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Heliobas Disciple

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Mucosal antibodies in the airways protect against omicron infection
by Karolinska Institutet
September 14, 2022

High levels of mucosal antibodies in the airways reduce the risk of being infected by omicron, but many people do not receive detectable antibodies in the airways despite three doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. These are the findings of a study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital in Sweden.

The COMMUNITY study enrolled 2,149 health care workers in the spring of 2020 at Danderyd Hospital, Sweden. Study participants and their immune responses against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 have been followed up every four months since then. A sub-study between January and February 2022 screened 338 triple-vaccinated healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Antibody levels in blood and airways were determined at the start of the screening period, and one in six (57 participants) was subsequently infected with omicron during the four-week screening period. This allowed the research group to investigate immunity against omicron breakthrough infection as well as immune boosting following breakthrough infection.

The levels of mucosal IgA antibodies (immunoglobulin A) were measured in the airways because they play an important role in the protection against respiratory infections. All participants had high levels of systemic antibodies (e.g., in the blood) after three doses of the vaccine, but only 62 percent had detectable mucosal airway antibodies (e.g., in the nose). High levels of mucosal airway antibodies more than halved the risk of becoming infected with omicron.

"It is not surprising that antibodies in the respiratory tract neutralize the virus locally, but these findings show, for the first time, that SARS-CoV-2 mucosal antibodies in the airways actually protect against omicron infection," says lead author Charlotte Thålin, M.D. and associate professor at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet.

High mucosal antibodies in the airways were also associated with a lower viral replication among those infected with omicron. After omicron infection, a 40-fold increase in mucosal airway antibodies was found in the majority of participants, even if the infection had been mild.

The researchers also showed that participants with SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to vaccination had significantly higher levels of mucosal airway antibodies after vaccination compared with triple-vaccinated with no prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. This may explain why so-called hybrid immunity, the combination of infection and vaccine, provides stronger protection against infection than just vaccines.

"We are now in a situation with omicron infecting people despite having received several doses of today's intramuscular vaccines," says Charlotte Thålin. "It is tempting to think that a vaccine administered through the nose or mouth, where SARS-CoV-2 enters the body, could provoke a local immune response preventing infection at an earlier stage. Several vaccines in the form of a nasal spray are now being investigated in clinical trials with the hope of being able to reduce the spread of infection and thus reduce the risk of developing new virus variants."

The COMMUNITY study continues with regular samplings from blood and mucosa, monitoring immune responses after repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections and vaccinations. The study is conducted in close collaboration among Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and SciLifeLab.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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Study finds decline in performance of some COVID-19 home testing kits during omicron period

by British Medical Journal
September 14, 2022

The performance of some home testing kits for COVID-19 appears to have declined as the omicron variant emerged, suggests a study published by The BMJ today.

The findings, based on three widely used rapid antigen tests, show that performance improved when tests used both nose and throat samples compared with nasal samples only.

But only one test met the World Health Organization's standards of at least 80% sensitivity (ability to correctly identify a true positive sample) and at least 97% specificity (ability to correctly identify a true negative sample) among individuals with symptoms.

Rapid antigen tests were first introduced for use by trained professionals, but are now widely available for people to test themselves and get a result quickly, at their own convenience.

This "self-testing" approach could support early detection and self-isolation of infectious people and reduce community transmission. But there is a lack of real world evidence on the performance of nose and throat self-sampling during the omicron variant period.

To fill this knowledge gap, researchers compared the performances of three commercially available rapid antigen tests: Flowflex (Acon Laboratories), MPBio (MP Biomedicals) and Clinitest (Siemens-Healthineers), during the omicron period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their analysis is based on 6,497 people with COVID-19 symptoms aged 16 years or over who presented for testing at three public health service COVID-19 test sites in the Netherlands between 21 December 2021 and 10 February 2022.

All participants had a reference (PCR) test taken by a trained member of staff and were asked to complete a rapid antigen test at home as soon as possible, and within three hours of their test site visit, followed by an online questionnaire.

Nasal self-sampling was used during the emergence of omicron, and when omicron accounted for more than 90% of infections (phase 1) and combined throat and nasal self-sampling was used when omicron accounted for more than 99% of infections (phase 2).

The researchers found that the sensitivities of the three tests performed with nasal self-sampling decreased during the emergence of omicron, from 87% to 81% for Flowflex, 83% to 76% for MPBio, and 80% to 67% for Clinitest. However, the observed decline was only statistically significant for Clinitest.

When a throat test was added to a nasal test, this improved the sensitivity of MPBio from 70% to 83% and Clinitest from 70% to 77% (but was not done for Flowflex), most notably in individuals who visited the test site for reasons other than to confirm a positive self-test result.

Only the MPBio test with combined throat and nasal self-sampling met the World Health Organization's standards for rapid antigen tests among individuals with symptoms.

These are observational findings, and the researchers point to some limitations. For example, nasal and combined throat and nasal self-sampling were conducted in different time periods, and the proportion of omicron infections may have been higher during the combined throat and nasal self-sampling period.

Also, there were slight differences in sampling methods for the reference (PCR) test, which might have influenced the results of the study.

However, the authors point out that the omicron variant was present in at least 90% of samples in both periods and therefore do not expect that the sampling method of the reference test substantially impacted their results or their generalizability.

As such, they say, "We found that the performance of rapid antigen tests with nasal self-sampling declined during the period omicron emerged.

"We also showed that the performance of rapid antigen tests can be improved by adding oropharyngeal to nasal self-sampling. Therefore, after proper evaluation, manufacturers of rapid antigen tests should consider extending their instructions for use to include combined oropharyngeal and nasal self-sampling."

Based on these findings, they say people with COVID-19 symptoms can rely on a positive rapid antigen test result irrespective of SARS-CoV-2 variant dominance or method of self-sampling, while individuals with a negative self-test result should adhere to general preventive measures because a false negative result cannot be ruled out.

"What should we take from this study?" asks Timothy Feeney, research editor at The BMJ, and Charles Poole at the University of North Carolina, in an accompanying editorial.

