These are excerpts of January 2022 articles. For a quick sense of information and faster summary just read the red marked texted.

My primary source is the extremely well researched RFK jr.’s “Children Health Defense” organization. The CHD is suffering some severe censorship on social media because they are exposing government/corporate media inconsistencies, distortions and censored facts about the Covid pandemic!

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2022-01-31 Dr. Fauci and the Coronavirus Policy Blame Game With millions of Americans getting infected and over 800,000 reported COVID-19 deaths, most people now realize that Washington’s pandemic policies failed. Lockdowns just postponed the inevitable while causing enormous collateral damage on cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, tuberculosis, mental health, education and much else. So, the blame game is in full swing. At a recent Senate hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci did not even attempt to defend his policies. Instead, he insisted that: “Everything that I have said has been in support of the CDC guidelines.” Dr. Fauci, as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has worked closely with the two CDC directors, Drs. Robert Redfield and Rochelle Walensky, throughout the pandemic, but he is now laying the responsibility on them. He did the same with his former boss, shortly after Dr. Francis Collins resigned as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-coronavirus-policy-blame-game-opinion-1673977

2022-01-31 Joe Rogan Responds to Neil Young and Spotify’s New Advisory for Podcasts That Discuss COVID Joe Rogan has responded to criticism of his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” after Neil Young said he wanted to leave Spotify because of Rogan’s contributions to spreading “false information about vaccines” on the platform. Rogan took to Instagram to talk about how his “podcast has been accused of spreading dangerous information,” mentioning two episodes in particular that included controversial guests. He said he books the guests himself, and one thing he could change is having experts with differing opinions on directly after people with “controversial” opinions. After Young and fellow musician Joni Mitchell removed their music in protest, calling on Spotify to prevent the spread of misinformation on their platform, the company said it will add an advisory to podcasts that discuss COVID-19. The new Spotify advisory for podcasts will direct listeners to its “COVID-19 Hub” — a resource that “provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a statement. The advisory is set to be implemented globally “in the coming days.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-rogan-spotify-response-podcasts-covid-19-advisory/

2022-01-31 Canadian Truckers Say They Have Enough Money to Keep Protesting for 4 Years Organizers of a demonstration protesting vaccine mandates outside Canada’s Parliament have reportedly said they have enough money to keep trucks there for up to four years. Thousands of protesters converged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa over the weekend, joined by truckers who had traveled across Canada as part of a “Freedom Convoy.” Although initially organized to oppose vaccine mandates for truck drivers crossing the Canada-U.S. border, it has grown in recent days into a movement against COVID-19 restrictions in general, and Justin Trudeau‘s government. A GoFundMe campaign called “Freedom Convoy 2022” surpassed more than $7.1 million ($9.1 million CAD) in donations. The page was launched earlier this month by Tamara Lich, the secretary of the Maverick Party, to help truckers with the cost of gas and other expenses for the demonstration. https://www.newsweek.com/canadian-truckers-vaccine-mandate-protest-raised-enough-stay-years-1674490

2022-01-31 England Plans to Revoke Mandatory COVID Jabs for Health Workers The British government said on Monday it planned to revoke mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health workers in England after warnings that an already-stretched service could face crippling staff shortages. Health minister Sajid Javid said the government would launch a consulation into whether the policy announced in November was still needed. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/england-plans-revoke-mandatory-covid-jabs-health-workers-2022-01-31/

2022-01-31 Austria Lifts ‘Lockdown of the Unvaccinated’ as Europe Slowly Opens Up Austria has lifted its “lockdown of the unvaccinated”, Switzerland is gearing up for a “turbo” reopening and Germany’s finance minister has demanded an end date for COVID curbs as more countries prepare to ease pandemic controls. It follows the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and France, who last week began to take steps to return to a semblance of normal life, with the Danish government declaring COVID-19 “should no longer be categorised as a socially critical disease” after Jan. 31. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/austria-lifts-lockdown-of-unvaccinated-as-europe-opens-up-covid

2022-01-31 Musk Mocks Trudeau, Says ‘Freedom’ Truckers Protest Proves ‘Small Fringe Minority’ Is the Government Tesla CEO Elon Musk mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government over a comment downplaying the massive protests that have formed over the country’s vaccine mandates. “It would appear that the so-called ‘fringe minority’ is actually the government,” Musk tweeted on Sunday afternoon. Trudeau attempted to downplay the Freedom Convoy of truckers who drove from Vancouver to Ottawa last week to protest the government’s vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers. He said the group was composed of a “small fringe minority” of people who hold “unacceptable views.” The protests, however, have been anything but “small” in Ottawa. Thousands of people were seen on the streets of the nation’s capital supporting the truckers and denouncing Canada’s stringent restrictions and mandates surrounding the coronavirus. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/musk-mocks-trudeau-mandate-protests-fringe-minority

2022-01-31 ‘This Is Creating More Loneliness’: The Metaverse Could Be a Serious Problem for Kids, Experts Say If there’s one thing that tech companies, retailers, content creators and investors can agree on, it’s this: There’s plenty of money to be made from the metaverse. But as CEOs try to elbow past their rivals to gain a foothold in the still nascent digital space, some psychologists and mental health experts say the race to turn a profit is taking attention away from a crucial question: Will the metaverse be a safe place, especially for kids and teens? The answer isn’t encouraging. Recent research has shown myriad negative effects of social media on the psyches of children and adolescents, from the prevalence of bullying and harassment to self-esteem and body image issues. Those same pitfalls could be just as prevalent — if not worse — in the wide-open metaverse, with its series of vast virtual worlds intended for both work and play. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/31/psychologists-metaverse-could-be-a-problem-for-kids-mental-health.html

2022-01-31 Ivermectin Shows ‘Antiviral Effect’ Against COVID, Japanese Company Says 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. The company, which has been working with Tokyo’s Kitasato University on testing the drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19, did not provide further details. Clinical trials are ongoing, but promotion of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment has generated controversy. The use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 is currently being investigated in a UK trial run by the University of Oxford. The researchers said on Monday that it was still under way and they did not want to comment further until they have results to report. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japans-kowa-says-ivermectin-effective-against-omicron-phase-iii-trial-2022-01-31/

2022-01-31 Big Pharma Lobbyists Win Again as Industry Hikes Price of 866 Drugs Major pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. hiked the prices of nearly 870 prescription medications during the first month of the new year as lock-step Republicans and right-wing Democrats — flush with cash from drugmakers — continue to block legislation aimed at reining in the industry. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/big-pharma-lobbyists-hike-drug-prices/

2022-01-31 U.S. Gives Full Approval to Moderna’s COVID Vaccine U.S. health regulators on Monday granted full approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, a shot that’s already been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago. The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Moderna’s shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines. The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S. since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full approval of Pfizer’s vaccine last August. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-moderna-vaccine-approved-dc6f5ac9eeb31667d5a28f0954335b65

2022-01-31 Pfizer Set to Roll Out Omicron Shot in March, as Experts Warn ‘We Can’t Vaccinate the Planet Every 4 to 6 Months’ Pfizer said it will have an Omicron-specific shot ready in March 2022, at which point Americans will undoubtedly be told to line up for a fourth injection https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pfizer-roll-out-omicron-shot-march/

2022-01-31 Vaccine-Induced Myocarditis Injuring Record Number of Young People. Will Shots Also Bankrupt Families? Medical debt is the predominant cause for about 25% of consumer bankruptcies, with medical debt often triggered by sudden adverse events — such as vaccine-induced myocarditis.

