5333 private links
The CDC has “revised” pediatric deaths from COVID-19 down 24 percent, after a “mistake” was discovered. This per The Daily Caller.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its data this week to reduce pediatric deaths from COVID-19 by nearly 24%.
On Tuesday, the agency was reporting on its COVID Data Tracker that 1,755 Americans under age 18 had died from the virus since the pandemic began in spring 2020. Now, it is reporting 1,341 deaths in that category.
The CDC said the number was revised March 15 due to a “coding logic error,” according to a footnote on the agency’s COVID Data Tracker. Pediatric death counts were not the only ones to be lowered — total deaths were reduced by roughly 70,000.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/03/18/cdc-data-kids-pediatric-covid-coronavirus-deaths/ //
How does a screw-up like that happen at a multi-billion-dollar funded, government entity? And it only gets “corrected” after the FDA rejects vaccination for small children? It’s just all a bit too convenient.
According to Botanical Medicine, the anti-inflammatory actions of glycyrrhizin (GL) may stem from suppression of cytokines:
“As testimony to its anti-inflammatory properties, glycyrrhizin alleviated allergic asthma in an experimental mouse model, increased the IL-4 and IL-5 levels, decreased eosinophil counts and IgE levels, and upregulated total IgG2a in serum.
These results indicated that glycyrrhizin interfered with the production of IgE by decreasing the IgE-stimulating cytokines. It also attenuated lung inflammation and mucus production in mice.”
In people who had been infected with SARs-CoV-2 and were then vaccinated, the outcome was completely different: All the vaccines provided a major immunological boost against re-infection, and the differences between the mRNA shots and the other ones "began to blur," says John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who was not involved in the study.
Of the five vaccines tested, four produced nearly identical immune reactions. This group included Pfizer's mRNA shot as well a shot made by AstraZeneca, the Sputnik V shot made by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia, and one from Cansino, a Chinese company. A fifth vaccine, CoronaVac, made by Sinovac Biotech in China, was the worst performer, though still protective to some degree. //
The study's point that vaccinating after a case of COVID provides protection against future infections is supported by a newly-published Israeli study. Researchers found that unvaccinated individuals who had recovered from COVID and were then given the Pfizer vaccine had significantly lowered reinfection risks after getting a Pfizer vaccine.
Summing up the two findings, Moore says "The Israeli paper tells you that vaccinating convalescent people has real-world benefits and the Rockefeller paper tells you the vaccine you use [either mRNA or non-mRNA] is inconsequential — you get the benefits from each."
By refusing to acknowledge the harms of lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccination, the CDC has brought everlasting shame to itself. There is clear evidence these types of interventions carry measurable risk.
A better approach would have been to honestly discuss the risks and benefits with the public, much like I discuss surgical risks and benefits with my patients. This is the very tenet of informed consent, and better communication always results in a better relationship. //
The consequences of lying about Covid-19 will spill into other areas of health care. Millions of Americans have lost trust in our hospitals and institutions and are now resorting to “under the table” health care. In health care, loss of trust equals lack of access. The CDC must return to the basics of evidence-based medicine to overcome its crisis of legitimacy.
The antiparasitic drug ivermectin failed to treat COVID-19 in yet another randomized clinical trial, but the drug remains popular amid the pandemic thanks to Republican politics. That's the takeaway from two separate studies published Friday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Together, the studies raise yet more concerns for the use of ivermectin against the pandemic virus—as well as the reasons behind its use, which appear politically motivated.
"Political affiliation should not be a factor in clinical treatment decisions," the Harvard researchers behind one of the studies concluded. "Our findings raise concerns for public trust in a non-partisan health care system."
Analyses of both COVID-19 convalescent and diagnostic cohorts strongly support the use of RBD antibody levels as an excellent surrogate to biochemical neutralization activities. Data further revealed that the samples from mRNA vaccinated individuals had a median of 17 times higher RBD antibody levels and a similar degree of increased neutralization activities against RBD-ACE2 binding than those from natural infections. Our data showed that N501Y RBD had fivefold higher ACE2 binding than the original variant. While some antisera from naturally infected subjects had substantially reduced neutralization ability against N501Y RBD, all blood samples from vaccinated individuals were highly effective in neutralizing it. Thus, our data indicates that mRNA vaccination may generate more neutralizing RBD antibodies than natural immunity. It further suggests a potential need to maintain high RBD antibody levels to control the more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants. //
Received
25 June 2021
Accepted
17 January 2022
Published
16 February 2022
Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told KHOU 11 that researchers are unsure what immunity the omicron variant gives people.