"Firstly, that members of the general public are capable of doing their own nasal (and potentially oropharyngeal) sampling for COVID-19 testing, but the real world performance of antigen tests remains highly variable. Secondly, adding oropharyngeal testing may provide some benefit, although it is unclear how many test kits are capable of expanded use, and serial testing could be a more workable change to testing protocols."

Finally, and most importantly, are the policy implications. "In the UK and the US, policies governing use of tests to enable a return to normal activities are confusing, poorly explained, and frequently change."

He told The BMJ, "Given the less than ideal performance of antigen tests, updates to guidance in the public and private sector should take this into account when suggesting action based on test results."
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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COVID-19 hospitalization rates higher in unvaccinated during Omicron
September 14, 2022

During the Omicron variant COVID-19 spike, unvaccinated adults were more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated adults, and hospitalization rates were lowest among those vaccinated and boosted, according to a study published online Sept. 8 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Fiona P. Havers, M.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues assessed characteristics of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among vaccinated persons and comparative hospitalization rates in unvaccinated and vaccinated persons. Using data from 250 hospitals participating in the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network, the researchers identified adults with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (Jan. 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022; 192,509 hospitalizations) and linked the data to state immunization information systems data.

The researchers found that monthly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates ranged from 3.5 times to 17.7 times higher in unvaccinated persons than vaccinated persons regardless of booster dose status. When the Omicron variant was predominant (January to April 2022), hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated persons and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated persons with no booster dose, respectively, versus those who had received a booster dose. Vaccinated hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were older than those who were unvaccinated (median age, 70 versus 58 years) and were also more likely to have three or more underlying medical conditions (77.8 versus 51.6 percent).

"The study results suggest that clinicians and public health practitioners should continue to promote vaccination with all recommended doses for eligible persons," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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COVID-19 mutations accelerated by virus-fighting enzyme in human cells, according to new research
by Darrin S. Joy, University of Southern California
September 14, 2022


covid-19-mutations-acc.jpg

Local sequence context at the APOBEC-edited C sites on SARS-CoV-2 RNA. (A) Local sequences around the significantly edited target C sites (±?5 nucleotides from target C at position 0) by A1?+?A1CF, A3A, or A3G. The editing level of each C site was normalized to the Ctrl, and only sites with 3?×?or higher editing levels than the normalized value were defined as significant editing sites. (B) Analysis of local sequences around the top 30% edited C sites (or hotspot editing sites), showing predominantly AC motif for A1?+?A1CF, UC for A3A, and CC for A3G. (C) Comparison of the C-to-U editing rates (%) of a particular dinucleotide motif by the three APOBECs. Each dot represents the C-to-U editing level obtained from the SSS results. In panel-D, statistical significance was calculated by unpaired two-tailed student’s t-test with P-values represented as: P?>?0.05?=?not significant; not indicated, *P?<?0.05, ***P?<?0.001, ****P?<?0.0001. Credit: Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19067-x

Researchers have found the first experimental evidence explaining why the COVID-19 virus produces variants, such as delta and omicron, so quickly.

The findings, published Sept. 13 in the journal Scientific Reports, could help scientists predict the emergence of new coronavirus strains and possibly even produce vaccines before those strains arrive.

The relatively rapid emergence of multiple COVID-19 virus variants has baffled researchers because most coronaviruses don't mutate and evolve so quickly. That's because they possess a built-in "proofreading" mechanism to prevent mutations as they make copies of themselves while growing and multiplying in our cells.

But scientists at USC figured out the COVID-19 virus' strategy for bypassing the proofreading: It hijacks enzymes within human cells that normally defend against viral infections, using those enzymes to alter its genome and make variants.

According to lead researcher Xiaojiang Chen, professor of biological sciences and chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the findings could prove vital to curbing the pandemic by helping to prevent new surges in infection caused by new variants.

"New strains can become increasingly more contagious and evade the existing vaccine's protection," Chen said. "Predicting new variants and preparing effective vaccines ahead of time could stop new variants before they spread."

The best offense is a good defense

Chen and the USC team infected human cells with the coronavirus in the lab and then studied changes to the virus' genome as it multiplied, making copies of itself, within the cells.

The genetic code sequence of the virus, which is composed of DNA's close cousin RNA, uses four letters to identify component nucleotides: A, C, G, U. During their analysis, Chen and the team noticed an interesting pattern: Many mutations that arose as the virus replicated itself were caused by changing one particular nucleotide in the code to another—the letter "C" changed to "U."

The high frequency of C-to-U mutations pointed them toward a group of enzymes that cells often use to defend against viruses. Called APOBEC, the enzymes convert Cs in the virus' genome to Us with the aim of causing fatal mutations.

But Chen and the team found that for the COVID-19 virus growing in the human cells, not only are the C-to-U mutations not fatal, they actually benefit the virus by providing a way for the virus to mutate, evolve and develop new strains faster than expected.

"We have provided the first experimental evidence that our own enzymes can help the COVID-19 virus to mutate quickly," Chen said. "Somehow the virus learned to turn the tables on these host APOBEC enzymes for its evolution and fitness."

Turning the tables back around

Fortunately for researchers looking to overcome COVID-19, every good offense has its weakness. In this case, the mutations created by APOBEC enzymes are not random—they convert C to U in specific places in the genetic sequence where a U or A is just ahead of the C (like UC or AC).

With this insight, scientists can look for every UC and AC in the COVID-19 virus genome and, using powerful computational and experimental methods, predict and test what will happen if any of them change to a U. This can help them predict what new COVID-19 variants might emerge and suggest how to update vaccines so they protect against any new variants that are likely to spread.

Chen and the team aim to do just that, studying what potential effects C-to-U mutations caused by APOBEC enzymes might have on the COVID-19 virus' life cycle and its ability to spread and cause disease. Over time, this information can help scientists produce new drugs and vaccines to defeat drug-resistant and vaccine-evading COVID-19 virus strains.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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Denmark: No More COVID Vaccines Offered for Under-50
People Under 50 Not Offered Vaccines and Boosters

Igor Chudov
19 hr ago

An interesting update from Denmark’s Health authority. It was published yesterday.