• In one-fourth (or more) of consumer bankruptcies, medical debt is the predominant causal factor, often triggered by “sudden adverse events.”
• As of 2022, vaccine adverse event reporting of heart disease following COVID vaccines had increased 15,600% in young people under the age of 30, compared to the previous 31 years of heart injuries reported following receipt of FDA-approved vaccines.
• Autism, linked to vaccines as well as other toxic exposures, furnishes a cautionary tale, potentially saddling families with lifetime care costs of $1.4 to $2.4 million.
• In 2010, a government study estimated 1 in every 38 vaccine doses (2.6%) produced an adverse reaction. However, the sluggish and adversarial vaccine injury compensation process and a sky-high burden of proof leave two-thirds of claims dismissed or in limbo.
• Emergency Use Authorization COVID shots are even less likely to garner vaccine injury compensation. Attorneys caution, “If you have suffered a serious injury from a Covid-19 vaccine, you are basically on your own.”
• With over a million COVID-vaccine-related adverse events reported since December 2020, households are racking up extraordinary debt and turning to crowdfunding for help.
• Heart conditions, among the 20 most expensive conditions treated in American hospitals, pack a financial wallop.
• According to CDC, 96% of those under age 30 who experience heart injuries following COVID vaccination are hospitalized.
• Children tend to have a more sudden and severe myocarditis presentation than adults, with an estimated 7% to 15% mortality rate. Children hospitalized with myocarditis are more likely to die than children admitted with other diagnoses.
• Studies of children and adolescents who developed myocarditis following COVID vaccination show a “potentially poor prognosis despite the heart seeming to have returned to normal.” According to Mayo Clinic, “the greatest burden of myocarditis may not be apparent for 6-12 years after diagnosis when children die or need to undergo cardiac transplantation.”
• Cardiac injuries triggered by dangerous COVID injections appear to be good for business.
• A July 2021 BusinessWire report forecast a booming market for cardiac assist devices, noting “increasing incidence of heart failure is driving growth.”
• Families, however, are left holding the bag not just emotionally, but financially, blindsided by financial impacts they surely never anticipated.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaccine-induced-myocarditis-injuring-young-people/

2022-01-31 Pfizer, FDA Ask Court to Further Delay Release of COVID Vaccine Safety Data Days prior to today’s scheduled release of documents related to the Pfizer COVID vaccine, the pharmaceutical company asked a federal court to let it intervene before any information is released. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it agreed with the drugmaker’s request. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pfizer-fda-delay-release-covid-vaccine-safety-data/

2022-01-31 In California Nursing Homes, Omicron Is Bad, but so Is the Isolation Dina Halperin had been cooped up alone for three weeks in her nursing home room after her two unvaccinated roommates were moved out at the onset of the Omicron surge. “I’m frustrated,” she said, “and so many of the nursing staff are burned out or just plain tired.” Over time, the Victorian Post Acute facility in San Francisco has gotten better at dealing with the virus, especially its milder Omicron form, which accounted for 31 cases as of Jan. 27 but not a single illness serious enough to cause hospitalization, said Dan Kramer, a spokesperson for Victorian Post Acute. But the ongoing safety protocols at this and other nursing homes — including visitor restrictions and frequent testing of staff and residents — can be soul-killing. For the 1.4 million residents of the nation’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes, the rules have led to renewed isolation and separation. https://khn.org/news/article/california-nursing-homes-balancing-omicron-covid-safety-vs-isolation/

2022-01-31 Clinics in Moscow Now Offering Sputnik M Vaccines to 12 to 17s The Russian capital on Monday has started offering a domestically developed coronavirus vaccine to children in the 12 to 17 age group amid the country’s biggest infection surge yet due to the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. Free shots of Sputnik M — a version of the Sputnik V vaccine that contains a smaller dose — became available last week to 12 to 17s in a number of Russian regions spanning from the region surrounding Moscow to the Urals to Siberia and the far east, with the capital being the latest addition to the list. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-moscow-russia-f22fde3d7e8e3a8f42c3f3d32aa3a709

2022-01-30 Britain to Offer COVID Vaccinations to Vulnerable Children Aged 5 to 11 Britain will this week begin offering vaccinations to children aged between five and 11 who are most at risk from coronavirus, the state-run National Health Service said on Sunday. Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to 5 to 11 year olds, and is not planning to vaccinate the age group more broadly unlike countries such as the United States and Israel. NHS England said children in the cohort who were in a clinical risk group or who live with someone who is immunosuppressed would be able to get a first COVID-19 shot, in line with advice issued last month by the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation (JCVI) https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/britain-offer-covid-vaccinations-vulnerable-children-aged-5-11-2022-01-30/

2022-01-30 Thousands of Czechs Protest Against COVID Curbs Thousands of Czechs massed in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Sunday, waving flags and chanting slogans against COVID-19 restrictions, even as infections surge. Protesters mainly objected to harsher restrictions for the unvaccinated, including a ban on eating in restaurants. Despite the soaring numbers, the government scrapped a decree last week making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over-60s to avoid “deepening fissures” in society. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/thousands-czechs-protest-against-covid-curbs-2022-01-30/

2022-01-30 COVID Predictions? These Experts Are Done With Them The emergence of the Omicron variant this fall, with an origin story that experts say remains shrouded in mystery, became the latest sharp turn for researchers trying to catch up with the virus and its variants.Omicron, which has about 50 genetic mutations, developed outside of researchers’ view, with an evolutionary history far removed from the family tree of the once-dominant Delta. Instead, its roots are in an old version of the virus thought to have faded away months ago. Scientists say they can outline scenarios for how the virus could evolve, but variants remain COVID’s unknowable wild card. In two years, they have rewritten the script so radically, many researchers are cautious to venture educated guesses of how COVID-19 will play out. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/covid-predictions-experts-are-done-rcna13374

2022-01-29 146 Research Studies Affirm Naturally Acquired Immunity to COVID We should not force COVID vaccines on anyone when the evidence shows that naturally acquired immunity is equal to or more robust and superior to existing vaccines. Instead, we should respect the right of the bodily integrity of individuals to decide for themselves. Public health officials and the medical establishment with the help of the politicized media are misleading the public with assertions that the COVID-19 shots provide greater protection than natural immunity. Moreover, existing immunity should be assessed before any vaccination, via an accurate, dependable, and reliable antibody test (or T cell immunity test) or be based on documentation of prior infection (a previous positive PCR or antigen test). Such would be evidence of immunity that is equal to that of vaccination and the immunity should be provided the same societal status as any vaccine-induced immunity. https://www.theepochtimes.com/evidence-on-natural-immunity-versus-covid-19-vaccine-induced-immunity_4244570.html

2022-01-28 COVID May Have Seasons for Different Temperature Zones, Study Suggests COVID-19 transmission may have seasonal spikes tied to temperature and humidity, increasing at different times of the year for different locations, a new study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene suggests. Colder regions, such as the U.S. Northeast, may experience more cases during winter, while warmer regions, such as the southern United States, may see higher transmissions in the summer. More-temperate zones could experience two seasonal peaks. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/28/covid-seasons-temperature-humidity-study/

2022-01-28 How U.S. COVID Testing Strategy Will Extend Pandemic Nightmare President Biden’s massive increase in home-based rapid antigen tests will lead to a tsunami of false-positive results, which will indefinitely extend the current “casedemic.”

