, then?"
"No friends. I only arrived here 3 weeks ago."
"You're going to be hungry!"
Our first child was born in 1999. The maternity wing of Moscow Hospital №1, opened 1837, was nightmarish.
I paid the anaesthetist so that he could ensure that my wife did not suffer during her labour: it was a
long, slow painful birth.
Our last child was born in 2008: brand new hospital; my wife had her own room; everything state-of
the-art. I paid nothing. My wife came out healthy with a healthy baby. I gave the obstetrician a "present"
after delivery.
A bribe? Not in my opinion: just a token of gratitude for a job well done.
I broke my left collarbone at the dacha that same year. I was in a village/small town (Ruza) hospital. It
was only 2-years old. There were problems because I have broken both collarbones before. Anyway, the
orthopaedic surgeon did a good job, and I didn't pay anything: emergency treatment is free for British
citizens, likewise Russians in the UK. A remnant of when the UK and the USSR were glorious allies against
the Beast.
I have also had varicose veins removed. Only 2 days in hospital. A job well done. I gave the surgeon a
present. He didn't ask me for one, but I thought it was right that I do so.
There have been great improvements in treatment and medical technology here. And the doctors and nursing
staff are well trained and competent.
Not perfect -- nothing is -- but more than satisfactory.
Yes, you do hear horror stories, as you do about the British National health Service, but all in all,
satisfactory.
And there is a private health system now financed by private insurance.
And I have had dental treatment here "on the state": no complaints -- and "free", paid by taxation.
An old Russian colleague of mine has lived in Germany many years now, but he comes back to Moscow to see
an orthodontist.
"They are just as good as in Germany, sometimes have even trained there, and much, much cheaper", he
says.
PS I paid the anaesthetist so he could get the best stuff to help a woman in labour and was unavailable
on the state health service. I forget what it was called now: some German manufactured stuff, I suppose.
My wife said it was the norm in Romania to provide small gifts to bureaucrats – too small to be
considered a bribe but a necessary gesture of appreciation. Its not entirely different from the custom
of bringing a small gift when visiting friends (bottle of wine, flowers, box of chocolate, etc.).
Very much so; I'm sure I mentioned before the controversy surrounding my marriage in Russia; the
waiting period that must follow an application to marry is 30 days (I guess this is a period during
which anyone opposing the marriage may make their case), while a tourist visa is also for a maximum
of 30 days. Therefore, I could not legally remain in Russia long enough to get married. Sveta was
very matter-of-fact about it; we would just, she said, announce that she was pregnant, which is one
of the exceptional conditions which will override the waiting period.
I said she would never get
a doctor to sign a certificate that she was pregnant if she was not. Within a week she had her
choice of three. We gave the doctor who furnished the certificate some flowers and a box of
chocolates. I never considered it a bribe, and still do not, and the gift followed the act. We
would have gotten the certificate anyway.
I notice that Russians typically take such a gift with them whenever they visit friends;
Ukrainians do, too. They never arrive empty-handed, and it seems much more a ritualized courtesy.
It seem odds to me how Russia or Romania can be stifling bureaucratic (as ME can attest) yet
rules will often be bent with hardly a blink to facilitate a reasonable request.
The healthcare system in a country probably reflects the dominant elements in said country's culture. Our
family's longtime GP was a buffoon. In my interactions with him his enthusiastic "hands-on" gung-ho approach
caused several problems, not least when I visited him to get a "line" certifying I was unfit for work a week
after a total hip replacement operation (he insisted on examining the wound and re-dressing it with a
dressing whose adhesive I had been tested for in hospital and deemed allergic to it; fun and games, anxiety
and discomfort ).
Nevertheless he made an immediate decision to admit a close relative of mine for surgery on the basis of
his examination of her.
At an event hosted by a U.S. senator, a mother cried as she recounted how the Pfizer experimental coronavirus vaccine left her
previously healthy, active 12-year-old daughter in a wheelchair.
On Monday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) hosted a
news
conference
to discuss adverse reactions related to COVID-19 vaccines. Stephanie de Garay tearfully explained that her
12-year-old daughter, Maddie, is now wheelchair-bound after volunteering to take the Pfizer vaccine as part of the vaccine trial.
Since receiving the injection, Maddie has been to the emergency room nine times and hospitalized three times for two months.
Maddie and her parents were excited for her to participate in the vaccine trial, as they identify as "pro-vaccine and pro-science."
However, after receiving her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on January 20, Maddie immediately experienced pain in her arm where
she had been vaccinated. Within the next 24 hours, she developed severe abdominal and chest pain.
Maddie told her mother that she felt "like my heart is being ripped out through my neck" as she experienced painful electrical
shocks down her neck and spine, forcing her to hunch over to walk.
At the instruction of the vaccine trial nurse administrator, Maddie's parents took her to the ER, where her labs were taken and she
was tested for appendicitis, given an IV with medicine, and then sent home. She was diagnosed with "adverse effect of vaccine
initial encounter."
Over the next 2 1/2 months, Maddie's mother said her abdominal, muscle, and nerve pain became unbearable. Maddie suffered from
gastroparesis, nausea and vomiting, erratic blood pressure, memory loss, brain fog, headaches, dizziness, fainting, seizures, verbal
and motor tics, menstrual cycle issues, lost feeling from the waist down, lost bowel and bladder control, and she had a nasogastric
tube placed because she lost the ability to eat.
"Why is she not back to normal? She was totally fine before this," said Stephanie de Garay, Maddie's mother. Maddie had volunteered
for the Pfizer vaccine trial "to help everyone else and they're not helping here. Before Maddie got her final dose of the vaccine,
she was healthy, got straight As, had lots of friends and had a life."
Some doctors attempted to attribute her neurological condition to anxiety and tried to send Maddie to a mental hospital. This caused
her parents to seek aid from other sources. They met others suffering from similar adverse vaccine reactions who connected them with
competent medical professionals.
"All we want is for Maddie to be seen, heard, and believed because she has not been. And we want her to get the care that she
desperately needs, so she can go back to normal," said de Garay.
LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page.
View
it here.
"Maddie and her parents were excited for her to participate in the vaccine trial, as
they identify as "pro-vaccine and pro-science."
If this is true, who in the world would be excited to let their children participate in
a medical experiment, they are the problem and now her child is paying the price
← Craig Kelly MP a true Australian hero warns there could have been 50,000 deaths
from Covid vax. NSW Health - Covid PCR tests at 40 cycles , double the recommended rate
yielding 80 per cent false positives* Jun 28. Posted by Editor, cairnsnews. Letter to the
Editor.
Up to 90 percent of people tested for COVID-19 in Massachusetts, New York and Nevada in
July carried barely any traces of the virus and it could be because today's tests are 'too
sensitive', experts say.
... PCR tests analyze genetic matter from the virus in cycles and today's tests
typically take 37 or 40 cycles, but experts say this is too high because it detects very
small amounts of the virus that don't pose a risk.
Experts say a reasonable cutoff for the virus would be 30 or 35 cycles, according to
Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside.
Mina said he would set the cutoff at 30.
New York's state lab Wadsworth analyzed cycle thresholds values in already processed
COVID-19 PCR tests and found in July that 794 positive tests were based on a threshold of
40 cycles.
With a cutoff of 35, about half of those tests would no longer qualify as positive.
About 70 percent would no longer be judged positive if the cycles were limited to 30.
In Massachusetts, from 85 to 90 percent of people who tested positive in July with a
cycle threshold of 40 would have been considered negative if the threshold were 30 cycles,
Mina said.
This one big fraud. And Fauci is implicated. the fact that in the USA the results of the test
do not come with the number of amplifications used speaks volumes about the current medical
establishement.
Notable quotes:
"... With a cutoff of 35, about half of those tests would no longer qualify as positive. About 70 percent would no longer be judged positive if the cycles were limited to 30. ..."
"... It's just kind of mind-blowing to me that people are not recording the C.T. values from all these tests -- that they're just returning a positive or a negative,' Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York, said. ..."
Up to 90 percent of people tested for COVID-19 in Massachusetts, New York and Nevada in July
carried barely any traces of the virus and it could be because today's tests are 'too
sensitive', experts say.
... PCR tests analyze genetic matter from the virus in cycles and today's tests typically
take 37 or 40 cycles, but experts say this is too high because it detects very small amounts of
the virus that don't pose a risk.
... ... ...
Experts say a reasonable cutoff for the virus would be 30 or 35 cycles, according to Juliet
Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside.
Mina said he would set the cutoff at 30.
New York's state lab Wadsworth analyzed cycle thresholds values in already processed
COVID-19 PCR tests and found in July that 794 positive tests were based on a threshold of 40
cycles.
With a cutoff of 35, about half of those tests would no longer qualify as positive.
About 70 percent would no longer be judged positive if the cycles were limited to 30.
In Massachusetts, from 85 to 90 percent of people who tested positive in July with a cycle
threshold of 40 would have been considered negative if the threshold were 30 cycles, Mina
said.
'I would say that none of those people should be contact-traced, not one,' he said.
The Food and Drug Administration said that it does not specify the cycle threshold ranges
used to determine who is positive and 'commercial manufacturers and laboratories set their
own.'
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is examining the use of cycle
threshold measures for 'policy decision'.
The CDC said its own calculations suggest its extremely hard to detect a live virus in a
sample above a threshold of 33 cycles.
It's just kind of mind-blowing to me that people are not recording the C.T. values from
all these tests -- that they're just returning a positive or a negative,' Angela Rasmussen, a
virologist at Columbia University in New York, said.
Authorities doe not telling truth: people who already have COVID do not need to be
vaccinated. Also if Delta varient can infect vaccineted in conserable quantities how any resobale
person can maintain this goal of "herg immunity". How it can be achieved if a vaccinated person
can be infected and thus spread the disease both amoung vaccinated cohort and among the
unvaccinated cohort. The fact the vaccinated people are infected with Delta changes the game and
here Senator Paul is wrong.
Pushing vaccination on chidren in such curcumstances changes nothing is became a very
questionable move both from scientific an from ethical perspective.
America's favourite Chinese lab funding coronavirus doomonger doctor Anthony Fauci announced
Tuesday that there are now two Americas, a vaccinated America and an unvaccinated America.
As Senator Rand Paul noted
earlier this week , there is a boat load of misinformation on the matter coming from a
government that is indiscriminately pushing vaccinations:
There are now two Americas. One that's retarded. And one that wants Fauci on a
lamppost.
liberty2 1 hour ago (Edited)
Note that the officials said there's no such thing as "herd immunity" last year. Now
this year they keep saying that we can reach "herd immunity" if we are 70% vaxxed! Terms
are used if it fits their narrative.
Ride_the_kali_yuga 3 hours ago (Edited)
In the Covidian Cult, there is true believers in one side and heretics on the other
side. Vaxxed and unvaxxed.
Divide and rule strategy, as always. Do not undurestimate the ratio of retarded people
among the population, it has been growing like a cancer for decades. It amazes me how
perfectly coordinated those MSM Covidian propaganda events appears worldwide.
In here France, 2 days ago, most MSM have all simultaneously gone full berserk (without
any reason) blaming the reluctant ones. One of them on TV said something like : "if it was
me, i will use police to drag those who refuse these "vaccines" from their home and force
it on them"
This was priceless, this little man has morbid obesity. We now officialy all live on the
twilight zone on steroids. Land whales dictate how people should consider their own health.
This ride seems to never end.
We now have officialy entered the dehumanization phase of the unvaxxed. The sanitary
gulag is not far from here.
