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Biden Set to Push More Americans to Get COVID-19 Vaccine in North Carolina Speech
President Joe Biden is set to highlight the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and kick off a community canvassing event during a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon, as his administration continues its push to get American vaccinated against the virus.
While in Raleigh, the President will tour a mobile vaccination unit and meet with frontline workers and grassroots volunteers who are getting community members vaccinated, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.
First lady Jill Biden is also visiting COVID-19 vaccine sites in Florida on Thursday to encourage everyone in those communities to get vaccinated, according to the White House.
Chinese COVID Gene Data That Could Have Aided Pandemic Research Removed From NIH Database
Chinese researchers directed the U.S. National Institutes of Health to delete gene sequences of early COVID-19 cases from a key scientific database, raising concerns that scientists studying the origin of the pandemic may lack access to key pieces of information.
The NIH confirmed that it deleted the sequences after receiving a request from a Chinese researcher who had submitted them three months earlier.
13-Year-Old Michigan Boy Dies 3 Days After Second Dose of Pfizer Vaccine, Aunt Says ‘Moral, Ethical, Health’ Questions Need Answers
A 13-year-old Michigan boy died June 16, three days after he received his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine.
Preliminary autopsy results indicated that following his vaccination, Jacob Clynick’s heart became enlarged and was surrounded by fluid — symptoms similar to those documented in other teen boys who experienced myocarditis following COVID vaccination.
‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: Autopsy Reveals ‘Bombshell Evidence’ COVID Vaccine Does More Harm Than Good
This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president, and Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed,” cover the latest COVID headlines, including news that Pennsylvania State University is encouraging students and employees to share their COVID vaccine status, a critical study that asks if vaccinated children are healthier overall than unvaccinated children, and how 899 New Yorkers were given expired COVID vaccines.
Mary and Polly also discuss how some New Yorkers are being given a third COVID shot after receiving an expired vaccine, news that hundreds of healthcare workers in Indonesia got COVID despite being fully vaccinated and updated guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) stating children should not be given COVID vaccines. (One day after The Defender reported on the updated guidance, the WHO removed the statement about not vaccinating children under 18. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the WHO website page as it was before it was updated and how it looks now. The red hairline box was added to highlight the sentence that was removed.)
U.S. Had Nearly 17 Million Undiagnosed COVID Cases in Early Months of Pandemic: Study
There may have been nearly 17 million undiagnosed COVID-19 cases in the United States in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new National Institutes of Health study.
The study suggests that the prevalence of COVID-19 in the spring and summer of 2020 “far exceeded” the number of confirmed cases — especially in people who were asymptomatic.
Fauci Resisted Trump Directive to Cancel Virus Research Grant Linked to Wuhan Lab: Book
Exclusive: Anthony Fauci resisted a White House directive in April of last year to cancel a research grant for a nonprofit linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology but “reluctantly agreed” after he learned that then-President Donald Trump had explicitly ordered its cancellation, according to an exclusive excerpt from a book detailing the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci’s debate with other top officials on how to handle the request was detailed in “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” an upcoming book from Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
Claim That Chinese Team Hid Early Sars-CoV Sequences to Stymie Origin Hunt Sparks Furor
In a world starved for any fresh data to help clarify the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study claiming to have unearthed early sequences of SARS-CoV-2 that were deliberately hidden was bound to ignite a sizzling debate. The unreviewed paper, by evolutionary biologist Jesse Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, asserts that a team of Chinese researchers sampled viruses from some of the earliest COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, posted the viral sequences to a widely used U.S. database, and then a few months later had the genetic information removed to “obscure their existence.”
To some scientists, the claims reinforce suspicions that China has something to hide about the origins of the pandemic. But critics of the preprint, posted yesterday on bioRxiv, say Bloom’s detective work is much ado about nothing, because the Chinese scientists later published the viral information in a different form, and the recovered sequences add little to what’s known about SARS-CoV-2’s origins.
CDC Group Says There Isn’t Enough Data Yet to Recommend COVID Booster Shots
A group of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists said Wednesday that currently there isn’t enough data to support recommending COVID-19 booster shots to the general population but that more-vulnerable groups, such as elderly people or transplant recipients, may need an extra dose.
The COVID-19 working group of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices didn’t rule out the possibility that the general population eventually may need booster shots if immunity from the vaccines wanes or a variant reduces the effectiveness of current shots.
Moderna, Pfizer Stocks Fall After CDC Panel Flags Heart Inflammation Risk in Young Adults Receiving COVID Vaccine
Shares of COVID-19 vaccine companies Moderna Inc MRNA 3.31%, Pfizer Inc. PFE 0.22% and BioNTech SE – ADR BNTX 0.08% are moving sharply lower Wednesday.
What Happened: Administering of mRNA vaccines, the class of vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, resulted in higher observed vs. expected myocarditis/pericarditis cases in 16 to 24 years olds following dose two of mRNA vaccines, CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group said in a report.
The report was prepared for discussion by CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is being held Wednesday to look into a possible link between mRNA vaccines and a heart condition.
Explained: Here Are the Vaccines China Is Using, and Why They’ve Been Linked to New Outbreaks in Countries That Used Them
More than 80 countries around the world have received COVID-19 vaccines from China as Beijing stole a march on other major powers in collecting diplomatic brownie points by offering a helping hand in the pandemic fight. However, reports now suggest that these countries are facing a surge in cases as the Chinese vaccines may not be that effective in warding off reinfection. So, what are the vaccines that China is using and which countries have been the recipients of Chinese largesse? A look.
The entire process for the hunt of vaccines against the novel coronavirus was kickstarted by Chinese scientists who shared the genetic sequence of the virus back in January 2020, days after the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in the country and weeks before the disease was designated as a pandemic by WHO.
COVID Vaccine Boosters May Be Necessary. Here’s What You Need to Know
Vaccine makers are preparing for a next possible phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout: booster doses.
While boosters are not necessary now, more information is needed to decide on whether people might eventually need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but a rise in so-called breakthrough cases might offer a clue in the future, federal vaccine advisers said Wednesday.
Members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices discussed when it might be time for the agency to make recommendations for booster doses and committee members mostly agreed that more data around the benefits of boosters is needed.
Why More People Are Getting Two Different Coronavirus Vaccines
The most widely used coronavirus vaccines are designed as two-shot inoculations, and nearly everyone worldwide who has had both doses has received the same vaccine both times.
But that is changing, as more countries are allowing — and even, in some cases, encouraging — mix-and-match inoculation, with people receiving a first shot of one vaccine, and then a second shot of a different one. On Tuesday, Germany’s government revealed that Chancellor Angela Merkel had received two different shots, adding to the growing interest in the practice.
Despite Decreasing COVID Anxiety, 4 in 10 Americans Are Still Wearing Masks, Poll Shows
As cases continue to drop in the United States, Americans are less anxious about COVID-19 affecting their family members, according to a new Monmouth University poll.
Only 23% of Americans said they were “very concerned” about a family member experiencing severe illness due to COVID-19, compared with 60% in January, according to the poll published Monday.
COVID Coronavirus: New Zealanders First to Trial Chinese-Developed Vaccine
A group of New Zealanders will be the first humans to trial a new second generation COVID vaccine out of China.
About 25 young people have this week started being jabbed with the ReCov vaccine as a part of a clinical study.
The trial is being run in partnership with vaccine developer Jiangsu Rec-Biotechnology in China and New Zealand Clinical Research, which has centres in Auckland and Christchurch.
