Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.
14-Year-Old Kentucky Girl Receives COVID Jab Not Approved for Under 18
International Business Times reported:
A 14-year-old Kentucky girl has been administered a COVID vaccine that has not been approved for anyone under the age of 18, authorities said.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department confirmed Thursday, that the teen girl was mistakenly given a Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine that has been not authorized for usage on those aged below 18.
The girl’s mother, Rolina Mason, said her daughter got vaccinated at a free clinic event. Mason’s daughter was reluctant to get a COVID jab and wanted the J&J vaccine as it has only a single dose. Mason said she trusted the nurse when she told them that it was okay for her to get it.
Texas Court Says Hospital Can’t Be Forced to Offer Ivermectin to COVID Patient on Ventilator
A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that a hospital can’t be forced to treat a COVID-19 patient in its care with ivermectin, a drug normally used to eliminate parasitic worms, after the patient’s wife sued the hospital to demand the treatment.
Jason Jones, a 48-year-old law enforcement official, was hospitalized at the Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth in late September after testing positive for the coronavirus.
He was put in a medically induced coma and a ventilator on Oct. 7, according to court documents. Erin Jones, his wife, asked Huguley to give her husband ivermectin, after consulting with Mary Talley Bowden, a physician not affiliated with the hospital.
CDC Panel Backs Expanding COVID Booster Eligibility to All U.S. Adults
Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended expanding eligibility of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults in the United States, which would pave the way for millions more Americans to get additional protection against the virus.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized broader use of booster doses for adults who had received their second shot of either the Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) vaccines at least six months prior.
FDA Panel Member Opposed to COVID Booster for All Explains Why
The Food and Drug Administration, which approved the use of boosters for COVID-19 by two drug manufacturers Friday, bypassed the recommendation of an advisory committee. The group was opposed to the booster for all adults in the United States.
A member of that committee, Dr. Paul Offit, explained to FOX 5 NY morning program, Good Day New York, why a third dose was not necessary.
Dr. Offit went on to say that people aren’t clear on what the third dose provides.
Scientists Mystified, Wary, as Africa Avoids COVID Disaster
As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned.
Earlier this week, Zimbabwe recorded just 33 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths, in line with a recent fall in the disease across the continent, where World Health Organization data show that infections have been dropping since July.
But there is something “mysterious” going on in Africa that is puzzling scientists, said Wafaa El-Sadr, chair of global health at Columbia University. Fewer than 6% of people in Africa are vaccinated.
CA Governor Newsom Challenged With $5 Million Bet to Prove He Didn’t Lie About VAX Injury
Steve Kirsch, a philanthropist who started the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation and the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, whose work was profiled on 60 Minutes, seems to have found a new pet cause; demanding the truth from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
After the bizarre disappearance of the Governor from public life immediately following the Governor’s vaccine booster shot, many suspected the disappearance might have something to do with his jab.
Kirsch is so confident that Newsom had sustained a vaccine injury, he has officially offered Newsom $5M if Newsom will give him a blank piece of paper.
Scientists React to COVID Origin Study Suggesting New Date for First-Known Case
A new perspective on the origins of COVID has been released in a report that suggests the earliest known case of the disease occurred at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
The study was written by Michael Worobey, head of the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of Arizona, and published in the journal Science on Thursday, providing “strong evidence” that the pandemic has a live-animal market origin as opposed to a laboratory leak or otherwise.
But Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and a vocal critic of the natural origins narrative, cast doubt on the report.
The COVID Lab Leak Theory Just Got Even Stronger
Two years in, there is no doubt the COVID pandemic began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. But there is also little doubt that the bat carrying the progenitor of the virus lived somewhere else.
Central to the mystery of COVID’s origin is how a virus normally found in horseshoe bats in caves in the far south of China or south-east Asia turned up in a city a thousand miles north. New evidence suggests that part of the answer might lie in Laos.
Gilles Demaneuf, a New Zealand-based data scientist who’s been analyzing this issue, says the natural spillover theory has ‘no explanation for why this would result in an outbreak in Wuhan of all places, and nowhere else.’
Chip Roy to Introduce Bill Requiring Department of Health and Human Services to Provide Information on Natural Immunity as It Relates to COVID
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is introducing legislation that would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide Congress with data relating to the effectiveness of natural immunity in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Dubbed the Natural Immunity Transparency Act, Roy’s bill would require HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to report to Congress the number of unvaccinated individuals who recovered from a COVID infection and how many of those people died, were hospitalized, tested positive again and/or spread the virus to another person.
Mexico Sends Some Minors to U.S. to Get Coronavirus Vaccine
Scores of Mexican adolescents were bused to California on Thursday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as efforts get underway across Mexico to get shots in the arms of teens.
Mexico has resisted vaccinating minors ages 12 to 17, in part because the government focused on older adults believed to be more vulnerable. Mexico also has not had enough vaccine supply for most of its minors, who account for one-third of its population.
So a group in San Diego along with San Diego County stepped in to help their neighbor.
Canada Authorizes Pfizer/BioNTech COVID Vaccine for Children
Canada on Friday said Pfizer (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for use in children aged 5 to 11, making it the first shot for young children in the country.