NIRP-BTFD 1 hour ago
There are 2 Americas. The 0.01% (the rulers that own everything) and the serfs.
DemandSider 1 hour ago
Exactly, parasite and host. Fauci would be the former, obviously.
Uncomfortable Truths democrats don't have in their tool kit:
1) Flu is still down 98% and would normally account for a large percentage of the covid
deaths.
2) 20% more babies were born in 1946 than in 1945. Deaths are increasing but not that
much. This is accounts for the rest of the covid deaths.
3) Coronavirus' are among the highest mutating virus types and can not be eliminated by
vaccine.
4) If the COVID symptoms arise from SARS-CoV-2 which came from bats and pangolins: then
vaccinating Humans will have zero effect in eliminating the virus.
5) COVID is a set of symptoms not a virus. The virus is called SARS. This is a
relationship like how AIDS is the symptom set that arises out of HIV. To talk about a
vaccine for COVID as a medical professional is malpractice.
6) 50% of the people getting the "delta" variant are previously vaccinated. In clinical
terms that means the vaccine experimental trial has failed.
If you still believe in mandating masks and vaccines then you are a fascist or your IQ
is too low and should give up your right to vote.
Bacon's Rebellion 9 hours ago (Edited) remove link
//////////////////////////////////////////////
The Delta Variant in the UK
//////////////////////////////////////////////
June 25 th , 2021 - Public Health England
Summary:
Higher rates of "cases" for the "unvaccinated" with higher rates of hospitalizations and
DEATHS for the "fully vaccinated" .
Overnight Hospitalization required:
1.11% of the "Fully Vaccinated"
0.89% of the "Unvaccinated"
Deaths:
50 were "Fully Vaccinated" = 0.69% died
38 were "Unvaccinated" = 0.07% died
Death rate was 9.86 times higher for the vaccinated!
IF - 53,822 "Unvaccinated" cases = 38 deaths
Will - 53,822 "Vaccinated" cases = 375 deaths?
Will - the 142,000,000 "Fully Vaccinated" people in the USA suffer 979,800 Delta variant
Deaths?
(Link downloads a PDF | SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern)
1. Flu deaths have been greatly exaggerated in recent years in order to push the flu
vaccine. Just like Covid, they changed the definition of flu to count more deaths, so they
could push the vaccine. Most of them are general respiratory deaths that can be/were
reclassified to Covid.
2. There was a baby boom in 1946 and that was 75 years ago, so we should start seeing an
acceleration from that about now, but there also has been massive population growth since
then, so the effect will be muted.
3. I don't claim to understand virology, but if these things mutate so fast, they likely
get less virulent rather than more. It certainly calls into question the entire vaccine
program.
4. Vaxx the bats... I thought many of them died off from their own virus a few years
ago, but I saw millions of them fly out from under a bridge in Austin a couple years
ago.
6. This is logic beyond the understanding level of the idiot media folks - they would
never be able to ask the question.
Nathan Hale PREMIUM 10 hours ago
It was a fungal infection that was/is killing bats in the US, for the record
Bacon's Rebellion 8 hours ago (Edited) remove link
Imagine the clusterphuek in the court system if these vaccines are connected with
miscarriages...lawyers are salivating...your employer coerced you into vaccination...your
baby died inside you...geesh...how anyone could take that chance!
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
An experiment on "millions of people"
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Angela Merkel: All of these vaccines are conditionally approved. In the course of this
conditional approval, we are gaining experience for the first time on what happens if
this vaccine is used on millions of people? ...In the phase of the conditional approval
of such a vaccine is then very closely monitored - that is why everything is monitored so
specifically - what side effects can happen or what cases or what certain things can
occur.
Loads in German - Use Chrome to read in English:
Angela Merkel:
Sigh. 11 hours ago remove link
The Delta Strain is supposedly more fearful and deadly and contagious than the
'original' product, why, exactly?
Where are the studies comparing the relative efficacy and methodology of the vectors?
You recall the diagrams, the sneeze in one aisle of a supermarket, the blue haze covering
three aisles? Is the Delta Strain so contagious it now goes seven aisles?
Instead of the diagram of the beachgoer getting virus'd from the airborne particulates
from someone sneezing on a surfboard, are the viruses now coming in from further offshore,
the oil rig 40 miles out?
Instead of just old people, who are easily infected with everything that comes along,
now we must fear that kids and teens are susceptible? (Perhaps that's because they've worn
masks for so long they aren't getting 'natural' immunological defenses?)
This is just another worldwide scare tactic designed to keep the masks on and the
economy slowed. Look to the "Climate Change" set and the "One World Government" set for
reasons why we're facing these "new" strains.
aegis551 11 hours ago (Edited) remove link
CDC says we have nothing to worry about. Covid will never get here.
CDC says we have the ability to defeat this thing they said would never get here.
CDC says dont worry you dont need to wear masks. Because they wont protect you from the
virus.
CDC says some anti-viral medications may work. CDC corrects itself 24hrs later and says
only a vaccine can save us. Dr Fauci admits he and his family have been taking
hydroxychloroquine since the pandemic began. Even though they dont work.
CDC mandates everyone to wear masks because they will stop the spread.
CDC says we need to lock down for 2 weeks to stop the spread. CDC then mandates
lockdowns in perpetuity.
CDC says, etc, etc...
Why the hell is anyone listening to the CDC?
pods 10 hours ago remove link
Usually for any scam if you look under the cover you will find the hand of
government.
Ex. Pfizer has a vested interest of to keep their shots on the market. Profit motive and
to repay their development costs for their mRNA shots. Clinical trials are not cheap.
Pfizer will use contacts to nudge policy in a direction that benefits them. Doesnt have
to be evil, their job is to make stuff and sell it.
Why is Pfizer (could really be any of them) in this position? Because there was a
government policy to rush a product to market, Operation Warp Speed.
If that policy was never enacted none of these companies would have undertaken the
development of these shots with the resources they did. It would merely be pinheads doing
animal studies still at this point because a typical vaccine takes a decade to develop, and
mRNA has not been proven safe, so it would take longer to prove safety in target
populations, including mutagenic/teratagenic studies.
So really it was a government policy that landed us where we are at now. This is not a
political statement. No left/right BS is intended. Just a deductive theory of how the world
works, at a level above the left/right pigpen.
Brushy 10 hours ago remove link
Rand Paul didnt tweet the most important part of that study;
Delta variant deaths;
117 total deaths
44 unvaccinated
23 single dose
50 fully vaccinated
Thats 73 deaths for those who have been fully or partially vaccinated vs only 44 deaths
for the unvaxxed. Its looking more and more like the "Delta variant" is just code for
vaccine injury.
FrankDrakman 10 hours ago remove link
On the one page of data shown, I calculated the following: (rounded)
Unvaxxed: 35,000/34 deaths ~= 1/1000
One shot < 21 days: 4,000/1 deaths ~= 1/4000
One shot > 21 days: 9,000/10 deaths ~= 1/900
Two shots > 14 days: 4,000/26 deaths = 1/150
The second shot's the killer!
Morse_Code 8 hours ago
The virus is a poor excuse for the "Great Reset" into corporate fascism and to check out
the "Chicken Little" theory of the 'Sky is Falling' social syndrome.
They have already convinced society that white people are bad, men are really women, we
don't need police if they take our guns away and inflation is good, the U.S. is better
because of illegal immigration and that Biden won.
RathdrumGal 10 hours ago
I 100% agree. My career was spent in Critical Care nursing. I have seen people die and I
have seen what torture comes from a fear of death. I am much more afraid of a vancomycin
resistant enterococcus than COVID. Two days ago I was jet boating in Hell's Canyon in 117
degree heat. It was red neck heaven, no one on our boat was masked. We stopped for lunch on
the way home in a college town. So many young healthy looking people wearing masks, with
their young children masked! They can't all be on chemo, and I assume if they are that
afraid of COVID they have been vaccinated. What gives?
The key unanswered question is: what benefits for 12 years old vaccine provides. I do not see
any, while risks are real and unknown. At this point we already know that vaccine cause serious
heart problems in some vaccinated young people (say below 30 yours old)
Twelve year-old Maddie was enrolled in the Pfizer vaccine clinical trial. She's now in a
wheelchair, has an NG tube, and is suffering from severe memory loss, along with many other
issues.
I am SO sorry for this girl. She relied on her parents, their job, to protect their minor
children. They failed.
I am very sorry for what's happened, but lady that is exactly what you get by disregarding your
fellow citizens &
relying on the government for your truth. Its been obvious to all those with open minds, that
this entire pandemic is
a huge scam, the worst scam in human history. The old saying comes to mind, "and if the
government told you to go jump
off the roof, would you?" Sadly leftists answer, "how many times?" Karen
The only way I would I "consider" allowing my child to sign up to be a guinea pig in any
clinical trial is if they had a life threating incurable disease and the trial was specific to
their disease & participation was a "chance" to save their life. I worked in a clinical
trial office, you agree to being the guinea pig when you agree that you will never know if
you're injected with
1. a placebo OR
2. the "drug" its self.
You're also informed in advance of how many visits (minimal # of visits) the trial will require
of you to fully participate as it usually requires regularly scheduled bi weekly or monthly
visits. It's in a office setting & your mandated to keep the doctor informed of everything,
even an emergency, because theres a written script "behind the scenes" of what to do along the
way if "this" or "that" happens. That way you collect better data of adverse reactions. Plus
there are the very important (to the medical side anyway) non disclosure agreements.
I noticed here it seems the family reached out to "emercency" facilities when things started
going wrong.
Are these "trials" being conducted standard procedure or not. MAJOR DANGER
What sort of parent would give their kid an untested, un-needed vaccine? There is NO excuse.
None. Zero. Mother should be in tears. 100% well deserved.
Deplored
" in healthcare" means nothing anymore. I've been in healthcare for 25 years and it blows my
mind how many 500,000$ plus educations lined up for the "vax" AND do not know the simple
definition of a vaccine. I watched 1st hand as practically overnight medicine went from being
science based to political weapon. We used to have to have an evidence based system where
doctors would look at the published studies and make decisions based on the best info
available. That's all gone now. You can't even trust the medical journals anymore that at one
time were the pinnacles of scientific medical discovery. The hospital I've worked in for 25
years is going to mandate the vax as soon as the FDA approves it,which means I'm out. 15% of us
are unvaxed and they have plans to get rid of us. The medical tyranny STARTED w the mandating
of the flu shot years ago for HC workers and now it's covid. It's not going to end ,just wait
til the next shit show released on us. Next time they will have the ballz to say ur locked in
ur home until u comply. Then when u can't pay ur property taxes because u cant leave the house
to work u find out who actually owns ur home. Peetoonya
The US "Healthcare" INDUSTRY ranks 37th in the world. John Hopkins put out a report that the
3rd leading cause of death is going to your doctor and doing what he/she says! I remember in
the 90's they ran off or bought out most of the private practices especially in the rural areas
with malpractice claims if they didn't sell out. But these days you can make up to $50,000 a
year just sending people the bill for your inflicted genocide. Medical Billing Specialist
Salary in the United States https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/medical-billing-specialist-salary
All the cowardly doctors will do as they are told for fear of losing their license. PS The
profession that has the highest rate of suicide is Doctors! I haven't been to a doctor in 21
years. Riseliberty
This is not a vaccine. Do you understand? It is experimental gene therapy. You cannot
compare this with any FDA approved vaccine you've had in the past. Hehe62
Before watching one clip I suggest you watch the entire press conference. ALL of the
participants explained they are pro science and pro vaccine up front.