Here’s why that’s actually a really bad idea. Mass testing of people who are overwhelmingly asymptomatic (showing no symptoms) will in fact inevitably extend this pandemic nightmare for additional months — maybe even years — as “cases” continue to mount from false positives (a test result that incorrectly identifies infection when none exists). To be clear: Biden’s mass testing approach is exactly the opposite of what is needed right now. We should not be testing asymptomatic people. The reason for this becomes clear only by looking beyond the headlines that claim skyrocketing cases and deaths from the infection. The accuracy of the case, hospitalization and death numbers are a function of the accuracy of the screening tests we are implementing. Inaccurate tests will naturally lead to inaccurate data. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/us-covid-testing-strategy-pandemic-nightmare/

2022-01-28 Anthony Fauci Loses Trust With Americans as Confidence in CDC Plummets — Poll The survey by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center found that trust in coronavirus information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dipped in January. The poll of 1,656 adults between Jan. 11 and 17 is a follow-up to four previous surveys of the same respondents and had a 3.3% margin of error. It found that confidence in whether ​​Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), gave trustworthy pandemic advice, had fallen to 65% — down from 71% in April 2021, in what the poll described as a “statistically meaningful drop.” More than one-third (35%) said they weren’t confident in Fauci, which was up from 29% over the same time frame. Meanwhile, confidence in the CDC dropped 5 percentage points over the last two months, to 72%. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-nw-fauci-loses-trust-americans-confidence-cdc-plummets/

2022-01-28 22 Ways to Stop Vaccine Passports Investigative journalist Corey Lynn shared 22 ways to stop vaccine passports, from not complying and leaving your cellphone at home to using cash as much as possible and not supporting establishments that require vaccine passports.

• The end-goal of vaccine passports is to surveil and collect not only medical information but also financial transactions, political affiliations, religious and philosophical beliefs and more.
• Disguised as a tool for convenience and safety, digitized IDs, such as mobile driver’s licenses, will be embedded into everyday life and used to control everything from food and sustainability to travel and mobility.
• There’s still time, however, to stop the imposition of totalitarian control worldwide, and a key way to do so is to fight back against vaccine passports.
• Investigative journalist Corey Lynn shared 22 ways to stop vaccine passports, from not complying and leaving your cellphone at home to using cash as much as possible and not supporting establishments that require vaccine passports.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/22-ways-stop-vaccine-passports/

2022-01-28 Filmmaker Captures True Spirit of ‘Defeat the Mandates’ Rally Watch investigative reporter and documentary filmmaker Dan Cohen’s coverage of the “Defeat the Mandates” protest in Washington, DC, to get the real story — not the pharma-funded mainstream media’s version. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/dan-cohen-video-defeat-the-mandates

2022-01-28 Fauci Says Kids Under 5 Might Need 3 Shots, as Sweden Says Benefits Don’t Outweigh Risks for Young Kids Dr. Anthony Fauci this week predicted children under age 5 will require a three-dose regimen of the COVID vaccine, but Swedish health authorities said the vaccines provide no benefit to kids that age, Norway is making them optional and Denmark is revisiting its decision to vaccinate young children. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fauci-kids-under-5-might-need-3-shots/

2022-01-28 Nearly 35,000 Reports of COVID Vaccine Injuries Among 5- to 17-Year-Olds, CDC Data Show VAERS data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included a total of 1,071,856 reports of adverse events from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 22,607 deaths and 178,994 serious injuries between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 21, 2022.

U.S. VAERS data from Dec. 14, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2022, for 12- to 17-year-olds show: 27,772 adverse events, including 1,588 rated as serious and 37 reported deaths. U.S. VAERS data from Dec. 14, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2022, for 5- to 11-year-olds show: 7,052 adverse events, including 152 rated as serious and 3 reported deaths.

DJ Ferguson, 31, was removed from the top of a heart transplant at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital because he was not vaccinated against COVID. Ferguson on Tuesday received a mechanical heart pump — called a left ventricular assist device — that should keep him alive for up to five years, but he won’t have much of a life, his father said. According to ABC News, Ferguson, a father of two children with another baby on the way, didn’t want the vaccine because he feared it would complicate his heart condition. He also said getting vaccinated would go against his basic principles. “The organs are scarce, we are not going to distribute them to someone who has a poor chance of living when others who are vaccinated have a better chance post-surgery of surviving,”

Sweden won’t recommend COVID vaccines for kids under 12 years old because the benefits did not outweigh the risks, but will “constantly” reassess the situation, Reuters reported. The Public Health Agency of Sweden said in a press release on Thursday the medical benefit for a child aged 5-11 who has received a vaccine against COVID “is currently small.” Britta Bjorkholm, a Sweden health official, said during a news conference, “With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don’t see any clear benefit with vaccinating them.”

In a hearing organized this week by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), attorney Thomas Renz told a panel of experts data provided to him by three whistleblowers show COVID vaccines are causing catastrophic harm to members of the U.S. military while not preventing them from getting the virus. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaers-cdc-covid-vaccine-injuries-children/

2022-01-28 Sweden Decides Against Recommending COVID Vaccines for Kids Aged 5 to 12 Sweden has decided against recommending COVID vaccines for kids aged 5-11, the Health Agency said on Thursday, arguing that the benefits did not outweigh the risks. “With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don’t see any clear benefit with vaccinating them,” Health Agency official Britta Bjorkholm told a news conference. She added that the decision could be revisited if the research changed or if a new variant changed the pandemic. Kids in high-risk groups can already get the vaccine. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-decides-against-recommending-covid-vaccines-kids-aged-5-12-2022-01-27/

2022-01-28 20-Year-Old Woman With COVID to Lose Both Legs Amid Life-Threatening Infection A 20-year-old woman battling a severe case of COVID-19 will lose both of her legs and friends are hoping to raise money for her, as she is facing a significantly different future when she’s released from the hospital than she once pictured. Claire Bridges, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was born with a serious heart condition, according to the GoFundMe page that has been established for her, and she was quickly admitted to the intensive care unit after contracting COVID-19. While Bridges was on life support, she developed more complications and a life-threatening infection, so her best chance at survival is to amputate both of her legs. Heather Valdes, Bridge’s roommate who started the GoFundMe, told WFLA that the 20-year-old was vaccinated against COVID-19. https://www.newsweek.com/20-year-old-woman-covid-lose-both-legs-amid-life-threatening-infection-1673961