Denmark will no longer offer boosters and vaccines to persons under 50.



This new policy is relatively soft: if someone under 50 insists on having some special risk from Covid, they are still allowed to get the booster. But, in a bit of good news, the general public under 50 is NOT offered boosters.

As for the primary series vaccines (which nobody is taking anymore), they will also “not be offered” to the general public:



I would not describe “not offering” as a ban, because some narrow groups of people under-50 can still get Covid vaccines and boosters, but it is great news overall.

Just curious: does Denmark have some information about these boosters that it is not sharing with us, that made it decide against vaccinating and boosting young people?
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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denmark bans the boost in under 50's
as outbreaks of once common sense commence

el gato malo
14 hr ago

denmark just posted covid vaccine policy for the fall and winter.

apart from those in high risk categories, they are not offering boosters to anyone under 50.



their reasoning is quite straightforward and very much in line with the repeated mantras of certain internet felines who were repeatedly heard to shout from atop any soapbox that was handy:

“medicine is everywhere and always a cost/benefit decision.”

perhaps you heard something about that.

well, it appears that the vikings have come back around to this once uncontroversial viewpoint.



one can certainly argue about the claims about those over 50, but at least the discussion is being had in terms that make sense instead of chasing the faux epidemiology of “covid vaccines stop spread,” “save the hospitals,” and “zero covid.”



the monstrously negative net value of these jabs in the young has been crystal clear all along.

and yet here at home, the CDC has assiduously ignored all the risks even going so far as to refuse to do their own mandated job and monitor VAERS for warning signals.

and it’s not like the signal was subtle.



and yet these purveyors of policy persist in preventing any sort of cost/benefit analysis and get used as pretext by american universities to once more mandate their students get another round of jabs, this time not even tested in humans.

Keung Hui @nckhui
Duke University will require COVID booster shots for all students, employees after winter break. Private universities have been more aggressive than public universities in imposing a vaccine mandate. #nced #coronavirus newsobserver.com/news/local/edu…
December 20th 2021
22 Retweets149 Likes


i mean, i know american kids are unhealthy today, but are they seriously higher risk that a danish 45 year old? because i’m struggling to buy it, especially in light of things like THIS:



and this is not a close call. it’s an unmitigated disaster on a risk reward basis:
“Per COVID-19 hospitalization prevented in previously uninfected young adults, we anticipate 18 to 98 serious adverse events, including 1.7 to 3.0 booster-associated myocarditis cases in males, and 1,373 to 3,234 cases of grade ≥3 reactogenicity which interferes with daily activities,” the study stated.”

and so another once “fringe” idea is now mainstream.

and yet our policy and prescription lags horribly because the alleged agencies of public health in america are still denying the very foundation of medical decision making by refusing to consider risk as well as reward to the point of outright denying the risk exists.

“safe and effective” is a meaningless term.

for whom?

compared to what?

we’re way past any sort of reasonable error here. this is clearly institutional policy and deliberate malfeasance.

it’s willful blindness and self-serving shillery.

do not forget: NIH etc are getting BIG royalties on these products.

and they are not required to disclose them.

Daily Wire @realDailyWire
Rand Paul to Fauci: "When we get in charge, we're gonna change the rules and you will have to divulge where you get your royalties from...We are going to learn about it."

September 14th 2022
502 Retweets2,455 Likes


anyone else just a teensy bit nervous about allowing people with such clear conflicts of interest to determine standards of evidence and standards of policy around experimental medicine and mandates?
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)


Denmark ENDS Covid vaccinations for almost everyone under 50.
Remember mandatory vaccinations? This is, well, the opposite. We've come a long way in a year. Except at American colleges - which, insanely, are forcing mRNA boosters on students.

Alex Berenson
16 hr ago

Denmark will bar almost everyone under 50 from receiving more mRNA Covid jabs, the Danish Health Authority said yesterday.

Denmark had already ended Covid shots for nearly everyone under 18. The new rules go much further.

Danes under 50 will only be allowed to receive the shots if they are “higher risk of becoming severely [emphasis added] from Covid-19.”

The Danish Health Authority has not yet defined those groups, but they will likely include only a handful of people, such as those receiving cancer treatments that suppress their immune systems. Pregnant women are unlikely to be included.

Denmark did not explicitly say the risks of mRNA jabs now outweigh their benefits for healthy people under 50.

But that view is implicit in the announcement, which does not merely discourage but actually bans shots for those people, even though Denmark expects “a large wave of [Covid] infection” in the next few months.

In other words, the health authority is not stopping shots because Covid has ended. It now believes most people are better off getting the coronavirus than taking more mRNA.



SOURCE


The Danish move is particularly significant because Denmark has an excellent national health care system and has aggressively collected data on Covid and vaccines.

Denmark was among the first countries to stop giving Covid shots to healthy children and teenagers. Now other European countries are beginning to follow, with Britain ending mRNA shots for almost all children 10 and under.

In yesterday’s announcement of the new policies, Denmark explicitly dropped any effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus and said that it will focus only on protecting people at very high risk:

We expect that a large part of the population will become infected with covid-19 during the autumn, and we therefore want to vaccinate those having the highest risk so that they are protected from severe illness.



Meanwhile, expect the same “fact-checkers” who insisted that Denmark’s move to stop vaccinating people under 18 wasn’t actually a move to stop vaccinating people under 18 to try to spin yesterday’s announcement too.

Good luck with that.

(“Denmark didn’t ‘ban’ Covid vaccines for children,” except, yeah, it pretty much did. Only the tiny minority of kids at very high risk from the coronavirus will be even considered for shots.)



SOURCE



Yet the growing push against mRNA shots for healthy children and young people has not percolated the woke hothouse that is American higher education.

Elite American universities, like the University of California-Davis, continue to announce their students will be required to receive additional mRNA jabs this fall - in this case, the “bivalent” vaccine, authorized by federal regulators based on data from a handful of mice.



SOURCE

What’s driving the obsession in American academia with Covid vaccines is not clear. But the health of students and rational risk-benefit analysis appear very low on the list.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
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Health Feedback publishes a flawed "fact check" on the Epoch Times clot article
Are you surprised? Health Feedback never bothered to contact the sources to allow them to respond to their hit piece.

