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Headlines downplay the latest evidence as ‘small’ and ‘temporary,’ as if that makes vaccine side effects insignificant to a woman’s overall health.
“Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news briefing.
And while we don’t know how many were actually infected on the Carnival Freedom, we do know that the Symphony of the Seas docked several days ago with 48 positive cases, despite 95 percent of the ship being fully vaccinated. Of those who tested positive, 98 percent were fully vaccinated. In other words, there’s no possible way to blame that outbreak on the “unvaccinated.”
Forty-eight positive tests out of thousands of people on board may not sound a lot, but when you do the math as a seven-day rolling average, something common in judging COVID infection rates, that’s actually around the same positivity rate as New York City (800 per 100,000 vs. 1050 per 100,000), which again is seeing record high case numbers.
What this says to me is that vaccine passport systems are completely nonsensical. We’ve known for a long time that everyone spreads COVID-19, and now Omicron is even more transmissible. Given that, you are accomplishing nothing of value by segregating the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Instead, these vaccine passport schemes are simply meant to punish and shame. There is no reason to stop a person from eating at a restaurant or going to a baseball game because they are unvaccinated. They represent no more of a statistical risk of spreading the coronavirus than the vaccinated person sitting next to them.
Besides, isn’t the entire point of getting fully vaccinated that it supposedly works? And if it works, what does it matter who the vaccinated interact with? None of this makes any logical sense, and again, that’s the point. This is about bending people to the political will of the left, not actually protecting anyone.
In South Africa, nearly every early case of Omicron was in fully vaccinated people, despite only 23.8% of the population being vaccinated at the time. While that data would suggest that vaccinated people are more likely to be infected with Omicron than the unvaccinated, I stopped short of saying that because it was still very early in the spread of Omicron and the data could change. What was clear, though, was that South Africa was in the midst of an outbreak of a new and more transmissible variant. //
With an astounding 1100% increase in cases, South Africa only had an 8.32% increase in deaths. Again, at the time, South Africa’s vaccination rate was below 25%. Meanwhile, the United States, with more than double the vaccination rate of South Africa, has nearly twice the new caseload and five times the rate of death from COVID than that of South Africa. That data would suggest that being vaccinated makes you more likely to be infected with Omicron than being unvaccinated. //
Now, data from a new study suggests negative effectiveness, that is the very thing Fauci warned as a potential: a higher likelihood of being infected with Omicron than if you had simply been unvaccinated, 90 days after being vaccinated. The study, entitled “Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection with the Omicron or Delta variants following a two-dose or booster BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 vaccination series: A Danish cohort study,” shows that both mRNA vaccines maintained a better than 50% effectiveness against previous variants of COVID-19, that effectiveness drops to nearly zero 60 days after the vaccine is administered and actually provides a negative response after 90 days. In fact, initial vaccine efficacy against Omicron for both vaccines tested was below that of the effectiveness against Delta after more than 90 days.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21267966v2.full //
When factoring for the confidence interval, both vaccines show a potential of causing negative effectiveness after 30 days, and the data show that only the Pfizer vaccine has results that indicate a positive effect for the first thirty days. Moderna’s vaccine consistently shows the potential of cause in negative results, that is, a higher likelihood of infection, from the date of vaccination forward.
A preliminary study made public Wednesday studied blood samples in the lab from 30 people who had gotten two Moderna shots, and it found that the antibodies in their blood are at least about 50 times less effective at neutralizing the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Previous research had indicated the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is also less protective against omicron. //
But there was good news too. An additional 17 people in the study had received a Moderna booster. And the antibodies in their blood were highly effective at blocking the omicron variant — essentially about as effective as they are at blocking the delta variant, Montefiori says.
JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Israeli researchers said on Saturday they found that a three-shot course of the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the new Omicron variant.
The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early signal that booster shots could be key to protect against infection from the newly identified variant.