They have been harmed-most likely permanently by this *vaccine* and as you can see by the
twitter disclaimer they have been silenced, told they are suffering from anxiety versus a
vaccine side effect and our medical community has done NOTHING to follow up on what is going
on.
As an NP who has been thrust into covid from the get go I now daily see covid 19 vaccine
injuries albeit less than those suffered from these victims; depending on how you see it.
Type 1 diabetes in a perfectly healthy 16 year old athletic boy with healthy family members
now requiring insulin for the rest of his life-happened right after 2nd pfizer. Tons of
shingles and herpes viruses, and regular colds that have taken out staff members for 3-4 weeks
versus 2-3 days in the past.
As an NP that started in the military and has all vaccines and vaccinated all my children
and seeing and living in the medical community throughout this I personally will NEVER get
another vaccine the government suggests or requires ever again. I will NEVER go see a
mainstream medical provider ever again unless I'm taken against my will or knowledge.
Sure, tons of people have gotten the vax without issue, but YOU are the phase III clinical
trial for this thing, it has only been about 6 months. Long term effects who knows. I have a
feeling it isn't going to get better. And the fact that these people have been completely
silenced, questioned, and "debunked" by mainstream media and the public as a whole that
suddenly seems to have 100% confidence in their government???? is EXTREMELY concerning. Ron
God bless Maddie and her family. For context, I'd like to know how many children have had
the Pfizer vaccine without serious side effects. We shouldn't fall into the left wing tactics
of using anecdotal emotional cases to distort reality to make a larger point. The fact is that
vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented millions of crippling side effects from
polio, smallpox, yellow fever, mumps, measles, hepatitis, HPV . Regretfully, some of the
vaccinated have suffered side effects, but the benefit greatly outweighs the risk.
JedWSmith
For perspective, this "vaccine" has caused more deaths than all the other vaccines given
over the last century. Maybe caution is warranted. This little child had an almost ZERO chance
of any complications from the China virus. There's ZERO reason for someone who's had the China
virus and recovered, having natural antibodies, to get the vaccine. The therapeutics work. They
were demonized only because a sitting president, hated by the fake media, big pharma, and the
DC deep state, promoted them. Dillard
Offering up your child for experiments, was it for $$$$$$$?
Remember the Canadian govt with pop up vaccination sites offering children ice cream if they
got the jab, and they did it WITHOUT PARENTS CONSENT? Think about that one. The govt rolls up
and opens a vaccine tent near your home, your child sees FREE ICE CREAM and goes to get free
ice cream and gets injected without your knowledge. That is some real evil there. William
Walker
I'm terribly sorry for the young girl, but I'm inflamed with anger that the stupid parents
put not one, but THREE children through clinical trials giving them the vaccine–all the
while touting the science (oh, the science!) which completely contradicts the claims that young
people are in any way threatened by Covid as a demographic. This is tragic, this is moronic
liberalism, and this is a direct result of the parents swilling all the false idiocy from CNN
and MSNBC without questioning the actual empirical data and science. PALydia
"Trials" are done to determine outcome. The word "trial" is synonymous with the word
"experiment." I.e. you are playing Russian Roulette when you enroll your child in ANY trial.
That IS science. You should NEVER assume something is safe and harmless when it is still in
"trial" phase .never mind these vaccines bypassed animal trials and all previous mRNA vaccines
failed animal trials. My heart breaks for this child but it's criminal for any parent to
subject their child to this. LiberalsRPinworms
Was waiting for the "but we still think you should vaccinate your kids too "
I find it interesting that all these cult members keep saying they're pro science. However,
scientific experiments are based on hypotheses, not already known facts. Why is she upset? Her
kid wanted to provide data to this experiment and did just that. Too bad she wasn't an outlier
considering, if she were, she could probably still eat food on her own. Thanks for your
contribution to the science folks! navi282
I am very sorry about what has happened to Maddie, but the responsibility lies with the
parents who believe in the false religion of "scientism" and have opted into the con-game that
vaccinations are genuine healing methodologies. As an engineer Maddie's mother should have
studied logic and the philosophy of science and then discerned that the politicization of the
medical field in recent years created confirmation bias, poor SPC (statistical process
control), and question-begging fallacies from those who should have known better. Complicity or
Ignorance -- take your pick. Matt Walters
Being pro-science means you base decisions on data. There is not yet a data set for the
short and long-term risks, benefits, and side effects of this vaccine that would allow a
science-based decision to take it or not. Those who are pro science wait for reliable data
before considering taking an experimental vaccine that is not approved by the FDA. constitution
rules
For USA children ages 5 to 18:
Population: ~57,000,000
Covid deaths: 263
Chance: < 1 in 200,000 Para Bellum
I notice a common trend among these child abuser parents .they go online to complain how
their kids were maimed by the experimental mRNA, but then they always have to preface it by
saying "oh but we're pro vaccine and pro science"
Well, I am anti-vaccine and I'm anti-mRNA. Have some conviction you retard. No wonder you
find yourselves in the position you're in.
I sincerely feel bad for your kids. You stole their lives from them and they will never be
the same and while the fallen man part of me wants to say "just deserts", the Catholic part of
me prays the rosary for you and your kids every single night. solome
' .we are pro-vaccine and pro-science'
.these parents make a great case that academia does not necessarily convey common sense it
can convey a buttload of chutzpah ..we know that because Washington DC is full of it excessive
hubris, too and, in turn, they can make decisions that prove disastrous for the future of We
the People Christina
This is a terrible tragedy for this family. I hope this beautiful young girl will eventualy
recover fully. I hope her parents will recover as well.
As for her parents, however, who are obviously very intelligent, did they miss the reams and
reams of scientific studies, white papers, and patent applications available to the public
before they permitted their child to get this not yet approved, experimental gene therapy
injection?
Did they not watch the hours and hours of video interviews and presentations by doctors,
virologists, epidemiologists, etc., who warned, warned, warned us to NOT TAKE IT?
Even after big tech started censoring and scrubbing most of this information off the net and
everywhere else, even before the massive pro-vax propaganda machine cranked up, millions of
people informed themselves about what it really is and thus decided to not be part of the human
trials.
Most of us had our flu shots and regular real vaccines as well, real vaccines are not the
issue, here.
I'm really sorry to tell you this, Mom, but you either ignored the real science or you, too,
were caught up in the propaganda that caused so many people to automatically reject any thing
people on the other side of the debate had to say.
One more red flag when it comes to politics and propaganda: DID YOU NOT QUESTION WHY SO MANY
MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS WHO TRIED TO WARN US HAD THEIR INFORMATION SCRUBBED, CENSORED, LOST THEIR
JOBS, AND RECEIVED DEATH THREATS SIMPLY FOR DOING DUE DILIGENCE AND ENGAGING IN THE ALWAYS
REQUIRED DEBATES AMONG MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS BEFORE APPROVING VACCINES? AND THEN WARNING THE
PUBLIC BEFORE THE POLITIAL CAMPAIGN BEGAN.
This is a very, very sad day in America. It's a very, very sad day for this family.
But maybe other parents will think twice, now, before they sign their children up for
potentailly horrific experiences related to the gene therapy injections. Maria
"Twelve year-old Maddie was enrolled in the Pfizer vaccine clinical trial."
The complete blame belongs on the parents. The tearful mother, an electrical engineer, said
she and her husband were pro-vaccine. If they were so smart, why in the hell would they enroll
their CHILD in a clinical trial for a fast-tracked vaccine, especially when children are not in
a high-risk group, and Covid-19 survival is 99.8 percent? I am furious with these highly
educated people. THEY WERE DUMBER THAN DOORKNOBS TO SACRIFICE THAT GIRL TO THE
GOVERNMENT/PHARMA COMPLEX. Libby ChickenLittle
When I was a 12 year old girl, I didn't even know what a clinical trial was. But then again,
I grew up at time when kids were allowed to be just kids and not political pawns by their
brainwashed parents. Sorry mom – I know comments are going to be harsh – but you
deserve EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. smith. jane smith.
Q. How does a government make a pro-vaccine person turn into an anti-vaccine person?
A. Give them a vaccine that makes them sicker than they were before they got the vaccine,
sicker with the very thing the vaccine was supposed to prevent.
I was told to go get a flu shot by my commander. Being a good USAF airman, I did so. I was
just a kid following orders. Two days later I was in the hospital, so sick with the flu until I
could not take 4 steps without getting so dizzy that I had to stop moving to keep from throwing
up. And it took 5 days before I was able to walk down a hallway without getting dizzy!
That was the last time I ever had a flu shot. Or the flu.
And that was over 35 years ago.
If the vaccine is such a good idea, then why does everybody have to get it in order for it
to work?
How about those who get the vaccine just leave those alone who choose not to get it?
And after what has happened to this lady's kid(s) .
Why the heck is she still PRO‐vaccine ???? 58
I blame the Fauci, Government, and the MSM for brainwashing fear amongst the masses. If you
are repeatedly gaslighted about almost every issue, you begin to believe the lies. You can add
schools also as they indoctrinate instead of teaching critical thinking.
The US Food and Drug Administration added a warning about the risk of myocarditis and
pericarditis to fact sheets for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines Friday.
The warning notes that reports of adverse events following vaccination -- particularly after
the second dose -- suggest increased risks of both types of heart inflammation.
Earlier this week, vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
heard that the agency had received about 1,200 reports of such heart inflammation after 300
million doses of the two vaccines had been given.
"Patients who had had COVID-19 within the past year and people vaccinated with two doses of
Pfizer retained enough antibodies to be protected against the Indian variant, but three to six
times less antibodies than against the UK variant, Schwartz said. The study shows that "this
variant.. has acquired partial resistance to antibodies," Schwartz said." Pfizer jab
less effective, still protects against Indian strain- study
in people who had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,
levels of neutralising antibodies were more than five times lower against the B.1.617.2 variant
when compared to the original strain, upon which current vaccines are based.
Importantly, this antibody response was even lower in people who had only received one dose.
After a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, 79% of people had a quantifiable neutralising antibody
response against the original strain, but this fell to 50% for B.1.1.7, 32% for B.1.617.2 and
25% for B.1.351.
While antibody
levels decreased with age against all variants, no correlation was observed for sex or
BMI.
More recently, there has been a Delta outbreak at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary,
with 16 patients and six staff infected. The majority experienced mild symptoms, though one
required treatment in the intensive care unit. Of the 22, 11 had been fully vaccinated, while
seven had one dose; all were given an mRNA vaccine, communications director Kerry Williamson of
Alberta Health Services told Maclean's . (The province did not disclose whether the one
admitted to ICU had been vaccinated.)
An outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Israel has spread to some vaccinated people
-- with about half of the adults infected fully inoculated with the Pfizer shot, a health
official said.
What has your blood sugar been up to lately? Get an A1C test to find out your average levels
-- important to know if you're at risk for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, or if you're
managing diabetes.
The A1C test -- also known as the hemoglobin A1C or HbA1c test -- is a simple blood test
that measures your average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. It's one of the commonly
used tests to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes, and is also the main
test to help you and your health care team manage your diabetes. Higher A1C levels are linked
to diabetes complications, so reaching and maintaining your individual A1C goal is really
important if you have diabetes. What Does the A1C Test Measure?
When sugar enters your bloodstream, it attaches to hemoglobin, a protein in your red blood
cells. Everybody has some sugar attached to their hemoglobin, but people with higher blood
sugar levels have more. The A1C test measures the percentage of your red blood cells that have
sugar-coated hemoglobin. Who Should Get an A1C Test, and When?