Steve Kirsch
13 hr ago

I’ve written stories on the strange blood clots observed by multiple embalmers (I personally know at least five who are willing to go public now). I also recently wrote a story on a reasonable theory on how these clots are being formed. It makes total sense that these clots wouldn’t be observed until mid-2021 because they take a while to form.

The Epoch Times recently did a story on these clots as well. I’ve found that The Epoch Times stories are very reliable. I’ve yet to find any errors in anything they publish. The reporter, Enrico Trigoso, spoke to ten different embalmers who observed the same types of clots.

As a result of the Epoch Times article, Health Feedback, a “fact checker” organization published a flawed rebuttal:



I immediately submitted a complaint about their “fact check”:



I’m sure they’ll never contact me or correct their story. I have never been contacted by any fact checker organization ever when I file complaints like this. They will also not want to be briefed on the Israeli data… isn’t it amazing they didn’t “fact check” that one?

Any “fact checker” who doesn’t contact the sources of the story and allow them to respond to statements made by others that attack what they said, is unethical.

They didn’t contact Mike Adams, Enrico Trigoso, or Richard Hirschman for their story. These people are unethical. We don’t even need to get into the merits of the argument.

In the preparation of this story, I contacted all three of them (Adams, Trigoso, and Hirschman). They immediately answered the phone.

In addition to the feedback I sent in, I also sent them a link to this article. If I ever hear back from Health Feedback, I’ll publish their response intact in this article. Don’t hold your breath.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
Here's the article referred to above, I figured why not post it so we can see what Steve Kirsch is talking about and to archive what was said by the 'science community' when presented with these findings.


(fair use applies)

Mike Adams’ flawed analysis of a clot sent by embalmer Richard Hirschman doesn’t demonstrate any link between blood clots and COVID-19 vaccines
Published on: 12 Sep 2022 | Editor: Iria Carballo-Carbajal

HirschmanAdams_EpochTimes_NaturalNews.png


CLAIM

Embalmers find “strange clots” in corpses since the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines


VERDICT

HTag_Unsupported.png


SOURCE: Mike Adams, Richard Hirschman, Natural News, The Epoch Times, 2 Sep. 2022


DETAILS

Inadequate support
: The article provided no evidence demonstrating a link between the presence of unusual blood clots in deceased people and COVID-19 vaccines.

Misleading: The laboratory analysis of blood clots has critical methodological flaws, including a sample size of one and the inadequate use of a blood sample as a control. These issues invalidate the results from the analysis and the conclusions drawn from them.

KEY TAKE AWAY

The Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been associated with very rare cases of blood clots with low platelets, a condition known as vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia. However, COVID-19 itself is much more likely to increase the risk of blood clots, particularly in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19. Furthermore, recent research indicates that this risk might remain elevated for up to six months following infection. COVID-19 vaccines are currently the best tool to prevent COVID-19-associated blood clots, as well as other cardiovascular complications.

FULL CLAIM: “[E]mbalmers across the country have been observing many large, and sometimes very long, ‘fibrous’ and rubbery clots inside the corpses they treat”; “clots are lacking key elements present in healthy human blood [...] suggesting that they are formed from something other than blood”

REVIEW


On 2 September 2022, The Epoch Times published an article claiming that embalmers in the U.S. have been finding “strange clots” in deceased people since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The article received more than 25,000 interactions on Facebook and Twitter, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. Most of the engagement on Twitter came from a single tweet by a member of the European Parliament Cristian Tehres.

The claim received much greater publicity as other websites repeated the claims made in the Epoch Times article, such as Daily Caller, Gateway Pundit, and The Western Journal. Based on the social media listening tool Buzzsumo, these three articles received over 40,000 interactions across various social media platforms.

The article on Epoch Times rehashed a claim that circulated widely in early 2022 and was mostly based on a testimonial from embalmer Richard Hirschman. Hirschman claimed to have found abnormal long white fibrous clots in corpses, which he attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. The fact-checking organization PolitiFact, which evaluated the claim at that time, found that such an association was unsupported by scientific evidence.

However, the Epoch Times article once again put Hirschman’s unsupported claim front and center, without acknowledging any challenges to the claim. The article further suggested that the clots were somehow unnatural. This claim is equally unsubstantiated, as we will explain below.

COVID-19 increases the risk of blood clots much more than the COVID-19 vaccines do​


Blood clotting is a natural process that prevents excessive bleeding and repairs the blood vessels when an injury occurs. Occasionally, abnormal blood clots can form inside veins or arteries in the absence of any injury. These clots are dangerous because they restrict blood flow within the arteries, leading to strokes and heart attacks, or within the veins, causing deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This last type of clot, which generally forms in the legs, may detach from its origin, travel through the body, and reach the lungs causing pulmonary embolism.

Hirschman told the Epoch Times that 50 to 70% of the bodies he saw had white, long, fibrous “structures” that he had never seen before, which he “suspected” were caused by COVID-19 vaccines. However, there is no evidence other than Hirschman’s assertions to support such an association. Furthermore, the vaccination status “isn’t on the death certificate”, as Hari P. Close, national president of the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association, explained to PolitiFact. Therefore, Hirschman’s observations alone don’t demonstrate that such clots appear predominantly in vaccinated people.

Irene Sansano, an anatomical pathology specialist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, said in an email to Health Feedback that the clots found by Hirschman “don’t look different” from the ones they regularly find in blood clot autopsies at the hospital. She also explained that thromboembolisms (circulating blood clots) are frequent among deceased people and are mainly caused by “obesity, sedentarism, smoking, and now COVID-19”. [Read Sansano’s comment in full below]

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 900,000 DVT and pulmonary embolism cases in the U.S. each year, causing up to 100,000 deaths. Since the early stages of the pandemic, researchers have observed that severe COVID-19 increased the risk of blood clots[1], and more recent research shows that this risk is also increased in patients with moderate COVID-19[2].