The study, carried out by Sheba Medical Center and the Health Ministry's Central Virology Laboratory, compared the blood of 20 people who had received two vaccine doses 5-6 months earlier to the same number of individuals who had received a booster a month before.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) VigiAccess database lists adverse reactions (ADRs) reported by people after taking a drug or vaccine. It does not confirm that medicinal products or their active ingredients caused any observed symptoms. //
The Facebook user who shared the graph says: “So would you rather take the WHO drug that has just over 5,000 adverse events reported over 20 years or the one the WHO reports has had nearly 2,500,000 adverse events reported in less than 2 years? Asking for a friend… #AxTheVax #MedicalFreedom #WeWillNotComply”
The “WHO drug” they are referring to is ivermectin, which has been written about in numerous previous fact checks //
Firstly, ivermectin is not a “WHO drug” – //
Secondly, although the figures collated in the chart appear to be accurate as of the date it was created (Nov. 12, 2021), VigiAccess data – a web-based tool for searching the WHO’s global database (VigiBase) – only shows potential side effects that have been reported to its Programme for International Drug Monitoring (WHO PIDM) (see the FAQ section www.vigiaccess.org ).
A WHO spokesperson told Reuters in an email: “Information in VigiAccess on potential side effects should not be interpreted as meaning that the medicinal product or its active substance either caused the observed effect or is unsafe to use. Confirming a causal link is a complex process that requires a thorough scientific assessment and detailed evaluation of all available data. The information on this website, therefore, does not reflect any confirmed link between a medicinal product and a side effect.”
They added: “VigiAccess cannot be used to compare the safety profiles of different medicinal products… and VigiAccess cannot provide sufficient context to make such comparisons possible.”
There are more than 100 types of malaria parasite. The RTS,S vaccine targets the one that is most deadly and most common in Africa: plasmodium falciparum.
Trials, reported in 2015, showed the vaccine could prevent around four in 10 cases of malaria, three in 10 severe cases and lead to the number of children needing blood transfusions falling by a third.
However, there were doubts the vaccine would work in the real world as it requires four doses to be effective. The first three are given a month apart at five, six and seven months old, and a final booster is needed at around 18 months.
The findings of the pilots were discussed by two expert advisory groups at the WHO on Wednesday.
The results, from more than 2.3 million doses, showed:
- the vaccine was safe and still led to a 30% reduction in severe malaria
- it reached more than two-thirds of children who don't have a bed-net to sleep under
- there was no negative impact on other routine vaccines or other measures to prevent malaria
- the vaccine was cost-effective
"From a scientific perspective, this is a massive breakthrough, from a public health perspective this is a historical feat," said Dr Pedro Alonso, the director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme.
"We've been looking for a malaria vaccine for over 100 years now, it will save lives and prevent disease in African children." //
Having just seen the world develop Covid vaccines in record time, you might be wondering why it has taken so long with malaria?
Malaria is caused by a parasite which is far more insidious and sophisticated than the virus that causes Covid. Comparing them is like comparing a person and a cabbage.
The malaria parasite has evolved to evade our immune system. That's why you have to catch malaria time and time again before starting to get even limited protection.
It has a complicated life cycle across two species (humans and mosquitoes), and even inside our body it morphs between different forms as it infects liver cells and red blood cells.
Developing a malaria vaccine is like nailing jelly to a wall and RTS,S is only able to target the sporozoite form of the parasite (this is the stage between being bitten by a mosquito and the parasite getting to the liver).
It is why the vaccine is 'only' 40% effective. However, this is still a remarkable success and paves the way for the development of yet more potent vaccines.
Be aware if you've got bats in your home. That's the message from the Illinois Department of Health as it announced that an 80-year-old man died of rabies after waking up to find a bat on his neck. It is the first human case of rabies in the state since 1954.
The man refused rabies treatment at the time of the incident in mid-August, health officials said in a press release. A month later, he started experiencing rabies symptoms such as neck pain, headache, difficulty controlling his arms, finger numbness and difficulty speaking. //
"Rabies infections in people are rare in the United States; however, once symptoms begin, rabies is almost always fatal, making it vital that an exposed person receive appropriate treatment to prevent the onset of rabies as soon as possible," Pfister said.
