Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.
Fauci Flashback: ‘The Most Potent Vaccination Is Getting Infected Yourself’
Throughout the pandemic, a large contingency of doctors, researchers and non-mainstream media outlets have been pounding the table over natural immunity as an alternative to vaccination to protect against COVID-19, with the obvious conclusion that vaccine passports are moot if a large percentage of the population has a higher degree of protection than even the vaccinated because they’ve already had the disease.
And as time has gone on, ‘the science’ has validated this theory — with even Bill Gates admitting recently that “the virus itself, particularly the variant called Omicron, is a type of vaccine.”
Yet, the official U.S. government response — led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and echoed worldwide — has excluded virtually all mention of natural immunity as a relevant mitigation against COVID-19, which would of course render vaccination, booster shots and vaccine passports moot for tens of millions of Americans.
And so, with Fauci pretending like he’s never heard of natural immunity for the past two years, here’s a flashback to the ‘good doctor’ explaining that “The most potent vaccination is getting infected yourself.”
American Kids Are Struggling — and They’re Asking Adults for Help
The kids have been saying it throughout the pandemic: They’re not okay.
“Students are taking the lead on addressing mental health,” Alynah King, a student at Wilson High School, said at a virtual D.C. Council budget hearing. “Not the adults.”
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that nearly all the students who spoke or submitted testimony want to do the work — taking care of others — that the adults aren’t doing well today.
The students proposed a $5 million initiative to create after-school mental health programs in 125 schools. And they explained that while many schools do have resources, kids don’t know about them, are disconnected from them or are embarrassed to use them.
Tragedy as Girl, 18, Dies of Blood Clot Two Weeks After COVID Vaccine
Manchester Evening News reported:
An 18-year-old student died from a blood clot only two weeks after having her COVID vaccination. Kasey Turner was admitted to the hospital after she was experiencing ‘thunder clap’ headaches. An inquest heard the headaches were the result of thrombosis in her sinus cavity.
It was later discovered that the paramedic student was actually suffering from a cerebral venous thrombosis — a blood clot in the sinus cavity. It is believed the blood clot was brought on by the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, and her inquest found doctors at Barnsley Hospital had “missed opportunities” to diagnose the fatal clot, reports Yorkshire Live.
She suffered all of the “common” side effects of the vaccine but hoped these would last approximately 12 to 18 hours, the inquest heard. But two weeks later she was “screaming in pain” with the “worst headache” she had ever experienced.
U.S. COVID Hospitalizations Hit New Low, Falling 32 Percent in the Last Two Weeks
COVID hospitalizations are at their lowest levels since the U.S. began keeping records at the start of the pandemic, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
COVID cases are declining, as well, to an average of 32,000 new cases a day, a 7 percent fall in the last two weeks. At the same time, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron became the dominant variant in the U.S. this week, and cases have started to rise slowly in the Northeast.
It’s unclear whether BA.2 will cause a wave; some experts remain optimistic that it won’t.
Five states set records Thursday for the fewest average COVID hospitalizations: Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Wyoming. Wyoming reported nine people hospitalized, a rate of close to 1 hospitalization per 100,000 residents, the lowest among states.
BA.2 Stealth Omicron Spread Shows COVID Not Over, Says Science Chief
It is “clear” that the COVID pandemic is not yet over, a top U.K. scientist has said, due to ongoing infections driven by the Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
The expert also said the world is going to experience another pandemic in the future and governments need to prepare for it ahead of time.
Speaking at a meeting titled The Science of COVID, hosted by the Royal Society on March 30 and March 31, the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, warned that the world needed to get into a position where it can produce a brand new vaccine within 100 days of identifying a new dangerous virus or other type of pathogen, and stressed the importance of proper scientific funding.
Senate Finalizing $10 Billion Deal on Coronavirus Aid
Senators are finalizing an agreement to provide $10 billion in new coronavirus aid as they race to try to pass a bill before a two-week break set to start in days.
Senators negotiating the deal signaled that they were close to a finalized agreement, but said they were still ironing out legislative text, waiting for an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and haggling over final details.
That $10 billion is expected to be split to include $5 billion for therapeutics including vaccinations. The deal would be funded by reprogramming money passed in previous coronavirus bills.
How the Next Coronavirus Variant Could Emerge
Stopping the next major coronavirus variant involves knowing where it might come from. With Omicron, those answers are still a mystery: How did a variant that looked so different from all its older cousins appear so suddenly? How to explain its jumble of mutations, many of which had rarely been seen in variants of interest?
Viruses change all the time, often in ways that actually hurt their chances at survival. But once in a while, those mutations can work out in the virus’ favor.
Sarah Cobey, associate professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, explained in an op-ed in the New York Times this week that the coronavirus’ transmissibility will hit a ceiling — eventually. However, it probably won’t stop evolving in ways that skirt our immune response.
‘Recognition of Failure’: A Shift Urged in Global Vaccination Strategy
Global health organizations are considering changing their COVID-19 vaccination pledges — a move that could leave millions of people without first shots as countries reprioritize at-risk groups in the coming months, according to four people familiar with the matter.
In June 2021, the World Health Organization initially proposed that 70 percent of the world population be vaccinated by mid-2022 to protect against new variants and help ensure people in poorer countries had equal access to the shot. But 47 countries still have inoculation rates below 20 percent.
Now, many health organizations involved in the global vaccination effort aim to immunize 90 percent of vulnerable populations in every country — a move that seems to undercut the WHO’s 70 percent target.
Children Aged ‘Zero to Four’ Added to Vaccine Injury Claims Scheme
Children aged under four years old will be added to Australia’s vaccine injury compensation claims scheme, as health authorities lay the groundwork for administering COVID-19 jabs to babies and toddlers.
While no coronavirus vaccines have yet been approved for children under five in Australia, Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed as part of Tuesday night’s federal budget that planning was underway for “children aged zero to four”.
Not mentioned in the wide-ranging Health Ministry press release, but quietly noted in budget papers, was the announcement that the government had extended the COVID-19 vaccine claims scheme “to include children aged zero to four years and fourth doses for priority cohorts to access compensation for claims related to the administration of Therapeutic Goods Administration approved Covid-19 vaccines”.
The scheme — which allows people who suffer serious adverse reactions to coronavirus vaccines to claim up to $20,000 for lost income, medical bills and other expenses — began paying out the first claims earlier this year after more than 10,000 people registered interest.
Did the COVID Pandemic Make People More Generous?
According to psychologists, overwhelming crises such as wars, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic could either make people behave more selfishly than usual or display increased generosity towards their community members.
In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers found that U.S.-based individuals displayed “catastrophe compassion” with greater financial generosity during the ongoing pandemic.
On the positive side, the perceived threat of a major crisis could potentially promote the expansion of social connections. For instance, a survey conducted by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy during the COVID-19 pandemic found that nearly half of respondents supported their communities by continuing to pay individuals and businesses for services that could not be rendered.
