Thursday, August 31, 2023
Whistleblower Who Disclosed Myocarditis Spike in Military After COVID Vaccine Rollout Goes Public
A service member who earlier this year blew the whistle and disclosed data from a Pentagon medical database showing a spike in the rate of myocarditis in the military in 2021, after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, is going public.
The whistleblower is active-duty Navy Medical Service Corps officer Lt. Ted Macie. He has also revealed new data showing a substantial rise in accidents, assaults, self-harm, and suicide attempts in the military in 2021, compared to the average from 2016 to 2021.
This includes a 147 percent increase in intentional self-harm incidents among service members and an 828 percent increase in injuries from assaults.
Lt. Macie told The Epoch Times that he began “keeping an eye on" a defense medical database when another whistleblower alerted him to a rise in health-related incidents in the winter of 2021/2022.
The Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) is a depository of all diagnoses—recorded using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes—when an active service member is seen on or off base by a military or civilian provider. The database doesn't include any personally identifiable information of service members.
In January, Lt. Macie and his wife traveled to Washington with a report of the data that he collected from DMED.
Exposing the Vaccine 'Military Machinery' Behind the Global COVID-19 Response: Sasha Latypova
It showed that diagnoses of myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation, increased in 2021 by 130.5 percent over the average number of cases in the five-year period from 2016 to 2020. Myocarditis is a serious condition that can lead to death.
All four of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States can cause myocarditis, according to U.S. officials. COVID-19 can also cause myocarditis, though some experts say that the data on that front is weaker.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandated the vaccines in 2021, a requirement that remained in place until Congress forced its withdrawal in late 2022.
The data also showed spikes in diagnoses of pulmonary embolism (41.2 percent), blood clots in the lungs, ovarian dysfunction (38.2 percent), and "complications and ill-defined descriptions of heart disease" (37.7 percent).
DMED Data
Lt. Macie downloaded the data almost a year after the Pentagon said it fixed a data corruption issue with the DMED.
In 2022, other military whistleblowers reported shocking spikes in disease rates after the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine. But the Pentagon responded that those figures weren't correct because some diagnoses in the years 2016 to 2020 hadn't been counted, an issue stemming from "corrupt" data.
After the Pentagon said the issue was corrected, Lt. Macie and others—including 1st Lt. Mark Bashaw, a preventive medicine officer in the Army, Navy Lt. Billy Moseley, Army Surgeon Lt. Col. Theresa Long, and Army doctor Maj. Samuel Sigoloff—noticed that there were still concerning signs of increases in diagnoses, such as myocarditis and pulmonary embolism.
Since word spread that Lt. Macie was the only active-duty member at his command who didn’t receive the COVID-19 vaccine and was actively suing the secretary of defense, people began to come to him in confidence, telling him about adverse reactions, which they were convinced were “from the shot,” he said.
“These anecdotal, but compelling, personal injuries were a motivator to get things on the right track,” Lt. Macie said.
After verifying Lt. Macie's report with the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the top Republican on that panel, sent a letter (pdf) to Mr. Austin in March asking the Pentagon to confirm Lt. Macie's data.
Lt. Macie had suspected that the Pentagon wouldn't respond, based on his experience of previous requests made within the department going unfulfilled.
“In the event our suspicions were correct, I kept additional data to reveal as soon as the data we brought [to Washington] was confirmed, or after being ignored for some time,” he said.
Much to his surprise, he said, the Pentagon, in a July reply (pdf) to Mr. Johnson's letter, confirmed that his data was accurate.
In the Pentagon's response, Gilbert Cisneros Jr., undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, pointed to data on the rate of cases per 100,000 person-years, a way to measure risk across a certain period of time. For almost all the conditions that showed an increase in cases in 2021, he stated, the new case rate was higher for service members with a prior COVID-19 infection than for those with a prior COVID-19 vaccination.
"This suggests that it was more likely to be [COVID-19] infection and not COVID-19 vaccination that was the cause," Mr. Cisneros stated.
Lt. Macie said he plans to bring the additional data he kept up his chain of command “with the aim of a resolution and validation for injured service members.”
"But I’m not holding my breath," he said.
Lt. Macie has also brought this new data to the office of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), hoping to get the attention of the House Armed Services Committee, a panel that Mr. Gaetz sits on. Lt. Macie isn't aware of what Mr. Gaetz and his staff will do, but the lawmaker's office acknowledged in June that “they will take a look,” he said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Gaetz's office for comment, but didn't receive a reply by press time.
Rise in Accidents, Self-Harm
According to his research, health-related incidents in 2021 rose substantially above the five-year average from 2016 to 2020.
“As some may expect, internal injuries like myocarditis (130 percent), tinnitus (42 percent), and cerebral infarction (stroke) (43.5 percent) are on the rise,” Lt. Macie said.
But it was Lt. Macie’s wife who became curious, asking about other types of injuries.
“What about external cause morbidities, like burns, accidents, self-inflicted harm, and injuries that are not expected to be associated with the COVID shot?” he said.
With the new data that he discovered, incidents that exhibited increases in 2021 above the five-year average included exposure to forces of nature (773 percent); water transport accidents (7,400 percent); land transport vehicle accidents (526 percent); suicide attempts (33 percent); assault (828 percent); slipping, tripping, stumbles, and falls (471 percent); and intentional self-harm (147 percent).
Some of these not only increased in 2021 but continued to rise in 2022. The Epoch Times has viewed screenshots of these data from the DMED.
Historically, if the Pentagon noticed a trend in certain areas such as abuse and suicide, he said, the department would hold a safety stand-down—a military-wide mandatory training and review in which all commands require 100 percent participation.
“What will higher-ranking general officers, the surgeon general, Defense Health Agency, and Joint Chiefs do when they receive word that ICD codes/injuries for these incidents are on the rise?” Lt. Macie said.
“Soon, we’ll see if the same people who claim that the service member is their top priority actually show that through their action.”
According to Lt. Macie, there are a few possibilities concerning the new data collected.
“If the data is correct, and is confirmed by [the Pentagon], more than just a stand-down needs to happen. Rising problems like self-harm, suicide attempts, accidents, and assault must be addressed immediately, not just the mess of [vaccine] injuries,” he said.
He noted that the Pentagon may, for a second time, reply, saying that the data are incorrect, even though the department previously said they've resolved the data corruption issues in the system to prevent future errors. But such a reply would raise even more questions concerning the integrity of the database and whether there's a cover-up at play, he projected.
Lt. Macie hopes that Congress will press the Pentagon for answers concerning the new data.
But if lawmakers fail to do this, "the people need to step up to hold our government accountable,” he said.
Lt. Macie emphasized that his views don't reflect those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Navy.
The Pentagon didn't return inquiries by The Epoch Times seeking an explanation for the rise in external cause morbidities.
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Meta Analysis: mRNA Vax Myocarditis/Pericarditis at 2X the Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
With an aim of summarizing the available evidence on the risk of myocarditis and/or pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination as compared with the risk among unvaccinated individuals in the absence of COVID-19 infection, a group of researchers led by Abdallah Alami, a Masters graduate at Carleton University, School of Mathematics and Statistics and colleagues in Canada, United States and Argentina conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to address the following research question: what is the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis among individuals who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine compared with those who did not receive an mRNA injection, in the absence of COVID-19 infection?
The multinational team found that while the overall absolute number of myocarditis and pericarditis was quite low, when comparing the adverse events induced by mRNA COVID-19 vaccination versus unvaccinated indivduals in the absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccination is associated with higher risk.
Acknowledging that the COVID-19 vaccines helped reduce morbidity and mortality (albeit in surges due to durability and breadth challenges), Alami and associates suggest more research focusing on the rates of myocarditis/pericarditis linked to the mRNA jabs, as well as an imperative need to better understand the biological mechanisms driving the rare cardiac events. Finally, research must better peg risk stratification.