Animals have been used in the industrialized production of human vaccines since vaccine farms were established to harvest cowpox virus from calves in the late 1800s. From that point, and through the first half of the 20th Century, most vaccines would continue to be developed with the use of animals, either by growing pathogens in live animals or by using animal cells.
Although many vaccines and anti-toxin products were successfully developed this way, using animals in vaccine development – particularly live animals – is not ideal. Research animals are costly and require extensive monitoring, both to maintain their health and to ensure the continued viability of the research. They may be carrying other bacteria or viruses that could contaminate the eventual vaccine, as with polio vaccines from the mid 20th century that were made with monkey cells and eventually found to contain a monkey virus called SV40, or Simian Virus 40. (Fortunately, the virus was not found to be harmful to humans.) Moreover, some pathogens, such as the chickenpox virus, simply do not grow well in animal cells. //
For these and other reasons, using cell culture techniques to produce vaccine viruses in human cell strains is a significant advance in vaccine development.
In the Evie Magazine article that Kira attached to the tweet, a 13-year old discusses why this push to get her vaccinated is, well… creepy. And unnecessary.
Out of the mouth of babes:
The conversation on vaccines has also become very tense. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always been like this (usually with one side being shut down and degraded more quickly), but questioning the new vaccine and its safety has become a fury-switch for many, almost in disbelief that some may have the “audacity” to be concerned. If you go to any government or medical site, they will tell you that the vaccine is “mostly”safe, and even though this is usually just a legal precaution, some people don’t want to take their chances with “mostly” – especially when they’re naturally built to fight it. Should we really be pressuring people to take chances for things they don’t want (and probably don’t even need)?
O’Keefe knew Gates had been acquiring farmland for years, mostly through various Cascade subsidiaries. The mogul’s holdings include large tracts in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and about a dozen other states. With the Washington state acreage and other recent additions to his portfolio, O’Keefe calculated, Gates now owns at least 242,000 acres of American farmland.
“Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has an alter ego,” O’Keefe wrote: “Farmer Bill, the guy who owns more farmland than anyone else in America.” //
Gates is also quietly funding technology for digital vaccine passports. //
ID2020 is also active in more developed countries such as the US and has partnered with City of Austin, Texas, to provide a blockchain-enabled digital ID platform for the homeless population, as well as to refugees receiving medical treatment from the International Rescue Committee in Thailand.
Now with the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, this seems to have presented an opportunity to fast track global health into a new era of digital healthcare.
What could go wrong? Well, personal privacy (there’s that word again!), fraud, mass surveillance, and manipulation of information, among other things. But this does not seem to matter to Gates and his wicked schemes for you and your life. //
Finally, Gates remains a proponent of lockdowns, despite much evidence to the contrary that they did not work then, and they will not work now. As states in the U.S. were reopening, he sat down with every legacy media outlet he could to sound the alarm on the dangers of not following the science. Gates was as dogmatic as Dr. Anthony Fauci in his insistence; the problem is, at least Fauci has an M.D. behind his name. Gates does not. He has no medical experience whatsoever. Gates cannot even create software that doesn’t catch viruses. //
If you thought Bill Gates was dangerous while buffeted by a wife (who was equally dangerous, frankly), imagine how much more dangerous he’ll become now that he can truly focus on his dreams of global domination.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the New York Times on Sunday that tourists will need to have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to travel to any of the 27 member states of the European Union. “All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A. [European Medicines Agency],” von der Leyen said.
The three vaccines being deployed in the United States — Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson — have been approved by the E.M.A. European regulators also gave the go-ahead on the AstraZeneca vaccine, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still reviewing it for approval.
The specifics of how American tourists will have to provide proof of vaccination are still being worked out. Officials in Brussels told the Times a “low-tech solution” will suffice as the United States and international governments work out the kinks of delivering a program “acceptable and readable in the European Union, and vice versa.”
Morbilliform rash after administration of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine
Patrick M Jedlowski et al. Dermatol Online J. 2021.
Free article
A malaria vaccine has proved to be 77% effective in early trials and could be a major breakthrough against the disease, says the University of Oxford team behind it.
Malaria kills more than 400,000 people a year, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa.