Testingfor diabetes or prediabetes:
Get a baseline A1C test if you're an adult over age 45 -- or if you're under 45, are
overweight, and have one or more risk factors for prediabetes or
type 2 diabetes:
If your result is normal but you're over 45, have risk factors, or have ever had
gestational diabetes, repeat the A1C test every 3 years.
If your result shows you have prediabetes, talk to your doctor about taking steps now to
improve your health and lower your risk for type 2 diabetes. Repeat the A1C test as often as
your doctor recommends, usually every 1 to 2 years.
If you don't have symptoms but your result shows you
have prediabetes or diabetes, get a second test on a different day to confirm the
result.
Managingdiabetes :
If you have diabetes, get an A1C test at least twice a year, more often if your medicine
changes or if you have other health conditions. Talk to your doctor about how often is right
for you. How to Prepare for Your A1C Test
The test is done in a doctor's office or a lab using a sample of blood from a finger stick
or from your arm. You don't need to do anything special to prepare for your A1C test. However,
ask your doctor if other tests will be done at the same time and if you need to prepare for
them. Your A1C Result
Diagnosing Prediabetes or Diabetes
Normal
Below 5.7%
Prediabetes
5.7% to 6.4%
Diabetes
6.5% or above
A normal A1C level is below 5.7%, a level of 5.7% to 6.4% indicates prediabetes, and a level
of 6.5% or more indicates diabetes. Within the 5.7% to 6.4% prediabetes range, the higher your
A1C, the greater your risk is for developing type 2 diabetes.
Managing Diabetes
Your A1C result can also be reported as estimated average glucose (eAG), the same numbers
(mg/dL) you're used to seeing on your blood sugar meter:
A1C %
eAG mg/dL
7
154
8
183
9
212
10
240
What Can Affect Your A1C Result?
Get your A1C tested in addition to -- not instead of -- regular blood sugar self-testing if
you have diabetes.
Several factors can falsely increase or decrease your A1C result, including:
Kidney failure, liver disease, or severe anemia.
A less common type of hemoglobin that people of African, Mediterranean, or Southeast
Asian descent and people with certain blood disorders (such as sickle cell anemia or
thalassemia) may have.
Certain medicines, including opioids and some HIV medications.
Blood loss or blood transfusions.
Early or late pregnancy.
Let your doctor know if any of these factors apply to you, and ask if you need additional
tests to find out. Your A1C Goal
The goal for most people with diabetes is 7% or less. However, your personal goal will
depend on many things such as your age and any other medical conditions. Work with your doctor
to set your own individual A1C goal.
Younger people have more years with diabetes ahead, so their goal may be lower to reduce the
risk of complications, unless they often have hypoglycemia (low blood sugar, or a "low").
People who are older, have severe lows, or have other serious health problems may have a higher
goal. A1C: Just Part of the Toolkit
A1C is an important tool for managing diabetes, but it doesn't replace regular blood sugar
testing at home. Blood sugar goes up and down throughout the day and night, which isn't
captured by your A1C. Two people can have the same A1C, one with steady blood sugar levels and
the other with high and low swings.
If you're reaching your A1C goal but having symptoms of highs or lows, check your blood
sugar more often and at different times of day. Keep track and share the results with your
doctor so you can make changes to your treatment plan if needed.
An outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Israel has spread to some vaccinated people -- with about half of the adults infected
fully inoculated with the Pfizer shot, a health official said.
Ran Balicer, who heads a COVID-19 government advisory committee, said that about 90 percent of new infections in the country were
likely caused by the Delta variant, a highly-contagious strain that first emerged in India,
the
Wall Street Journal reported
.
"The entrance of the Delta variant has changed the transmission dynamics," Balicer said.
Children under the age of 16 -- the majority of whom had not received the vaccine -- were responsible for about half of the new cases,
Balicer said.
But about half of adults infected in the outbreak were considered fully-vaccinated -- meaning that it had been at least two weeks
since they received their final dose of the Pfizer shot, he said.
Balicer added that the so-called breakthrough cases were expected because though Pfizer is highly effective against the virus, it's
not 100 percent protective.
Israelis
wear protectives against COVID-19 at a shopping mall in Jerusalem on June 25, 2021.
EMMANUEL
DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images
The spread of the Delta variant comes as daily cases rose to 200 on Thursday from around 10 a day for most of June, the Wall Street
Journal reported.
Though the outbreak is small by global standards, it has prompted the government to reimpose indoor mask mandates, the newspaper
reported.
Health officials in the US have warned that the Delta variant will soon become the dominate strain of COVID-19.
But evidence has shown that the vaccine will prevent severe cases of the bug, as well as hospitalizations.
"Right now, in the United States, [Delta accounts for] about 10 percent of infections. It's
doubling every two weeks," Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration, said Sunday on
Face the Nation . "So it's probably going to become the dominant strain here in the
United States. That doesn't mean that we're going to see a sharp uptick in infections, but it
does mean that this is going to take over. And I think the risk is really to the fall -- that
this could spike a new epidemic heading into the fall."
Adding to the worry is new data that suggests Delta may also cause more severe disease -- in
addition to spreading to more people. Early findings out of Scotland suggest infections with
the Delta variant were associated with nearly double the risk of infected persons ending up
hospitalized compared to infections with the Alpha variant. The data was published
Monday as Correspondence in the Lancet . Experts say they'll need more data to confirm that
risk.
The bright side
The good news in all of this is that being fully vaccinated appears to protect against
Delta. At the end of May, researchers at Public Health England posted data (which had not been
peer-reviewed) indicating that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 88 percent
effective at preventing a symptomatic infection with the Delta variant . Meanwhile, the
data said, two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were 60 percent effective. (Notably,
just one shot of either vaccine was not protective, offering only 33 percent efficacy
against symptomatic Delta infections. Experts emphasized the importance of not skipping the
second dose.)
Data out
of Scotland Monday likewise suggested that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 79
percent effective against the Delta variant, while two doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were
again 60 percent effective.
Also on Monday, PHE released another analysis (also not peer-reviewed) that finds that two
doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were
96 percent effective against hospitalization and two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca
vaccine were 92 percent effective against hospitalization.
"So we have the tools to control this and defeat it," Gottlieb noted.
Looming risk
But experts are still concerned. The pace of vaccination has slowed significantly in the US,
and many states -- particularly in the South -- are far behind the goal of getting 70 percent
of adults at least one vaccine. Pockets of low vaccination are fueling fears among experts,
including Gottlieb, that cases could once again spike as Delta continues its spread.
Peter Hotez, director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development,
echoed that concern Tuesday. He told CNN that he is " extremely
worried " about the Delta variant. He emphasized that right now is "crunch time" to get
fully vaccinated -- which takes five to six weeks -- before Delta spreads further.
In a press briefing last week, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci made a similar
plea, pointing to the rapid spread of the Delta variant in the UK. "
We cannot let that happen in the United States ," he said. This "is such a powerful
argument... to get vaccinated."
This is a fiasco for Fauci "herd immunity" campaign and the US goverment official strategy --
full, if necessary compulsive, vaccination of population with the first generation of vaccines.
It means that people vaccinated with the the first generation vaccines can become infected with
Delta variant and spread the virus much like unvaccinated people.
An Israeli receives a coronavirus vaccine in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 6. Sebastian
Scheiner/AP As many as half of new COVID-19 cases in Israel are vaccinated people, a health
official suggested. The Delta variant, not as easily beaten by vaccines as other variants, is
driving Israel's surge. The figure is likely an estimate, as the health ministry is still
analyzing the cases. As Israel faces a surge in cases driven by the Delta variant, its health
officials suggested that as many as half of new cases were among people who'd been
vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people who've come into contact with the Delta variant have no immunity and
have to quarantine, Chezy Levy, the director-general of Israel's health ministry, said on
Wednesday, Haaretz reported. Levy told the state broadcaster Kan Bet that about 40% to 50% of
new cases appeared to be people who had been vaccinated, Haaretz reported.
He did not appear to specify a time frame for the new cases. The figure is likely an
estimate, as the ministry is still analyzing the cases. On Monday, Levy said that a third of
the new daily cases were people who had been vaccinated.
This is a fiasco for Fauci "herd immunity" campaign. It means that vaccinated people can
become infected and spread the virus much like unvaccinated people.
Cases of the Delta variant of coronavirus have almost doubled in a week
with 73 people now confirmed to have died after testing positive for the variant, 26 of whom
had had both vaccine doses.
Public Health England (PHE) said that as of Monday, the UK has seen 75,953 confirmed cases
of the Delta variant first identified in India, up 33,630 - or 79% - from the previous
week.
While just 26 people died more than two weeks after their second COVID-19 vaccine dose from
the Delta variant, more than 30.6 million in the UK have had both jabs, according to the
latest
government figures .
PHE said a total of 806 people in England have been admitted to hospital with the Delta
variant as of 14 June, a rise of 423 on the previous week.
So we have real problems with vaccines as Delta mutation puts the end of Fauci and company
fake dream about herd immunity -- it infects vaccinated people, but we can't discuss that the US medical establishment is corrupt,
in bed with Big Pharma and failed us.
This "medical bolshevism" should better be stopped.
Notable quotes:
"... Johnson said Sheryl Ruettgers will detail "severe neurological reactions that still inhibit her ability to live a normal life, including muscle pain, numbness, weakness and paresthesia" that she experienced after getting the COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month. ..."
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson announced plans to hold a news conference to
discuss adverse reactions related to the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing backlash from health care
experts who view the move as "dangerous" and a way to promote misinformation.
In a statement Friday, Johnson said he plans to give a platform to six people from across
the country who claim to have had negative health reactions after receiving the coronavirus
jab. Johnson said the conference will take place Monday to allow the individuals to tell their
stories and discuss issues that have been "repeatedly ignored" by the medical community,
according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The Republican senator, who has been a vocal critic of vaccine mandates and has previously
advocated for alternative and unproven drug treatments to COVID-19, faced immediate backlash
from critics who feel the event will be a platform for spreading misinformation about the
safety of vaccines.
Dr. Jeff Huebner, a doctor in Madison, Wisconsin, said that Johnson was "promoting dangerous
and unfounded claims" about the vaccine that contradict medical research and analysis.
"As a member of the Wisconsin medical community I'm gravely concerned about the impact his
event and remarks will have on our ability to return to normal and protect Wisconsinites from
COVID-19.," Huebner said in a statement, the Journal Sentinel reported .
Joanna Bisgrove, a Wisconsin primary care doctor, told FOX6 that Johnson's statements and
event are "putting people at risk and already hurting people."
Tony Evers, the state's Democratic governor, added Friday that Johnson was being "reckless
and irresponsible" and said the event was "jeopardizing the health and safety" of the state's
vaccine rollout and economic recovery.
[email protected], you're being reckless and irresponsible. The #COVID19 vaccine is safe and
effective and based on years of science and research. Every time you suggest otherwise,
you're jeopardizing the health and safety of the people of our state and our economic
recovery.
-- Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) June 25, 2021
In defense, Johnson said Friday that he is "just asking questions" and isn't against the
vaccine.
"We're all supporters of vaccines. As I've repeatedly said, I'm glad that hundreds of
millions of Americans have been vaccinated, but I don't think authorities can ignore and censor
some of the issues," Johnson said in a tweet responding to Evers. "On Monday, we'll bring light
to stories that deserve to be seen, heard & believed."
Monday's event in Milwaukee will include statements from former Green Bay Packers player Ken
Ruettgers and his wife, Sheryl.