Results
After seven studies met this present studies inclusion criteria, the study team included six of them in their quantitative synthesis. The meta-analysis points to the following observation: within a 30=day follow-up duration, “Vaccinated individuals were twice as likely to develop myo/pericarditis in absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to unvaccinated indivudals, with a rate ratio of 2.05 (95% CI 1.49–2.82).”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Ivermectin War Continues: Washington Medical Commission Fines Doctor, Puts License on Probation Five Years
A Yakima, Washington physician was not only fined but also had his medical license restricted by the Washington Medical Commission. Why? According to recent local media accounts, he failed to meet the state’s standard of care due to his decision to prescribe patients ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 in addition to spreading misinformation. In addition to a $15,000 fine, Dr. Richard Wilkinson’s license is placed on probation for five years. During this time, he cannot prescribe ivermectin for non-FDA approved purposes. Also, he must pass a clinical competency within a half-year. He is part of a countersuit. While the Food and Drug Administration representative acknowledged in a court case that doctors have always been able to prescribe ivermectin off label, this is not technically how doctors found trouble during the pandemic. See TrialSite’s “Doctor’s Always had the Right to Treat COVID-19 Patients with Ivermectin.”
The Washington Medical Commission issued a statement and order in August restricting the doctor’s license due to unprofessional conduct and misrepresentation involving COVID-19 to patients, reports Santiago Ochoa with the Yakima Herald-Republic.
The facts
According to the local media account, the doctor prescribed ivermectin to seven patients during the period August to December 2021, yet failed to both A) document a sufficient rationale and B) inform the patients that the medication was off label, not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for COVID-19 treatment or prevention.
A technicality that hurt a substantial number of doctors during the pandemic, they failed to follow a procedure including the above points plus the allegation that a physician-patient relationship must be established as well. For example, some doctors that via telehealth prescribed ivermectin without that established relationship, plus the other aforementioned documentation and informed consent led to trouble.
Wilkinson also prescribed inhaled hydrogen peroxide to one patient without “a warning that inhaled hydrogen peroxide does not have any effect on a COVID-19 infection and is dangerous.”
Lawsuit
As reported in The Chronicle, Dr. Wilkinson joined four other plaintiffs in Benton County to challenge the Washington Medical Commission’s COVID-19 misinformation position statement.
Filed by the group called the Silent Majority Foundation based in Pasco, WA on behalf of the doctors, the local media reports that Dr. Wilkinson’s attorney is the nonprofit’s director and general counsel.
Is the medical commission’s COVID-19 misinformation position statement an enforceable rule? The Silent Majority Foundation position suggests it is not. A hearing is scheduled in Benton County on August 30.
Background
TrialSite first started reporting on how ivermectin seems to zap SARS-CoV-2 in a cell culture in the laboratory. That news from Australia spread around the world as mostly low-and-moderate countries (LMICs) embraced the drug in research and care during the pandemic. A large number of studies show positive evidence that the drug inhibited SARs-CoV-2. For example, 99 studies involving 1,089 scientists and 137,255 patients across 28 countries show significant benefits against mortality, ventilation, ICU, hospitalization, aiding recovery and viral clearance.
Yet most of these studies were conducted in LMICs with what medical establishments in the United States consider questionable study design, data and the like. Also, some prominent studies in North America and South America pointed to a lack of effectiveness. Although, some critics who happen to be TrialSite contributors such as David Scheim, have openly questioned these studies' design and conduct. For a summary of the unfolding ivermectin war by the start of 2022, see “The Ivermectin Wars Intensify as States want Access Over the Counter and a Medical Freedom March Commences this Weekend.”
The national emergency has been called off, but many doctors found themselves in hot water, or worse. One key point many in the medical freedom movement didn’t fully grasp was that drugs are regulated nationally and that doctors that did embrace ivermectin off label needed to follow very careful protocol, plus they needed to be careful how they communicated about the drug online.
TrialSite suggests that much of the medical establishment didn’t care about ivermectin use off label until it came to the attention of the pharmaceutical industry that weekly prescriptions which were about 3,000 pre-pandemics skyrocketed to nearly 90,000 prescriptions per week during the pandemic.
The regulators such as the FDA wrote menacing letters to groups such as the Federation of State Medical Boards as reported by TrialSite in “Feds Coming After Doctors and Pharmacies that Market Ivermectin as Effective & Safe for COVID-19.” Then, that umbrella board association would communicate with state members charged with licensing physicians and pharmacists, spooking members to not discuss topics like Ivermectin.
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Does America Face a Growing ‘Anti-Vaxx’ Crisis? Kaiser Family Foundation Poll Points in That Direction
A recent poll from the prominent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) finds that doubts about COVID-19 vaccines run rampant, as over 25% of the participants believe the jabs cause infertility, despite any lack of conclusive evidence. Involving 2,007 adults, the KFF poll titled “Health Misinformation Tracking Poll Pilot’ the survey was conducted from May 23 to June 12. 33% of the poll respondents believe that the COVID-19 vaccines led to thousands of sudden deaths in what were otherwise healthy people.
Almost a third of the population believes ivermectin is an effective COVID-19 treatment while 22% are definitely certain that’s not the case. 44% are “probably certain,” meaning they have some trepidation. On to some of the more radical, or fringe beliefs would be the group that believes that more people died from the COVID-19 jabs than the virus itself. 14% of the poll population believes this to be the case. 20% of the respondents believe the MMR vaccine causes autism, however, this hypothesis was discredited. We don’t know what the cause of autism in fact is, and there are many lines of research investigating today.
Importantly, vaccination rates for more of the standard vaccines on the children’s vaccination schedule are on the decline. In 2021, due to a confluence of factors including the pandemic, but also a growing anti-vaxx movement, nearly 40 million children in America failed to get a measles vaccine, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
TrialSite has reported on slipping measles vaccination rates in some key states. In Ohio, 80 children contracted the infection at the end of 2022, as reported by the CDC.
TrialSite’s founder Daniel O’Connor recently presented on YouTube the controversial position that its perfectly acceptable to openly discuss some of the disturbing science associated with the COVID-19 vaccines (safety signals, lack of sterilizing powers, durability issues) while remaining unapologetically pro vaccination. That video can be seen here. O’Connor shared that 130,000 children die every year due to measles worldwide. He notes that an anti-vaccine movement, often led by individuals in the upper echelons of socio-economic strata, fails to embrace that vaccines are public health tools, meant to address aggregate population level needs. This becomes mission-critical to overcome certain diseases in low- and middle-income countries while continuing to ensure herd immunity in the rich world. He reminds that not all vaccines are the same, and that risk-benefit analyses are quite important when considering their criticality.
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New study shared by NIH suggests N95 Covid masks create dangerous of level toxic compounds linked seizures, cancer
A recently published study has found that wearing an N95 mask is, far from being safe, a potential health risk.
Published in April and quietly shared by the National Institutes of Health, the study from researchers at Jeonbuk National University in South Korea found that disposable masks, including medical-grade N95 masks, released eight times the recommended safety limit for toxic volatile organic compounds (TVOCs).
According to the American Lung Association, breathing TVOCs “can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, can cause difficulty breathing and nausea, and can damage the central nervous system and other organs.” Some TVOCs can even cause cancer.
Bob Barker remembered for support of MN Wildcat Sanctuary
What other types of products release TVOCs? Paint, caulks, cleaners/disinfectants, pesticides, and even tobacco smoke.
Here’s the huge catch: The researchers discovered that TVOC levels were 14 times lower in cloth masks, suggesting therefore that despite not being medical-grade, cloth masks are safer to wear than N95 masks.
However, speaking with the Daily Mail, Dr. Stuart Fischer warned against reaching any major conclusions from the study, though he did endorse the notion that there are indeed drawbacks to mask-wearing.
“There seems to be diminishing returns on the need for masks,” he said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023
First COVID Deaths Were Fully Jabbed, Australian State Records Reveal
In light of a court case launched by a group of doctors challenging the Queensland government's COVID-19 vaccination mandates, records have revealed that the first deaths in the Australian state were individuals who were fully vaccinated.
