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Covid News Watch
How Dr. Fauci and Other Officials Withheld Information on China’s Coronavirus Experiments + More
How Dr. Fauci and Other Officials Withheld Information on China’s Coronavirus Experiments
For half a year, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease official, and Kentucky senator and physician Rand Paul have been locked in a battle over whether the National Institutes of Health funded dangerous “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and whether that research could have played a role in the pandemic.
Against Senator Paul’s aggressive questioning over three separate hearings, Dr. Fauci adamantly denied the charge.
Recently, however, a tranche of documents surfaced that complicate Dr. Fauci’s denials. The documents, obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests, show that the NIH was funding research at the Wuhan lab that involved manipulating coronaviruses in ways that could have made them more transmissible and deadly to humans.
The Latest Advice on COVID Is so Clear! Definitely Gather With Your Family! Or Maybe Don’t!
You can gather with your family over Thanksgiving if you’re fully vaccinated! But also: COVID cases are skyrocketing and the unvaxxed grandkids might kill you. So maybe stay home.
You can eat in a packed restaurant now! The germs can’t get you as long as you’re at your table. But strap that mask on when you dart into a deserted boutique. And mask up when you’re sitting nearly alone in a cavernous office!
But hey, be part of the team and come out for drinks to say goodbye to Nicole. As long as you’re fully vaxxed — whatever that means — you won’t end up in the hospital, or probably not. Welcome to the season of COVID confusion.
Fauci Says Vast Majority of Vaccinated Americans Should Get a COVID Booster
Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday the vast majority of Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should receive a booster shot, and that an additional dose could eventually become the country’s standard for determining who is fully vaccinated.
Fauci and other disease experts have said they expect that COVID-19 will transition this spring from a pandemic phase in the United States to an endemic disease, meaning that the virus will continue to circulate at a lower level, causing smaller, less disruptive but still significant outbreaks in the coming years. read more
Not Your Own? mRNA/DNA ‘Vaccines’ Raise Questions Over Patented Property Rights
Reports of adverse reactions reach unprecedented heights with every passing day. Countries with the highest inoculation rates have recorded significant spikes in heart conditions, blood clots, and strokes. Many concerned bystanders who oppose the medical mandate are asking themselves: why the push? One Argentinian researcher believes she knows the answer.
Dr. Chinda Brandolino is a healthcare professional who specializes in lymphology, phlebology, and occupational medicine. As more patients became immunized, she grew increasingly disturbed. An alarming number suffered severe and debilitating complications.
Gottlieb Says Breakthrough COVID Infections More Common Than People Realize Due to Weak Monitoring
“There’s probably more infection happening among the vaccinated population” than the U.S. is currently monitoring, Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday.
The effectiveness of COVID vaccines is proven to diminish over time, and Gottlieb said breakthrough infections are likely to occur in individuals almost a year removed from becoming fully immunized.
“At this point I think we need to accept that there’s a lot of breakthrough infections happening, particularly people who are out a significant portion of time from their original vaccination,” Gottlieb said.
In Major Shift, EU Says Vaccine Boosters Should Be Considered for All Adults
The head of the European Union’s public health agency Andrea Ammon said on Wednesday that COVID-19 vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults, with priority for those above 40 years, in a major change to the agency’s guidance.
In its previous guidance issued in September alongside the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the ECDC said there was no urgent need for the administration of booster doses to fully vaccinated individuals in the general population, but suggested that additional doses should be considered for people with weakened immune systems and could be used as a precaution for older frail individuals.
Massachusetts Governor Orders Some Hospitals to Delay Nonessential Procedures
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) signed an emergency declaration on Tuesday ordering some hospitals to delay nonessential procedures due to staffing shortages.
The governor, along with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said hospitals that do not have the capacity or staff for patients will have to delay nonessential procedures.
The order was spurred by staffing shortages, which caused the loss of 500 medical/surgical and ICU hospital beds.
Canada Gives Full Approval to J&J’s Single-Shot COVID Vaccine
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) said on Wednesday Canada gave full approval to its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 18 years and older, making it the first full approval for the vaccine globally.
The vaccine was previously authorized by the country under an interim order.
