Covid News Watch
Schools Aren’t COVID Infection Hubs, Says Public Health Boss + More
COVID: Schools Aren’t Infection Hubs, Says Public Health Boss
Schools are not “drivers” or “hubs” of COVID infection, Public Health England’s medical director has said.
Dr Yvonne Doyle said she understood parents’ nervousness about schools returning after the summer in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
She stressed that lots of measures to cut COVID spread remained in place.
But Prof Calum Semple, a government scientific adviser, said with most adults vaccinated, schools were likely to be a “greater part of the problem”.
Some have suggested a surge in cases in Scotland, where pupils returned in August, could be linked to schools.
New Study: Nursing Home Residents, Healthcare Workers Lose More Than 80% of Their COVID-19 Immunity Six Months After Pfizer Vaccine
A new, multi-institutional study led by Case Western Reserve University—in partnership with Brown University — found that COVID-19 antibodies produced by the Pfizer vaccine decreased sharply in senior nursing home residents and their caregivers six months after receiving their second shots.
David Canaday, professor at the School of Medicine, and the research team studied blood samples of 120 Ohio nursing home residents and 92 healthcare workers. In particular, they looked at humoral immunity — also called antibody-mediated immunity — to measure the body’s defenses against the coronavirus.
Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Protect the Most Vulnerable, But Pose a Hidden Threat to Residents
With the U.S. in the grips of a fourth wave of COVID-19 fueled by the more transmissible Delta variant, many nursing home companies and other healthcare providers have, like Genesis, announced that staffers must either get vaccinated or agree to regular testing, or be fired or removed from schedules.
Biden’s announcement means that other nursing homes will likely follow suit, as the rule is “effectively a mandate” given the industry’s dependence on Medicaid and Medicare funding, says Dr. David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School.
What’s less clear, however, is how many staffers will actually choose vaccination over quitting their jobs. Many will have to make this decision: nine months into the U.S. inoculation campaign, about 39% of U.S. nursing home staffers remain unvaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
AMA Calls on Doctors to Immediately Stop Prescribing Ivermectin for COVID
“We are asking doctors to … follow established guidelines and do the right, safest thing for their patients and stay on the side of science here,” says Dr. Gerald Harmon, president of the American Medical Association, on their calls for doctors to stop prescribing ivermectin.
Gov’t Probes Death of Medical Student After COVID-19 Vaccine
The government authorities are investigating the death of Rosette Kyarikunda, a fifth- year medical student of Busitema University, which happened on Tuesday, two weeks after she took the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine jab.
Ms Peace Kalungi, the university spokesperson, confirmed that the deceased had taken the jab as a requirement to resume learning at the institution.
“The student had reported back to the university. Getting the COVID vaccine is voluntary but it is [also] a government requirement so it was wise for her to take the vaccine,” she told Daily Monitor yesterday.
Joe Rogan Says He’s Taking Ivermectin After COVID-19 Diagnosis
Popular podcast host Joe Rogan says that he’s taking the dewormer drug ivermectin after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Rogan told his followers that he has to change his comedy tour schedule.
“I got back from the road Saturday night feeling very weary. I had a headache. I felt just run down,” he said.
Rogan did not reveal if he’s been vaccinated against the coronavirus but said he’s been taking a number of medications, mentioning a Z-Pak, prednisolone and ivermectin, which has been approved for use in humans for some conditions but is not recommended for the treatment of COVID-19.
Prince Harry Blames ‘Mass Misinformation’ for COVID Vaccine Hesitancy
The Duke of Sussex has blamed overwhelming “mass-scale misinformation” for COVID vaccine hesitancy and urged governments to address vaccine inequality in poorer countries as he presented an award to the team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
Prince Harry warned: “Until every community can access the vaccine and until every community is connected to trustworthy information about the vaccine, then we are all at risk.”
In a virtual appearance at the GQ men of the year awards, Harry presented the prize to Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, Prof Catherine Green and the Oxford/AstraZeneca team.