“It’s unclear, at this point, what level of immunity occurs after an omicron infection. I suspect over time, yes, you probably can get reinfected. But we don’t have that data yet because omicron has only been around since October/November.”
However, the omicron variant might offer immunity for other COVID-19 variants. For example, a study suggests that the omicron variant of the coronavirus can give immunity to the delta variant, which means the delta variant could soon lose its hold on the American people, according to Reuters.
At the same time, recent research — published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association — found that breakthrough infections of the delta variant created “a robust immune response against the delta variant.”
Researchers said this level of immunity “is likely to be highly effective against other variants as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate.” Though the data was about the delta variant, it was suggested that this could apply to the omicron variant, too.
One way (maybe the only way) we’re going to get out of this pandemic is to vaccinate a large portion of the global population. To the WHO, this means reaching 70% of the population by mid-2022, which is ~3 billion unvaccinated people with 6-9 billion doses before another variant of concern.
A diverse portfolio of vaccines that utilizes a number of different biotechnologies is of critical importance. While mRNA vaccines are innovative and effective, they pose logistical storage challenges to reach remote communities. The mRNA pharmaceutical companies are also not sharing their vaccine patent, which doesn’t allow others to manufacture. In addition, a diverse portfolio of vaccines frees up supply bottlenecks, provides options for those allergic to vaccines ingredients, and, among vaccines that use more traditional biotechnologies, will reduce vaccine hesitancy.
Two new vaccines have been added to our global repertoire: NVX-CoV2373 and CORBEVAX. These will be nothing short of game changers for the pandemic. Here is their story and how they work:
NVX-CoV2373
NVX-CoV2373 was created by Novavax, a small pharmaceutical company from Maryland. Before the pandemic they almost lost it all, but made a huge comeback after Operation Warp Speed took a chance on them. (I recommend reading their history over coffee; it’s fascinating). This will be their first vaccine to make it to the market.
Novavax is using a different vaccine biotechnology from other COVID19 vaccines. It contains the coronavirus spike protein combined with an immune-boosting compound from the soapbark tree. Once the immune system encounters the spike protein (which is harmless alone), the body produces antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and thus protect from future infection.//
CORBEVAX
The second game changer vaccine is called CORBEVAX; in fact it’s been dubbed the “The World’s COVID-19 Vaccine.” This work was not led by a big (or small) pharmaceutical company but by two scientists at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine: Drs. Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez. The two have been working together on coronavirus vaccines for the past two decades, including the development of a SARS vaccine in 2003. So when the pandemic hit, they were able to quickly pivot to COVID19. They were not funded through Operation Warp Speed. In fact, they had a very difficult time receiving funding from the government so they turned to philanthropic support, including from Tito’s Vodka.
The depths of Covid corruption at Gundersen can’t fit on one page, and that hospital is just the tip of the iceberg.
Another brief review of the literature by Kojima and Klausner in The Lancet Infectious Diseases had a different conclusion; “Given the evidence of immunity from previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, however, policy makers should consider recovery from previous SARS-CoV-2 infection equal to immunity from vaccination for purposes related to entry to public events, businesses, and the workplace, or travel requirements.”
Therein lies much of the data and the crux of the debate. Is Prior Covid as good as vaccination and why are people with confirmed Covid getting mandated to be vaccinated? //
Which brings us to hybrid immunity. The vaccine immunity is specific to the spike protein, whereas the immunity from infection is directed to the whole virus, and it is clear they are complementary. Every study, and there are more than 25, that has looked at neutralizing antibodies and memory B and T cells has showed there is additivity of the immune response when a person has both forms of immunity. The Science Magazine succinct review by Shane Crotty is outstanding, with the summary Figure below
COVID will affect cardiovascular health, health care for years to come, authors say.
A bout of COVID-19 can take a hefty toll on the heart and blood vessels; people who recover from the infection have substantially higher risks of developing any of 20 serious cardiovascular disorders in the year following their recovery. Those disorders include heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias, myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), and blood clots in the lungs.