A list of the state’s first 183 COVID-19 deaths from the pandemic's start on March 13, 2020, until Jan. 27, 2022, produced by Queensland’s chief health officer in an affidavit, indicates it was known to authorities as early as Jan. 2022 that the vaccines may not be preventing deaths.
The list shows that the first locally acquired COVID-19 death was one in their 80s and another in their 30s, with both having received two doses of the vaccine in December 2021 and January 2022, respectively.
While Queensland recorded seven deaths early in the pandemic, these cases were acquired outside of the state and before vaccine rollouts began.
Queensland's border opened in December 2021 after 80 percent of the state population vaccination was reached. By Dec. 31, 2021, nearly 90 percent of the population over 16 were fully vaccinated.
The case, which was launched against the state, calls for the September 2021 directive requiring employees in public health and aged-care facilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be revoked.
A specialist from the case, psychiatrist Peter Parry, said that in the three decades of his career, he had never been subject to disciplinary action until now.
“I graduated from medical school 40 years ago and in all that time have never had a single complaint about me presented to a medical board or AHPRA,” he said.
The reason he chose to decline the COVID-19 vaccines was because these are “not normal vaccines.”
“We hope, by bringing evidentiary material and expert witness testimonies before the Supreme Court, that the Justices will look at the evidence and rule in our favour. If successful, large numbers of experienced nurses, allied health, and doctors will be able to return to assist an overstretched Queensland public health system,” he added.
In addition to enforced work mandates, Premier Annastacia Palazczuk barred the unvaccinated from accessing services and freedoms such as hospitals, disability services, aged care, libraries, and hospitality venues.
This was enforced by proof of vaccination requirements at venues, which the Queensland government said was to keep Queenslanders safe.
Messaging Shifts to Reducing Severe Illness
Initially, in 2021, the Queensland Government closed the state's borders and encouraged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. They aimed to reopen the borders once 80 percent of the population was vaccinated, with the goal of stopping the virus's spread and safeguarding vulnerable citizens.
However, when the borders reopened after reaching the target, COVID-19 cases surged instead of decreasing. When it became clear that the vaccines didn't entirely prevent infection or transmission, the focus of the messaging shifted to highlight the vaccines' effectiveness in reducing severe illness and death.
It is still a condition today for most Queensland health staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to ensure the ongoing safety of employees, patients, visitors and the wider community.
“The overwhelming benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh the potential risks, and this is substantiated by enormous amounts of safety data based on billions of doses worldwide,” a spokesperson for the TGA told The Epoch Times in an email.
Pfizer Dismisses Concerns Over Vaccine Mandates
The news of the deaths follows a parliamentary inquiry into the COVID-19 mandates heard from the Australian heads of Pfizer Australia that the vaccine mandates coerced Australians into getting vaccinated for COVID-19, saying they had a choice.
Appearing before an Australian senate inquiry into the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Pfizer Country Medical Director Dr. Krishan Thiru and Dr. Brian Hewitt, the head of Regulatory Sciences for Pfizer, dismissed concerns of senators that Australians had been coerced into getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I believe firmly that nobody was forced to have a vaccine," Dr. Thiru said.
"Mandates for vaccine requirements are determined by governments and health authorities. I believe everybody was offered an opportunity to get a vaccine or not get a vaccine. I don't believe that anybody was forced to take a vaccine."
Meanwhile, Dr. Hewitt, when asked if he believed Australians in states that were subject to large-scale mandates—like Western Australia or Victoria—were not forced into getting the shot even when they found they were unable to earn a living without receiving a vaccination, replied he did not believe mandates compelled individuals into vaccinating.
"The mandates for vaccine requirements are determined by governments and health authorities. I don't believe that the mandates actually forced individuals to get vaccinations," he said.
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Recent Mask Mandates Lifted Amid Pushback
Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, California, on Aug. 24 reversed a recent policy that would require masks in its hospital after it reinstated the mandate days before. A Hollywood studio also said it would do away with its mandate.
Officials for the hospital system told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the mask policy applies only to staff, not patients. It said that it is “strongly encouraging masks for patients, members, and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area in response to this latest increase in COVID-19 cases.”
“Our intent was to communicate that as of Tuesday, we have expanded the masking requirement for our employees and physicians to medical offices and clinic settings; we apologize for any confusion among Press Democrat readers,” Kaiser said in its latest statement.
The statement also said that "visitors, patients, and members are strongly encouraged to also wear masks in these settings,” according to the paper. “We have not changed our masking requirements in the hospital, which have been in effect since April: employees and physicians are required to wear masks and we ask visitors to wear masks when in the hospital.”
It doesn't appear that Kaiser Permanente, which operates hospitals across the United States and California, would also attempt to reinstate mask mandates at other locations.
Days before its latest statement, the hospital system said it would be mandating masks for patients, doctors, patients, visitors, and staff members at its hospital and medical offices.
“Kaiser Permanente Northern California is committed to protecting the safety of our members, patients, employees, physicians, and visitors, which includes taking appropriate steps to prevent the spread of transmissible infectious diseases in our facilities," it told local media.
Some Northern California locals weren't happy with the announcement that mask mandates would return, according to local outlets.
"They told us a bunch of [expletive]," Richard Staudinger, a North Sacramento resident, told CBS. "I think most of the people don't believe it now."
Another, Craig Roberts, said, "I think it's more political than anything, just think they're trying to do what they did in 2020."
But some said they don't mind the mandates. "I don't have a problem if they reinstate the masks," Kiona Cooper, of Northern California, said.
Other Mandates
Meanwhile, the Lionsgate film studio in Santa Monica also said it would not be implementing a mask mandate, days after the media company said it would force workers to put on masks again on certain floors. It claimed that it never changed its mask policy.
“The LA County Department of Public Health notified us yesterday that we could lift the mask requirements, effective immediately, and we have," the firm told news outlets over the weekend.
The statement also said: "Lionsgate never changed its own mask policy. The LA County Department of Health ordered us to institute the temporary masking requirement after we reported a cluster of COVID cases to them and we have an obligation to comply with their orders."
Last week, a Lionsgate memo stated that employees on only certain floors have to wear surgical masks, KN95 masks, or N95 masks "except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace.”
Earlier in the month, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that COVID-19 hospitalizations rose across the country. Hospitalizations rose by 21.6 percent, to 12,612 new admissions from 10,370, according to the data ending Aug. 12.
Despite the increase, it’s among the lowest levels of hospitalization recorded since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
“An upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave,” Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, told ABC News. “What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news.”
At the same time, several hospitals, including some in upstate New York, and Morris Brown College in Atlanta reimplemented mask mandates, prompting concerns about a broader effort to force masks on people, three years after the start of the pandemic in the United States. Media coverage around the small increase in COVID-19 cases has also focused on whether masks should be worn, with mainstream outlets such as CNN interviewing doctors who say people should start wearing them again.
But some politicians and commentators, in response, called on supporters to resist the mandates.
“It’s alarming that the mandates are kicking in again,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said in a recent interview. “It’s like, OK, we noticed masks didn’t work, particularly for children. We always knew they didn’t work for kids.”
It also comes as President Joe Biden on Aug. 25 told reporters in Lake Tahoe that he signed off on a proposal "to present to Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works."
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/recent-mask-mandates-lifted-amid-pushback-5481484
*************************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Monday, August 28, 2023
Will Heavily COVID-19 Vaccinated Populations Experience High Incidence of Cancer & Autoimmune Disease?
A frequent contributor to TrialSite, Geert Vanden Bossche, the Belgium-based vaccinologist has spent the last few years of the pandemic intensely studying not only SARS-CoV-2 and mass vaccination but also the immunological considerations, and risks, associated with the vaccination drives.
In this latest paper “Immunological correlates of vaccine breakthrough infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 variants in highly C-19 vaccinated populations,” Vanden Bossche unleashes a truly dark, complex, and what he believes is thorough hypotheses suggesting heavily COVID-19 vaccinated populations will experience crisis levels of cancer and autoimmune disease.