2022-01-28 A Federal Watchdog for Coronavirus Aid Warns Congress It Is Nearly out of Money A federal watchdog overseeing billions of dollars in coronavirus aid told lawmakers late Thursday that it is now facing a “terminal budget crisis,” as its fast-dwindling funds in the face of congressional inaction threaten to shutter the office as soon as this summer. The warning arrived from the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR), an oversight body chartered by Congress in 2020 to oversee a portion of the country’s first major stimulus package. The leader of the office, Brian D. Miller, stressed that its coffers are at risk of running dry unless Democrats and Republicans fill them swiftly as part of an upcoming debate over government funding levels. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/28/coronavirus-stimulus-oversight-crisis/

2022-01-28 For Many COVID Vaccine Opponents, No Jab Means No Job For eight years, Mike Miller has patrolled the grounds of the Snake River Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in east Oregon. But next week, he’ll face his bosses at a “pre-dismissal hearing” for violating the terms of his job. Miller expects to be fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Miller’s application for a medical exemption from the vaccine mandate, based on him contracting COVID-19 last year and testing positive for antibodies, was denied. So was his request for a religious exemption, which the prison said he filed past the deadline. Today, he is on paid home leave, he said, and required to be on-call even though he has no remote work to do. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-01-28/anti-vaccine-mandate-covid-19

2022-01-28 Boston Risks Losing ‘Disproportionate’ Number of Educators of Color With City’s Vaccine Mandate There’s growing concern among union leaders in Boston that a “disproportionate” number of educators of color may leave their jobs because of a vaccine mandate for city employees. City employees who refuse to comply will be placed on unpaid leave. But with the vaccination policy set to go into effect next week, the Massachusetts Appeals Court on Thursday issued a temporary pause of Boston’s requirement for city workers after serious pushback from unions. In a statement released Thursday, the Boston Teachers Union said it will not enforce Boston’s mandate by putting teachers on leave — at least until there’s a decision on the appeal. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/boston-risks-losing-disproportionate-number-educators-color-citys/story?id=82535820

2022-01-28 It’s Not Just the IRS — the U.S. Government Wants Your Selfies In November, the Internal Revenue Service launched an online security system that uses face recognition to confirm a person’s identity. Public attention to the project last week triggered an outcry. The ACLU called the project “deeply troubling,” saying face recognition “has been shown to be less accurate for people of color.” Some IRS functions, like scheduling payments — but not filing taxes — now require first-time users to verify their identity with Virginia startup ID.me, which also works with 27 state employment agencies and the Veterans Administration. The process involves photographing a government-issued ID and uploading a video selfie so algorithms can match face and document. The company’s CEO stoked distrust Wednesday when he said the company uses face recognition more widely than previously disclosed. One certainty amid the dispute: Submitting selfies to access online government services is set to stay — and spread. https://www.wired.com/story/irs-us-government-wants-selfies/

2022-01-28 Virginia State Colleges and Universities Can’t Require Coronavirus Vaccine, New GOP Attorney General Finds Virginia’s state colleges and universities cannot require students to get a coronavirus vaccine to enroll or attend in-person classes, the state’s new attorney general Jason Miyares found in his first opinion since taking office earlier this month. Miyares, a Republican, concluded that the schools don’t have the authority to issue a coronavirus vaccine mandate for students without state lawmakers passing legislation allowing such a step, which has not happened. A number of major Virginia universities and colleges require students to have the COVID-19 vaccination, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, Norfolk State, College of William & Mary and the University of Mary Washington. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/28/colleges-virginia-vaccine-covid-19/

2022-01-28 U.S. Scientists Develop Cheap Smartphone-Based Test Kit for COVID Scientists have developed a highly sensitive COVID test that relies only on low-tech kit and a smartphone, which could be used as a quicker, cheaper alternative to PCR testing. The team behind the 25-minute saliva test say it provides a highly reliable platform for testing in the workplace or at home. It requires a basic lab kit that includes a cardboard box, a small hot plate and LED light that can be produced for less than £75. The cost of running a test, including the reagents, is about a 10th of a PCR test and is also cheaper than a lateral flow test. The team’s findings are published in the journal JAMA Network Open. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/28/us-scientists-develop-cheap-smartphone-based-test-kit-for-covid

2022-01-28 Elon Musk Offers Support to Canadian Truckers Amid COVID Vaccine Mandate Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered support to Canadian truckers protesting the federal government’s vaccine mandate on Thursday in a series of tweets. “Canadian truckers rule,” Musk wrote to his nearly 72 million followers, adding “CB radios are free from govt/media control.” Anti-vaccine mandate truckers in Ottawa have participated in a protest convoy demonstrating against the Jan. 15 mandate for cross-border drivers. The Freedom Convoy left from Vancouver for Ottawa on Sunday. In the past, Musk had questioned the vaccine and downplayed the pandemic. He also defied California’s 2020 stay-at-home order to keep Tesla factories open, eventually opting to move to Texas. https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/elon-musk-offers-support-to-canadian-truckers-amid-covid-vaccine-mandate

2022-01-28 CBD Research Suggests It Could Fight Coronavirus, but Clinical Trials Are Needed New studies may suggest that cannabinoids, like cannabidiol or CBD, found in the cannabis plant have some properties that may help cells fight off coronavirus infection. Importantly, these studies have only tested the compounds on cells in a laboratory setting or in animals. It would take more research and clinical trials to show that this could happen in human bodies. “These are the seeds of our knowledge related to how cannabinoids might interact with the SARS-Cov-2 virus,” says Ziva Cooper, who is the director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, to STAT. “We have a long way to go.” https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/591781-cbd-research-suggests-it-could-fight-coronavirus

2022-01-28 As New Variants Emerge, U.S. Government Turns Attention to a Universal Coronavirus Vaccine Vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna are now exploring tweaked booster shots to match the now-dominant Omicron variant, but the U.S. government is aggressively pursuing a different approach: a pan-coronavirus vaccine that would work equally well against any COVID-19 variant. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has issued $43 million in research grants across several academic institutions to support development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine, sometimes called a “universal” coronavirus vaccine. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/variants-emerge-us-government-turns-attention-universal-coronavirus/story?id=82469854

2022-01-27 Why Hide What Happens in First Two Weeks After Vaccination? Numerous studies conclude COVID vaccines protect people after the second dose, but those conclusions are based on data that excludes data on infection rates in people during the two-week period after vaccination. “Obviously, this is flawed.”

What if the vaccines have deleterious effects that are visible straight away, that have nothing to do with antibody production? An example is the high rate of shingles seen after COVID vaccination, suggesting there is a problem with viral reactivation. This may explain why Sars-CoV-2 infection rates are actually higher in the vaccinated than in the unvaccinated in the first two weeks after vaccination. The effect of eliminating the first two weeks is a misleading data bias. If people become infected and are dying during that period, this needs to be included. The possibility that the vaccine itself may exert an effect on infection rate cannot be overlooked and the entire dataset needs to be included in order to accurately assess effectiveness. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/what-happens-first-two-weeks-vaccination/

2022-01-27 Marines Make It Easier for Those Kicked out Over Vaccines to Come Back In the weeks since the military began separating troops for failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Marine Corps has consistently been the most aggressive branch, having removed 399 from the service. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps quietly made a subtle change to how it deals with vaccine-refusing service members, making it easier for them to return. In late December, the Corps released a message announcing it would discharge Marines with the reentry code RE-3P instead of RE-4. The distinction is significant. A discharge with an RE-4 code is typically a bar on reenlisting in any service, while RE-3 codes would allow someone to reenlist with a waiver. Despite the continued pressure by the Marine Corps to remove troops who have failed to meet the vaccine mandate, the service also announced Thursday that it had granted another religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, bringing the total to three. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/01/27/marines-make-it-easier-those-kicked-out-over-vaccines-come-back.html