As of 9 September 2022, COVID-19 has caused more than one million deaths in the U.S. If the incidence of blood clots has increased in the U.S. as Hirschman claimed, COVID-19 itself could be responsible for a large part of it. While the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been associated with cases of blood clots with low levels of platelets, such cases are very rare. Moreover, the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine isn’t authorized in the U.S., and the rate of blood clots following vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is four cases per one million doses. Such a low rate cannot explain the large increase in clots that Hirschman reported.

Finally, one of the reasons that Hirschman gave for suspecting that COVID-19 vaccines caused blood clotting was an increased presence of clots during the summer of 2021, when “COVID-19 deaths were on the decline”. However, COVID-19 might also explain this effect. In 2022, researchers in Sweden published a study involving more than one million people who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 between February 2020 and 25 May 2021. The study found that the risk of developing DVT, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding remained elevated for up to six months following infection[3].

The laboratory analysis of blood clots has critical methodological issues that make it impossible to draw any meaningful conclusion​

Hirschman attributed the alleged unusual clots he found in corpses to a change in the characteristics of the blood. “The blood is different. Something is causing the blood to change,” he told the Epoch Times. To support this alleged “change”, the article cited the results of a laboratory analysis that compared one of the clots sent by Hirschman with a blood sample from an unvaccinated person.

The laboratory analyzed the samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This technique measures the concentration of certain elements present in a sample by transforming them into ions, which are then separated based on their mass and charge. However, several issues with this analysis make the results and their interpretation unreliable.

First, the laboratory in question is owned by columnist Mike Adams, founder of the website Natural News, where the results of the analysis were published. This website previously published false claims about COVID-19 vaccines, including claims that the vaccines cause cancer and that they would lead to a “vaccine holocaust”. Media Bias/Fact Check describes Natural News as a Conspiracy-Pseudoscience source and “one of the most discredited sources on the internet”. In fact, several platforms, including Facebook, Google, and YouTube, removed the website for violating the platforms’ rules or for routinely publishing misinformation.

Second, Adams claimed that the clots might be formed “from something other than blood” because his analysis showed they lacked certain elements “present in healthy human blood” (i.e., the blood from the unvaccinated person), such as iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. For example, Adams’ article on Natural News specified that the “post-vaccine clot sample only contains 4.4% of the iron that would be seen in human blood. This alone is confirmation that this clot is not a ‘blood clot’”. Adams went even further by suggesting without evidence that the clots might be “self-assembling dead biostructures”.

[continued next post]
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
[continued from post above]

However, the composition of a clot can vary significantly based on where the clot forms[4]. Blood is made of plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Red cells, which account for 40 to 45% of the blood’s volume, contain hemoglobin, an iron-rich protein that is essential for carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues.
Arterial clots contain few red blood cells and are formed mainly by fibrin and platelets, whereas venous clots have a higher red blood cell content (see Figure 1). However, the amount of time that has passed since clot formation also influences clot composition, as clots tend to accumulate more fibrin with time.

In other words, Adams’ report that the clot he analyzed is low in iron in no way establishes that the clot is unnatural, as he claimed. There are multiple factors influencing clot composition, as we explained above, and a clot that is low in iron can be explained by other factors, such as where it was formed. But Adams and others who repeated the claim didn’t account for these other factors.

BloodClotFormation.png


Figure 1. Proportions of different structures within arterial and venous thrombi, as well as pulmonary emboli, as a function of the total volume. RBC: red blood cell. Polyhedrocytes and echinocytes are red blood cells with atypical shapes. Image source[4].

Furthermore, clots in the heart and large blood vessels can also form after death[5].

Thirdly, Adams acknowledged that the accreditation of his lab “does not specifically encompass human biological samples”, meaning that the laboratory may not be equipped to handle human samples.

In fact, Adams stated that he conducted the analysis using the same protocol they regularly use for testing “dog food and cat food samples which are, of course, composed of animal flesh and ground blood vessels, meat tissue, cartilage and other animal-derived biological structures”. Needless to say, human samples aren’t the same as dog and cat food. Therefore, the reliability of Adams’ results and conclusions is questionable.

Finally, the analysis lacked the most basic clinical information about the individuals from whom the samples were taken. The analysis’ sample size of just one clot and one blood sample means that the results cannot be generalized to the broader population.

The article repeats previously debunked claims​


The Epoch Times stated that it’s unknown if the cause of the alleged new clots is “COVID-19, vaccines, both, or something different”. However, it kept presenting COVID-19 vaccines as the number one suspect throughout the entire article.

It did so by sharing anecdotal evidence from a few other embalmers and opinions from gynecologist James Thorp and physician Sherri Tenpenny. Both of them spread false claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in the past, as Health Feedback documented in earlier reviews.

In the Epoch Times article, Thorp and Tenpenny claimed that the toxic effect of the spike protein induced by COVID-19 vaccines might mediate the formation of blood clots. Thorp further claimed that the vaccination causes protein misfolding that can also lead to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. But these claims are unsupported and contradict current scientific evidence.

Health Feedback explained in an earlier review that the small quantities of spike protein produced after vaccination haven’t been shown to cause any harm to the body. At the moment, there is no evidence suggesting that the spike protein induced by vaccination causes blood clotting. As Health Feedback explained in this earlier review, there is evidence that the spike protein from the virus might damage blood vessels, but no study has so far reported harmful effects from the spike protein produced after vaccination. The rare cases of blood clotting associated with the Johnson & Johnson and the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine are thought to happen through a different mechanism.

As Health Feedback and others also explained, no evidence suggests that the spike protein produced after COVID-19 vaccination causes or increases the risk of neurodegenerative disorders, contrary to Thorp’s claim.

Conclusion​

The article in the Epoch Times claimed that “strange clots” have been found in people who have recently died in the U.S. The article presented a series of testimonials, laboratory analyses, and opinions from medical doctors that convey the overall message that these clots are associated with COVID-19 vaccines. However, the claim is based on anecdotal evidence and flawed experiments that don’t support such an association. COVID-19 itself is much more likely to cause blood clots than the vaccines, which remain an effective strategy to prevent severe COVID-19 and the cardiovascular complications associated with it.