Why will this tragedy occur? According to Vanden Bossche, “In highly Covid-19 (C-19) vaccinated populations, an increase in IgG4 antibody (Ab) titers following steric immune refocusing (SIR)- enabling PNNAb1-dependent vaccine breakthrough infections (VBTIs) with infectious SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) immune escape variants promoted generalized hyposensitization to ‘foreign’ and hypersensitization to ‘self’.” Arguing that the process of hyposensitization (train immune system to become less reactive to allergen over time) “to ‘foreign’ leads to an “anti-inflammatory effect” and thus reducing the prospect for autoimmune-like disease symptoms, so-called ‘hypersensitization’ (heightened immune reaction) to ‘self’ will lead to surges in incidence of cancer and autoimmune disease.
Vanden Bossche’ s hypothesis suggests that in a highly COVID-19 vaccinated populations, there is a greater incidence of cancer and autoimmune disease. Looking into surges of IgG4 antibody titers first should be understood.
A subclass of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies which are a type of antibody generated by the immune system to help protect the body against infections and other foreign substances, they play a crucial role in the immune response by recognizing and binding to specific antigens, such as bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.
TrialSite recently summarized research out of Hungary suggesting that COVID-19 vaccines trigger higher levels of spike specific IgG than persons infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19.
This was according to a team of physicians and scientists employed in Internal Medicine and the Immunology and Hematology Research Group in Semmelweis University- Eötvös Loránd Research Network (Office for Supported Research Groups), Budapest Hungary. They investigated the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the vaccination induced a similar spike-specific IgG subclass pattern. With this study involving 47 healthy volunteers for the vaccinated cohort in Budapest Hungary, an important aim was to determine if these patterns have been influenced by the chronological order of natural virus infection and vaccination or not. Also monitoring the concentration of each spike-specific IgG subclass over a three-to-four-month period the Budapest-based investigators sought to estimate the stability of the antiviral humoral immune response.
Importantly, IgG 4 antibodies are generally less understood than other subclasses of IgG. Involved in immune tolerance, and with anti-inflammatory properties, IgG4 responses are associated with chronic infections, allergies and autoimmune diseases. Interestingly, unlike other subclasses, IgG4 antibodies can undergo a process called “Fab-arm exchange” where the arms of two different IgG4 antibodies can be swapped, potentially altering their function.
Back to Vanden Bossche, with an increase in IgG4 titers due to what he describes as “steric immune refocusing” (SIR), defined in another paper of his as “re-orientation of the humoral S-directed immune response towards more conserved, immune subdominant S-associated epitopes as a result of steric masking of variable, immunodominant S protein-associated epitopes by pre-existing, low-affinity pNAbs” the latter signifying human performed natural antibodies.
So, PNNAb1-dependent vaccine breakthrough infections or “VBTIs” lead to “infectious SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) immune escape variants promoted generalized hyposensitization to ‘foreign’ and hypersensitization to ‘self’, inducing carcinogenicity and autoreactivity.”
Not a good development if this comes true. Vanden Bossche is known for predicting select adverse outcomes as a result of the ongoing mass COVID-19 vaccination approach to the pandemic. For example, the Belgium-based vaccinologist predicted that introducing mass vaccination in the midst of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic would place great evolutionary pressures on the pathogen, supporting the evolutionary process. Most certainly SARS-Cov-2 mutated into many different variants and strains. However, we can’t be sure if it's due to Vanden Bossche’ s hypothesis but it should be vetted by experts in the field.
But ominously, here in heavily vaccinated populations Vanden Bossche’s hypothesis suggests a tragic explosion in cancer and autoimmune disease.
That's because according to his hypothesis, “SIR-enabling VBTIs, but also mRNA vaccination, facilitates immune refocusing to more conserved, immune subdominant spike (S)-associated epitopes.” Remember, epitopes are specific regions on the surface of antigens to which antibodies or immune cells bind. They play a crucial role in the immune system’s ability to recognize and respond to foreign substances such as viruses.
So, what’ s a key part of this mechanism that leads to serious trouble—namely higher incidence of cancer and autoimmune disease?
According to Vanden Bossche’ s paper, “delayed maturation of these de novo (new) primed, subneutralizing Abs into isotype-switched IgG4 anti-S Abs enables prolonged immune pressure on viral infectiousness.” What does this do? It leads to real trouble in the form of “promoting large-scale co-circulation of more infectious SC_2 immune escape variants.”
It is a cascade of immune selection events that “eventually mitigate disease caused by SC-2 and other unrelated viral pathogens (via anti-inflammatory IgG4)” leads to viral dissemination.
Vanden Bossche hypothesizes that “acute autoimmune disease and early-onset cancer in highly C-19 vaccinated populations are due to VBTI-or mRNA vaccine-mediated immune refocusing to more conserved, poorly immunogenic ‘self-like’ epitopes.
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Sen. Johnson Sounds Alarm on Return of COVID-19 Mask Mandates
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is sounding the alarm after a small number of offices, hospitals, and schools reinstated mask mandates in recent days.
Describing the mandates as “alarming,” Mr. Johnson told the Moms for Liberty group on Aug. 23 that they are ineffective and said he would keep fighting them.
“It’s alarming that the mandates are kicking in again,” he told the group. “It’s like, OK, we noticed masks didn’t work, particularly for children. We always knew they didn’t work for kids.”
The Wisconsin Republican said, “N-95 masks can have some marginal benefits—but not to deny people freedom.”
Mr. Johnson has said he was always skeptical of federal vaccine mandates and has been an advocate for people who claimed to have been injured by COVID-19 vaccines. He also called on the Biden administration to admit that its COVID-19 policies didn’t work.
“They’ll never admit they were wrong in how they handled COVID. I don’t see how anybody can take a look at how the federal government—really, over the course of two administrations—how they handled COVID, and say it was anything but a complete and miserable failure,” he told the Washington Examiner in May.
The White House, the senator added, won’t acknowledge what he described as the “the incalculable human toll” and the “economic devastation caused by the shutdowns.”
Mr. Johnson’s recent remarks come after Hollywood studio Lionsgate said in a memo earlier this week that it would reimpose a mask mandate for several floors of its office in Santa Monica, California.
“Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (surgical mask, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,” a Lionsgate manager said in a memo, reported by Deadline.
This week, Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Rosa, California, and the Upstate Community Hospital in Syracuse, New York, brought back the masking rule for visitors, patients, nurses, and doctors.
“To ensure that we are helping protect the health and safety of our patients, our workforce, and our community, we have reintroduced a mask mandate for physicians, staff, patients, members, and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area,” Kaiser Permanente said.
Morris Brown College in Atlanta also said that masks will again be required on campus because of a rise in cases on a larger campus in Atlanta.
“There will be no parties or large student events on campus for the next two weeks,” the school said.
At the same time, there has been an increase in media coverage of several COVID-19 variants, including one that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated could potentially evade vaccines. No federal agencies have announced any new mask mandates or recommendations.
Media Coverage
In recent days, an increasing number of television doctors have made suggestions that some people start masking again.
“It’s riskier that you will get infected now than it was a month or two ago, without question, probably twice as risky,” Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of medicine at the University of San Francisco, told CNN in a recent interview. “If you’re trying to be careful, it’s time to whip out the mask again.”
Also appearing on CNN, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist in Washington, said on Aug. 22 that people who are at risk from a COVID-19 infection—including people aged 65 and older—should put masks on again. He also said that President Joe Biden should do so, too.
“Octogenarians comprise the highest-risk group for complications following COVID infection,” he said. “At least until the numbers start to drop again, it would be appropriate for President Biden to take some precautions and wear a mask in crowds.”
Last week, COVID-19 hospitalizations rose across the country, according to data from the CDC. Hospitalizations rose by 21.6 percent, to 12,612 new admissions from 10,370, according to the data ending Aug. 12.
Despite the increase, it’s among the lowest levels of hospitalization recorded since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
“An upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave,” Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, told ABC News this week. “What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Sunday, August 27, 2023
Biden’s probe censored Covid ‘smoking gun’
Mr Biden ordered the Intelligence Community in May 2021 to give him an assessment into how the pandemic began after revelations, first published by The Australian, that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had been hospitalised with Covid-like symptoms in November 2019 in the suspected first cluster of the pandemic.