COVID-19 Transmission at School Rare for Children With Disabilities
Studies have determined that in-school transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is rare when masking, social distancing and other safety protocols are followed. However, little has been known about COVID-19 risks at school for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These students often are unable to mask or maintain social distancing and may have underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible to the virus and related complications.
New research shows that rapid saliva test screenings — aimed at early detection of the virus — contributed to exceedingly low transmission of the virus among students, teachers and staff in the six schools overseen by the Special School District of St. Louis County, the largest specialized education provider in Missouri. Precautions such as masking and social distancing also were implemented when appropriate. The study was led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in collaboration with Special School District.
FDA Calls Meeting of Its Advisers to Discuss COVID Vaccine Boosters
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has called a meeting of its vaccine advisers for September 17 to discuss booster doses of coronavirus vaccine.
That’s three days before the September 20 target date to start offering booster doses announced by the White House last month.
“The administration recently announced a plan to prepare for additional COVID-19 vaccine doses, or ‘boosters,’ this fall, and a key part of that plan is FDA completing an independent evaluation and determination of the safety and effectiveness of these additional vaccine doses,” Dr. Peter Marks, who heads FDA’s vaccine division, said in a statement.
Pfizer/BioNTech applied to FDA to approve booster doses of its vaccine last month. Moderna applied Wednesday.
Pfizer, Merck Launch New Trials of Oral COVID-19 Drugs
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) announced on Wednesday new trials of their experimental oral antiviral drugs for COVID-19 as the race to develop an easy-to-administer treatment for the potentially fatal illness heats up.
Pfizer said its latest mid-to-late-stage trial will enroll 1,140 non-hospitalized adults diagnosed with coronavirus infection who are not at risk of severe illness. Patients in the trial will be given Pfizer’s pill, known as PF-07321332, and a low dose of ritonavir, an older medication widely used in combination treatments for HIV infection.
WHO Warns New Mu Coronavirus Variant Could Be More Vaccine-Resistant
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the mu SARS-CoV-2 strain, first detected in Colombia, as a “variant of interest” adding in its weekly bulletin that it will be monitoring the variant’s spread.
According to WHO, the mu variant was first detected in Colombia in January.
Variants of interest have been found to have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics including transmissibility, disease severity and immune escape. Variants of interest differ from variants of concern, which have been found to cause a decrease in effectiveness of public health measures, vaccines or therapeutics.
Moderna Seeks U.S. Authorization for COVID19 Vaccine Booster
Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Wednesday asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow the use of a third booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The FDA is considering booster shots of the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)and BioNTech SE vaccine, but so far has only allowed people with weakened immune systems to receive third doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer shots.
The agency said on Wednesday that a group of its advisers will meet to discuss Pfizer’s booster shot application on Sept. 17, but it is not clear whether they will discuss Moderna’s.
Moderna to Recall COVID-19 Doses in Japan After Stainless Steel Contaminants Found
Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (4502.T) on Wednesday said they are working with Japanese authorities to recall three batches of COVID-19 vaccine after an investigation found stainless steel contaminants in some vials.
Japanese authorities had suspended use of these batches of Moderna shots containing 1.63 million doses last week after being notified of the contamination issue.
Japan’s health ministry said on Wednesday, based on information from the companies’ investigation, that it did not believe the particles of stainless steel pose any additional health risk. Moderna said the stainless steel contamination probably occurred during production.
Detroit Zoo’s Most Susceptible Animals Are Getting COVID-19 Vaccinations
Even Detroit’s zoo animals are getting vaccinated now.
It’s unclear, however, whether there will be backlash online from anti-vaxxers, which have aggressively criticized other zoos nationwide that have administered the shots to their animals.
The Detroit Zoological Society said Monday that it has begun to vaccinate the animals that may be most susceptible to COVID-19. The gorillas, chimpanzees, tigers and lions are going first.
Biden Pledged to ‘Follow the Science.’ But Experts Say He’s Sometimes Fallen Short. + More
Biden Pledged to ‘Follow the Science.’ But Experts Say He’s Sometimes Fallen Short.