The country authorized the use of Pfizer‘s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 and a booster dose for people aged 18 years and older this month. read more
14-Year-Old Kentucky Girl Receives COVID Jab Not Approved for Under 18 + More
14-Year-Old Kentucky Girl Receives COVID Jab Not Approved for Under 18
International Business Times reported:
A 14-year-old Kentucky girl has been administered a COVID vaccine that has not been approved for anyone under the age of 18, authorities said.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department confirmed Thursday, that the teen girl was mistakenly given a Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine that has been not authorized for usage on those aged below 18.
The girl’s mother, Rolina Mason, said her daughter got vaccinated at a free clinic event. Mason’s daughter was reluctant to get a COVID jab and wanted the J&J vaccine as it has only a single dose. Mason said she trusted the nurse when she told them that it was okay for her to get it.
Texas Court Says Hospital Can’t Be Forced to Offer Ivermectin to COVID Patient on Ventilator
A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that a hospital can’t be forced to treat a COVID-19 patient in its care with ivermectin, a drug normally used to eliminate parasitic worms, after the patient’s wife sued the hospital to demand the treatment.
Jason Jones, a 48-year-old law enforcement official, was hospitalized at the Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth in late September after testing positive for the coronavirus.
He was put in a medically induced coma and a ventilator on Oct. 7, according to court documents. Erin Jones, his wife, asked Huguley to give her husband ivermectin, after consulting with Mary Talley Bowden, a physician not affiliated with the hospital.
CDC Panel Backs Expanding COVID Booster Eligibility to All U.S. Adults
Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended expanding eligibility of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults in the United States, which would pave the way for millions more Americans to get additional protection against the virus.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized broader use of booster doses for adults who had received their second shot of either the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) vaccines at least six months prior.
FDA Panel Member Opposed to COVID Booster for All Explains Why
The Food and Drug Administration, which approved the use of boosters for COVID-19 by two drug manufacturers Friday, bypassed the recommendation of an advisory committee. The group was opposed to the booster for all adults in the United States.
A member of that committee, Dr. Paul Offit, explained to FOX 5 NY morning program, Good Day New York, why a third dose was not necessary.
Dr. Offit went on to say that people aren’t clear on what the third dose provides.
Scientists Mystified, Wary, as Africa Avoids COVID Disaster
As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned.
Earlier this week, Zimbabwe recorded just 33 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths, in line with a recent fall in the disease across the continent, where World Health Organization data show that infections have been dropping since July.
But there is something “mysterious” going on in Africa that is puzzling scientists, said Wafaa El-Sadr, chair of global health at Columbia University. Fewer than 6% of people in Africa are vaccinated.
CA Governor Newsom Challenged With $5 Million Bet to Prove He Didn’t Lie About VAX Injury
Steve Kirsch, a philanthropist who started the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation and the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, whose work was profiled on 60 Minutes, seems to have found a new pet cause; demanding the truth from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
After the bizarre disappearance of the Governor from public life immediately following the Governor’s vaccine booster shot, many suspected the disappearance might have something to do with his jab.
Kirsch is so confident that Newsom had sustained a vaccine injury, he has officially offered Newsom $5M if Newsom will give him a blank piece of paper.
Scientists React to COVID Origin Study Suggesting New Date for First-Known Case
A new perspective on the origins of COVID has been released in a report that suggests the earliest known case of the disease occurred at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
The study was written by Michael Worobey, head of the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of Arizona, and published in the journal Science on Thursday, providing “strong evidence” that the pandemic has a live-animal market origin as opposed to a laboratory leak or otherwise.
But Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and a vocal critic of the natural origins narrative, cast doubt on the report.
The COVID Lab Leak Theory Just Got Even Stronger
Two years in, there is no doubt the COVID pandemic began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. But there is also little doubt that the bat carrying the progenitor of the virus lived somewhere else.
Central to the mystery of COVID’s origin is how a virus normally found in horseshoe bats in caves in the far south of China or south-east Asia turned up in a city a thousand miles north. New evidence suggests that part of the answer might lie in Laos.