When the report was published it concluded that most intelligence agencies assessed the virus, even if it had leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was natural rather than manipulated in a laboratory
The Australian can reveal that this was not the assessments made by the four groups within the intelligence agencies that actually engaged in scientific analysis, who concurred that there was either a highly likely or reasonable chance the virus was genetically engineered.
At least 90 per cent of the work from one of those agencies — the Pentagon’s top intelligence group — was censored in the final report and Defence Department scientists were told to stop working with the FBI on their findings.
Scientists at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Centre for Medical Intelligence (DIA NCMI) had conducted rigorous research on the genomic sequence of the virus and firmly concluded that it was, most likely, a laboratory construct.
Well-placed sources familiar with the work that unfolded inside the intelligence agency and their interactions with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the 90-day probe spoke to The Australian for this investigation.
Covid-19 origin ‘smoking gun’
Their internal research at the Pentagon-based agency led to a finding that was described internally as a “smoking gun.”
One of the scientists discovered that the size and location of a fragment of Covid-19 resembled the same fragment in Wuhan Institute of Virology research from more than a decade earlier, in 2008. It was the same technique that the WIV had used in grant applications to make chimeric viruses.
“This paper is the smoking gun of everything. When the team reviewed this data, they thought ‘This is created in the lab. It’s a reverse genetics construct,” a source said.
But their input into the 90-day origins probe was censored.
Sources close to the inquiry estimated that about 90 per cent of the DIA NCMI edits were deleted or censored or simply weren’t included.
“They said the information was too technical to include in the ODNI assessment,” a source familiar with the process told The Australian.
“When the scientists saw the final document, they wondered were did all their edits go?”
They had been working with the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction unit, until the co-operation between the two agencies was blocked, with a director at the Defense Intelligence Agency claiming the FBI was “off the reservation” on the topic of the origins of Covid-19.
The 90-day study also ignored coronavirus gain-of-function research underway in Wuhan and there was a lack of genomic data analysis.
The scientific team inside the DIA thought the 90-day report was scientifically inaccurate, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
“There was a lot of erroneous information. There was no genomic analysis in the ODNI report, nothing about the rare codons or the poly basic cleavage site and the minimal cassette that is similar to prior work published by WIV scientists. This virus also had no apparent mutational signatures,” a source involved in the inquiry said.
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US Congress to probe claims Covid report was censored by intelligence community
The US congress is set to probe revelations that officials at the highest levels of the intelligence community censored the input of scientists who concluded that Covid-19 was genetically engineered in a laboratory.
A homeland security committee senator has also called for the allegations to be “investigated immediately”.
The Australian and Sky News revealed on Friday that senior scientists working for the Defence Intelligence Organisation’s National Centre for Medical Intelligence – Robert Greg Cutlip, Jean-Paul Chretien and John Hardham – had 90 per cent of their input into a probe ordered by US President Joe Biden deleted.
They were stunned when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s study into the origins of Covid-19 was released and downplayed the likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 was the result of laboratory research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
US officials have expressed serious concerns at censorship of the scientists, saying the matter raised questions over the accuracy of the 90-day probe handed down by Mr Biden in August 2021.
The congressional select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic will now evaluate the allegations, with a spokesperson saying there were concerns about the accuracy of the intelligence agency’s public assessments.
“The select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic takes the reported allegations seriously,” a spokesperson said. “We are explicitly tasked with investigating the origins of Covid-19 and the purported information raises questions concerning the accuracy of the ODNI report and its conclusions.”
Separately, US senator Roger Marshall, who sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and is leading the Covid origins investigations, said he was exploring his options about how to take censorship of the scientists further and that the cover-up “must be fully investigated immediately”.
“We never trusted the Chinese Communist Party to come clean about the origins of Covid-19, but a potential cover-up by our own government and Defence agencies tasked with securing our nation should concern every American and must be fully investigated immediately,” he told The Weekend Australian.
“The intelligence community’s official inconclusive position about the origins of Covid-19 has never accurately reflected the classified intelligence we reviewed. Now we are learning insider censorship of US expert scientists may have influenced the report.”
Quantitative biologist Justin Kinney, associate professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said the revelations were “very important”.
“The ODNI appeared to have intentionally suppressed critical scientific information to mislead the public about the origins of Covid-19,” he said. “The house subcommittee on the pandemic should investigate.”
It comes after The Australian and Sky News revealed a draft document was shared with agencies in the intelligence community for input when Mr Biden ordered the probe in May 2021.
Sources familiar with the work inside the intelligence agency and the scientists’ interactions with the ODNI said 90 per cent of their input was censored or deleted.
“They said the information was too technical to include in the ODNI assessment,” one said.
“When the scientists saw the final document, they wondered where did all their edits go?”
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Author of Congressional Vax Injury Compensation Bill Pens an Op-Ed
While the Biden administration recently announced another $1 billion for long Covid treatment research and up to $5 billion to develop more vaccines and therapies targeting Covid, a subject lurking just beneath the surface, individuals injured by the Covid vaccine for the most part go unacknowledged and even censored.
One advocate for the vaccine injured claims people have been suffering for too long without any government acknowledgement and it is time for action. “To live in a world where people harmed by a medication are treated with mercy instead of censorship, people must make their voices heard.” Action has been taken, including on the part of TrialSite, which covers the topic objectively as well as engages in partnership with organizations like React19, a Covid vaccine injury group, and offers vaccine injury support groups. Now, it looks as if the United States government is finally responding.
Bill to modernize vaccine compensation+
Democrat Representative Lloyd Doggett from Texas and Republican Congressman Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania introduced a bill, H.R.5142, which is designed to modernize the current COVID-19 vaccine compensation schemes. The bill would update and improve the nearly forty-year-old Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
Doggett had been reluctant to criticize the Covid vaccine, but recently came out and said, “Vaccines save lives, but in the rarest of cases, usually caused by an error in administration rather than the vaccine itself, they involve injury. While strongly disagreeing with the dangerous misinformation spread by anti-vaxxers, I believe that those who suffer rare injuries associated with vaccines, including those to fight COVID-19, should receive prompt, reasonable compensation for medical bills and other losses. The existing program involves unreasonable delays and inadequate redress. Our bill would update the program and correct the unjust decision to have COVID-19 claims considered by a separate, and even more inadequate governmental program. By assuring a prompt and fair response to any related injury, we build confidence in vaccines and reduce hesitancy.”
Doggett op-ed
In an article in The Hill, Congressman Doggett wrote that Congress must act to modernize the approach to “rare vaccine injuries”. The politician points out the Covid vaccine was needed as a response to the pandemic and was successful. But, he adds, vaccine hesitancy was an issue which had to be dealt with. Doggett adds one way to assure people the vaccines are safe is to make sure there is trust in the vaccines and the government is to make sure there is a program to safely and fairly compensate people who have suffered a vaccine injury.
The Congressman points out because of the uniqueness of the situation with the Covid vaccine, compensation for Covid vaccine injury was considered under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). The CICP has been an “abject failure” in dealing with Covid vaccine injuries, and now, finally, politicians are aware of the situation. And, as Doggett points out, with all the claims made to the CICP, a pittance has been paid out by the agency scheme.
Doggett and Smucker’s bill is called The Vaccine Injury Compensation Modernization Act, which aims to update the CICP and provide “much needed” relief to people whose vaccine injury claims have been lingering. “Our legislation authorizes the resources and additional judges required to review claims expeditiously, as well as reforms to provide more reasonable time for filing a claim. It streamlines the addition of future vaccines to the program, a process now too frequently delayed by bureaucratic red tape.”
The payouts will also account for work loss compensation, medical costs and damages. The legislation would also raise the cap in line with inflation, indexing it moving forward.
Frankly why wouldn’t we compensate individuals that have legitimate, verified injuries associated with the vaccine? Again, the Biden administration continues to commit billions into new vaccine and medicinal development, yet no mention of vaccine injury compensation.