SCIENTISTS’ FEEDBACK​


Irene Sansano, Anatomical pathologist, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona:

Thromboembolisms (circulating blood clots) are frequent, and their primary causes are obesity, sedentarism, smoking, and now COVID-19. At the hospital, we regularly conduct autopsies for blood clots and they don’t look different [from the ones found by Hirschman], although I haven’t analyzed them.

REFERENCES​

 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)


Diaz et al.: "Myocarditis and Pericarditis After Vaccination for COVID-19"; Two distinct self-limited syndromes, myocarditis and pericarditis, were observed after COVID-19 vaccination.

The evidence is clear: Myocarditis developed rapidly in younger patients, mostly after the second vaccination. Pericarditis affected older patients later, after either the first or second dose.

Dr. Paul Alexander
5 hr ago





‘Forty hospitals in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Los Angeles County, California, that were part of the Providence health care system and used the same electronic medical record (EMR) were included. All patients with documented COVID-19 vaccinations administered inside the system or recorded in state registries at any time through May 25, 2021, were identified. Vaccinated patients who subsequently had emergency department or inpatient encounters with diagnoses of myocarditis, myopericarditis, or pericarditis were ascertained from EMRs’.

‘Among 2 000 287 individuals receiving at least 1 COVID-19 vaccination, 58.9% were women, the median age was 57 years (interquartile range [IQR], 40-70 years), 76.5% received more than 1 dose, 52.6% received the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech), 44.1% received the mRNA-1273 vaccine (Moderna), and 3.1% received the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine (Janssen/Johnson & Johnson).

Twenty individuals had vaccine-related myocarditis (1.0 [95% CI, 0.61-1.54] per 100 000) and 37 had pericarditis (1.8 [95% CI, 1.30-2.55] per 100 000).’
 

Heliobas Disciple

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Worrisome new data - Vaccination against COVID-19 versus Natural Infection in Youngsters
A look at two recent studies

NE - nakedemperor.substack.com
21 hr ago

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study last week which looked at the effects of vaccination and previous infection on Omicron infection in children. The authors from the University of North Carolina, with a grant from the NIH, studied children aged 5 to 11 over a six month period. Whilst the study was limited due to possible waning effects of both vaccination and previous infection before the study period, it produced some interesting and concerning results.

First of all they looked at the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against infection, according to date of first dose.


As you can see, vaccine efficacy peaks quickly but then also drops quickly. The green and blue lines actually enter negative efficacy, with the green line showing a -20% efficacy, 6 months after being injected. This means that vaccinated children were MORE likely to get infected than unvaccinated children. The authors continued to collect data until June 2022 so I have no idea why the green line stops in April 2022. Perhaps showing a more worrying negative efficacy in line with data from the UK Health Security Agency?

One of the most concerning results came in the next graph.


This compared previously infected and then vaccinated children (red line) with children who had not been infected and then were vaccinated (blue line). You would expect that previously infected children would have built up some natural immunity and therefore the red line would drop more slowly. However, both lines follow almost exactly the same path.

It looks as though vaccination has wiped out any natural immunity obtained from natural infection. Previous infection is irrelevant, the decline into negative efficacy after 18 weeks occurs at the same rate for both groups. Or is this some kind of Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) showing up?

A similar story occurs in reinfection.


Vaccine protection is initially very high but drops quickly. Within 6 months vaccine efficacy reaches 0 and I would guess it follows initial infections into negative efficacy.

All of these charts show that vaccination produces an initial strong protection but it quickly disappears over 6 months. After this point it enters negative efficacy whereby the vaccinated individual is more likely to get infected than an unvaccinated person. How low does this negative efficacy go over time or does it return to zero?

But maybe this is just how the body works and the same thing happens in the unvaccinated? The next chart shows that this is not true.


The authors looked at the effectiveness of previous infection among unvaccinated children and the results were much different. Compare this chart to the ones above. Natural infection produces an initial 100% efficacy before slowly (compared with the vaccinated groups) dropping to around 50% after a year and half.

And finally, they looked at natural immunity versus vaccine efficacy against hospitalisation.




Chart E shows that peak vaccine protection against hospitalisation occurs at 4 weeks. This thin gradually falls to around 75% over the next 16 weeks. Previous infection, on the other hand, provides much stronger initial protection. It also drops much more slowly. Chart F shows that after 10 months (a different time scale than chart E), protection is still at around 85%.

Delving into the supplementary data shows that for the unvaccinated, fewer were getting infected with Omicron. Overall 90.1% of unvaccinated children got infected but this dropped to 81.7% during Omicron. Hospitalisation and death rates remained the same at 0.5% and 0.0% respectively.

However, for the 1 dosed infection rates rose from 1.6% overall to 2.8% with Omicron. Hospitalisation and death rates remained the same at 0.0% and 0.0%. For the 2 dosed, infection rates rose from 8.3% overall to 15.4% with Omicron. Hospitalisation rates also increased from 0.1% overall to 0.3% with Omicron. Death rates remained the same at 0.0%.


And finally another recent paper from John Hopkins University looked at COVID-19 vaccine boosters for young adults.

This 50 page long paper looked at the risk-benefit assessment and five ethical arguments against mandates at universities.

The authors of this paper estimate that between 22,000 and 30,000 previously uninfected adults, aged 18-29, must be boosted to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalisation.

Looking at CDC and sponsor-reported adverse event data, they conclude that booster mandates may cause a net expected harm. They anticipate 18-98 serious adverse events, including 1.7-3 myocarditis cases. Furthermore, they anticipate 1,373 to 3,234 cases of >3 reactogenicity which interferes with daily activities. All to prevent one COVID-19 hospitalisation.

They add that due to the high prevalence of post-infection immunity, the risk-benefit profile will be even less favourable. Five ethical arguments are given against the mandates, including:

  1. no formal risk-benefit assessment exists for this age group;
  2. vaccine mandates may result in a net expected harm to individual young people;
  3. mandates are not proportionate: expected harms are not outweighed by public health benefits given the modest and transient effectiveness of vaccines against transmission;
  4. US mandates violate the reciprocity principle because rare serious vaccine-related harms will not be reliably compensated due to gaps in current vaccine injury schemes; and
  5. mandates create wider social harms.
 

