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Judge Orders Bluecross Blueshield to Pay Tennessee Woman in COVID-19 Vaccine Lawsuit
A federal judge has decided on the amount insurer BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee must pay a worker it fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Tanja Benton’s lawsuit made headlines back in 2022. An employee of BCBST since 2005, she refused to comply with the company’s requirements that she get vaccinated against COVID-19, due to her sincerely held religious beliefs.
Benton’s lawsuit claimed that as a bio statistical research scientist, it was not a part of her job to regularly come into contact with people. She also said she never came into contact with any patients as part of her job.
But she said she could not get the vaccine because she “firmly believes, based upon personal research, that all COVID-19 vaccines are derived from aborted fetus cell lines,” a claim which has since been debunked. Last June, a jury sided with Benton, awarding her a total of $687,240 in damages.
Finance Committee to Vote on RFK Jr. Tuesday
The Senate Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on the recommendation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation to lead federal health agencies, the committee announced Sunday.
Kennedy’s approval by the committee is far from certain. Last week, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he was “struggling” with the nominee’s reticence to publicly support vaccines despite the overwhelming evidence that they’re safe and effective.
Republicans’ one-vote edge in the Finance Committee means Cassidy could ultimately keep Kennedy from getting a favorable recommendation from the panel, should all the Democrats vote against him.
Drugmakers Prep for Bird Flu Outbreak, Despite Continued Low Risk
An H5N1 outbreak is killing flocks of wild birds in Massachusetts and sickening dairy cows in 16 states while a new strain of H5N9 bird flu has emerged in California. As bird flu continues to spread among animals, experts are on high alert for the possibility of the virus acquiring the ability to trigger an outbreak in humans.
For now, the risk to people is still low, even with a new strain on the rise. “While the 67 human avian influenza cases can be tracked back to an animal source, there has been no reported human-to-human transmission — if that were to occur, then we might be facing another pandemic as almost no one would be immune,” said Jeffery A. Goad, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
“The avian influenza virus needs to make genetic changes to allow it to be transmitted from person to person, and so far, it has not been able to do that.”
How Many Members of Congress Receive Money From Pharmaceutical Company Pacs?
Robert F. Kennedy faced a number of important questions at the sub-committee hearings this week, including those focused on potential conflicts of interest that could result either now or following government service should he be confirmed as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
In the wake of some especially strident questioning and accusations from committee Democrats, in particular, a number of observers began asking on social media similar questions about members of Congress — are there any conflicts of interest our U.S. senators and representatives have when it comes to some of these same industries under question?
A 2020 STAT analysis found more than two-thirds of Congress receiving a check from pharmaceutical companies that year. More recent data from Open Secrets likewise confirms that a large majority of leaders serving in the U.S. Congress and Senate receive significant contributions from pharmaceutical or health products companies, averaging $45,000 and $47,000 for Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives, respectively — and $50,000 and $69,000 for Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.
Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne?
In early Feb. 2020, China locked down more than 50 million people, hoping to hinder the spread of a new coronavirus. No one knew at the time exactly how it was spreading, but Lidia Morawska, an expert on air quality at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, did not like the clues she managed to find.
It looked to her as if the coronavirus was spreading through the air, ferried by wafting droplets exhaled by the infected. If that were true, then standard measures such as disinfecting surfaces and staying a few feet away from people with symptoms would not be enough to avoid infection.
Dr. Morawska and her colleague, Junji Cao at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, drafted a dire warning. Ignoring the airborne spread of the virus, they wrote, would lead to many more infections. But when the scientists sent their commentary to medical journals, they were rejected over and over again.