But some elected officials in Washington are starting to realize that a fair, reasonably expedited and funded compensation program makes sense.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Friday, August 25, 2023
The Highly Mutated BA.2.86, the Detecting Lab and Immunity Questions
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Yesterday, TrialSite reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) picked up on a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, one highly mutated, termed BA.2.86. In the United States, the mutated variant was sequenced in Michigan thanks to the ongoing surveillance occurring at the University of Michigan Clinical Microbiology Laboratory.
The University of Michigan Clinical Microbiology Laboratory in the report is termed the originating lab, while the submitting lab was the Lauring Lab, University of Michigan, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. This lab is led by Adam Lauring, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor of Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and Microbiology & Immunology.
The Clinical Microbiology Lab is led by Michael Bachman, M.D., Ph.D., and Paul R. Lephart, Ph.D., D(ABMM), both Associate Directors of the prominent Midwestern lab—one staffed by 55 medical technologists and clinical laboratory scientists. The laboratories provide service 365 days a year to meet the medical needs of Michigan Medicine and the clients of the “M-Labs” program.
The Clinical Microbiology Laboratory has close ties with Adult and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, the Infection Control Program, the Department of Pharmacy, and the School of Public Health. Close collaboration is key among the various functional areas, thus providing the ongoing analysis of interactions between organisms and antimicrobial agents that allow for dynamic reporting to clinicians on the floors and foster productive research collaborations that directly result in improving the quality of care provided to patients.
The Clinical Microbiology Laboratories are accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and active in the CAP Laboratory Accreditation and Proficiency Testing programs
More on the variant
CBS News coverage of the latest variant discovered revealed some useful information. Kathleen Conley, a CDC spokesperson told the network news, “Today we are more prepared than ever to detect and respond to changes in the COVID-19 virus.” Conley empathized that “Scientists are working now to understand more about the newly identified lineage in these four cases and we will share more information as it becomes available.”
Alexander Tin covered the story for CBS News HealthWatch.
Is BA.2.86 a more threatening or dangerous variant of SARS-CoV-2? Will it lead to more severe COVID-19? While the World Health Organization went on the record that the variant includes dozens of genetic changes, for comparison it’s a similar situation in some ways to how Omicron emerged as a materially different stain than, say, delta.
But public health agencies and academic research centers need more data to determine the risk levels associated with BA.2.86. TrialSite reported that this newly detected strain has been detected in Israel and Denmark as well.
The concern, among other things, is that the mutations could aid the pathogen in its ability to evade immunity, both of the natural (previous infection) as well as vaccine-induced type. There is no real threat at this point given the pathogen has only been detected in a few places. Also, it may well be the case that the human body’s current immune responses help fight off the mutant. Or for that matter, the mutant may not be able to compete with existing highly infectious strains.
CBS News obtained a presentation from a Fred Hutch Cancer Center evolutionary biologist, Jesse Bloom, Ph.D., conveying what could be considered potentially disturbing information about the latest variant. “Deep mutational scanning indicates BA.2.86 variant will have equal or greater escape than XBB.1.5 from antibodies elicited by pre-omicron and first-generation Omicron variants.”
Some of the mutations exist in parts of the virus that could help it evade immunity provided by prior vaccination or infection.
But Bloom also suggested the collective immunity may well be ready to take on BA.2.86, “[T]here are also broader mechanisms of immunity elicited by vaccination and infection that provide some protection against severe disease even for very heavily mutated variants.”
What are the implications for the latest vaccine that will likely be approved by FDA, and recommended by CDC for the fall season?
A monovalent mRNA vaccine produced by both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are under clinical study. TrialSite reported on a trial site looking to enroll adolescents in Cincinnati Ohio for the Moderna clinical trial.
The FDA recommended that the vaccine makers tailor this COVID-19 season’s vaccine to XBB.1.5, an Omicron variant. As TrialSite has reported recently, while this strain predominated circulating Omicron variants across America just a few months ago it is now at 10.3% or lower. TrialSite estimates that by October XBB.1.5 will be under 5% of all circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, if not less.
What does this mean for COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness? And what about the emerging predominant variants? For example, EG.5 at over 17% of SARS-CoV-2 cases according to the CDC now is the pathogen to watch. The good news for vaccination and natural immunity supporters---EG.5 is an XBB descendent so perhaps the vaccine’s effectiveness will be better than expected. Or perhaps Moderna pointed out, according to CBS News, that its shot provides "a significant boost in neutralizing antibodies" for EG.5.
Yet according to the Fred Hutch evolutionary biologist Jesse Bloom, all bets are off if BA.2.86 is able to outcompete and overcome other fast-moving, mutating Omicron variants. That scenario could represent trouble for our collective immunity. BA.2.86 heavily mutated would be a “fairly poor match” for the current vaccines under clinical development which again target XBB.
A reminder tempering the concern. With each progressive mutation under the Omicron umbrella of variants, COVID-19 becomes ever milder all things considered. And there are treatments available. Yes, it still can turn severe and even deadly but the case fatality rate now ranks with influenza, if not even less dangerous for healthy people.
Even during the Delta variant surge TrialSite always reminded that 90-95% of the COVID-19 cases were mild to moderate, but that persons in high-risk categories (e.g., elderly, persons with comorbidities, immunocompromised) faced considerably higher threat. TrialSite emphasized with national and state public health agencies that face a U.S. population with a staggering reality—about 70% of the adult population is either overweight or obese as reported by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. During the pandemic, there was little time to risk stratify, and obesity itself was/and is a risk factor. Meaning a good half, of the country’s adults likely fell in the higher risk category. This remains so, although the case fatality rate is under 1%. But generally, the Omicron variants are more infectious, meaning they spread faster, yet overall lead to milder outcomes.
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Murdoch Children’s Bombshell: Medicinal Value of COVID-19 Vaccines Now Questionable Among Healthy Children
According to researchers at Australia’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated efficacy against severe incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in children and adolescents, but their value proposition as a mass medical tool becomes questionable considering the unfolding dynamics of today: high pre-existing infection and low risk when infected.
Researchers led by John Hart from the academic medical center for young people Down Under acknowledge that most children now have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, meaning they have built up immunity, and the vaccine’s benefit in healthy children is minimal. They argue any energies and attention placed on COVID-19 vaccination campaigns should be used to advocate for vaccines known to offer higher medical value, such as the measles vaccine. The ramifications of this recent set of findings are substantial.
Published in the BMJ Pediatrics Open, the international review was led by medical researchers from the Australian medical institute. They explored the challenges and considerations of COVID-19 vaccination, especially in low-and middle-income countries with high levels of community transmission and infection-derived immunity.
The team’s review, led by Hart, a medical epidemiologist, suggests that any COVID-19 vaccination scheme moving forward, especially in low-and middle-income countries should be coupled with routine childhood vaccination program that the researchers acknowledge “have greater impact on illness and death, including for measles, pneumonia and diarrheal disease.”
Mild for most
The Australian team found that about two-thirds of all young people that had COVIS-19 and were hospitalized in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic did not require medical intervention. Deaths, the investigators reported, “were extremely rare in children.”
Closing in on child herd immunity?
The researchers also point out that the vast majority of children have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. As immunity has increased over time, the disease continues to evolve. Prior research led by Murdoch Children’s found that croup, triggered by the novel coronavirus, declined in 2022 despite the rise of new variants.
Also, data from the Pediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network in America found that rates of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PIMS-TS), what was a major driver for childhood vaccination, were “Substantially lower during the Omicron COVID-19 variant period.” TrialSite reported on similar findings in the UK.
Net takeaway
While there are still cases where COVID-19 vaccination is recommended, the Australian researchers are clear—they value of these vaccines for children has markedly diminished. In fact, they use the COVID-19 vaccination push as a primary means of promoting more substantive medical vaccination, such as measles. Reading between the lines, and on the face of the piece, the investigators are more concerned about standard vaccination rates, especially in low-and moderate-income countries.