Heliobas Disciple

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Well at least we know why the CDC and FDA aren't reporting on the safety signals coming out of VAERS!
Or do we?

Jessica Rose
19 hr ago

I do a lot of interviews about my ongoing VAERS work that commenced at the onset of the roll-out of the COVID-19 injectable products. More often than not, the interviewer will ask me why the owners of the VAERS data, namely the CDC and the FDA, are not raising the alarm on the many safety signals being thrown off by VAERS. From Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease to Myocarditis, there are no regular and formal reports brought to the attention of the public, and in fact, in the case of the latter, the problem is minimized and the public subsequently patronized.

Well, in lieu of doing proper causality assessments or reporting on Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR)1, which is a calculation that anyone can do on a napkin, or even Empirical Bayesian (EB) data mining, they have done nothing. Well, at least not that we have been allowed to know about. Admittedly so.

Question: What if the injuries being reported by the millions are actually caused by the COVID-19 injectable products? What if even a fraction of them are?

I guess the CDC would have some serious egg on their face, hmm? I guess that would be a good reason not to fess up to any existing data or assessments that demonstrate causal links, hmm? But you know what I think? I think you STILL MUST tell the bloody truth.

Every single human being needs to know 2 things:

1. Medical doctors (yes, those same ones you go to for medical advice) typically follow CDC guidelines - STRICTLY​
2. The CDC are NOT doing due diligence regarding pharmacovigilance assessments in the context of the COVID-19 injectable products.​

1. no PRR calculations​
2. no causality assessments (Head to Understanding ‘Vaccine’ Causation Conference - WCH)​
3. no EB analyses​


Thought you should know.


1 Rose, J. 2021, Critical Appraisal of VAERS Pharmacovigilance: Is
the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) a Functioning Pharmacovigilance System? Science, Public Health Policy & the Law
Volume 3:100–129.
 

Zoner

Veteran Member
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COVID-19 hospitalization rates higher in unvaccinated during Omicron
September 14, 2022

During the Omicron variant COVID-19 spike, unvaccinated adults were more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated adults, and hospitalization rates were lowest among those vaccinated and boosted, according to a study published online Sept. 8 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Fiona P. Havers, M.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues assessed characteristics of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among vaccinated persons and comparative hospitalization rates in unvaccinated and vaccinated persons. Using data from 250 hospitals participating in the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network, the researchers identified adults with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (Jan. 1, 2021, to April 30, 2022; 192,509 hospitalizations) and linked the data to state immunization information systems data.

The researchers found that monthly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates ranged from 3.5 times to 17.7 times higher in unvaccinated persons than vaccinated persons regardless of booster dose status. When the Omicron variant was predominant (January to April 2022), hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated persons and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated persons with no booster dose, respectively, versus those who had received a booster dose. Vaccinated hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were older than those who were unvaccinated (median age, 70 versus 58 years) and were also more likely to have three or more underlying medical conditions (77.8 versus 51.6 percent).

"The study results suggest that clinicians and public health practitioners should continue to promote vaccination with all recommended doses for eligible persons," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Lies
 

Heliobas Disciple

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New Omicron sub-variant detected in Austria which “sets new record in mutations”
By Matthew Roscoe
12 September 2022 • 13:57

AS predicted by many of the world’s top health experts, the Omicron variant of Covid has spawned its own sub-variants and in Austria a new one has been detected, which appears to “set a new record in mutations”

The Omicron sub-variant “BJ.1” arrived in Austria over the weekend, according to the Austrian geneticist, Ulrich Elling.

Speaking on Twitter, Elling said that BJ.1 had been detected in this country for the first time. So far, a total of six BJ.1 cases have been detected in patients in Vienna and Lower Austria.

“BJ.1 of course sets a new record in mutations,” he said on Monday, September 12.

BJ.1 of course sets a new record in mutations. BTW: For deletions I counted every deleted position separate, T95I was included in Delta. Since I did this analysis manually, I cannot exclude mistakes, please let me know if you spot one.
4/4
— Ulrich Elling (@EllingUlrich) September 12, 2022

Richard Neher, who is researching the evolution of the coronavirus at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, said that “there are a large number of variants at the moment that have the potential to cause a new wave.

According to health experts in Austria, the Omicron subvariant, which first appeared in India, is worrying.

However, Elling said the “numbers are still very low” but he also said that “the newly acquired mutations are really an unpleasant combination at critical sites.”

The viral variant has 14 additional mutations, predominantly near the receptor binding domains that the pathogen uses to gain access to human cells and are the vaccines’ targets, he said.

Geneticist Elling said: “This package of mutations makes further significant evasion of the immune system very likely. One can only hope that this comes at a significant cost to the virus in terms of infectivity.”

On Tuesday, September 6, the EMA and ECDC released their recommended use of adapted Omicron Covid booster vaccines to support the planning of the autumn and winter vaccination campaigns.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
View: https://twitter.com/EllingUlrich/status/1569272446280257538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw


Ulrich Elling@EllingUlrich
Sep 12

Mutational differences between important SARS-CoV-2 lineages within the antibody binding regions of the spike protein. Shown is NTD (defined here as amino acid 1-300) and RBD (301-600) separate and together.

This rainbow-painted spike (blue to red) shows the N-terminal domain in shades of blue followed by RBD in shades of green for comparison.

Mutation space differences must not be confused with immunological distance, but do hint towards vaccine efficiency. The upcoming lineages BA.2.75.2 and BJ.1 are 33/36 mutations away from WT, 31/28 from BA.1, and 13/17 from BA.5.

BJ.1 of course sets a new record in mutations. BTW: For deletions I counted every deleted position separate, T95I was included in Delta. Since I did this analysis manually, I cannot exclude mistakes, please let me know if you spot one.


1.jpg


2.jpg3.png
 

Heliobas Disciple

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JAPAN
Bodies stacking up at mortuaries as COVID-19 deaths surge

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 5, 2022 at 18:53 JST

In mid-August, a cold storage facility in a mortuary at a funeral home in Tokyo area was filled with nine bodies, the maximum capacity.