2022-01-27 Wisconsin Assembly Approves Bill Banning Vaccine Passports for Employers The Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill Tuesday that would obligate employers to treat previous COVID-19 infections as an alternative to vaccines in addition to banning vaccine passports. Republican supporters endorse the bill with the assertion that a previous COVID-19 infection provides comparable protection to full vaccination. The bill is likely to be vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers. https://badgerherald.com/news/2022/01/27/wisconsin-assembly-approves-bill-banning-vaccine-passports-for-employers/

2022-01-27 Trucker Convoy to Shut Down Ottawa in Protest of Vaccine Mandates Hundreds of Canadian truckers plan to descend on the nation’s capital of Ottawa on Friday in an attempt to shut down the city in protest of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The mandate, initially enacted by the Canadian federal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went into effect on Jan. 15. The mandate requires any truck driver crossing into Canada from the United States to provide proof of vaccination. A similar mandate, which went into effect on Jan. 22, requires the same proof of vaccination for truckers driving from Canada into the United States. Despite outcry from unvaccinated truck drivers, the Canadian federal government has refused to change its stance on the mandate. In a statement sent to Newsweek in early January, the Canadian Ministry of Transportation did not say that it would make any exceptions for those who had not received the shot. https://www.newsweek.com/anti-vax-trucker-convoy-shut-down-ottawa-protest-vaccine-mandates-1673765

2022-01-27 Australia Suffers Deadliest Day of Pandemic, Expands Booster Eligibility Australia suffered its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday with nearly 100 deaths, but several large states said they expect hospital admissions to fall amid hopes that the latest wave of infections would begin to subside. Australia is among the most heavily vaccinated countries against COVID-19 with more than 93% of its adult population double-dosed and around two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the country’s drug regulator, on Friday expanded the eligibility for boosters to 16- and 17-year-olds, joining the United States, Israel and Britain. https://www.reuters.com/world/australia-drugs-regulator-approves-covid-19-boosters-16-17-year-olds-2022-01-27/

2022-01-27 Media Censoring Vaccine Injury Stories, Brianne Dressen Tells RFK, Jr. In an interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on “RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast,” Brianne Dressen, described injuries she developed after getting the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and the censorship she faced when she tried to share her story with the media https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rfk-jr-defender-brianne-dressen-media-censoring-vaccine-injury-stories/

2022-01-27 Paris Hospitals Chief Sparks Debate on Whether Unvaccinated Patients Should Pay for Treatment The head of the Paris hospitals system has set off a fierce debate by questioning whether people who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance. Under France’s universal healthcare system, all COVID-19 patients who end up in intensive care are fully covered for their treatment, which costs about 3,000 euros ($3,340) per day and typically lasts a week to 10 days. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/paris-hospitals-chief-sparks-debate-whether-unvaccinated-patients-should-pay-2022-01-27/

2022-01-27 Education Chief: ‘We Must Make up for Lost Time’ in Schools Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Thursday that the nation’s schools must act more urgently to help millions of students who have fallen behind during the pandemic. “We must make up for lost time,” he said. Striving to keep schools open is no longer enough, Cardona said in a speech laying out his priorities. He urged schools to use billions of dollars in federal aid to expand tutoring and mental health counseling, and to close achievement gaps that have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-education-miguel-cardona-f529fc02f9a41c650553ad1c7e4424ae

2022-01-27 ‘Tide Is Turning’: Several EU Countries Scrap COVID Restrictions Several European countries this week announced plans to ditch COVID restrictions, including masks, quarantine rules and capacity restrictions at indoor venues. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/jimmy-dore-eu-countries-scrap-covid-restrictions/

2022-01-27 Almost 500 Service Members Discharged for Refusing COVID Vaccine Almost 500 U.S. service members have been discharged so far for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. But that number is likely to climb as the various military branches continue the process of dealing with those who are refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or have requested exemptions. The Navy said on Tuesday that it has discharged 23 active-duty sailors for refusing the coronavirus vaccine. The Air Force, as of January 21, has discharged 111 active-duty airmen for refusing to get the shots. As of January 20, the Marine Corps had discharged 334 Marines. The Army is the only service that has not yet initiated separations for active-duty personnel for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. But in a news release earlier this month, the Army said it had relieved six active-duty leaders, including two battalion commanders, from their positions for refusing the vaccine. The Army also said it had issued almost 3,000 general officer written reprimands to soldiers for vaccine refusal. https://www.newsweek.com/almost-500-service-members-discharged-refusing-covid-vaccine-1673611

2022-01-27 State Appeals Court Pauses Vaccination Mandate for Boston City Workforce A judge with the Massachusetts Appeals Court has temporarily paused Boston’s vaccination mandate for its city workforce that was set to go into effect Monday. In a Thursday order, the judge issued a temporary stay, pending review of a judicial decision made earlier this month that denied a request from three unions for a preliminary injunction. That order is the latest turn in a clash that has pitted Mayor Michelle Wu’s new administration against municipal unions over her attempt to require the city’s 18,000-plus workers be vaccinated in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 and protect the public. It comes a day after three public safety unions filed an appeal of a judge’s decision that rejected their push to block enforcement of the vaccination mandate, which does away with the option for city workers to get regular COVID tests in lieu of jabs. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/27/metro/state-appeals-court-pauses-vaccination-mandate-boston-city-workforce/

2022-01-27 Vaccine Mandate for Minor-League Baseball Players Scrapped as MLB Reverses Course Major League Baseball will not require minor-league players to be vaccinated in the upcoming season, a reversal from plans originally reported by Yahoo Sports in October. Since then, vaccine mandates have come under legal fire across the country. The legal complications that have arisen around vaccine mandates were among many considerations for the league in changing course. MLB conferred with medical experts, outside counsel and the other sports leagues before issuing a memo Thursday. https://sports.yahoo.com/vaccine-mandate-for-minor-league-baseball-players-scrapped-as-mlb-reverses-course-182443425.html

2022-01-27 Investigating the Digital Wealth Gap Between Users and the Tech Giants in Control Imagine social media as a giant factory where the foremen are billionaires. A handful of workers are getting a respectable living wage. Some are scraping together a living only if they hustle hard enough and tolerate a lot of uncertainty and risk. But by far the vast majority are simply working for free. And OK, a factory is an imperfect analogy for the social media apps and sites we like to call “the attention economy,” because, in theory, we’re using them for fun, but that’s been getting less and less true for years, and it feels more like we’re just stuck with them. Meanwhile, the companies own what we produce there: our data. And they make vast sums of money off that data by selling targeted ads and otherwise eroding our privacy. It’s becoming more apparent every day that this tradeoff isn’t working out for one of the parties involved. https://mashable.com/article/attention-economy-digital-wealth-gap