Johnson said Sheryl Ruettgers will detail "severe neurological reactions that still inhibit
her ability to live a normal life, including muscle pain, numbness, weakness and paresthesia"
that she experienced after getting the COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month.
Additional testimonies will be heard from individuals from Ohio, Missouri, Utah, Michigan
and Tennessee.
The medical community has long stressed that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine far
outweigh the risks of possible side effects. Earlier this week, top U.S. health officials, medical agencies, laboratory and hospital
associations issued a statement reiterating the benefits by stating that getting vaccinated is
the "best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, your community, and to return to a more
normal lifestyle safely and quickly."
Newsweek contacted Johnson for additional comment, but did not hear back in time for
publication.
Newsweek, in partnership with NewsGuard, is dedicated to providing accurate and
verifiable vaccine and health information. With NewsGuard's HealthGuard browser extension,
users can verify if a website is a trustworthy source of health information. Visit the Newsweek
VaxFacts website to learn more and to download the HealthGuard browser extension.
Johnson &
Johnson has agreed to pay $230 million to the state of New York to resolve an opioid
lawsuit slated to go to trial Tuesday, as negotiations intensify with the company and three
drug distributors to clinch a
$26 billion settlement of thousands of other lawsuits blaming the pharmaceutical industry
for the opioid crisis.
Johnson & Johnson's New York deal removes it from a coming trial on Long Island but not
from the rest of the cases it faces nationwide, including a continuing trial in California. The
New York settlement includes an additional $33 million in attorney fees and costs and calls for
the drugmaker to no longer sell opioids nationwide, something Johnson & Johnson said it
already stopped doing.
States have been trying to re-create with the opioid litigation what they accomplished with
tobacco companies in the 1990s, when $206 billion in settlements flowed into state coffers.
More than 3,000 counties, cities and other local governments have also pursued lawsuits over
the opioid crisis,
complicating talks that have dragged on since late 2019 and that have been slowed down by
the Covid-19 pandemic.
The German company BioNTech
partnered with Pfizer to develop and test a coronavirus
vaccine known as BNT162b2 , the generic name tozinameran or the brand name Comirnaty . A
clinical trial demonstrated that the vaccine has an efficacy rate
of
over 90 percent in preventing Covid-19.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is studded with
proteins that it uses to enter human cells. These so-called spike proteins make a tempting
target for potential vaccines
and treatments
.
The vaccine uses messenger RNA, genetic material that our cells read to make proteins. The
molecule" called mRNA for short "" is fragile and would be chopped to pieces by our natural
enzymes if it were injected directly into the body. To protect their vaccine, Pfizer and
BioNTech wrap the mRNA in oily bubbles made of lipid nanoparticles.
Lipid nanoparticles
surrounding mRNA
Because of their fragility, the mRNA molecules will quickly fall apart at room temperature.
Pfizer is building special containers with dry ice, thermal sensors and GPS trackers to ensure
the vaccines can be transported at ""94°F (""70°C) to stay
viable.
Entering a Cell
After injection, the vaccine particles bump into cells and fuse to them, releasing mRNA. The
cell's molecules read its sequence and build spike proteins. The mRNA from the vaccine is
eventually destroyed by the cell, leaving no permanent trace.
VACCINE
PARTICLES
VACCINATED
CELL
Spike
protein
mRNA
Translating mRNA
Three spike
proteins combine
Spike
Cell
nucleus
Spikes
and protein
fragments
Displaying
spike protein
fragments
Protruding
spikes
Some of the spike proteins form spikes that migrate to the surface of the cell and stick out
their tips. The vaccinated cells also break up some of the proteins into fragments, which they
present on their surface. These protruding spikes and spike protein fragments can then be
recognized by the immune system.
Spotting the Intruder
When a vaccinated cell dies, the debris will contain many spike proteins and protein
fragments, which can then be taken up by a type of immune cell called an antigen-presenting
cell.
Debris from
a dead cell
Engulfing
a spike
ANTIGEN-
PRESENTING
CELL
Digesting
the proteins
Presenting a
spike protein
fragment
HELPER
T CELL
The cell presents fragments of the spike protein on its surface. When other cells called
helper T cells detect these fragments, the helper T cells can raise the alarm and help marshal
other immune cells to fight the infection.
Making Antibodies
Other immune cells, called B cells, may bump into the coronavirus spikes on the surface of
vaccinated cells, or free-floating spike protein fragments. A few of the B cells may be able to
lock onto the spike proteins. If these B cells are then activated by helper T cells, they will
start to proliferate and pour out antibodies that target the spike protein.
HELPER
T CELL
Activating
the B cell
Matching
surface proteins
VACCINATED
CELL
B CELL
SECRETED
ANTIBODIES Stopping the Virus
The antibodies can latch onto coronavirus spikes, mark the virus for destruction and prevent
infection by blocking the spikes from attaching to other cells.
ANTIBODIES
VIRUS Killing Infected Cells
The antigen-presenting cells can also activate another type of immune cell called a killer T
cell to seek out and destroy any
coronavirus-infected cells that display the spike protein fragments on their
surfaces.
ANTIGEN-
PRESENTING
CELL
Presenting a
spike protein
fragment
ACTIVATED
KILLER
T CELL
INFECTED
CELL
Beginning
to kill the
infected cell Remembering the Virus
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two injections, given 21 days apart, to prime the
immune system well enough to fight off the coronavirus. But because the vaccine is so new,
researchers don't know how long its protection might last.
First dose
0.3ml
Second dose
21 days later
A preliminary study found that the vaccine seems to offer strong protection about 10
days after the first dose , compared with people taking a placebo:
Cumulative incidence of Covid-19
among clinical trial participants
2.5%
2.0
People taking
a placebo
1.5
1.0
Second
dose
First
dose
People taking the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
0.5
0
1
2
3
4
8
12
16
Weeks after the first dose
It's possible that in the months after vaccination, the number of antibodies and killer T
cells will drop. But the immune system also contains special cells called memory B cells and
memory T cells that might retain information about the coronavirus for years or even
decades.
Each vial of the vaccine contains 5 doses of 0.3 milliliters. The vaccine must be thawed
before injection and diluted with saline. After dilution the vial must be used within six
hours.
A diluted vial of the vaccine at Royal Free Hospital in London. Jack Hill/Agence France-Presse
Vaccine Timeline
January, 2020 BioNTech begins work on a
vaccine after Dr. Ugur Sahin, one of the company's founders, becomes convinced that the
coronavirus will spread from China into a pandemic.
Dr. Ugur Sahin of BioNTech. BioNTech
March BioNTech and Pfizer agree to collaborate.
May The companies launch a Phase
1/2 trial on two versions of a mRNA vaccine. One version, known as BNT162b2, had fewer side
effects.
The first trial participant being vaccinated in Germany. BioNTech
July 22 The Trump administration awards a
$1.9 billion contract for 100 million doses to be delivered by December, with an option to
acquire 500 million more doses, if the vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug
Administration.
July 27 The companies launch a Phase 2/3
trial with 30,000 volunteers in the United States and other countries, including Argentina,
Brazil and Germany.
Sept. 12 Pfizer and BioNTech
announce they will seek to expand their U.S. trial to 44,000 participants.
A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Pool photo by Andy Stenning
Nov. 9 Preliminary data indicates the Pfizer vaccine is over 90
percent effective , with no serious side effects. The final data from the trial shows the
efficacy rate is 95 percent.
Dec. 2 Britain gives emergency
authorization to Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine, becoming the first Western country to give
such an approval to a coronavirus vaccine.
Dec. 8 William
Shakespeare , age 81, is among the first people to receive a shot of the vaccine in
Britain, on the first day of vaccinations for at-risk health care workers and people over
80.
Dec. 9 Canada
authorizes the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Dec. 11 The F.D.A. grants Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the first emergency use
authorization for a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.
Mexico also approves the vaccine for emergency use.
Dec. 21 The European Union
authorizes the vaccine.
Dec. 31 Pfizer expects to produce up to
50 million doses by the end of the year, and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. Each
vaccinated person will require two doses.
The comments were made on Sky News by Special Envoy on Covid for the World Health
Organisation (WHO). Dr David Nabarro.
Nabarro suggested that there would be a long list of mutations of the Indian variant which
would in some cases evade the protection offered by vaccines.
"We will go from Delta to Lambda and then on to the other Greek letters, that's inevitable,
and some of these variants will be troublesome," he said.
"I'm basically saying variants are going to go on coming. That's part of life, we need to
pick them up fast, we need to move quickly if we see them in a certain location, we need to
build the management of variants into what we call our Covid-ready strategy, which is going to
be the pattern for the foreseeable future," he added.
According to Nabarro, mask mandates and social distancing need to remain in place for the
foreseeable future "as part of our defence" against COVID , particularly in regions which have
high infection rates.
y_arrow
Roacheforque 2 hours ago
[For those who already had Covid-19] the variants are a nothing burger according to Dr.
Yeadon, who is censored and cancelled , just like ivermectin and HCQ.
Crimes against humanity.
trailer park boys 1 hour ago
I was going to bring up Dr. Mike Yeadon also. As the former VP and respiratory research
head globally for Pfizer, he has the knowledge to call Bullshiit! on this variant crap. He
was on The Highwire a week or so ago and it is the best hour and a half to clue you in on
the Covid scam that you'll ever see.
https://thehighwire.com/videos/pfizer-vp-the-thing-to-be-terrified-of-is-your-government/
BLOTTO 1 hour ago
' the idea of mutations of SARS-CoV-2 is based only on an interpretation of the fact
that all DNA is constantly changing. Or more generally formulated, the idea of the virus
mutation arises only because one still works with completely outdated, long since disproved
scientific hypotheses.
With this obsolete approach, new mutations of SARS-CoV-2 can be found/invented for all
eternity. This can quickly become a catastrophic self-perpetuating vicious circle, and it
appears that many scientists have already fallen into this.'
Confidential Documents reveal Moderna sent mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate to
University Researchers weeks before emergence of Covid-19
Tap News / Weaver
U.S. Gov't Sent "mRNA Coronavirus Vaccine Candidates" to University Researchers WEEKS
BEFORE "COVID" Outbreak in China
Virgil Krenshaw PREMIUM 2 hours ago remove link
AKA the plan from the beginning.
Permanent lockdown is one way to keep the people from rising up. Or it might cause them
to rise up. Flip a coin, oligarchs. You feel lucky?
HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 2 hours ago
The twisted part is the dumb people that are followers are the ones getting vaxxed and
wearing a mask. Both of which have serious health implications. Oh well. Not my problem if
the dumb ones, as usual, win the Darwin Award.
williambanzai7 PREMIUM 2 hours ago
Your papers please
Rectify77 PREMIUM 2 hours ago
Total mind control. Fear only works until people realize that the bogeyvirus isn't
really dangerous to the 99.8%. Wake up people!
pods 1 hour ago remove link
This guy [who advocates social distancing] needs to be ventilated. You know how many
people will die from lack of socialization? More than from the boogeyman virus.
These psychopaths need to be removed from society. We've lived and died for a long time
with communicable diseases. We aren't going dystopia cyborg life now.
Nope, "2 ropes to stretch his neck".
hegger 2 hours ago (Edited)
The WHO lost its scientific relevance and whatever psychological authority it had left
when it changed its version of "herd immunity" such that herd immunity could now only be
possible through vaccines. (I'm too lazy to provide a link, but look it up; it
happened.)
The WHO and its scientists have betrayed the light of logos for the short-term dopamine
hits provided by power and money. They are quite literally a net negative to the human
species and, hopefully, history will prepare an appropriately excruciating conclusion of
their miserable lives.