As president, though, Biden has sometimes struggled to follow through on his science-first pledges. Over the winter, the White House press secretary publicly undercut the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she suggested teachers didn’t necessarily need to be vaccinated for schools to be reopened safely. Then came the administration’s sudden U-turn on mask guidance in May, which was criticized for effectively assuming that unvaccinated Americans would still wear face coverings.
Most recently, and perhaps most striking, was the administration’s endorsement of “booster” vaccine doses, which numerous scientists say was based on scant evidence and undercuts the authority of scientific agencies.
Given that Biden campaigned against a president who often downplayed COVID-19 and derided government scientists, many health experts hoped his election would mark the dawn of a more science-focused pandemic response. While the new president has made good on most of his scientific pledges, though, some of his apparent scientific stumbles have led some health experts to question whether he’s been true to his vow to follow the science — and whether politics have played a role in many of his administration’s most critical COVID-19 decisions.
Take Another Look at the Spacing Between COVID Vaccine Doses
When most Americans showed up to get their first dose of an mRNA vaccine, they were sternly warned that they must schedule a second dose within a month. In my case, I politely explained that I would come back for my second dose at 3 months. The scheduler got flustered and treated me like I was a fugitive of the law. But a growing body of evidence over the last several months has shown that a longer interval provides better immunity in the long-term. It may even eliminate the need for a booster shot that’s now being recommended.
In May, researchers at the University of Birmingham found that delaying the second Pfizer dose to 12 weeks after the first resulted in a 3.5 times greater antibody response in older people. The increase is likely even greater in a younger cohort. Hematologist Paul Moss, MBBS, PhD, a co-author of the study, concluded that it’s a good idea to extend the time between the first and second doses of the vaccine. “An extended interval may help to sustain immunity against COVID-19 over the longer term and further improve the clinical efficacy of this powerful vaccine platform,” he wrote.
Alpha, Delta and More: Why Virus Variants Are Causing Alarm
Viruses mutate all the time, including the one, SARS-CoV-2, that’s caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Although most genetic changes are innocuous, some can make the mutant more adept at infecting cells, for example, or evading antibodies. Such “fitter” variants can outcompete other strains, so that they become the predominant source of infections.
A succession of more-transmissible variants has emerged over the past year, each harboring a constellation of mutations. The most worrisome so far is the so-called delta variant. It’s become dominant in much of the world since its discovery in India in October, leading to surges in cases and hospitalizations, especially in places where less than half the adult population has been fully immunized.
They’re Called Mild Cases. But People With Breakthrough COVID Can Still Feel Pretty Sick.
Andrew Kinsey knew that even after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, there was a chance he could still fall ill with COVID-19.
He just never expected to feel this lousy from a case doctors call mild.
For nearly a week, Kinsey felt like he had been “run over by a truck.” He struggled to walk a few steps and to stay awake through episodes of the TV show “Doomsday Preppers.” He returned to work last Monday as a corporate litigator but needs midday naps.
Are Off-Label Prescriptions a Backdoor to Giving Kids COVID Vaccines?
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to give full approval to the Pfizer COVID vaccine was only a few hours old last week when groups on Facebook lit up with questions. The move changed the vaccine’s availability in the marketplace, triggered business and military vaccine mandates, and may have altered its acceptability to vaccine-hesitant people.
But that was only for people 16 years old and up. For teens 12 to 15, the FDA left the Pfizer formula under emergency authorization. For children younger than 12, it kept the vaccine entirely off-limits until the conclusion of kids’ clinical trials, which are now due sometime in late fall. That immediately ignited debate among parents about whether they could find a way to get younger kids the shot, as well as whether they should.
“My child is almost the size of a 12-year-old,” began one thread in a private group. “I’m calling my pediatrician tomorrow,” began another. A third person floated a rumor: Someone took their child to a pharmacy and accidentally wrote the wrong birthdate on the vaccine paperwork.
