Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.
Devastated Australian Daughter Forced to Say Goodbye to Her Beloved Dad on FaceTime — Despite Being Fully Vaccinated and Testing Negative to COVID Twice
A devastated daughter has been forced to farewell her beloved dad over FaceTime after she got stuck in hotel quarantine in Sydney.
Gillan Hannah, who lived in Madison, Wisconsin, immediately returned to Australia after hearing news,her father’s lungs were shutting down.
She is fully vaccinated and has tested negative to COVID-19 twice since arriving in Australia, however her application for a compassionate exemption to travel from Sydney to Melbourne to see her dad in hospital was denied.
EU Officially Launches Digital Vaccine Passport
The European Union’s digital COVID-19 certificate officially launched today. The certificate allows people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, a recent negative test result, or a past COVID-19 infection.
The certificate, which includes a QR code and digital signature, can either be displayed on a digital device or printed out. People who have the certificate should not have to get an additional COVID-19 test or quarantine when traveling in the EU. The certificate only recognizes COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the EU — that includes the AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson shots.
Heavy-Handed Marketing of COVID Vaccines, Passports Brings George Orwell’s ‘Freedom Is Slavery’ to the Fore
As must be increasingly apparent to anyone capable of digging beneath the media’s daily outpouring of Orwellian propaganda, the planet-wide changes ushered in by the conveniently timed COVID crisis have surprisingly little to do with health.
Vaccine “passports” or “certificates,” being put in place by the European Union and Australia as well as some U.S. states and businesses, are one of the more alarming instruments advancing this tyrannical centralization and control agenda. Not one to mince words, author Naomi Wolf makes the case that the “passports,” if allowed to become the norm, could trigger “the end of civil society” and “literally the end of human liberty in the West.”
CDC Mask Recommendations for Vaccinated Individuals ‘Remains Unchanged,’ Fauci Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that states fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in indoor or outdoor settings “remains unchanged,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday. Fauci, who was asked about changing guidance issued by the WHO and even Los Angeles officials, said the agency made its “broad recommendation” based on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
VA May Force Employees to Get COVID Vaccines
Veterans Affairs employees could be required to get the coronavirus vaccine to keep their jobs, under a plan being considered by department leadership.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Wednesday that no decision on such a move has been made yet, and he is hopeful that new initiatives granting more leave for staffers to receive and recover from the vaccine will help boost the department’s totals.
Google Brings ‘COVID Cards’ to Android Phones That Show Whether You Have Had a Vaccine or Been Tested
Google is bringing digital COVID documents, which it calls a “COVID card” to Android phones and tablets.
The feature is part of its Passes API, which is used for loyalty cards and airport boarding passes, and would be used to show vaccination and test statuses.
“Starting today, developers from healthcare organizations, government agencies and organizations authorized by public health authorities to distribute COVID vaccines and/or tests will have access to these APIs to create a digital version of COVID vaccination or test information”, Google said in its blog post announcing the update.
Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf Vetoes Ban on Governmental, College ‘Vaccine Passports’
A Republican-crafted bill to ban so-called COVID-19 “vaccine passports” in some cases and to restrict the health secretary’s actions during health emergencies was vetoed Thursday by Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor.
The measure split both legislative chambers along party lines last month, and Gov. Tom Wolf had previously said he would veto the proposal.
With millions of Pennsylvanians still unvaccinated, many seemingly intent on remaining so, legislative Republicans wanted to prevent what they view as stigmatizing policies that require proof of vaccination in violation of health privacy.
Massachusetts Senior Care Company Mandates COVID Shots for Workers — A First for State’s Nursing Homes
Citing rising concern about a rapidly spreading and more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus, a Massachusetts senior care company Wednesday announced it will mandate COVID-19 shots for all of its workers, becoming one of the first in the state to take such action.
The decision by Legacy Lifecare comes as vaccination rates remain stubbornly low at many Massachusetts nursing homes and some other senior care facilities, placing thousands of frail residents at risk. Roughly 30 percent of Massachusetts nursing home staff are not vaccinated, according to the most recent state data.
Michigan Launching $5m Sweepstakes to Boost Vaccinations
Michigan will incentivize people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by awarding more than $5 million in cash and nearly $500,000 in college scholarships in lottery-style drawings.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will announce the program with business, health and nonprofit leaders on Thursday.
The “MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes” comes after other states have offered millions of dollars in incentives to boost vaccination rates.
On One Native American Reservation, Vaccine Hesitancy Has Long Historical Roots
Mass sterilization to most people is just an event,” Remi Bald Eagle told me recently, holding back tears. “But to us, that’s family that never made it here.” The sterilization campaign that the Indian Health Service carried out in the 1960s and ’70s afflicted somewhere between 25 and 40 percent of Native American women of childbearing age nationwide.
Sterilizations were performed through coercion and without informed consent, a grievous violation of the physical integrity and personal agency of the women affected. On the Cheyenne River Reservation, the sovereign Lakota nation in South Dakota where Bald Eagle lives, the campaign left deep scars in the community. “There’s always that loss,” said Bald Eagle.
