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I Rushed to Get a COVID-19 Vaccination During the Pandemic, But I’d Never Get Another One
I was vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up with a life-threatening condition. I’ve been alarmed by what can happen when things go wrong. I don’t see vaccination as a ‘for or against’ debate. I’m not anti-vax — and I don’t want to stop anyone from getting vaccinated. I just want to advocate on behalf of people who tried to do the right thing but now feel like they’ve been left behind.
The pandemic hit me hard, so I didn’t hesitate to get my COVID-19 jab.
In 2019, my career was at its peak. I’m a professional music photographer, and I had just finished a six-month world tour with Australian singer-songwriter Ruel, travelling the world and documenting his rise to fame.
I was also incredibly fit and healthy; basketball, gym workouts and a health-conscious lifestyle were part of my identity. We returned home for Christmas and were planning the Asia leg of the tour when COVID-19 emerged. Within weeks, my work — and life as I knew it — was gone.
Gene-Based Vaccines Could Be Banned in Iowa Under New Bill
An Iowa bill seeking to ban gene-based vaccines in the state was shared with a Senate subcommittee on Monday. Newsweek reached out to Iowa state Senator Doug Campbell, who is managing the bill, via email for comment.
The new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is known for his anti-vaccine views, has recently been hit with criticism over his comments on vaccines and was accused of “downplaying” the measles outbreak in Texas.
Following his appointment as HHS secretary, there has also been speculation over whether vaccines would be banned in the country, something Kennedy told NBC News in November would not happen.
However, after the Trump administration canceled a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration to decide what flu strains should be targeted with vaccines next winter, the future of vaccines seems uncertain.
Former Washington First Responders Appeal COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal Lawsuit Decision
Eighteen former city employees who sued Bellingham and former Mayor Seth Fleetwood over their dismissal for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate have appealed their case in federal court.
The plaintiffs, who include former police officers, firefighters, mechanics and Public Works Department employees, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Western District Court in Seattle on June 13, 2024. They claimed that the vaccine mandate issued by Fleetwood in September 2021 deprived them of equal protection rights, right to privacy and the option to refuse.
They wrote in the lawsuit that the defendants “engaged in a scorched-earth policy and inflicted, with malicious intent, emotional distress to the fullest extent that one in their positions of authority and power could inflict.” The plaintiffs requested a jury trial and sought an unspecified amount of punitive and compensatory damages to make up for alleged harms like loss of income, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.
U.S. FDA Places BioNTech’s Malaria Vaccine Study on Clinical Hold
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed a clinical hold on BioNTech’s early-to-mid stage trial of an experimental malaria vaccine, the drugmaker said in a filing, sending its U.S.-listed shares down 1.5% after the bell on Tuesday.
The trial was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the RNA-based vaccine called BNT165e for prevention of malaria caused by the P. falciparum parasite in healthy adults who have never had malaria before. The P. falciparum parasite is one of two malaria causing parasite species that pose the greatest threat to humans.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. BioNTech said it is taking actions to address the FDA’s requests and will work with the regulator to assess the next steps.
Pfizer and BioNTech COVID Vaccine Broke Patent: German Court
A German court found Wednesday that American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech violated a patent to make their COVID-19 vaccine. Siding with Moderna, an American pharmaceutical firm that brought the case, the court in Dusseldorf said BioNTech and Pfizer would have to provide estimates of how much they had profited from breaking the patent as well as provide “appropriate compensation.”
Pfizer and BioNTech did not deny using mRNA technology that had been patented by Moderna for the development of their Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine, but argued that a 2020 Moderna press release had allowed them to do so, with permission only being rescinded once the World Health Organization declared the pandemic over in 2023.
Moderna, however, persuaded the court that permission had been rescinded as of March 2022 in a separate press release. In 2020, Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine became the first ever mRNA vaccine approved for widespread use.
