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This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president on leave, and Polly Tommey, CHD.TV programming manager, covered the latest headlines on COVID-19, Big Pharma and other issues, including the testimony of Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outgoing director, at a coronavirus pandemic hearing.
Walensky defended the CDC’s COVID-19 pandemic policies, including school closure guidance, transmission and vaccination status, masking protocols, the lab-leak theory and nursing home deaths.
Polly and Mary also discussed the mortality rate of patients on mechanical ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic: 97.2% for those over 65 and 76.4% for those ages 18-65. Those over 65 had a more than 26 times greater likelihood of survival if not placed on a ventilator.
Plus, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel recommended approval of AstraZeneca’s new monoclonal antibody shot to treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in healthy infants. The drug, nirsevimab, is intended to be administered at birth, prior to “a baby’s first RSV season” or in highly vulnerable babies, before their second RSV season. During the clinical trial, 12 infant deaths were recorded.
Also on tap this week: A Scientific Reports study found a link between pesticide exposure and recurrent pregnancy loss. Highlighted in the research were the endocrine-disrupting properties of these toxic chemicals and their adverse impacts on immunology, metabolism and reproduction.
More of this week’s highlights:
- In an effort to improve COVID-19 vaccine labeling, a team of nine experts from the Coalition Advocating for Adequately Labeled Medicines sent a citizen petition to the FDA. The FDA denied all but one of their requests.
- An unvaccinated Canadian woman who was denied an organ transplant had her legal battle declined by the Supreme Court of Canada. This is the third unsuccessful litigation effort for Sheila Annette Lewis, who refused the COVID-19 vaccine in defense of her conscience. “It’s tragic, and it’s disgusting,” declared Polly.
- New polio vaccines have been “super-engineered” to fight all three types of polio. These oral immunizations utilize genetically altered virus strains, with the goal of having them available in 50 years.
- The first vaccine for chikungunya, a mosquito-borne infection similar to dengue and Zika, may be coming to immunization clinics near you. Its global market, by 2032, is projected to be worth $500 million.
- Researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill are studying whether financial incentives for physicians have the potential to encourage human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake among adolescents. North Carolina is also the location of Merck’s Gardasil multidistrict litigation.
- For 40 years, Dupont and 3M hid studies on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals’ impact on human health, according to the authors of a study in the Annals of Global Health. Polly called this discovery “petrifying” and Mary stated, “This is what regulatory capture looks like.”
- In 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden warned of the U.S. government’s spying on its citizens’ communications. Ten years later, he continues to alert the public of surveillance technology, which includes Ring cameras, Pegasus spyware and facial recognition software.
- In order to meet climate targets in Ireland, the government proposed to cull up to 200,000 cows. A 2022 report claimed farmers could lose between $2,906 and $3,134 per cow removed. Irish farmers protested.
- Texas scrapped its plan for taxpayer-funded child identification kits that were being distributed to schoolchildren. Lawmakers removed the funding request for the upcoming two-year budget season. “Less surveillance — it’s good news,” Mary remarked.
- The Center for Autism and Related Disorders filed for bankruptcy after facing wage and labor issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- What is the relationship between antibiotic resistance and chickens? The global annual death toll from drug-resistant infections is thought to be around 700,000, and the poultry industry is notorious for its use of antibiotics and lack of comprehensive regulation of these medicines.
- On a recent episode of CHD.TV’s “Friday Roundtable,” Dr. Meryl Nass and attorneys W. Scott McCollough and Greg Glaser joined host Aimee Villella McBride for a conversation about digital control technologies. These forms of mechanization span from facial recognition to smart cities, vaccine passports and more.
- In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, residents are pushing back against Verizon Wireless. A superior court judge earlier this month ruled their lawsuit alleging a Verizon cell tower made them sick can move forward.
- For the fourth year in a row, vaccine-related bills in New York failed to become law. The four pending bills that did not move forward concerned minor consent for vaccination, tracking of medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination, and dentists administering COVID-19 and flu shots.
“This Week” with Mary + Polly is on Spotify. Listen here.
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