Moderna Makes Twice as Many Antibodies as Pfizer, Study Says
Moderna Inc.’s Covid vaccine generated more than double the antibodies of a similar shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in research that compared immune responses evoked by the two inoculations.
The study is one of the first to compare levels of antibodies produced by the two vaccines, which are thought to be one of the important components of the immune response. It didn’t examine whether the antibody differences led to a difference in efficacy over time between the two shots, which both were more than 90% effective in final-stage clinical trials.
WHO Says It Is Monitoring a New COVID Variant Called ‘Mu’
The World Health Organization is monitoring a new coronavirus variant called “mu,” which the agency says has mutations that have the potential to evade immunity provided by a previous COVID19 infection or vaccination.
Mu — also known by scientists as B.1.621 — was added to the WHO’s list of variants “of interest” on Aug. 30, the international health organization said in its weekly Covid epidemiological report published late Tuesday.
The variant contains genetic mutations that indicate natural immunity, current vaccines or monoclonal antibody treatments may not work as well against it as they do against the original ancestral virus, the WHO said. The mu strain needs further study to confirm whether it will prove to be more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.
As School Returns, Impatience Grows With Biden Administration on Vaccines for Kids Under 12
When the Food and Drug Administration fully authorized a coronavirus vaccine for the first time last week, the vaccine-skeptic industrial complex was in a bind. It had been pointing for months to the fact that the vaccine was only authorized for emergency use — and thus, allegedly, not fully tested. So several of its leaders pivoted to something else: suggesting that maybe the full authorization had been rushed.
There were two problems with that. The first was that many of the same people had hailed the Trump administration’s vaccine push, which was literally called “Operation Warp Speed.”
The second was that there is indeed evidence that a president pressured apolitical health officials to push through coronavirus treatments. And it was Donald Trump. There was little concern among this crowd, for instance, when Trump tweeted: “Get the dam vaccines out NOW, [FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn]. Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!”
Australia Aims to ‘Live With Virus’ Instead of Eliminating It
Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews flagged a staggered easing of the tough restrictions once 70% of the state’s adult residents receive at least one dose, a milestone he hopes to reach at least by Sept. 23, based on current vaccination rates.
“We have thrown everything at this, but it is now clear to us that we are not going to drive these numbers down, they are instead going to increase,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne, the state capital, after a lockdown for nearly a month failed to quell the outbreak. The lockdown was due to end on Thursday.
Two Top Vaccine Regulators to Leave U.S. FDA + More
Two Top Vaccine Regulators to Leave U.S. FDA
Two of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulators plan to leave the agency in the next several months, the FDA said on Tuesday.
The FDA is “confident in the expertise and ability of our staff to continue our critical public health work, including evaluating COVID-19 vaccines,” spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo said in an emailed statement.
Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR), plans to retire on Oct. 31, according to a memo from Peter Marks, director of the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). OVRR is part of CBER.
Gruber had been with the FDA for 32 years.
Gruber’s deputy, Dr. Philip Krause, also plans to leave the FDA in November, according to Marks.
Anthony Fauci Lied Before Congress and the American People, but Will President Biden Do Anything?
A new investigative documentary by the U.K.’s Channel 4 detailed some of the strongest evidence to date that the COVID19 pandemic may have started from a lab leak in Wuhan, China. At the very least, the documentary’s interviews with experts and review of documents made explicit how China has misled the world about its research with dangerous pathogens while it promoted ludicrous conspiracies that the pandemic may have started in the United States.
The documentary clarified one other point: Anthony Fauci lied before Congress and the American public when he claimed during a congressional hearing that he has not funded gain-of-function research conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But President Biden has campaigned on honesty and decency. The question now for President Biden is, “What will you do with Fauci now that he has broken the law and violated the public trust by lying before Congress?”
White House Issues Warning About Dangers of COVID Delta Variant
The White House on Friday issued a stark warning about the COVID-19 Delta variant and its transmissibility, urging Americans once again to get vaccinated if they haven’t yet done so.
Speaking at the White House briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the variant “spreads more than twice as easily from one person to another, and it’s spreading rapidly.”