One takeaway called out by this independent media, children achieved herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2 by infection, not vaccination.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Thursday, August 24, 2023
What You Need to Know About New ‘Eris’ COVID Variant
The new COVID-19 virus variant spreading now, “Eris,” is currently the predominant strain in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although it’s increasingly reported worldwide, health experts say it poses a low risk to public health, as there is no evidence it causes different or more severe symptoms than previous omicron offspring.
The Essentials
A subvariant of the omicron lineage, Eris, otherwise known as EG.5, was detected as early as February 2023. As of Aug. 23, Eris has been detected in more than 50 countries and is responsible for an estimated 20.6 percent of all cases in the United States.
Meanwhile, FL.1.5.1 is now the second most prevalent strain, accounting for over 13 percent of cases.
On Aug. 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated Eris as a variant of interest (pdf), meaning it possesses genetic characteristics that could increase its transmissibility, virulence, and ability to evade vaccines.
The WHO had previously labeled Eris as a variant “under monitoring” after a surge in COVID-19 infections in early July.
The current variant of interest list also includes two other omicron cousins—XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16.
If Eris is upgraded to a variant of concern, governments would need to increase preventative measures, such as mask mandates in hospitals, testing, or physical distancing.
There have already been growing concerns that Eris could trigger governments to revive some COVID-19 restrictions.
How Dangerous Is It Compared to Other Variants?
Eris is a descendent of omicron variant XBB.1.9.2.
Eris carries an additional amino acid mutation, known as F456L, in the spike protein. This mutation has been shown to escape immunity gained from previous variants and may help the new variant transmit quickly.
The CDC said there is no evidence Eris causes more severe disease than other omicron descendants, and it seems to cause similar symptoms.
Similar to those of earlier COVID-19 virus strains and that of the common cold, symptoms may include the following:
Fatigue.
Muscle pain.
Chest pain.
Headache.
Sore throat.
Runny nose.
Congestion.
Cough.
Fever and chills.
Nausea or vomiting.
Diarrhea.
Loss of taste or smell.
New Generation ‘Variant Under Monitoring’
Health authorities have also been tracking a highly mutated strain called BA.2.86, or “Pirola” by some, which has caught scientists by surprise after it was picked up by COVID-19 testing on three continents.
This variant has scientists on alert because its emergence is reminiscent of the early days of the omicron variant in late 2021 when researchers in southern Africa noticed a lineage that quickly spread globally.
“There’s a little bit of déjà vu all over again,” said Adam Lauring, a virologist and infectious-disease physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, whose lab identified one individual infected with BA.2.86, in an interview with Nature.
Health authorities first detected BA.2.86 in Denmark on July 24, and it has also been spotted in the UK, United States, and Israel.
None of the cases appears to be linked, including three infections in Denmark found in different parts of the country. This geographical distribution is another feature of BA.2.86 that is garnering scientists’ attention.
This suggests the variant may already be fairly widespread, Jesse Bloom, a viral evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, told Nature. “It’s got to have been transmitting a fair amount.”
The UK Health Security Agency said a recent case was reported in a person with no recent travel history, “suggesting a degree of community transmission within the UK.”
However, experts do not expect BA.2.86 to have the same impact as omicron due to response practice with earlier COVID-19 waves and vaccine rollouts. “There’s good reason to think it won’t be like the omicron wave, but it’s early days,” Mr. Lauring said in the Nature interview.
Current Vaccines
Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax have created new versions of their vaccines to target another omicron sublineage—XBB.1.5—similar to Eris, so health authorities hope the vaccines will work on new variants.
However, according to the WHO, the F456L mutation Eris carries has been shown to decrease the neutralization of most XBB.1.5 neutralizing antibodies.
Listed by the WHO as a “variant of concern,” XBB.1.5 previously dominated transmission in the United States for several months straight but was surpassed by XBB.1.16, or Arcturus, in July.
The new CDC director, Dr. Mandy Cohen, anticipates that these vaccines will be available at common locations such as pharmacies and anticipates an annual COVID-19 shot, integrating it into routine health practices.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-eris-covid-variant-5477514
***************************************************Another Covid Medication Gets authorization from FDA Despite a Phase 3 “Miss”
When the Covid pandemic started, there was a rush to find a vaccine to combat the disease. Initially, issues arose with the Johnson and Johnson shot and it was discontinued, but the Pfizer mRNA jab was approved. Both shots were authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under emergency use authorization (EUA) although the Johnson and Johnson’s (Janssen) authorization was later revoked. The mRNA jabs were later formally approved. But questions still arose over whether or not the Pfizer and later Moderna vaccines were fully vetted before EUA was granted. Now it appears history has repeated itself.
Known as vilobelimab, this experimental product now available on an emergency basis was developed via human-mouse chimeric IgG4 kappa antibody targeting human C5a in plasma.
Gohibic gets EUA
In April, the FDA granted emergency use authorization for the use of the Gohibic injection for the treatment of Covid-19 in hospitalized adults. The medication is to be used within 48 hours of a patient who’s been intubated or is on a heart-lung machine. The press release for the medication says, “There is limited information known about the safety or effectiveness of using GOHIBIC to treat people in the hospital with COVID-19.
Available results from clinical trials in adults indicate that treatment with GOHIBIC may decrease the risk of dying in hospitalized adults with COVID-19 when initiated within 48 hours of receiving IMV or ECMO. The safety and effectiveness of GOHIBIC have not been studied in children hospitalized with COVID-19.”
Authorized despite Phase 3 “miss”
According to the FDA, the Gohibic clinical trial showed that patients treated with the drug had a lower risk of death by day 28 and day 60 of treatment compared to placebo. However, there is a phase 3 clinical trial “twist”. In a randomized trial, Gohibic reduced the risk of death in the sickest patients by 27% compared with placebo during a 28-day period. In that trial, the drug missed “statistical significance” on the trial’s primary endpoint. But in another analysis and two other post hoc analyses the medication’s improvement was significant. The treatment targets inflammation that leads to progression of the Covid virus.
Drug maker talks to FDA
Despite the results of the trial, the maker of Gohibic, InflaRx, talked to the FDA and then applied for the EUA last September. InflaRx was founded in 2007 in Germany and has offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In a press release, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of InflaRx, Niels Riedemann said that Gohibic will bring hope to Covid patients who despite vaccines and other treatment options, are still developing viral sepsis and are progressing to critical status.
The company has a supply of Gohibic which is readily available, but Riedemann didn’t reveal the price of the medication. However, he did expect to charge a five-digit figure per patient for the drug. Once again, it appears Covid is a continual cash cow for Big Pharma CEOs.
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The World’s Longest Natural Experiment on Vaccine Efficacy
Lack of controls in evaluating vaccine efficacy makes all inferences speculative
In early 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine campaign was launched, based on clinical findings of 95% efficacy in late 2020 (Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine).
But this efficacy relied on relative risk measures that are more appropriate for epidemiological population studies that measure exposure and response to risk factors without controlling for confounding factors that could produce the same results from other sources.
Confounding factors are controlled in a vaccine clinical trial through randomization of participants to the vaccine and placebo groups, thereby equally distributing all known and unknown confounding factors. Randomized controlled clinical trials require absolute measures of risk reduction to prove causation of vaccine efficacy, not relative risk reductions that only observe associations of effectiveness. (Relative risk reduction: Misinformative measure in clinical trials and COVID-19 vaccine efficacy).
The absolute risk reduction of the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials was approximately 1%, which rendered the vaccine clinically insignificant (Outcome Reporting Bias in COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Clinical Trials). Generally, a significant clinical effect reduces a risk by at least 50% or increases a risk by at least two-fold.
In what amounts to the world’s longest natural experiment, it took many months for a national public health official to declare to the public what the clinical trial results had already proven back in 2020 due to their low absolute risk reductions: that the COVID-19 vaccines would not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections (CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tells Wolf Blitzer that COVID Vaccines won't prevent transmission - YouTube 1:20).