Cardiovascular risks increase with the severity of an infection—that is, people who need intensive care for COVID-19 face the highest cardiovascular risks. But, overall, the pandemic virus appears to be indiscriminate, wreaking havoc on cardiovascular systems and increasing risks in all groups of patients, from those with mild disease, to the young, to those without underlying conditions or pre-existing cardiovascular diseases.
The study, published in PLOS One last week, tested a variety of masks and additional materials that might help improve the masks’ efficacy. Along with the pantyhose-over-the-mask trick, researchers tested other “fit hacks” including using rubber bands to shape the mask over the face and taping down the edges of the mask to the face. //
But the most effective approach may also be one of the most intolerable, as participants reported “high levels of discomfort” while wearing the pantyhose, though none of the mask combos tested saw high marks for wearability.
Still, these hacks are “accessible to the general public,” researchers emphasized, and they encouraged health care and other essential workers to consider boosting their protective-gear game.
The oldest pub in England, which may be as much as 1,229 years old, has been forced to close down due to COVID-19 hardships.
According to The Washington Post, “the pandemic and the government’s public health restrictions squeezed [Christo Tofalli’s] business until he couldn’t meet its financial obligations.”
Tofalli took over the lease of the pub in 2012. //
The first brick of the pub was laid as early as 793 A.D. in St. Albans, England, “near the ruins of an ancient Roman city well before the United Kingdom was formed.”
Closure due to COVID-19 hardships will be made more painful when we consider the other natural disasters the pub has lived through, including famines (1235, 1315-1317, 1623-1624, 1740-1741, 1816, 1845-1849), bubonic plague (1347-1350, 1563, 1592-93, 1603, 1625, 1665-1666), influenza pandemics and epidemics (1557, 1729, 1775-1776, 1836-1837, 1847-1848, 1889-1890, 1918, 1957-1958, 1968-1970, 2009-2010), cholera (1831-1833, 1848-1854, 1865-1873), smallpox (1837-1840, 1870-1875), HIV/AIDS (1979-present), as well as countless winter storms and heat waves.
Not only that, the pub also saw over 1,000 years of conflict, including the Civil War, two World Wars, and the American Revolutionary War.
The pub has also survived multiple economic recessions and depressions, including the Great Slump of 1430-1490, the Long Depression of 1873-1896, the Great Depression of 1930-1931, and the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
And after over a millennia in business, it was COVID-19 which brought the pub to its knees.
EcoHealth Alliance CEO Peter Daszak just got another taxpayer-funded windfall. Instead of being deposed regarding his firm’s work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he is receiving a new pile of cash from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The new award gives EcoHealth Alliance $4,675,023 for a five-year project in Liberia, on the continent of Africa. USAID awarded the funding well after serious questions surfaced about EcoHealth Alliance’s coronavirus research. There are ample concerns about whether those activities violated the Obama administration’s ban on gain-of-function research even if they did not create the SARS-CoV-2 virus. //
So maybe EcoHealth Alliance is going to Liberia to educate residents on the dangers of eating bat soup. However, when you go to the website, it appears that all of EcoHealth’s missions revolve around identifying viruses in wildlife that could be “emerging threats.” This mission is the same one Daszak proposed to DARPA in the PREEMPT program. That proposed project aimed to identify new zoonotic pathogens that might jump from animals to infect humans. Ecohealth Alliance proposed sending teams into the woods to stick Q-tips into the mouths, ears, and rear ends of wild animals.
Then Daszak’s team would mess with the viruses in various ways in the lab. This process could include repeatedly passing them through mice with human characteristics to see if they could evolve to infect people. Incredibly, Daszak and his team suggested developing aerosolized vaccines containing versions of these viruses that appeared to have potential. Then they planned to spray it into the habitats where host animals may become infected with the virus of concern. Even our most advanced military technology development command thought the idea was reckless and could cause disease outbreaks. //
In layman’s terms, USAID has funded projects led by UC Davis to stick Q-tips and needles into animals, pull out pathogens and then assess whether or not they could cause human disease. The team has sampled more than 164,000 animals and people looking for disease spillover from animals. The project has detected 1,100 unique viruses, including 949 novel ones. EcoHealth Alliance is a Core Implementing Partner of the PREDICT program. //
According to EcoHealth Alliance’s website, USAID’s PREDICT program funds this work globally:
The PREDICT project seeks to identify new emerging infectious diseases that could become a threat to human health. PREDICT partners locate their research in geographic “hotspots” and focus on wildlife that are most likely to carry zoonotic diseases – animals such as bats, rodents, and nonhuman primates.