She said both vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected with Delta “have higher viral loads, meaning more virus in their body than with previous variants,” adding that the high viral loads makes the virus more likely to spread.
Biden Administration’s Pathetic COVID Origin Investigation Only Helps China
We need to know how this killer virus happened. We need to know if there was some intentionality behind the virus’s creation and escape, or whether it was a complete accident of nature.
After a 90-day sprint study into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 by the IC, ordered by President Biden, here’s the answer released on Aug. 27: We don’t know. As an intelligence product, it is a shameful embarrassment. Small wonder it was released on a Friday afternoon while the news media were fixated on Afghanistan. But it shouldn’t be swept under some White House rug.
You can read the Director of National Intelligence’s official unclassified “key takeaways” of the 90-day review here. It won’t take long; it’s only a page and a half, and it reflects what 90 days will yield — i.e., not much. The 600,000 dead were given short shrift.
San Antonio Zoo Giving Lions, Tigers and Monkeys COVID-19 Vaccine
The San Antonio Zoo announced Monday it is scheduled to receive its first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine distributed by the veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis. The drug has been authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first doses will be administered in the coming weeks.
“Our veterinary and animal care teams have worked incredibly hard to protect and prevent our animals from contracting COVID-19 through increased disinfection, personal protective equipment and new guest procedures,” said Tim Morrow, the zoo’s president and CEO. “Vaccinating our animals is one more important step.”
1 in 8 Nurses Haven’t Gotten COVID Vaccine or Don’t Plan to Get One + More
1 in 8 Nurses Haven’t Gotten a COVID-19 Vaccine or Don’t Plan to Get One, a New Survey Finds, Setting Up the Potential for More Staffing Shortages at Hospitals
As coronavirus hospitalizations surge again because of the Delta variant, America’s hospitals are dealing with another obstacle: One in eight nurses hasn’t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine or doesn’t plan to get one, a new survey found, potentially squeezing the already low supply of health workers.
The American Nurses Association surveyed nearly 5,000 nurses across the US in order to learn more about the questions and concerns they had about the vaccine. Twenty-five% of the nurses surveyed said they didn’t trust or were unsure that the coronavirus vaccines available were safe and effective. Out of those who didn’t intend to get vaccinated, 84% said there was not enough information about the long-term effects of the vaccine.
Is Vaccine Immunity Waning?
Late last month, researchers in Israel released some alarming new COVID-19 data. The data showed that many Israelis who had been among the first to receive the vaccine were nonetheless catching the COVID virus. Israelis who had been vaccinated later were not getting infected as often.
The study led to headlines around the world about waning immunity — the idea that vaccines lose their effectiveness over time. In the U.S., the Israeli study accelerated a debate about vaccine booster shots and played a role in the Biden administration’s recent recommendation that all Americans receive a booster shot eight months after their second dose.
But the real story about waning immunity is more complex than the initial headlines suggested. Some scientists believe that the Israeli data was misleading and that U.S. policy on booster shots has gotten ahead of the facts. The evidence for waning immunity is murky, these scientists say, and booster shots may not have a big effect.
Gottlieb Says COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Authorized for Kids by Early Winter
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a member of Pfizer‘s board of directors, predicted Sunday that the drug company‘s COVID-19 vaccine could be available to children younger than 12 by early winter, a crucial development in the nation’s vaccination efforts as kids return to the classrooms.
In an interview with “Face the Nation,” Gottlieb said Pfizer will be in a position to file data with the FDA at some point next month, and then submit its application to expand its emergency use authorization for its vaccine in children 5 years and older as early as October.
“The agency will be in a position to make an authorization, I believe, at some point, late fall, probably early winter,” Gottlieb told “Face the Nation. “And probably they’re going to base their decision on what the circumstances around the country, what the urgency is to get to a vaccine for kids.”
New Zealand Confirms First Death Linked to Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Linked to Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
New Zealand on Monday reported the country’s first death linked to the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer.
The ministry of health said the woman died from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle and a known side effect of the Pfizer shot.
