Covid News Watch
U.S. Funded Wuhan Lab Where Research to Make Disease More Deadly Was Backed by Fauci + More
U.S. Cash Funded Controversial Wuhan Virus Lab Where Research to Make Diseases More Deadly Was Backed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, New Book Says
The U.S. was funding China‘s controversial Wuhan laboratory as it embarked on a secretive project to identify deadly viruses with pandemic potential, a new book has claimed.
According to “What Really Happened in Wuhan: the Cover-Ups, the Conspiracies and the Classified Research,” by Sharri Markson, the Wuhan Institute of Virology was creating a database of potentially lethal viruses with the help of Shi Zhengli – aka ‘batwoman.’
Ms Zhengli, who earned her nickname sampling thousands of bats in remote caves, collected 19,000 samples while at Wuhan, with 2,481 of those containing coronaviruses.
UK Ministers Could Defy JCVI and Go Ahead With COVID Jabs for All 12- to 15-year-olds
Ministers could for the first time defy the advice of their official vaccine advisers and push ahead with COVID jabs for all 12- to 15-year-olds, after the scientific body concluded the net health benefit in vaccinating the age group was too small.
In a move that highlights a growing divide between government and scientific advisers over the next phase of the vaccination programme, ministers will seek extra evidence which may help overturn the watchdog’s verdict.
In a statement on Friday, after days of speculation, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said that while the health gains from vaccinating the entire age group were greater than the risks, “the margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal vaccination of healthy 12- to 15-year-olds at this time.”
COVID-19 Kills 113 Fully Vaccinated Oregon Residents; 13,166 New Cases Are Reported.
The Washington Newsday reported:
Despite being completely vaccinated against COVID-19, more than 100 people in Oregon have died from the virus, according to state data.
Since January, at least 113 Oregonians who were completely vaccinated have died of COVID-19. At least 63 of the deaths affected adults above the age of 80. There were 29 cases involving persons aged 70 to 79, 15 cases involving people aged 60 to 69, three cases involving people aged 50 to 59, and three cases involving residents aged 40 to 49.
One Hospital Denies Oklahoma Doctor’s Story of Ivermectin Overdoses Causing ER Delays for Gunshot Victims
Update: One hospital has denied Dr. Jason McElyea’s claim that ivermectin overdoses are causing emergency room backlogs and delays in medical care in rural Oklahoma, and Rolling Stone has been unable to independently verify any such cases as of the time of this update.
The National Poison Data System states there were 459 reported cases of ivermectin overdose in the United States in August. Oklahoma-specific ivermectin overdose figures are not available, but the count is unlikely to be a significant factor in hospital bed availability in a state that, per the CDC, currently has a 7-day average of 1,528 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The doctor is affiliated with a medical staffing group that serves multiple hospitals in Oklahoma. Following widespread publication of his statements, one hospital that the doctor’s group serves, NHS Sequoyah, said its ER has not treated any ivermectin overdoses and that it has not had to turn away anyone seeking care.
Ohio Judge Reverses Colleague’s Decision on COVID Patient’s Ivermectin Treatment: ‘Judges Are Not Doctors’
Last month, an Ohio judge ordered a hospital to treat COVID-19 patient Jeffrey Smith with ivermectin after his wife sued, alleging that the facility refused to give her husband the drug, despite him having a doctor’s prescription.
Since mid-July, Smith has been in West Chester Hospital’s intensive care unit, battling a severe case of COVID, according to court records. Ivermectin — a deworming drug that some people are using to prevent or treat covid, despite several public health agencies advising against it — was Smith’s last shot at survival, his wife and guardian, Julie Smith, argued.
But on Monday, after Smith’s wife and the doctor who prescribed him the ivermectin failed to provide “convincing evidence” at a court hearing to show that the drug could significantly improve his condition, a different judge reversed course. Butler County Judge Michael A. Oster Jr. ordered the hospital to cease administering Smith, 51, the unproven treatment, arguing that “judges are not doctors or nurses.”
Third Person Dies in Japan After Taking Contaminated Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine
A third man has died in Japan after receiving an injection from one of three batches of Moderna vaccines since identified as contaminated, though authorities say no causal link has yet been found.
The 49-year-old man had his second shot on 11 August and died the following day. His only known health issue was an allergy to buckwheat, the health ministry said on Monday. As with the previous two deaths, the ministry said it had yet to establish if the latest fatality was linked to the vaccine.
COVID Vaccine Patch Breakthrough
COVID vaccines that must be stored at certain temperatures are of little use to people living in remote areas with limited resources. In an attempt to overcome this barrier nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have pioneered potential vaccines, made using viruses from plants or bacteria, that are able to take heat.
“What’s exciting about our vaccine technology is that is thermally stable, so it could easily reach places where setting up ultra-low temperature freezers, or having trucks drive around with these freezers, is not going to be possible,” explains Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of nanoengineering and the director of the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
Chile Authorizes Sinovac Vaccine for Kids of 6 and Older
Chilean health authorities approved on Monday the use of the Sinovac vaccine against the coronavirus for 6-year-old children and older, the first Latin America’s country to take that step.
Heriberto García, director of Chile’s Public Health Institute, said the institution approved the new measure by five votes in favor and one against.
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.”