2022-01-27 FTC: U.S. Consumers Lost $770 Million in Social Media Scams in 2021, up 18x From 2017 A growing number of U.S. consumers are getting scammed on social media according to a new report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which revealed that consumers lost $770 million to social media scams in 2021 — a figure that accounted for about one-fourth of all fraud losses for the year. That number has also increased 18 times from the $42 million in social media fraud reported in 2017, the FTC said, as new types of scams involving cryptocurrency and online shopping became more popular. This has also led to many younger consumers getting scammed, as now adults ages 18 to 39 reported fraud losses at a rate that’s 2.4 times  higher than adults 40 and over. Scammers have clearly found that social media is one of the most profitable places to commit fraud. https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/27/ftc-u-s-consumers-lost-770-million-in-social-media-scams-in-2021-up-18x-from-2017/

2022-01-27 England Lifts COVID Restrictions as Omicron Threat Recedes Most coronavirus restrictions, including mandatory face masks, were lifted in England on Thursday after Britain’s government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalizations.From Thursday, face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID-19 passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped. The government last week dropped its advice for people to work from home, as well as guidance for face coverings in classrooms. From next week, restrictions on the number of visitors to nursing homes will also be lifted. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-boris-johnson-health-business-sajid-javid-0c6d0302f6dabc7f1f7e633cc3a81d06

2022-01-27 South Carolina Bill Would Outlaw Asking About COVID Vaccination Status Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offense for anyone, including employers, to ask about a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status. The legislation, H. 4848, was introduced on Jan. 20. “Any employee, officer, agent, or other representative of a public, nonprofit, or private entity who inquires about the COVID-19 vaccination status of any student, employee, member, or anyone else seeking admission on the entity’s premises is guilty of a misdemeanor,” the proposed bill states. https://www.newsweek.com/south-carolina-bill-would-outlaw-asking-covid-vaccine-status-1673494

2022-01-27 U.S. Developing Vaccine Passport System Using Complex Web of Big Tech Partnerships Just because the federal government isn’t directly developing a national vaccine database or vaccine passport system doesn’t mean such systems aren’t in the works — they are, and some of the Big Tech players involved have deep ties to multiple government agencies. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/us-developing-vaccine-passport-system/

2022-01-26 Netherlands Lifts Toughest COVID Curbs With Denmark and France Set to Follow The Netherlands has lifted its toughest COVID controls, Denmark is to remove all restrictions within days and France will begin easing curbs next week, as many — but not all — EU countries opt to reopen despite record infection numbers. The moves come as data shows hospital and intensive care admissions are not surging in line with cases, and after the World Health Organization suggested the Omicron variant — which studies show is more contagious but usually less severe for vaccinated people — may signal a new, more manageable phase in the pandemic. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/26/as-omicron-fears-subside-europe-starts-to-reopen

2022-01-26 YouTube Permanently Bans Fox News Host Dan Bongino for Posting COVID Misinformation Google-owned YouTube said it had permanently banned prominent conservative media figure Don Bongino from its site after he repeatedly broke its rules on posting coronavirus misinformation. Bongino had around 870,000 subscribers on YouTube but has over 2 million on Rumble, a video platform popular with right-wing figures who say Big Tech is censoring them. He had threatened to leave YouTube before the ban. Bongino is one of a small handful of conservative figures who have been handed permanent suspensions from the big social media companies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/26/youtube-ban-dan-bongino/

2022-01-26 California Lawmaker Blasts ‘Unconscionable’ Potential Vaccine Mandate for All Students A bill introduced earlier this week by a California senator requiring the state’s students to be immunized for COVID-19 despite objections from parents based on their personal beliefs has some conservative legislators pushing back in a big way. Introduced by state Senator Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento, “The Keep Schools Open and Safe Act” would not only prohibit families from claiming a personal belief exemption concerning California’s COVID-19 student vaccine requirement, but it would also add these vaccines to the state’s list of required inoculations for those attending K-12 schools. “Now it is clear. The government doesn’t want your family to have a choice. Government is in control. Either get vaccinated or get kicked out of school,” tweeted California Assemblyman James Gallagher Monday. “I am absolutely going to oppose removing COVID vaccine exemptions for school children. This is wrong and an unconscionable overreach into the family over a virus that poses very minimal threat to young children.” https://www.newsweek.com/california-lawmaker-blasts-unconscionable-potential-vaccine-mandate-all-students-1673152

2022-01-26 Is a COVID Vaccine Mandate on the Way for Chicago Public Schools Students? ‘We Need to Keep Talking About This,’ Board of Ed Member Says With just over a third of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a member of the Chicago Board of Education said Wednesday she doesn’t “see a world in which we start school next year without a vaccine mandate.” The discussion arose during Wednesday’s monthly board meeting after CPS’ chief health officer, Dr. Kenneth Fox, noted the challenge in persuading parents who are hesitant about the vaccine. Around 116,000 of the 330,000 students enrolled in CPS are fully vaccinated, while about 148,000 students have received at least one dose, according to the district. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-public-schools-covid-vaccine-mandate-20220126-kfiiykyzwjah3epkkjh72aqcn4-story.html

2022-01-26 Montana Republicans Seek Leniency on Vaccine Mandates Montana’s governor and its two Republican members of Congress are asking the Biden administration to grant exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to federally funded healthcare facilities where losing unvaccinated staff might jeopardize access to medical care. Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale made the request Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Some Montana facilities cannot afford to lose another healthcare professional, especially when alternative measures can be implemented, such as masking and testing, to protect the safety and health of employees, patients and visitors from COVID-19,” they wrote. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-steve-daines-medicaid-6e5bd8f9c93bc29ec0c230f60663710c

2022-01-26 Alaska, Texas Governors Sue Over National Guard Vaccine Rule Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in seeking to block the U.S. Department of Defense from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for National Guard members who are under state command. The Pentagon has required COVID-19 vaccination for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. Attorneys for the two governors, in an amended lawsuit dated Tuesday, say that when National Guard members are serving the state, the federal government has no command authority. The lawsuit said the mandate is an unconstitutional overstepping of bounds. The case dealing with Alaska and Texas guard members is an amended version of the challenge filed by Texas earlier this month. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-alaska-greg-abbott-us-department-of-defense-661927345f97c565f5072344f1a4d200

2022-01-26 Vaccine Mandate to Kick in for First Wave of Health Workers Healthcare workers in about half the states face a Thursday deadline to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks. While the requirement is welcomed by some, others fear it will worsen already serious staff shortages if employees quit rather than comply. The mandate ultimately will cover 10.4 million healthcare workers at 76,000 facilities. It is taking effect first in jurisdictions that didn’t challenge the requirement in court. The states affected on Thursday are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-missouri-nursing-homes-23607093639bbbb1862c3a49052379bc

2022-01-26 COVID Digest: Austria Lifts Lockdown for the Unvaccinated Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Wednesday announced that a lockdown specifically for unvaccinated people is to come to an end next week. Nehammer said people without a vaccination against the coronavirus can leave their homes from Monday without a good reason. However, they will still be barred from large parts of public life, including restaurants and non-essential retail. Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein told a news conference that experts had concluded that the lockdown on the unvaccinated was no longer necessary even as cases soar. https://www.dw.com/en/covid-digest-austria-lifts-lockdown-for-the-unvaccinated/a-60554450