Gilles Demaneuf, a New Zealand-based data scientist who’s been analyzing this issue, says the natural spillover theory has ‘no explanation for why this would result in an outbreak in Wuhan of all places, and nowhere else.’
Chip Roy to Introduce Bill Requiring Department of Health and Human Services to Provide Information on Natural Immunity as It Relates to COVID
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is introducing legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide Congress with data relating to the effectiveness of natural immunity in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Dubbed the Natural Immunity Transparency Act, Roy’s bill would require HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to report to Congress the number of unvaccinated individuals who recovered from a COVID infection and how many of those people died, were hospitalized, tested positive again and/or spread the virus to another person.
Mexico Sends Some Minors to U.S. to Get Coronavirus Vaccine
Scores of Mexican adolescents were bused to California on Thursday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as efforts get underway across Mexico to get shots in the arms of teens.
Mexico has resisted vaccinating minors ages 12 to 17, in part because the government focused on older adults believed to be more vulnerable. Mexico also has not had enough vaccine supply for most of its minors, who account for one-third of its population.
So a group in San Diego along with San Diego County stepped in to help their neighbor.
Canada Authorizes Pfizer/BioNTech COVID Vaccine for Children
Canada on Friday said Pfizer (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for use in children aged 5 to 11, making it the first shot for young children in the country.
‘The View’ Hosts Heated Debate on COVID Vaccines + More
Sunny Hostin, Jedediah Bila Speak Out After Heated Vaccine Debate on ‘The View’
Sunny Hostin and Jedediah Bila have reiterated their opposing positions on COVID-19 vaccination after their heated debate on The View.
During the remote interview, co-host Joy Behar said to Bila: “Let’s discuss the elephant in the room. You were supposed to join us in the studio weeks ago, but you couldn’t because ABC has a very strict policy that you can’t get into this building unless you’re fully vaccinated… and you made a conscious decision not to get vaccinated.”
Bila replied that she had a “medical exemption” supported by an “infectious disease specialist” and three other doctors. The former Fox News host added: “I have sky-high, multi-tiered, multi-faceted natural immunity” to the novel coronavirus. “I am not anti-vax,” Bila went on. “But what I really want is for people to make these decisions for themselves.”
After the show, Hostin shared five Instagram posts debunking Bila’s claims, with each upload starting with the words: “The following is misinformation.”
Hospitalizations Rising Among Fully Vaccinated in U.S., Fauci Says
As cases of COVID-19 rise throughout the U.S., health officials warn that an increasing number of fully vaccinated people are being hospitalized or going to the emergency room.
The concern about waning immunity against severe COVID-19 infection comes as the Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine booster shot for all adults 18 and older.
“What we’re starting to see now is an uptick in hospitalizations among people who’ve been vaccinated but not boosted,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, said Tuesday in an interview.
5,300 Breakthrough COVID Cases Recorded in Massachusetts Over 1 Week
International Business Times reported:
Massachusetts health officials have recorded more than 5,300 breakthrough COVID-19 infections among its fully vaccinated residents the past week, state data shows.
Between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, Massachusetts has recorded 5,313 new COVID-19 cases among the fully vaccinated, with at least 140 being admitted to hospitals. The state has now reported a total of 64,120 breakthrough infections and 2,080 breakthrough hospitalizations since vaccination programs began on Dec. 14, 2020.
The report did not indicate how many of the vaccinated people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 had underlying medical conditions. However, the report noted that the numbers “may be undercounted due to discrepancies” in records.
COVID Transmission in NYC Schools Remains Low This Year, City Data Suggests
COVID-19 spread in city schools has stayed relatively low even as students returned full-time to in-person class this year and the more infectious Delta variant surged, new city data suggests — though questions about the numbers remain.
Out of roughly 22,000 kids and staffers who were exposed to a positive COVID-19 case in school between Oct. 10 and 31, city officials identified a total of 130 who went on to get infected — an estimated “secondary attack rate” of roughly .6%, according to data from the Situation Room task force that monitors coronavirus in schools.
The Definition of ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Is Changing to Three COVID Doses
You may need up to three COVID-19 vaccine doses to be considered fully vaccinated. Waning vaccine immunity and rising infections due to the Delta variant has prompted wealthy nations to reconsider the definition of “fully vaccinated” — which usually means two COVID-19 jabs.