GeezerGeek 1 hour ago
I suspect that the narrowly targeted mRNA jabs do a really poor job of developing herd
immunity. They only potentially address one of the many ways -> our immune systems
normally work. Or so I've read.
But what do I know? I'm not a doctor and it's been decades since I last "played doctor"
with anyone.
SuperareDolo 2 hours ago (Edited)
SARS is only 80% identical to Covid, versus 99.99% identical for these stupid variants.
Survivors of SARS have robust T-cell immunity today, including against Covid, 17 years
after having the disease. Antibodies don't do the heavy lifting against viruses, and
surface antigens like spike protein are often not the principal immune targets. So useless
vaccines might indeed allow endless variants to spread. But all those people who've had the
virus now have the gold standard of immunity, and don't need to give another thought to
it.
KittyAW 2 hours ago remove link
The Earth is inundated w/ viruses, bacteria, fungi & other microorganisms. They are
everywhere; the air, soil, oceans - THIS is the environment in which humans evolved. Those
whose immune systems were inadequate early on, died early on; those whose immune systems
degenerated died later.
In the more recent centuries sanitation & improved diets have enabled very many to
overcome infections who would have died in centuries past. Far more recently tho, many ppl
have ruined their immune systems via life-style practices, among them poor eating habits
leading to obesity. Those who have kept themselves truly healthy - or regained good health
- which always includes a strong immune system, should not be penalized (nor penalized
themselves) bc of the many who have let themselves become immune-wise dysfunctional.
These new "variants" are not much different from the original & the prevention
measures of serious illness are the same. But this WHO "Special Envoy on Covid" is NOT
going to say that. The financial backing from the likes of Bill Gates is all promulgated on
Pushing "Vaccines", even tho they will have little to no diminishing effect on anything but
general health over the next few years as data is likely to show..... But a diminished
population is exactly what certain parties want.
trailer park boys 2 hours ago
Dr. Mike Yeadon has given the most insightful explanation of all the nefarious goings on
this past year plus. As the former VP and respiratory research head globally for Pfizer, he
has the knowledge to call Bullshiit! on this variant crap. He was on The Highwire a week or
so ago and it is the best hour and a half to clue you in on the Covid scam that you'll ever
see.
https://thehighwire.com/videos/pfizer-vp-the-thing-to-be-terrified-of-is-your-government/
YouThePeople 2 hours ago
The WHO...We Won't Get Fooled Again!
Able Ape 2 hours ago (Edited)
I think he's a moron... Him and that midget Fauci make quite a pathetic pair...
Schroedingers Cat 2 hours ago
He's not stupid. He either brainwashed, blackmailed or in all likelihood a greedy
genocidal psychopath who puts his career and income before the future of the entire human
race..
WeNamedTheDogIndiana 1 hour ago
mask mandates and social distancing need to remain in place for the foreseeable future
"as part of our defence" against COVID
Just like getting groped at airports by TSA goons, warrantless surveillance, warrant
applications approved almost 100% of the time by a shadowy court, and renewal of the
Patriot Act....all for our safety. Sure.
liberty2day 2 hours ago
the only ugly face that needs a muzzle is faoxi's
dockw 2 hours ago
Could you reference some studies, like in scientific, that demonstrate Masks are
effective in blocking the Covid? -- which virons are smaller than the material in a mask I
didn't think so.
Here's the Danish study done last year which shows they don't make a difference https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817
According to Nabarro, mask mandates and social distancing need to remain in place for
the foreseeable future "as part of our defence" against COVID , particularly in regions
which have high infection rates.
Social distancing seems rather silly. If a person remains the required distance away
from another person this does not mean they may not be breathing the same air. The air does
not abide by social distancing. Air moves. People move. If people move through contaminated
air yet keep the proper social distancing space with other persons yet people are still
passing through contaminated air. Even if there is no one around and a person is perfectly
social distanced from the entire human race thus they can still be breathing in
contaminated air that was previously contaminated by an infected person even a few moments
before. I just don't get the whole folly of social distancing thing.
Further, it's a talking virus that is spread by talking. So if one is perfectly socially
distanced from another and yet talking or one is talking on their cell and the other not
talking... well it still comes down to masks and contaminated air.
People should generally tend to wear masks when venturing out especially as to high
pedestrian traffic areas or high traffic sites such as big box stores or grocers or even
neighborhood small stores that receive a lot or constant foot traffic/patronage.
The shots are "safe and effective," the propagandists proclaim.
That's absolutely true. Until some woefully ignorant, or psychopathic imitation of a human
being injects them into someone.
Anyone with two or more brain cells that get along, and has paid the slightest attention
knows that those under 20 are virtually immune to the virus, and those under 40 are no more at
risk than they are from the common cold, and those under 60 with no other serious co-morbidity
are only at slight risk. There is no logical reason to vaccinate ANYONE under 20. Very little
reason regarding those 20-40, and choose your poison if you are 40-whatever. At 67 I've chosen
to take my chances without participating in a medical experiment.
Regarding safety, they are the most dangerous vaccine ever produced, much less deployed,
even by the woefully inadequate results of under reporting to VAERS. By those results, the
COVID vaccines have already killed about 6,000 Americans. More than all other vaccines combined
for the last 10-30 years, and the year is only half over. Some of those other vaccines were
pulled from the market because of as few as 50 deaths. Why do the COVID vaccines get a pass for
6,000? And that's just deaths. There are abundant other side effects, including mounting
evidence of mental disability, and definite reproductive damage.
VAERS data: "5,888 deaths", "19,597 hospitalizations", "43,891 urgent care", "58,800
office visits", "1,459 anaphylaxis", "1,737 Bell's palsy", "2,190 heart attacks" and "652
miscarriages". CDC says data is "unreliable". You choose who to believe.
WarrenLiz 16 hours ago
Over 15,472 dead from Jab in 27 EU countries, about half of Europe's 50 countries.
The EudraVigilance database reports that through June 19, 2021 there are 15,472 deaths
and 1,509,266 injuries reported following injections of four experimental COVID-19
shots:
The answer to Carlson's question is because.. it's a money grabbing death cult!.
Natural immun system is destroyed... just wait till next flu season or the next virus
they relase and see what death numbers we see!
racing_flowers 17 hours ago
Isn't it curious that the 3 big pharma Corps (think Vacc pushers) and the big 2 MSM
Corps are BOTH controlled by Blackrock Partners Hedge Fund...
Nona Yobiznes 18 hours ago remove link
Them going after the children makes me deeply suspicious. Nobody under 50, unless
they're made of blubber, dies from this. In 2020, there was practically zero excess death
for people younger than 70 years old in Sweden. These are their official statistics. For
the vast majority of people it's basically a flu you get for a couple days and you're over
it. What the **** is all this about? If the vaccine is only really good for preventing
hospitalizations, and doesn't stop you from spreading or from catching variants, what in
the hell are we giving kids vaccines when they are more likely to die from the regular flu?
It's freaky, and it stinks.
Having been caught delivering some fact-base 'science' that does not
jibe with the establishment's message that all kids should be jabbed immediately, The WHO has
rapidly 'adjusted' its science-based recommendations for whether children should get
vaccinated... or not...
Gone is the big headline - "Children should not be vaccinated for the moment."
The new guidance is as follows: (emphasis ours... in case you are confused by their
guidance)
Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults, so unless they
are part of a group at higher risk of severe COVID-19, it is less urgent to vaccinate them
than older people, those with chronic health conditions and health workers.
More evidence is needed on the use of the different COVID-19 vaccines in children to be
able to make general recommendations on vaccinating children against COVID-19.
WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has concluded that the Pfizer/BionTech
vaccine is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above. Children aged between 12 and
15 who are at high risk may be offered this vaccine alongside other priority groups for
vaccination.
Vaccine trials for children are ongoing and WHO will update its recommendations when the
evidence or epidemiological situation warrants a change in policy.
So to clarify... children aren't really at risk of this virus so no hurry on the jab... more
evidence is needed on its usefulness in kids... oh but the Pfizer vax is suitable?
So is there evidence or not? Is the vaccine worthwhile for kids? If you have to ask, you
aren't following the science.
Color us not entirely surprised at this farce... but one thing we are sure of, this will
simply be dismissed as a coincidence and WHO had planned on adjusting its guidance the whole
time (it was just waiting to get caught in a disagreement with Fauci and friends).
* * *
As The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity's Adam Dick noted yesterday, in
America, national, state, and local governments are pulling out all the stops to advance giving
experimental coronavirus shots to children down to the age of 12.
Up next, babies and children up to age 11.
The shots are "safe and effective," the propagandists proclaim.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a different approach. The WHO says do not
vaccinate children, at least not yet.
At its website, the WHO offers this advice regarding giving experimental coronavirus
vaccines, some of which are not even vaccines under the normal meaning of the term, to
children:
Children should not be vaccinated for the moment. There is not yet enough evidence on the
use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations for children to be
vaccinated against COVID-19.
Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults.
However, children should continue to have the recommended childhood vaccines.
Choose accordingly.
Kugelhagel 18 hours ago
Conspiracy theorist = heretic ... they couldn't use that word anymore, because everyone
would understand that this is about silencing the truth.
Ride_the_kali_yuga 17 hours ago
Nice analogy.
JimmyJones 17 hours ago remove link
Yep, women with their periods messed up, their babies allergic to their breast milk,
young people with heart inflammation, people having partial paralyzed limbs. I know there's
more.
We don't even know what 6-12 months has in-store or 1-2 years.
Alice-the-dog 13 hours ago
I'm always on the look out for new conspiracy theories, because my old ones all turned
out to be accurate.
It was a brilliant psyop by the CIA to invent the term to cover up the murder of JFK.
But if one takes a cursory look at it, how is a conspiracy ever to be exposed without a
theory that there is one? If every time someone proposes a theory regarding this or that
possible conspiracy, they are swept into the kook dust bin, how will any conspiracy ever be
exposed? Hence they aren't, unless iron clad evidence of their existence is encompassed by
the theory.
WarrenLiz 15 hours ago
Over 15,472 dead from Jab in 27 EU countries, about half of Europe's 50 countries.
The EudraVigilance database reports that through June 19, 2021 there are 15,472 deaths
and 1,509,266 injuries reported following injections of four experimental COVID-19
shots:
...Too many people are stuck in normalcy bias and are too trusting of the modern elite
class. You don't have to look back very far to see the unspeakable atrocities powerful
people are willing and able to commit.
Ride_the_kali_yuga 17 hours ago (Edited) remove link
My guess was depopulation due to lower EROIE on petroleum. Deathcross of the fossil
energy (oil) available was near to us, maybe we already are behind peak oil. Eolians, solar
panels and EV are an energical leftist joke and will never be an alternative to nuclear/
charchoal power plants and thermic motors.
I was thinking about it for quite some time. Why all this Covidian Cult was necessary
for? What does it produce? Lockdowns was a main response worldwide.
Was it usefull? absolutely not. No more planes in the sky, economic slowdown, a lot less
of enegy used . I guess this sanitary madness was all about cheap energy we can get from
oil. The human population exploded due to the industrial revolution, the machines, their
capacities and -in fine- oil made it possible. If you do not have enough cheap oil and the
EROIE is way to high, then the industrial technology we live in can no longer be.
The Covidian Cult produced what an energy crisis would have made...
The_Dude 16 hours ago
Evil is narcissism run amok...