EcoHealth Alliance works at the leading edge of this field by building local capabilities and testing high-risk wildlife in Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Republic of Congo, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Liberia, Malaysia, and Thailand. After scientists collect swabs or small amounts of blood, they analyze the samples in the lab to look for evidence of disease.
The Johns Hopkins researchers concluded that the lockdowns "had enormous economic and social costs," however. The report says lockdowns in Europe and the United States reduced covid mortality by only 0.2% on average.
Fox News: Lockdowns Only Reduced COVID-19 Mortality By .2%, Study Finds: 'Lockdowns Should Be Rejected Out Of Hand'
The researchers – Johns Hopkins University economics professor Steve Hanke, Lund University economics professor Lars Jonung, and special advisor at Copenhagen's Center for Political Studies Jonas Herby – analyzed the effects of lockdown measures such as school shutdowns, business closures, and mask mandates on COVID-19 deaths. "We find little to no evidence that mandated lockdowns in Europe and the United States had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality rates," the researchers wrote. The researchers also examined shelter-in-place orders, finding that they reduced COVID-19 mortality by 2.9%. (Best, 2/1)
Read the full Johns Hopkins analysis —
A Literature Review And Meta-Analysis Of The Effects Of Lockdowns On Covid-19 Mortality
Menu
IMMUNE RESPONSE | COVID-19
How past pandemics may have caused Parkinson's
Share using Email
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook
Share on Linkedin
(Image credit: Alamy)
MRI image of the brain (Credit: Alamy)
By David Cox
31st January 2022
Surviving a pandemic isn't always the end of the story – some viruses can have health effects that linger on for decades, eventually leading to a range of devastating diseases.
Article continues below
I
In the 1960s, epidemiologists studying the long-term prognosis of survivors of the 1918 Spanish Influenza began to notice an unusual trend. Those who were born between 1888 and 1924 – meaning they were either infants or in young adulthood at the time of the pandemic – appeared to have been two or three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease at some point in their life than those born at different times.
It was a striking finding. For while the potential neurological consequences of flu infections have been documented by doctors for centuries – there are medical reports of this which date back to 1385 – the sheer scale of the Spanish Flu, which infected around 500 million people globally, meant scientists could link a heightened risk of disease to the pandemic. //
Neurologists attempting to understand why this happens believe that each of these viruses are capable of crossing into the brain, and in some cases damaging the fragile structures which control the co-ordination of movement, known as the basal ganglia, initiating a process of degeneration which can lead to Parkinson's. //
"There are several studies highlighting that people who have recovered from Covid often have long-term central nervous system deficits including loss of sense of smell and taste, brain fog, depression, and anxiety. The numbers are troubling."
While Sars-CoV-2 can invade brain tissue, the scientific jury remains open on whether it will contribute to neurodegenerative disease. Coronaviruses are generally known as "hit and run viruses", because they tend to cause fairly short disease, even if this proves deadly in some cases. In contrast, DNA viruses such as Epstein-Barr can linger permanently in the body and are more associated with long-term illness.
Actually multiple shots, not all vaccines
Eric Topol
Jan 29
Eric Topol @EricTopol
Not a very encouraging title or report:
"#SARSCoV2 invades cognitive centers of the brain and induces Alzheimer's-like neuropathology"
https://biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.31.478476v1
(based on 5 cases; whether and how often the virus directly infects neurons is a controversy)
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Japanese trading and pharmaceuticals company Kowa Co Ltd (7807.T) on Monday said that anti-parasite drug ivermectin showed an "antiviral effect" against Omicron and other coronavirus variants in joint non-clinical research.
More than two-thirds of cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are among people who have been reinfected with the virus, a new study said Wednesday.
Imperial College London researchers reported that around 3,582 people — or about 66% of participants in the study — who tested positive in January had already been infected with the virus, CNBC reported. //
In December, UK health officials also estimated that the risk of reinfection with the Omicron variant was about 5.4 times greater than with Delta.