By December 15, anyone over the age of 65 will need a third dose to revalidate their vaccination pass in France, President Emmanuel Macron announced last week. In Austria, full vaccination status expires after 9 months of the second dose, which in effect enforces booster doses.
In Israel, unless you received your second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine within the last 6 months, you now need a third dose to become eligible for a green pass, which allows entry to gyms, restaurants and other venues.
How Panic Spread in the Early Days of COVID | Opinion
It was February 2020, and news accounts had been describing increasingly alarming information about a deadly new virus emanating from Wuhan, China. Apart from my general concern about the spread of the infection, I was confused about some of the basic numbers being aired. The overall message coming from the World Health Organization (WHO) seemed to have obvious flaws. The extremely high-risk estimates seemed very misleading.
Even worse — the reported fatality rates were based only on patients who were sick enough to seek medical care rather than on the undoubtedly much larger population of infected individuals.
I was stunned that this basic methodological flaw was being overlooked by almost everyone, while the resulting fatality rate of 3.45% was highlighted throughout the media. Every legitimate medical scientist should have called that out. Their silence was puzzling.
U.S. to Buy 10 Million Courses of Pfizer’s COVID Pill for $5.3 Billion
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Thursday it had signed a $5.29 billion deal with the U.S. government to deliver 10 million courses of its experimental COVID-19 antiviral drug, as the country rushes to secure promising oral treatments for the disease.
The deal is roughly twice the size of the contract the U.S. government has with Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N), although the price for the Pfizer pill is lower at roughly $530 per course compared with about $700 for Merck’s.
Prophet in Purgatory
Peter Daszak’s life took a turn for the worse on the evening of 17 April 2020. It has yet to recover. Daszak, a conservation biologist, heads the EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research group based in New York City that aims to prevent new infectious diseases from emerging.
That Friday evening, he was in the kitchen watching a White House Coronavirus Task Force press conference. A reporter asked then-President Donald Trump about supposed U.S. intelligence reports that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab in Wuhan, China, which she claimed received $3.7 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) had just renewed the award, which provided $3.7 million over 5 years to find and study bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the disease that nearly triggered a pandemic in 2003.
Bill Gates Says COVID Deaths Could Fall to Seasonal Flu Levels by Next Year
There finally seems to be a light at the end of the pandemic’s tunnel, at least according to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The billionaire spoke at a conference in Singapore on Thursday, saying the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 will be dropping “pretty dramatically.” He estimates that both rates could reach seasonal flu levels by the middle of 2022 — pending no new dangerous variants.
There were several reasons why Gates said COVID-19 cases and deaths would drop, including natural immunity and more widespread vaccine distribution. Another reason was the availability of new oral pills hitting the market.
AstraZeneca Scientist Defends Plan to Start Selling COVID Vaccine for Profit
A scientist who works on the AstraZeneca vaccine with Oxford University in the UK has come out to defend the decision to sell its COVID-19 vaccine at a profit, according to a new report from the Financial Times. AstraZeneca was previously unique because it sold the COVID-19 vaccine at cost, unlike most other vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna, which have always taken a profit.
AstraZeneca is the second-largest COVID-19 vaccine supplier in the world by volume, supplying just over 2 billion doses to date, according to the latest figures from Airfinity. Only China’s Sinovac has delivered more coronavirus vaccines, supplying the world with 2.1 billion doses. Pfizer/BioNtech has delivered 1.96 billion doses, making it third in the world.
25 Children Receive Wrong COVID Vaccine Dosage at Virginia Pharmacy + More
25 Children Receive Wrong COVID Vaccine Dosage at Lorton Pharmacy
A pharmacy in Lorton gave 25 children the wrong dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Fairfax County Health Department.
KC Pharmacy, on Lorton Station Boulevard, incorrectly administered the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine formulated for people 12 years and older to children ages 5 to 11 between Nov. 2 and Nov. 10, the health department said Tuesday.
Families affected should monitor their child for side effects, which could happen between one to three days after the vaccination. Side effects may include fever, chills, fatigue, pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, and headache.