The nation’s independent COVID-19 vaccine monitor told the ministry that it considers the cause of the heart inflation to “probably” be due to the vaccine, but added that “there were other medical issues occurring at the same time, which may have influenced the outcome following vaccination.”
The case has been referred to the coroner’s office, which has yet to determine the cause of death, it said, adding that it will not further comment on the case until then.
Two Die in Japan Days After Receiving Moderna Shots Suspended Over Contamination Risk
Two people have died in Japan days after receiving doses from a batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines whose use was suspended Thursday following concerns over a contamination risk, the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Saturday.
A causal link between the vaccine and the deaths has not yet been established, according to the ministry and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, which distributes the Moderna vaccine in Japan.
Japan suspended the use of about 1.63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine on August 26 as a precaution after foreign substances were found in some vials.
Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases Are Rising, and Experts Are Trying to Figure Out Exactly What That Means
Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported:
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle awoke at 4 a.m. Wednesday at his Washington, D.C., apartment with fever and chills, fearing the worst.
Later, he tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been fully vaccinated against the disease in January. Now he’s quarantined until Sept. 1, thankful he got the two-shot Pfizer vaccine, even though he got sick.
“My lungs are clear, and I’m able to breathe easily, so I feel protected since I’ve been vaccinated,” the 68-year-old lawmaker said Thursday. “The vaccine only protects you so you don’t end up on a ventilator or dead.”
Anxiety Running High as COVID-19 Threatens to Disrupt Schools — Again
Students across the U.S. are starting another school year under a cloud of uncertainty as the delta strain of the coronavirus rips through the country, threatening to disrupt plans for a second consecutive academic year.
The pandemic’s unpredictability has sparked high anxiety among children and teachers alike as they attempt to return to in-person school for the first time since March 2020, with lingering fears that COVID-19 could jeopardize educational routines again.
The back-to-school season has left children and families with mixed feelings. Many are excited to return to in-person class after months of virtual learning, while some adults are keeping a wary eye on rising pediatric cases and hospitalizations.
Israel Doubles Down on Booster Shots as Daily COVID Cases Set New Record
Israeli lawmakers are keen to avoid another lockdown after overseeing one of the world’s fastest vaccination drives. New daily coronavirus infections, however, have just climbed to record levels.
While many nations were grappling with the rapid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, COVID-19 transmission in Israel declined sharply as the country vaccinated more than half of its population in around two months.
The country had one of the fastest vaccination rollout programs in the world, and by early June many of its coronavirus restrictions were lifted as new cases fell dramatically. But just days later, masks were reimposed as new infection numbers began to creep upward.
‘Don’t Do It’: Dr. Fauci Warns Against Using Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19
Federal health agencies and officials across the country are warning people not to take ivermectin — a drug used to treat parasites in livestock — to treat and prevent COVID-19.
According to The Boston Globe, poison control centers in at least a dozen states have reported an increase in calls related to ivermectin ingestion. In an interview with CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci said there’s no evidence it works, and that it’s more likely to cause harm.
“Don’t do it; there’s no evidence whatsoever that it works and it could potentially have toxicity… with people who have gone to poison control centers because they’ve taken the drug at a ridiculous dose and wind up getting sick,” he said. “There’s no clinical evidence that indicates that this works.”
Vaccine Refusers Don’t Get to Dictate Terms Anymore
For months, institutions and companies have been drafting plans to aggressively promote vaccination or require it outright, and last week the FDA gave them license to click the “send” button. The same day the agency granted full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, New York City’s public school system announced that its teachers and other employees will be required to get shots.
The next day, Louisiana State University made a similar demand of its students and faculty. Within about 24 hours of the FDA move, other major employers, such as Chevron and Goldman Sachs, rolled out new vaccine mandates. In a novel twist, Delta Air Lines announced that it would impose a $200-a-month health-insurance surcharge on unvaccinated employees. Regardless of the reasons for their hesitancy, unvaccinated employees will literally have to pay for it.