And to suggest that the vaccines would at least keep you out of the hospital has never been clinically proven. Just because you are vaccinated and stay out of the hospital doesn't prove the vaccines had anything to do with it. It's just another one of those unproven associations.
By now the truth about the COVID-19 vaccine failure should be evident to anybody who cares to look and listen. However, are the lessons learned? Are we better equipped now to prevent more failed vaccine campaigns based on misleading statistics that benefit pharmaceutical profits? That last phrase provides a clue to the answer, and the world's longest natural experiment on vaccine efficacy is likely to continue on indefinitely.
https://www.trialsitenews.com/a/the-worlds-longest-natural-experiment-on-vaccine-efficacy-d9d9b7c3
*************************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Long COVID damage can linger for 2 years, leading to elevated risk of disability, hospitalization, and death, landmark new study finds
Long COVID—and the increased risk of death, disability, and hospitalization it brings—can persist for two years, according to a landmark study published Monday in Nature Medicine.
It’s the first study to look at a broad range of potential health effects stemming from the virus in the two years after infection. Most previous studies had only examined the initial year after infection, or a more narrow range of health effects in a period slightly longer than a year.
For those who contracted the virus in 2020 and were hospitalized with it, the risk of both death and hospitalization remained “significantly elevated” for two years, according to researchers with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Washington University.
Among those who contracted the virus the same year and weren’t hospitalized during their initial infection, the risk of death remained statistically significant for six months, researchers found. The risk of hospitalization remained elevated for about a year and a half.
“The findings highlight the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to [long COVID] and call for attention to the care needs of people with long-term health effects" due to the virus, the study’s authors wrote.
A longer road for those who were hospitalized
Researchers examined the Department of Veterans Affairs medical records of nearly 140,000 individuals who survived COVID during 2020, as well as nearly 6 million who weren’t known to have contracted the virus that year. They followed them for two years to gauge their risk of death from all causes, as well as the incidence of 80 conditions known to be post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC), frequently referred to as long COVID.
At the two-year mark, the risk of most of those health conditions—69%—was insignificant for those who hadn’t been hospitalized with the virus. But "substantial" risk remained "impacting several major organ systems." The chance of developing blood, lung, gastrointestinal, or musculoskeletal conditions remained elevated, in addition to fatigue and diabetes, suggesting a longer-lasting risk for these ailments, the authors stated.
In a Monday blog entry, Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, wrote that the statistic was the "only reassuring finding for non-hospitalized people in the study."
For those who had been hospitalized with the virus, the risk of most of conditions—65%, affecting all organ systems examined, and including cardiovascular, blood, endocrine, gastrointestinal, kidney, mental health, musculoskeletal, and pulmonary issues—remained significant for the entire two years. The findings are a nod to the "the difficult and protracted road to recovery among those whose disease was sufficiently severe to necessitate hospitalization during the acute phase of infection," researchers wrote.
The study's findings "show that while risks of many (but not all) post-acute sequelae decline and become non-statistically significant over time, the decline is less pronounced among those who were hospitalized in the acute phase of infection," the authors wrote.
The good news for everyone: Researchers found no increased risk of cancer among those who had experienced COVID, hospitalized or not.
While significant, the study had its limitations, as the authors point out. All participants were veterans, and most were older males. Long COVID as a whole may look different—in both duration and symptoms—in a primarily female, or younger, population. As Topol pointed out, the study's prototypic participant, a 61-year-old male, is far different from a female in her thirties—the demographic for which long COVID is thought to be most prevalent.
Further, all participants were infected during the first year of COVID, before variants like Delta and Omicron evolved. While thought to be less common, long COVID from later strains may feature important differences.
What's more, those with a record of COVID infection were compared to those with no record of a COVID infection during the same year. But some of them may have had COVID without knowing, or telling their doctor, skewing rates of death, hospitalization, and disability in the COVID crowd for better or worse.
Long COVID's long-term impacts on the immune system
Another new study, published Aug. 18 in the journal Cell, details the long-term immune system changes that severe COVID can trigger. The findings help elucidate why some with long COVID have symptoms tied to prolonged inflammation, like lung and kidney damage and neurological changes—and may have implications for anyone who has experienced the virus, regardless of severity.
Researchers with Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and other institutions examined data from the blood of tens of patients—those who had recovered from severe COVID, and those who had recovered from other types of critical illness. In particular, they were able to isolate and analyze a rare type of stem cells found in blood—CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells—thanks to a new technique they developed that made bone marrow biopsy unnecessary.
Among their findings: Monocytes—a type of white blood cell produced every few days from stem cells—showed changes in epigenetic programming up to a year after severe COVID infection.
Epigenetic programming refers to the epigenome—comprised of factors like chemicals, stress, diet, drugs, and disease that modify DNA, telling it "what to do, where to do it, and when to do it,” according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Those changes, to what could be casually referred to as DNA's "packaging," can be passed down from cell to cell as they divide, and from generation to generation.
Researchers also found that stem cells of those who had experienced severe COVID were more likely to allow activation of inflammation-associated genes. Such cells were also more likely to create a type of blood cell that serves as a "first responder" to infection.
Stem cells "can pass their epigenetic ‘memories’ on to their progeny immune cells, changing those cells’ inflammatory programs," Dr. Steven Josefowicz, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Fortune. "So, when they see another pathogen, they respond in a different way than they would if they came from ... cells that hadn’t seen inflammation to the same extent.”
Such changes to the immune system may persist longer than a year, Josefowicz said, adding that the study only lasted a year. And they may also occur—at least to some extent—in those who had more mild cases of COVID, though further study will be needed to tell.
Who's most at risk for long COVID?
Factors like age, gender, BMI, and pre-existing conditions may put individuals at higher risk for long COVID, according to a study published in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
The U.K.-based study found that certain groups of people are at a significantly higher risk of developing the post-viral condition, thought to affect millions around the world. They include:
Women
Over 40
People with obesity
Smokers
Those who were immunosuppressed before COVID
People who were hospitalized with COVID
People who had the following conditions before COVID:
anxiety or depression
diabetes
asthma or COPD
Researchers examined the results of 41 published studies, with a combined total of more than 860,000 patients. They found that the aforementioned conditions were strongly associated with a higher risk of long COVID symptoms persisting three or more months after infection.
The results bolster the case that female gender and older age serve as risk factors for developing long COVID. A potential common thread among several risk categories: pre-existing inflammation, which may extend the acute phase of COVID “even after recovery.” In the case of females, hormones might play a role in inflammatory status, while obesity shares a proinflammatory profile with long COVID, the authors write.
That’s not-so-great news for a giant swath of the population. There is good news, however: At least two doses of COVID vaccination seemed to lower the risk of developing long COVID, researchers found. Other studies have come to similar conclusions, they noted. They include a report from the U.K. Office of National Statistics, which found that those with two doses of COVID vaccine had a 42% lower risk of developing the potentially disabling condition.
What is long COVID?
With more than 200 symptoms identified—from lingering cough and fatigue to ear numbness and a sensation of “brain on fire”—long COVID is undoubtedly not one but multiple conditions, experts say.
True long COVID, some contend, is best defined as a chronic-fatigue-syndrome-like condition that develops after a COVID infection, similar to other post-viral syndromes that can occur after an infection with herpes, Lyme disease, and Ebola, among others.
Other post-COVID complications like organ damage should not be defined as long COVID and better fit into the larger umbrella category of PASC, some experts say. Also known as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, the term is used to encompass a wide variety of COVID consequences, from chronic-fatigue-like symptoms and subsequent heart disease to lasting lung damage and odd new symptoms like urinary incontinence, itching, and skin lesions.
As of Jan. 16, 15% of U.S. adults reported having long COVID symptoms at some point in the pandemic, and 6% reported lingering symptoms, according to a Jan. 26 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The percent of Americans who’ve experienced COVID and still report long COVID symptoms dropped from 19% in June to 11% in January, according to the report.
https://fortune.com/well/2023/08/21/long-covid-last-2-years-death-disability-hospitalization/
*************************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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