The F.D.A. Is Said to Be Planning to Authorize Booster Shots of the Pfizer COVID Vaccine for All Adults as Early as Thursday
The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults as early as Thursday, a move that would expand the number of Americans eligible for additional shots by tens of millions, according to people familiar with the agency’s plans.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent committee of vaccine experts has scheduled a meeting for Friday to discuss data on the booster dose’s efficacy and safety.
If both the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. sign off this week, they will have acted strikingly quickly — a little more than a week after Pfizer asked for authorization of boosters for everyone 18 and older.
U.S. Overdose Deaths Topped 100,000 in One Year, Officials Say
An estimated 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in one year, a never-before-seen milestone that health officials say is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and a more dangerous drug supply.
Experts believe the top drivers are the growing prevalence of deadly fentanyl in the illicit drug supply and the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many drug users socially isolated and unable to get treatment or other support.
The number is “devastating,” said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University expert on drug abuse issues. “It’s a magnitude of overdose death that we haven’t seen in this country.”
U.S. Plans to Invest Billions in Manufacturing COVID Vaccine
The United States plans to invest billions of dollars in expanding COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity and make available an additional one billion doses per year, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said on Wednesday.
Zients said the government was preparing to offer makers of the mRNA vaccines substantial help to expand infrastructure and capacity, including facilities, equipment, staff or training.
Maryland Republican Says Complaint Filed Against Him for Prescribing Ivermectin to COVID Patient
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said a complaint was filed against him with a medical board for prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients.
Harris alluded to the complaint during the House Freedom Caucus meeting about vaccine mandates on Monday, The Baltimore Sun reported.
“An action is currently being attempted against my medical license for prescribing ivermectin, which I find fascinating, because as an anesthesiologist, I know I use a lot of drugs off-label that are much more dangerous,” Harris said at the meeting.
Stimulating Innate Immunity Stops SARS-CoV-2 Infection
A new study, available now to read online and due to publish in the Journal of Experimental Medicine next year, offers an approach that could make a vital addition to our current arsenal of anti-SARS-CoV-2 countermeasures.
According to the study, researchers Mao et. al have identified an antiviral drug that activates the innate immune system and appears to have strong prophylactic and therapeutic potential in mice, meaning it could both prevent and treat COVID-19 in humans.
Their findings form the latest contribution to a growing body of work on SARS-CoV-2 and innate immunity, the body’s first line of defense against pathogens.
Novavax Asks EU Drug Regulator to OK Its COVID Vaccine
The European Union’s drug regulator said it received an application from Novavax to authorize the American biotechnology company’s coronavirus vaccine, a request that could significantly boost the continent’s vaccine supplies if it’s granted.
In a statement on Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency said it had begun evaluating data submitted by Novavax for its two-dose vaccine. An expedited review process could produce a decision within weeks “if the data submitted are sufficiently robust and complete to show the efficacy, safety and quality of the vaccine,” the agency said.
Novavax’s shot is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus, which then trigger an immune response.
Johnson and Johnson’s New Vaccines Leader Talks COVID, Pipeline Plans, and ‘a Golden Opportunity’ for Clinical Trials
There’s a changing of the guard at Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines division. In June, the company announced that Penny Heaton, formerly the founding CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, was joining Janssen as the global therapeutic area head for vaccines, taking over from Johan Van Hoof, who retires at the end of 2021.
She also previously worked for Merck, Novartis, and Novavax, and earlier in her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As she faces her first J&J Pharma Day on Wednesday — actually a two-day event for analysts — STAT caught up to Heaton to ask her about her plans for Janssen’s vaccines division.
Pollutant Emissions in Major Seaports Likely to Have Spiked During the COVID Pandemic, Study Finds
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have modeled that pollutant emissions from the shipping sector increased significantly in major international seaports during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Singapore, the NTU research team found that emissions were modeled to have more than doubled (123%), during the pandemic period, while they increased two-fold in Los Angeles (100%), almost two-thirds (65%) in Long Beach, California, and over a quarter (27%) in Hamburg, Germany.
Container ships and dry bulk carriers marked the sharpest increase of all total emissions, seeing an average increment of 94% and 142% respectively, compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.