2022-01-26 Biden Administration Used Billions in Hospital COVID Funds to Pay Drugmakers The Biden administration quietly took nearly $7 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and clinics affected by the pandemic and used it to buy COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, according to a document obtained by STAT. Now, the hospital money, known as the Provider Relief Fund, has run dry and has no new money left to allocate, according to the agency that administers it. Providers have only been able to submit requests for expenses incurred through March 2021 — before both the Delta and Omicron surges battered the healthcare system. With the new $7 billion shift, which has not been previously reported, the diversion to drugmakers totals nearly $17 billion, or roughly 10% of the overall money Congress allotted for the fund for hospitals and physician practices. Congress set aside that money to help healthcare providers pay for pandemic-related expenses including staffing, personal protective equipment, care for uninsured patients, and vaccine distribution. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-nw-biden-billion-to-drugmakers/

2022-01-26 Why Hong Kong May Become a Living Laboratory in Search for COVID Answers Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million people crammed into 427 square miles in Southern China, has a unique combination of characteristics at this point in the pandemic that could make it a living laboratory, if the city is unable to withstand the onslaught of Omicron. Hong Kong has a zero COVID policy. Like New Zealand and the Chinese mainland, the city has largely succeeded in preventing COVID transmission from taking hold there by requiring incomers to quarantine for 21 days in designated hotels, aggressively testing for the virus, and tracking down contacts when cases emerge.Less than 50% of adults 70 to 79 have received two doses of vaccine. In adults 80 and older, only 20% have received two shots and only about 4% of people in this highest-risk group have received a booster shot, according to the government’s vaccination dashboard. If Omicron were to breach the city’s formidable COVID barricades, Hong Kong’s elders would be highly vulnerable to the infection. Things that could appear muddled elsewhere could be clear there. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/26/hong-kong-may-become-living-laboratory-covid19-answers/

2022-01-26 Restaurant Reservations in Cities With Vaccine Mandates Tank Compared to Cities Without: OpenTable Restaurant reservations have plunged in cities with vaccine mandates so far this year compared to pre-pandemic data. New York City saw a 68% drop in reservations on Jan. 24 compared to 2019 data, OpenTable reported based on online, phone and walk-in reservations. Restaurants in San Francisco have also been battered by sinking reservations, with a 68% decline on Jan. 24. Both cities have implemented vaccine mandates for anyone dining inside restaurants. Restaurant owners in New York City slammed the mandate when it was rolled out during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration last year, with one saying they are leading to restaurants “getting killed.” https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/reservations-opentable-plunge-cities-vaccine-mandates

2022-01-26 Will Virus Be ‘Over’? Most Americans Think Not Early in the pandemic, Ryan Wilson was careful to take precautions — wearing a mask, not really socializing, doing more of his shopping online. The 38-year-old father and seafood butcher from Casselberry, Florida, says he relaxed a bit after getting vaccinated last year. And, like many, Wilson has come to believe COVID-19 is probably never fully going away. “It’ll become endemic and we’ll be stuck with it forever,” he says. “It’s frustrating, but what can you do about it?” Many Americans agree that they’re going to “be stuck with it forever” — or, at the least, for a long time. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that few — just 15% — say they’ll consider the pandemic over only when COVID-19 is largely eliminated. https://apnews.com/article/when-will-coronavirus-pandemic-end-poll-3eae1f01412794b152934501f4b2c30f

2022-01-26 Why Spotify Picked Joe Rogan Over Neil Young in Its Misinformation Fight For the last two weeks, Spotify, the Swedish music and podcast streaming giant, has faced mounting public pressure to explain its position on misinformation policies and whether they apply to the platform’s hugely popular podcast personality Joe Rogan, who has repeatedly drawn headlines and public criticism for questioning COVID-19 medical orthodoxy and for featuring guests who have been banned from other platforms for violating health information guidelines. The controversy hit a new peak Wednesday, with news that Neil Young was pulling his music from the streaming service over his concerns about COVID-19 misinformation on Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users,” Spotify said in a statement after the news was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. “With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.” https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-26/spotify-joe-rogan-covid-misinformation

2022-01-26 Most Major Employers Are Keeping Vaccine Mandate for Workers, Despite Supreme Court Ruling Many major employers are going ahead with policies to require employees to take steps to combat COVID-19, even if the Supreme Court says they don’t have to do so. A survey by management consultant Gartner of more than 200 major employers last week found 30% still are requiring or will require their employees to get vaccines. Another 50% have policies in place or in the works to give employees a choice between vaccine or weekly tests. Only 20% are dropping all policies that would require action by their employees. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the rule on the larger employers on Jan. 13, and the Biden administration formally dropped the rule Wednesday. Lower federal courts have put the federal contractor mandate on hold. Still, employers are moving ahead with their own policies, as they are free to do even if they can’t be required to do so. https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/26/business/employer-vaccine-mandates/index.html

2022-01-26 United Airlines Pilot Says She’s Blocked From Finding Job or Accessing 401k for Refusing Vaccine A United Airlines captain who is on unpaid leave for not complying with her company’s vaccine mandate says she has been locked out of her 401(k) and is prohibited from finding another job. “I am out on unpaid leave. I am prohibited from getting another job. I’m prohibited from accessing my 401(k). I have no medical benefits, and I’m leading the charge in this fight, so my days are consumed,” United pilot Sherry Walker, co-founder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, told the Daily Signal while attending the “Defeat the Mandates” march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. Walker told Fox Digital on Monday that she is considered an “active employee” after being put on unpaid leave for not complying with the airline’s vaccine mandate in November. “That means that they can call us back with two weeks’ notice at any given time, they can just grab us and pull us back. But because we’re active, we haven’t had a qualified lifestyle change. So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them,” Walker told Fox. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/united-airlines-pilot-401k-no-access-find-other-job

2022-01-26 ‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: COVID Vaccines for Kids Under 5 by Next Month? + More

• Mary called World Health Organization’s (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan’s statement that “there’s no evidence right now” to suggest healthy children and adolescents need booster shots “rather extraordinary. Terrific news.”
• Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could authorize  Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine for children under 5 in the next month.
• Nearly 4,000 Kaiser Permanente patients were warned they may have received an insufficient dose of COVID vaccines. “Everything in this piece should petrify everybody,” said Polly.
• People previously infected with COVID were better protected against the Delta variant than those who were vaccinated alone, suggesting natural immunity was a more potent shield than vaccines against that variant, California and New York health officials reported. “This blows me away,” said Mary.
• The U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for private businesses left companies like Starbucks and Carhartt scrambling to decide whether they should abandon the mandate or force their employees to be vaccinated.“Interesting situation,” said Polly.
• A top Florida public health official was put on administrative leave as officials investigate whether he violated a state ban by emailing employees about their low vaccination rate and urging them to get shots. “I’m really happy to see Florida standing up,” said Mary.
• Europe considers a new COVID strategy: acceptance. “This is what has been done for centuries,” said Mary. “It’s common sense.”
• Most legal restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in England will be dropped next week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the British Parliament.
• In England, Sajid Javid said he will abandon COVID passes as the Omicron surge recedes. “Stay cautious,” said Mary.
• Mandatory vaccines for England’s National Health Service staff could be pushed back by half a year, following nationwide protests over the requirement. “It’s very exciting,” said Mary.
• The Czech government scrapped a decree making COVID vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over-60s to avoid “deepening fissures” in society. “The protests they had there must have made a massive impact,” said Polly.
• Canadian truck drivers opposed to vaccine mandates are participating in “The Convoy for Freedom,” a cross-country protest. The truckers are driving from the country’s westernmost province, British Columbia, thousands of miles east, towards Ottawa. “This is power, and they are using it,” said Mary.
• A lawsuit against Bill Gates, the Indian government and others, citing extensive case law, is attracting renewed scrutiny of Gates and his long-term, controversial involvement in India’s vaccine program. “I think this is really interesting,” said Mary. “This is a fantastic article, I highly recommend people read it.”
• The new federal labeling law for foods containing genetically modified organisms is sure to create confusion and make it burdensome for consumers to know if the foods they eat contain genetically modified ingredients. Will a lawsuit be able to change that? “You need to be really careful,” said Polly. “You need to be fully aware of what you are eating.”
• More than 30,000 people attended the “Defeat the Mandates” rally in DC, calling for an end to vaccine mandates and government overreach. “This will give you goosebumps,” said Polly. “We have to wake up to the threat before us,” said Mary.