Rose Marie PREMIUM 15 hours ago
Intelligence without wisdom. Always looking at what, how, when, where, but no interest
in asking why. Running thought processes without examining the meaning.
uncle_duke 18 hours ago remove link
An age of unlimited information, and a population too dumb and lazy to do anything with
it. Reality has become Pythonian.
DAVOS-19 14 hours ago
Not so fast. Remember, they lie, probably also about history.
Now Voyager 14 hours ago
What happens when you stop natural selection and substitute unnatural selection.
Ride_the_kali_yuga 13 hours ago
Yeah, the gene pool is over crowded with genetics defects. See diabetics, i mean
"genetical" ones since a young age. Insuline was a great discovery, it saves a lot of
people at some point. Then without the natural selection they had kids of their own and has
a consequence they spread their genetic defect in the gene pool. Sometimes great inventions
make unintended results.
Diseases are a way for nature to get rid of the olders and the weak. It is not moral,
there is no justice in this, this is just the way nature works. Human tried damn hard to
break nature's law, the thing is, there is consequences playing god.
"Delta is driving surges around the world, and I suspect it's going to be the same here,"
said William Lee, the vice president of science at Helix. Delta is growing more than twice as
fast as gamma, the variant first seen in Brazil, in undervaccinated communities.
Meanwhile, the gamma variant, which appears better at evading vaccines, was found to be more
prevalent in counties with higher inoculation rates.
People who have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have fewer antibodies targeting the
Indian COVID-19 variant compared to other strains, new data suggests.
Levels of these antibodies are lower with increasing age and decline over time, the analysis
of blood samples from 250 healthy people also suggests.
This provides even more evidence in support for vaccine boosters for the vulnerable come
autumn, researchers believe.
The data, from the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research
(NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, also supports current plans to reduce the dose gap
between the jabs.
It found that after just one dose of the Pfizer jab, recipients were less likely to develop
antibody levels against the Indian variant, also known as Delta, as high as those seen against
the UK variant, now known as Alpha.
...researchers at Emory University performed similar studies with antibodies taken from 15
people who have been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots. In these studies, the
antibodies could still neutralize the B.1.617 variant, but the potency of the antibodies
dropped by about sevenfold on average, the authors reported .
"Despite this reduction, all vaccine blood samples ... still maintained the ability to block
the B.1.617 variant," said immunologist Mehul Suthar
at Emory, who led the study.
Together the data suggests the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will still work well against
B.1.617, just as they do for the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351. In both cases,
the shots will likely offer high protection from death and severe illness, but they may lose
some ability to stop mild or asymptomatic infections.
European health authorities have more or less confirmed that adenovirus-vector vaccines
produced by AstraZeneca and J&J can, in rare instances, cause potentially deadly cerebral
brain clots in patients with low blood-platelet counts. These findings, which were hinted at
during the late-stage trials for the AstraZeneca vaccine (which saw its US trials halted for a
month over safety issues) have
led to some European governments imposing restrictions on the vaccines.
... ... ...
The FT reports that the CDC
has found a "likely association" between a handful of cases of heart inflammation and the mRNA
COVID-19 vaccines. The reactions were documented in adolescent patients, which might explain
the delay in detection since teenagers have only just become eligible.
There were 323 confirmed cases among people who received the vaccine of certain types of
heart inflammation in the US up to June 11, with 309 people requiring hospital treatment.
Nearly 80% of the people with confirmed cases have fully recovered, according to the CDC's
Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group.
The cases have prompted the agency to start monitoring for new instances of myocarditis and
pericarditis, two different types of heart inflammation, to see if any new cases or potential
links emerge. The demographic group that's most vulnerable so far appears to be men under the
age of 30 (by contrast, the rare side effect for the AstraZeneca jabs mostly impacted young
women). Right now, the cases of heart inflammation have occurred at a rate of 4.4 per million
vaccine doses after the first dose, then rising to 12.6 per million after the second dose,
which is still exceedingly rare.
If an adolescent patient experiences heart inflammation after their first dose, the CDC
recommends deferring the second dose.
"This is an extremely rare side-effect, and only an exceedingly small number of people
will experience it after vaccination," doctors from the US health department, CDC and others
said in a statement following the meeting. "Most cases are mild, and individuals recover
often on their own or with minimal treatment. In addition, we know that myocarditis and
pericarditis are much more common if you get Covid-19 , and the risks to the heart from
Covid-19 infection can be more severe," they added.
In the US and Israel, high vaccination rates have prompted authorities to start vaccinating
younger and younger patients, with Israel now vaccinating patients as young as 12 . Anyone who
objects is quickly reminded of the threat of "variants" like the mutant strain "Delta".
Meanwhile, the developing world is still woefully undersupplied, leaving even the most
vulnerable patients without access.
Stinkbug 1 20 hours ago remove link
He's not being judgmental, just stating the facts as he sees them.
The young men who submit to the shot are cannon fodder for big Pharma. The young men who
went to war for causes that turned out out be lies were also cannon fodder. Part of the
tragedy is that their anger cannot be channeled into healthy change since they are either
disabled or no longer with us.
If you were forced to take this shot, focus your anger on the system, not those who
point out the corruption.
ohm 16 hours ago remove link
Who is being forced to take the shots? Unless they have people holding you down or a
gun at your head, you are not forced.
You are being forced in certain countries like Indonesia and the Philippines. In the
rest of the world your are being coerced. Either way, it is a violation of the Nuremberg
code. Libtards, Fauci, Collins and the rest of the public health authorities prove again
that Mengele was just ahead of his time.
WHO's Swaminathan said that scientists still needed more data on the variant, including its
impact on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. How many are getting infected and of those how many
are getting hospitalized and seriously ill?
Some countries, like the U.S. and U.K., have already signaled that they could
roll out Covid-19 booster shots within a year . Now, pressure is building on governments to
mobilize booster shot programs" no easy task given the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the
pandemic, vaccines and variants.
As talk of booster shots grow, here's what we know so far: What?
First of all, there are question marks over whether we actually need a third dose of any
Covid-19 vaccine given that we don't know how long immunity currently lasts.
WATCH NOW VIDEO 01:22 Dr. Scott Gottlieb on whether people will
need Covid booster shots
There are also unknowns regarding whether people should get a booster shot that's the same
as the vaccines they originally had. And also whether the shots need to be tweaked to deal with
variants, much like the flu vaccine, or whether they can remain as they are.
This report claims that people who had been fully vaccinated with two Pfizer doses had
antibodies that were 6 times lower against the B.1.617.2 variant (aka Indian variant, aka Delta
variant). Other reports claim that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine provided about 88% protection.
Analysis from Public Health England released last week showed that two doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against
hospitalization from the delta variant.
This is the most transmissible of all the variants that we've seen. But now a mutation of
that variant has emerged, called "delta plus," which could potentially be more transmissible. The
variant appears to cause alarmingly severe symptoms, scientists say. Stomach pain, nausea,
vomiting, loss of appetite, hearing loss, and joint pain are among the symptoms now being seen in
India, according to six doctors treating patients across India, Bloomberg News reports.
The delta plus variant has three worrying characteristics. These are, it said: increased
transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and the potential reduction in
monoclonal antibody response (which could reduce the efficacy of a lifesaving monoclonal antibody
therapy given to some hospitalized Covid patients).
The Delta variant, as it's now called, has swept across the UK, all but replacing the Alpha
variant first identified there late last year.
As of June 19 20.6% of the cases in the USA are Delta. This number has roughly doubled every
two weeks, he added.
Currently, 62.5% of Americans 12 and up have gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, according
to CDC.
June 4, 2021 -- The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine produces lower
levels of antibodies against the Delta variant, known as B.1.617.2 and discovered in India,
according to a new
study published Thursday in The Lancet .
The antibody levels also appear to be lower in older people and decline over time, which
could mean that some vaccinated people will need a booster shot this fall.
"This virus will likely be around for some time to come, so we need to remain agile and
vigilant," Emma Wall, PhD, the lead study author and an infectious diseases specialist at the
Francis Crick Institute in London, said
in a statement .
"The most important thing is to ensure that vaccine
protection remains high enough to keep as many people out of hospital as possible," she said.
"And our results suggest that the best way to do this is to quickly deliver second doses and
provide boosters to those whose immunity
may not be high enough against these new variants."
The research team analyzed antibodies in the blood of 250 healthy people, ages
33-52, up to 3 months after receiving their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine . The team looked for
"neutralizing antibodies," or the ability of antibodies to block the virus from entering
cells.
The researchers tested five variants: the original strain discovered in China, the dominant
strain in Europe during the first wave in April 2020, the B.1.1.7 variant discovered in the
U.K., the B.1.351 variant first seen in South Africa, and the newest variant of concern, which
is the B.1.617.2 variant discovered in India.
The team compared the concentrations of the neutralizing antibodies among the variants.
They found that people who had been fully vaccinated with two Pfizer doses had antibodies that
were 6 times lower against the B.1.617.2 variant, 5 times lower against the B.1.351 variant,
and 2.6 times lower against the B.1.1.7 variant when compared to the original strain.
The antibody response was even lower in people who had received only one dose. After a
single Pfizer dose, 79% of people had neutralizing antibodies against the original strain,
which fell to 50% for the B.1.1.7 variant, 32% for the B.1.617.2 variant, and 25% for the
B.1.351 variant.
The study group plans to continue its research on neutralizing antibodies and the variants,
including in people who have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"New variants occur naturally, and those that have an advantage will spread. We now have the
ability to quickly adapt our vaccination strategies to maximize protection where we know people
are most vulnerable," David Bauer, PhD, the senior study author and group leader of the Francis
Crick Institute's RNA Virus Replication Laboratory, said in the statement.
"Keeping track of the evolutionary changes is essential for us to retain control over the
pandemic and return to
normality," he said. "This work "¦ can help us to navigate changes in this new phase of
the pandemic."
On Friday, Italy halted the administration of the killer vaccine for those under the age
of 60. The decision followed the death of a perfectly healthy 18-year-old named Camilla
Canepa, who died last week of blood clotting and a brain hemorrhage after receiving the
vaccine shot on the 25th of May.
I think most of us have come to the conclusion that these deaths are the way it was
suppose to work. That makes this the greatest crime against humanity.....ever
fuckyou 12 hours ago remove link
So I looked at your story about Italy and they stopped the AstraZeneca vaccine, all the
others are still available. So partially correct.
Jim in MN 15 hours ago
Not everyone will die. Many more will just be crippled and need expensive medical care
for decades, while being unable to fight or resist the regime.
Jim in MN 15 hours ago
The immune cells that the mRNA targets are well-known as key factors in autoimmune
disorders when their function is disrupted.
This is Wikipedia-level stuff. People should not be in any way ignorant about this.
The exact genesis and development of the different types and subsets of dendritic cells
and their interrelationship is only marginally understood at the moment, as dendritic cells
are so rare and difficult to isolate that only in recent years they have become subject of
focused research. Distinct surface antigens that characterize dendritic cells have only
become known from 2000 on.
Altered function of dendritic cells is also known to play a major or even key role in
allergy and autoimmune diseases
....
Sparehead 13 hours ago
Nah, just looks at this massively under-reported VAERS death graph.
See, no worries at all. Face diapers, anti-social distancing, and one-way shopping
arrows saved us. Let's just hope there's no "variants" that start dropping the vaxxed like
flies.
Rex Dickerson 15 hours ago
Duh.
Pfizer clinical trial ends April 2023.
Moderna clinical trial ends October 2022.
LeadPipeDreams 15 hours ago
Pfizer human trial ends April 2023.
Moderna human trial ends October 2022.