But despite many vaccines being trialled over the years, this is the first to meet the required target. //
When trialled in 450 children in Burkina Faso, the vaccine was found to be safe, and showed "high-level efficacy" over 12 months of follow-up.
Larger trials in nearly 5,000 children between the ages of five months and three years will now be carried out across four African countries to confirm the findings. //
The trials of this malaria vaccine started in 2019, long before coronavirus appeared - and the Oxford team developed its Covid vaccine (with AstraZeneca) on the strength of its research into malaria, Prof Hill said.
A malaria vaccine has taken much longer to come to fruition because there are thousands of genes in malaria compared to around a dozen in coronavirus, and a very high immune response is needed to fight off the disease.
There are growing signs that parts of the country may be close to meeting demand for the coronavirus vaccine — well before the U.S. has reached herd immunity.
Why it matters: For the last few months, the primary focus of the U.S. has been getting shots to everyone who wants them, as quickly as possible. Soon, that focus will abruptly shift to convincing holdouts to get vaccinated.
State of play: Red states in the South are administering the lowest portion of the vaccine doses that they receive from the federal government — a sign of low demand, slow public health systems, or both.
Part II focuses on the suppression of therapeutic treatments that actually work against the ChiCom virus. Here are some summary points from Dr. Cole’s presentation on that subject:
The current CDC and NIH recommendation: “Go home and isolate; if you can’t breathe or your lips turn blue, then go to the hospital” (this amounts to apathy, not treatment, as physicians are trained to treat people at the first instance of a disease/pathogen)
The earlier the treatment, the more complications that can be avoided over time (simple common sense)
If there is a treatment extant for a disease, then the federal government cannot approve a vaccine by law
The NIH, which is involved in approving medications, co-holds the patent on the Moderna vaccine (a complete conflict of interest!)
When NIH and other public health agencies look at therapeutics, the conflict of interest of the federal government in bed with a vaccine company weighs large in the “decision-making” process (they don’t want a therapeutic to work because then they can vend their vaccine) //
Ivermectin (an anti-parasitic given to horses and dogs) is an effective prevention and treatment therapy
Although an anti-parasitic, Ivermectin also is a phenomenal anti-viral prophylaxis and can be used for early treatment, immune modifier treatment during hospitalization, and post-COVID “long hauler” treatment
Ivermectin is safe, effective, and INEXPENSIVE, having been taken by 4 billion people since the 1980s (it is on the world’s most essential drugs list!)
In Petri dish studies conducted, in August 2020, Ivermectin was found to have killed 99% of the virus, but the NIH recommended against its use //
A few Ivermectin studies are finally being conducted independently in the US in Texas, Florida, and Wisconsin hospitals (results: they have decreased their COVID death rates by 70-90%!) //
tonysc NickSJ
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Once the Wuhan Flu moved from a disease of the body to a disease of the body politic, including treatments becoming part of the political games and deaths attributed to it becoming politically manipulated, I stopped trying to make sense of the number of reported deaths attributed to the Wuhan Flu.
Get vaccinated.
Get your smartphone.
Get started with v-safe.
V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that checks in on you after your COVID-19 vaccination. Your participation helps keep COVID-19 vaccines safe — for you and for everyone.
If you got vaccinated in the last 6 weeks, you can participate in v-safe!
Especially after the second dose
The anecdotal reports are true: people who get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine say they have more side effects than people who get the Pfizer / BioNTech shots, according to new data published this week in JAMA.
Getting COVID-19 can cause all manner of odd skin reactions. A new study finds some of them, including COVID toes, a measles-like rash and shingles also can be rare, and thankfully brief, side effects of getting the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
The minor, though sometimes itchy and annoying, reactions were seen in a database of 414 cases of delayed skin problems linked to the vaccines and reported to health care professionals. The cases were collected between December and February before the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been authorized, so it was not included.
None caused a life-threatening reaction, a finding the study's senior author Dr. Esther Freeman found reassuring.
“People can get full-body rashes, and that can be surprising and a little scary, but these patients did extremely well, recovered and were able to go back and get their second dose,” said Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital.