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Professor: Historians Will Look Back on Lockdowns as ‘Most Catastrophic Health Policy Mistake of All Human History’

Lighthouse Economics reported:

Speaking on The London Telegraph podcast ‘Planet Normal’, Bhattacharya noted that government scientific advisors “remain attached” to the policy of lockdown in spite of the total “failure of this strategy”.

“I do think that future historians will look back on this and say this was the single biggest public health mistake, possibly of all history, in terms of the scope of the harm that it’s caused,” said Bhattacharya.

California Regulators Withdraw Controversial Work Mask Rules

AP News reported:

California’s workplace regulators reversed themselves for the second time in a week Wednesday, withdrawing a controversial pending mask regulation while they consider a rule that more closely aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s promise that the state will fully reopen from the pandemic on Tuesday.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s revised rule, adopted last week after it was initially rejected, would have allowed workers to forego masks only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. That contrasts with the state’s broader plan to do away with virtually all masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people in concert with the latest recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2 Baltimore Health Systems to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines for Workers

Beckers Hospital review reported:

The University of Maryland Medical System and Johns Hopkins Medicine, both based in Baltimore, will require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, making them the latest health systems to do so.

“We follow the science, and the scientific evidence tells us that from a safety and efficacy standpoint, COVID-19 vaccines represent a dramatic accomplishment and a clear pathway out of this pandemic,” Mohan Suntha, MD, president and CEO of the medical system, said in a June 9 news release. “As healthcare professionals, we accept that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we embrace our mission to devote ourselves to the welfare of those in our care. COVID-19 vaccines are by far the best way to stop the spread of the virus, and given our ethical obligation to our patients, we must take every appropriate measure to keep our hospitals and other locations as safe as possible.”

Top U.S. Antitrust Lawmaker Targets Big Tech With New Bills — Sources

Reuters reported:

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are working on drafts of five antitrust bills, four of them aimed directly at reigning in Big Tech, and may introduce them within days, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Reuters has read discussion drafts of five measures. Sources familiar with the process say they may be changed before they are introduced. They may be introduced this week but that may be delayed, two sources said.

Among the five bills being considered, two address the problems of platforms, like Amazon.com (AMZN.O), creating a space for businesses to sell products and then competing against those products.

How Full FDA Approval Could Pave the Way for COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

National Geographic reported:

The companies behind two of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States have applied to the Food and Drug Administration for full approval, which would allow them to market directly to consumers—and potentially boost confidence in the doses.

FDA approval could also lead more employers and schools to issue vaccine mandates.

Australia Antitrust Boss Rejects Claim Big Tech Law is a Favour for News Corp

Reuters reported:

The architect of Australia’s new law making Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) pay news outlets for content on Thursday rejected a suggestion the move was the result of lobbying by News Corp (NWSA.O), calling the claim “extremely strange.”

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims, who oversaw drafting of the law, acknowledged the negotiating system was proposed by the Rupert Murdoch-controlled publisher but said all major media operators in the country supported it.

Asked at an FT conference in Britain if Australia had acted at the behest of News Corp, Sims said Google had “sent emails to all parliamentarians saying ‘don’t let big business control the internet’, and they were of course referring to News Corp.”