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White House Admits It Lied About Vaccines
As rampant inflation continues to kick Americans in the teeth, the Biden administration can’t stop doing victory laps over how much they’ve “accomplished” — by taking credit for things that were already in motion.
On Thursday, the White House patted itself on the back once again — bragging about “8.3 million jobs” and “the fastest decline in unemployment to start a President’s term” in history — the natural reaction to the government’s job-killing pandemic restrictions being lifted.
But wait, they also lied — claiming that when Biden took office, “millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available,” which is categorically false. For starters, Biden himself was vaccinated before taking office. In fact, more than one million doses per day were being administered when Biden took office under the Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed.”
And while the admin can count on Twitter not to label their tweet “false or misleading” — as they so frequently did during the last administration, the lie was so blatant that CNN even called them out on it — and they issued a correction the next day (it wasn’t a lie, they simply “misstated” a fact).
CDC: No Documents Supporting Claim Vaccines Don’t Cause Variants
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it does not have documents backing its claim that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.
The CDC’s website calls it a myth that the vaccines cause variants. “FACT: COVID-19 vaccines do not create or cause variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. Instead, COVID-19 vaccines can help prevent new variants from emerging,” the website states.
The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a nonprofit, asked the CDC in Freedom of Information Act requests for documentation supporting the claim.
The CDC has now responded to both requests, saying a search “found no records responsive” to them.
COVID Concerns Fade as 57% Say They Don’t Fear Getting the Virus: Poll
America is so over it. A majority of Americans say they are not worried about “experiencing” the symptoms of COVID-19, according to a new poll.
“Taking into consideration both your risk of contracting it and the seriousness of the illness, how worried are you personally about experiencing COVID-19?” the survey by YouGov and The Economist asked.
Some 57% said they are not worried, with 30% saying they are “not too worried” and 27% saying they are “not worried at all.” On the other side, 43% said they are worried, with 23% “somewhat worried” but just 15% “very worried.”
Only 7% of 5- to 11-Year-Olds in England Have Had COVID Jab as Parents Hesitate
Only 7% of primary school children in England have received a first dose of the COVID vaccine six weeks after it was rolled out to all 5- to 11-year-olds, as parents grapple with the decision about whether to take up the offer.
That rate compares with 24% of 12- to 15-year-olds who had received the first dose in the first six weeks after they became eligible in September 2021.
Scientists say the lower take-up among primary school children is due to a perception that COVID poses little risk to younger children.
“It’s a vaccination that probably isn’t particularly beneficial for this age group,” said Professor Russell Viner of University College London, who was part of the now-disbanded Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
A New COVID Wave? Be Less Alarmed, More Prepared.
Here we go again. The United States and many other nations appear to be starting another COVID wave due to an Omicron subvariant that is more transmissible than the last. But this time looks different. Cases are going up, but so far without the accompanying serious disease and death that characterized earlier waves. That should not lead to complacency.
The spread is being propelled by subvariant BA.2.12.1, which is 25% more transmissible than was the previous BA.2, which was 30% more transmissible than the original Omicron.
Omicron had a quick spike and decline in South Africa, and again in the United States. But there’s no clarity on the shape or duration of a coming wave, except that cases are rising, centered now on the Northeast.
What the End of America’s Public Health Emergency Could Mean
The Biden administration is expected to signal this week whether it’s ready to end the COVID-19 public health emergency — which would affect a host of healthcare policies, including vaccines for kids.
Ending the emergency would allow a president who campaigned on ending the pandemic to declare victory over the virus. But the complex series of policy changes — and the continued threat of more COVID waves — could leave the government ill-prepared for whatever comes next.
The Department of Health and Human Services in April extended the emergency declaration through July 15, and has said it would give states and health providers 60 days’ notice before it ends.
That makes Tuesday the decision deadline.
Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and CKD Face Poor COVID Outcomes — Severity of Kidney Disease Ups Risk of ICU Time, in-Hospital Mortality and More
Certain factors were highly predictive of severe COVID illness in hospitalized patients who had type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), a researcher reported.
In a single-center study of patients with T2D and CKD hospitalized with COVID-19 infection, having hyperglycemia upon admission was tied with more than a 10 times higher risk of severe COVID illness (OR 10.49, 95% CI 3.09-35.60), according to Ella Burguera-Couce, an MD candidate at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Also, patients with stage 5 CKD, or who were on dialysis at the time of hospitalization, had over four times higher risk for a severe course of COVID illness (OR 4.67, 95% CI 2.25-9.71), she reported in a presentation at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE) annual meeting.
Valneva Shares Slump After COVID Vaccine Deal With EU Falls Apart
Valneva (VLS.PA) lost nearly a fifth of its value on Monday after the French drugmaker said its COVID-19 vaccine agreement with the European Commission was likely to be scrapped and it might have to rethink its financial guidance.
Valneva said the European Commission had informed the company of its intent to terminate an advance purchase agreement (APA) for its COVID vaccine, which is currently under regulatory review by the European health regulator.
Valneva signed a deal with the EC last November to supply up to 60 million doses of vaccine over two years, including 24.3 million doses in 2022. The APA gave the European Commission the right to cancel the deal if the vaccine was not cleared for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) by the end of April.
South Africa in New Surge of COVID From Versions of Omicron
South Africa is experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases driven by two Omicron sub-variants, according to health experts.
For about three weeks the country has seen increasing numbers of new cases and somewhat higher hospitalizations, but no increases in severe cases and deaths, said Professor Marta Nunes, a researcher at Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Analytics at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.
“We’re still very early in this increase period, so I don’t want to really call it a wave,” Nunes said. “We are seeing a slight, a small increase in hospitalizations and really very few deaths.”
South Africa’s new surge is from two variations of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5, which appear to be very much like the original strain of Omicron that was first identified in South Africa and Botswana late last year and swept around the globe.