FIFY
Vaccines typically take 10 - 15 years to prove their safety and efficacy, so even these
human trials are a joke to prove they are "safe and effective".
Esperanza 15 hours ago
Technically, the trials are not trials any more. They have been compromised due to the
control group taking the vaccine.
" Low-certainty evidence found that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by
an average 86% (95% confidence interval 79%""91%).
--
Conclusions:
Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible
using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers
progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is
likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally."
What happens after the concentrations of the vax nanoparticles accumulate in the bone
marrow, which they are doing? Perhaps leukemia? We don't know. But for some, it is more
important to virtual signal that you and your children got the vaccine rather than its
unknown consequences.
Robert Malone, MD, inventor of mRNA vax technology, is dismayed by Pfizer's study for
Japan showing the vax nanoparticles accumulate in the bone marrow, ovaries, spleen, and
lymph nodes.
He says there needs to be monitoring of vaccine recipients for leukemia and lymphomas
because of these concentrations in the bone marrow and lymph nodes. He says these signals
often don't show up for six months to 3-9 years down the road.
Malone says the FDA knew the COVID spike protein was biologically active and could
travel from the injection site and cause adverse events, and that the spike protein is
very dangerous.
He says there should have been 2-3 year trials to monitor for potential autoimmune
consequences of the vaxxes, but of course that didn't happen. He says they also didn't
conduct proper animal studies.
Inventor of mRNA Technology: Vaccine Causes Lipid Nanoparticles to Accumulate in 'High
Concentrations' in Ovaries
On the "Dark Horse Podcast," Dr. Robert Malone, creator of mRNA vaccine technology, said
the COVID vaccine lipid nanoparticles -- which tell the body to produce the spike protein
-- leave the injection site and accumulate in organs and tissues (particularly the ovaries
and bone marrow). O6/17/21
See my comments below on dendritic cells. That's what the mRNA is supposed to target,
and even doing that is messing with immune system mechanisms that scientists don't even
understand in the first place , before they mess with it.
Jim in MN 15 hours ago
While a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent serious illness and death, we still don't know the
extent to which it keeps you from being infected and passing the virus on to others.
Sooooooooo.......all the databases and vaccine requirements to do this and that
are........not based on anything?
Anything.........at all?
That's what I thought. Thanks for clearing that up.
Giant Meteor 15 hours ago
" While a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent serious illness and death, it may also create
serious illness and death!"
Hmmm decisions decisions ..
Volga Boat Man 15 hours ago remove link
Only a flaming moron would allow themselves to take the Zombie Jab when both the
Gruberment AND the Manufacturer claim NO liability for anything that happens as a result,
i.e., dying.
Some facts that have not changed since 2019 outbreak
It's a bioweapon not a naturally occurring virus - gain of function confirmed
It's a gene modifying cell therapy not a vaccine - first time used on humans
It's only approved an emergency authorization; it's not FDA approved
It's unproven read as potentially unsafe since over 5,500 Americans have died after
getting the jab
It's not effective since Pfizer and Moderna claim it's not stopping transmission
Pfizer former VP Dr. Michael Yeadon warns people not to take the jab
TQRock 16 hours ago
Unclear how an experimental "vaccine" authorized for emergency use only could be
proclaimed "safe and effective."
BAG 18 hours ago remove link
The covid-19 EUA should be changed to make the vaccine manufactures liable for damages
to anyone under the age of 50 years old. Then they can tell us how safe it is.
My uncle believes everyone should be vaccinated, while I will never accept the lethal
injection. The difference between us is he watches MSM and reads the daily newspaper, while I
cut the cord seven years ago.
COVID/vaccine is psychological warfare by the globalist elite and banksters against the
people using the propaganda media. The MSM viewership will soon be too low to broadcast as
their viewers are the mind controlled vaccine takers.
There is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to
make recommendations for children to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Children and
adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults. However, children should
continue to have the recommended childhood vaccines.
Simpson 19 hours ago
According to Dr. Michael Yeadon kids are 50 times more likely to die from the shot then
they are from the WuFlu.
Parents who give their kids this toxic ****e deserve a shot right between the eyes.
walküre 19 hours ago
"doing their part"
"nobody is safe, until we're all safe"
Hail Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Gates & Fauci!
walküre 19 hours ago (Edited) remove link
About fking time!
HANDS OFF THE KIDS!
There's going to be blood in the streets if they keep pushing us further and
further!
Our kids are not some cannon fodder for the elite's wars! Only despots and tyrants do
this when they're running out of options. Feeding kids into the lines of fire. We have a
Nuremberg code and a Geneva convention for a REASON!
The vax is garbage!
Absolutely NIL benefit for your health, only benefit to your social credit score.
Go ahead, get vaxxed if you feel like it. Know the risks, and inform yourself what the
ridiculous and negligible advantages are of having the synthetic toxins injected into your
system.
The side effects FAR outweigh the risks of potentially getting sick from whatever it is,
circulating out there. If your body is too weak or your system is responding badly to the
"virus", it will also respond negatively to the injections. When your time has come, your
time has come. Life is meant to be lived. Longevity is a God given privilege or curse, but
it is not a competition.
Samual Vimes 19 hours ago
Let them change genders and compete against girls in peace.
PrivetHedge 14 hours ago remove link
Number of verified covid test methods: Zero
Number of children dead from 'covid': Zero
Number of children damaged by the vaccine: Hundreds, soon to be Millions.
Emergency experimental drugs are never given to children, pregnant women or the old with
health issues. Doesn't happen, full stop.
And yet its happening with the covid gene therapy shots, the official name alone
warrants that it would never be given to kids and the pregnant. One can only assume the
greed of Pharma companies and their lackeys at regulatory agencies knows no bounds, they
know there are issues with the drugs. However they have indemnity from being sued, as such
they want to sell as much as they can before the ignorant masses catch on.
You wonder how these killers can sleep at night.
NoPension 17 hours ago
Trump's out. They sleep like babies.
Person familiar with the situation 17 hours ago
It's NOT about money. People keep making that baseless assumption just because most
everything else is about money in their own little world. The criminals here have printing
presses in every country and create money out of thin air.
Yamaoka Tesshu 9 hours ago (Edited)
"Show me your incentives and I will tell you the outcome". - Charlie Munger
He is Uncle Warren's longtime lieutenant. Look at AIDS. "If we make up a fake disease we
will get a fortune in funding." And they did. They prescribed lethal drugs that killed
people with the express purpose of creating hysteria. Murder for money.
Man on the Silver Mountain 19 hours ago
A demand that kids shouldn't be injected with this experimental shot is almost a
sideways admission the mRNA potion is detrimental to natural immunity, yet there's an
obsessively urgent need to stab adults? In the US I'd suspect the source of this motivation
is politics and a grasping greed for profit.
UselessEater 6 hours ago
NEW: Former Head Scientist at PFIZER Says Covid Threat is 100% FAKE
Prior to forming his own biotech company in 2011, Michael Yeadon was the Vice President
and Chief Scientific Officer for Allergy & Respiratory Research at Pfizer
Pharmaceutical.
He is a top scientist in the world of drugs and vaccines in the treatment of respiratory
diseases such as Covid. In this video he declares that the Covid pandemic is a fraud. He
explains why masks are useless, why distancing is absurd, why PCR tests are meaningless,
why quarantining healthy people is stupid, why variants of virus strains are no threat, and
why Covid vaccines should be rejected.
Yeadon says many of his colleagues privately agree with this appraisal but remain silent
to protect their salaries and research grants. It's all about money.
He concludes that, because of the massive number of deaths that will follow within a few
years of vaccination, there clearly is an agenda to deliberately eliminate billions of
people from the Earth and to enslave those who remain ..... plus much more.
[This scientist is such a good, brave man. He loves humanity. His voice is being
silenced on mainstream media and he is putting out this info to the public despite being
smeared and attacked (though they don't address his facts at all). So:
Pse share this video out to at least 5 other people as he gives simple scientific
explanations for all his statements.
archipusz 19 hours ago (Edited)
Giving this gene therapy called a vaccine to kids is worse than shutting down an economy
based on pcr tests run at 45 cycles.
Tao 4 the Show 11 hours ago remove link
I don't do Facebook or twitter, but someone should do an experiment:
Post something condemning vaccination in children and reference the WHO and link.
Did you know that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines aren't vaccines in the medical and legal
definition of a vaccine? They do not prevent you from getting the infection, nor do they
prevent its spread. They're really experimental gene therapies.
I discussed this troubling fact in a recent
interview with molecular biologist Judy Mikovits , Ph.D. While the Moderna and Pfizer
mRNA shots are labeled as "vaccines," and news agencies and health policy leaders call them
that, the actual patents for Pfizer's and Moderna's injections more truthfully describe
them as "gene therapy," not vaccines.
Picked up this article and pasted it in an MS Word docx. Interestingly you can't find it
by Google search - Censored
Bank_sters 13 hours ago remove link
Ok so Fauci and the cdc telling colleges and schools to push for experimental poison to
be given as a condition for young people to return to school. Now the myocarditis,
reproductive health, blood clotting cases are EXPLODING.
TheABaum 13 hours ago remove link
There are school districts demanding vaccination as a condition to return to live
instruction.
Hello Wilkes Barre, PA
One of the worst in the state.
Sparehead 15 hours ago remove link
Children are not lab rats and CANNOT make their own decisions about potentially
life-altering treatments for various reasons. Children are at essentially ZERO risk unless
they get jabbed.
ToSoft4Truth 15 hours ago
The parents did it.
Sparehead 15 hours ago
That not really the point, and there's many places that are allowing children to get
jabbed without parent consent, even in the US.
Things that go bump PREMIUM 14 hours ago remove link
I've read that they are planning to go into schools in the fall and make sure all the
kids get their shots. Parental consent is not required.
almost 16 hours ago
WHO ~ World Health Organization sounds like The Ministry of Love in George Orwell's
novel 1984
It's more like World Death organization nowadays
Enraged 17 hours ago remove link
A 13-year old boy died three days after the 2nd Pfizer injection. The autopsy results
show an enlarged heart and there was some fluid surrounding it. He had no health problems
and was on no medications.
📌📌📌📌For the 9,999th time. TRIALS FOR 'CRIMES AGAINST
HUMANITY' please.
The Nuremberg Code 1947 Permissible Medical Experiments
The great weight of the evidence before us to effect that certain types of medical
experiments on human beings, when kept within reasonably well-defined bounds, conform to
the ethics of the medical profession generally. The protagonists of the practice of human
experimentation justify their views on the basis that such experiments yield results for
the good of society that are unprocurable by other methods or means of study. All agree,
however, that certain basic principles must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical
and legal concepts:
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that
the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to
be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force,
fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and
should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter
involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter
element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental
subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the
experiment ; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and
hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may
possibly come from his participation in the experiment.
2. The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon
each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment . It is a personal
duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity.
3. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society,
unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in
nature.
4. The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal
experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem
under study that the anticipated results justify the performance of the experiment.
5. The e xperiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and
mental suffering and injury.
6. No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that
death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those experiments where the
experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
7. The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the
humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
8. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the
experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability or de
White House responds to McMaster's call for ban on door-to-door COVID-19
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© Getty Images
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BaNNeD oN THe RuN 8 hours ago (Edited)
A diluted vial of the vaccine at Royal Free Hospital in London. Jack Hill/Agence France-Presse Vaccine Timeline
Dr. Ugur Sahin of BioNTech. BioNTech
The first trial participant being vaccinated in Germany. BioNTech
A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Pool photo by Andy Stenning
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