2022-01-26 COVID Vaccines a Spectacular Failure, Data Show Data analyses from multiple countries show a negative correlation between COVID vaccination rates and worsening infection rates and other health trends.

• British data show the COVID shots are an abysmal failure, as COVID infection rates in the UK are higher among the “fully vaccinated” in all adult cohorts.
• Infection rates are also rising faster among the fully vaxxed than in unvaccinated cohorts of all ages. All in all, these data prove that vaccine passports and mandates are completely pointless.
• Data from Scotland show more of the same. Double-jabbed Scots are more likely to be admitted to the hospital for COVID than unvaccinated. Since Omicron became dominant, COVID case rates are also lower among the unvaccinated than among the single-, double- and even triple-jabbed.
• Internationally, journalists are now starting to try to switch the narrative away from cases, hospitalizations and deaths by pointing out how unreliable these data are. What they don’t admit is that “dangerous misinformants” have highlighted these problems for two years already.
• Omicron is blowing huge holes in the pandemic narrative, as it predominantly affects the vaxxed, thus proving mandates and vaccine passports are irrational and useless.

For those who have been “awake” to the censorship and misleading reporting over the past two years, this attempt at steering the narrative in a new direction is just laughable. How could the AP possibly have missed the fact that it’s been a data disaster from the start? And intentionally so?

Case counts were always unreliable, considering the PCR test cannot diagnose an active infection, and excessive cycle thresholds guaranteed ridiculous amounts of false positives. COVID hospitalization data were always unreliable, because anyone who tested positive for COVID was counted as a COVID hospitalization whether they were symptomatic or not. Nothing has changed in that regard.

The only thing that has changed is that now media are admitting it — pretending that this is a brand-new development, of course. The same goes for COVID death counts. They were vastly overcounted from the start, again, because of the reliance on faulty PCR testing. Media now claim to be moving away from “unreliable” data such as case counts, hospitalizations and even deaths, and for all the reasons we’ve been highlighting for the past two years. For those who have paid attention all along, this is clearly an attempt to change the narrative without losing all credibility (which I think is near-impossible at this point).

The fact is that Omicron is making the holes in the narrative so much bigger, it’s all falling apart. They’re completely losing the rationale for vaccine passports and mandates for work, school and social events, as the higher the vaccination rate, the higher the infection rate.

To hide, as best as possible, this narrative-killing trend, media are now “explaining” why they won’t be discussing case counts or even hospitalizations or death rates anymore. If they were, they’d have to admit that the pandemic response is resulting in an ever-growing disaster. So, don’t be surprised if fact checkers start debunking statistics proving what a disastrous failure the shots are by saying the data on cases, hospitalizations and deaths are simply too unreliable to use anymore.

Others are too sick to work thanks to COVID jab injuries. As recently reported by OneAmerica, a national mutual life insurance company based in Indianapolis, in addition to a 40% increase in deaths among working age Americans (and they’re not dying from COVID), there’s also been a noticeable uptick in short-term and long-term disability claims in the third quarter of 2021 compared to prepandemic levels. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-spectacular-failure-data/

2022-01-26 ‘Mandates and Freedom Don’t Mix’ — 30,000+ Rally in DC to Fight for Our Constitutional Rights Dozens of scientific experts, academics, media personalities and COVID vaccine injury victims risked their careers, their personal privacy and their safety to tell more than 30,000 Americans at Sunday’s “Defeat the Mandates” rally to stand up and fight for freedom and democracy. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mandates-freedom-rally-dc-constitutional-rights/

2022-01-26 The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, at Least Not on Mainstream Media Prominent scientists, doctors and public safety advocates delivered a powerful message at the “Defeat the Mandates” rally Sunday in D.C. But will it be heard? https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/revolution-not-televised-mainstream-media/

2022-01-26 11,000-Truck, 93-Mile-Long ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protests Canada’s Vaccine Mandate, as Government Digs in Heels As the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers protesting Canada’s vaccine mandates rolled through southeast Alberta, Canadian government officials reiterated support for the policy that requires Canadian and U.S. truckers to show proof of vaccination in order to cross the border. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mile-long-freedom-convoy-protest-canada-vaccine-mandate/

2022-01-26 CHD Denounces Violence in Brussels After Police Disrupt COVID Mandates Rally Organizers of Sunday’s peaceful protest against COVID mandates in Brussels called off the event after police — using tear gas, water cannons and dogs — ordered them to disburse, but key speakers later in the day delivered their speeches at a restaurant. “These are horrific images. We are not in favor of violence. We condemn all violence. We are here for peaceful change. Children’s Health Defense has nothing to do with what has happened, and we deeply regret it and think that this is not the way toward the future, and we all as humans have the right to peacefully assemble, to air our grievances, to exercise our free speech and we look toward both law enforcement and civic protestors to respect those rights, so we can continue to engage in them fully.” https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/chd-denounces-violence-brussels-covid-mandates-rally/?

2022-01-26 COVID Vaccines Causing Miscarriages, Cancer and Neurological Disorders Among Military, DOD Data Show Attorney Thomas Renz on Monday told a panel of experts that data provided to him by three whistleblowers show COVID-19 vaccines are causing catastrophic harm to members of the U.S. military.

Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), the military’s longstanding epidemiological database of service members. The data show:

• Miscarriages increased 300% in 2021 over the previous five-year average.
• Cancer increased 300% in 2021 over the previous five-year average.
• Neurological disorders increased 1000% in 2021 over the past five-year average, increasing from 82,000 to 863,000 in one year.

The whistleblowers provided the data knowing they would face perjury charges if they submitted false statements to the court in legal cases pending against the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Renz told the panel a “trifecta of data” from the DMED, the DOD’s military-civilian integrated health database, Project SALUS, along with human intelligence in the form of doctor-whistleblowers suggest the DOD and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention have withheld COVID vaccine surveillance data since September 2021. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccines-miscarriages-cancer-neurological-disorders-military/

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Coronavirus Covid-19 Research History – Index

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World