All the boards with the names of the deceased had the word “COVID,” as they were confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus.

The mortuary, where bodies were kept before they are sent to the crematorium, was no longer able to house them since August.

Bodies approaching the cremation date were stored in a separate room of the funeral home with 10 kilograms of dry ice in their coffins.

Even so, there were more bodies that could not be accommodated. The funeral home was forced to leave those bodies in other funeral homes’ refrigerated storage facilities.

In a month from the end of July, the funeral home received more than 100 bodies, mostly elderly people.

“I have no idea when (the pandemic) will end. COVID is a disaster,” a manager at the mortuary said.

Funeral homes in Japan are being overwhelmed with bodies that await cremation as the COVID-19 death toll continues to rise amid the ongoing seventh wave.

The number of related deaths exceeded 7,000 in August, the highest monthly figure on record.

Bodies that could not be accommodated in refrigerated storage facilities are pouring into mortuaries. The demand comes as many crematoriums are limiting their acceptance of infected bodies, citing the infection risk, although the risk from dead bodies is considered low.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, many bodies have been waiting more than a week to be cremated.

REALITY OF DEATHS AMONG 7TH WAVE

At the overwhelmed mortuary at the Tokyo funeral home, an employee picked up the phone at 10 a.m. on a recent day.

“We received a call that one person died at a hospital and one at an elderly care facility. We are going to pick them up,” the employee said.

Around noon, two staffers wearing protective medical gowns removed a body wrapped in a transparent body bag from a coffin, which was taken out of cold storage.

They applied light makeup to the deceased’s face. It was part of the preparation to show the face to the bereaved family as they bid their final goodbyes.

The funeral home could finally send the body to a crematorium on the eighth day after receiving it.

But half an hour later, two more bodies were brought in, which the funeral home had received requests for in the morning.

Staff were also scurrying to another hospital to pick up another body.

At 6:30 p.m., the body of a woman in her 80s who died at a nursing home was placed in cold storage.

By 8:30 p.m., the funeral home accepted five bodies from hospitals and elderly care facilities. Including those accepted up to the day, a total of 26 bodies were being kept in the cold storage facility or stored with dry ice in a separate room.

“This is the reality,” a young staffer said.

LIMITED NUMBER WILLING TO ACCEPT COVID-RELATED BODIES

The health ministry released guidelines in July 2020 stating that the risk of infection from dead bodies is low.

On Aug. 23 of this year, the ministry once again asked local governments to inform the funeral industry that novel coronavirus-infected bodies should be cremated in the same manner as noninfected bodies.

Even now, however, there are a limited number of crematoriums that accept the bodies of those who died from COVID-19. Of these, many have quotas for the number of bodies that they will accept.

Some crematoriums cited the risk of infection among the bereaved family members and staff as the reason.

Some local government officials said, “separate cremation services can maintain privacy for the bereaved family” and “there is a high psychological hurdle in having usual cremation and COVID cremation be conducted in the same place.”

According to a health ministry tally, Japan’s COVID-19-related deaths in August was 7,295, 5.6 times the number in July. It far surpassed the previous monthly high of 4,897 recorded in February.

The surge in the death toll resulted in exceeding the quotas for the COVID-19-related deceased at crematoriums. There were a number of cases where bodies were kept in mortuaries for more than a week for cremation in various areas.

Tokyo’s 23 wards have nine crematoriums, but only two public and three private crematoriums are accepting cremations for those who died of COVID-19.

Due to the rapid increase in the death toll, the total quota for infected bodies was doubled compared to July, to around 30 per day.

Even so, at the peak, the public crematoriums were fully booked up to a week in advance, while one private crematorium was fully reserved up to 10 days in advance.

Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, which had a one-week wait for cremation, decided to eliminate the quota starting in September.

Yokohama expanded the quota to a maximum of 22, more than seven times the number in early August.

In southern Okinawa Prefecture, two public crematoriums were accepting infected bodies. One with a daily quota of four had an up to two-week wait for cremation, so nine bodies were cremated in a day as a special exception.

Nagoya which had a five-day wait for reservations, increased the quota to 12 in August, four times the number in July.

In Osaka, a city-run crematorium raised the quota to around a dozen.

(This article was written by Tetsuro Takehana and Kazuhiro Nagashima.)
 

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Federation of State Medical Boards Attacks Physicians Over COVID ‘Misinformation’ — Who’s Behind It?
The Federation of State Medical Boards’ aggressive stand against “the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation by physicians” and its recommendations for disciplinary action have some critics questioning the organization’s motivation and the source of its authority and funding.

By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.
09/14/22

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has taken a stand against what it refers to as “the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation by physicians and other healthcare professionals on social media platforms, online and in the media,” going so far as to recommend disciplinary action and state policy changes.

In a July 2021 press release, the FSMB warned physicians they could risk “disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license.”

And in a lengthier statement issued in April 2022, the nonprofit — which says it “serves as the voice for state medical boards” — appeared to advocate for laws like the one sitting on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would punish doctors who share COVID-19 “misinformation” with their patients, with language like this:

“Prohibitions on disseminating misinformation are already expressly written, or implied, in many state statutes regulating the practice of medicine. However, adopting a specific policy on misinformation is encouraged in light of the increased prevalence of, and harm caused by, physician-disseminated misinformation in this ongoing pandemic.”

In yet another show of support for cracking down on “misinformation,” FSMB President and CEO Dr. Humayun Chaudhry will speak next week on “Misinformation in Health Care: The Implications for Professionalism and the Public Trust” at the American Board of Medical Specialties annual conference.

In its July 2021 press release, the FSMB did not define what it meant by “misinformation or disinformation,” yet the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Family Medicine subsequently issued a joint statement supporting the FSMB’s position.

According to its website, the FSMB says it “supports its member boards as they fulfill their mandate of protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare through the proper licensing, disciplining, and regulation of physicians and, in most jurisdictions, other health care professionals.”

It also issues guidelines that serve as the basis for model policies with the stated goal of positively impacting the health and safety of patients and the medical regulatory system.

But some critics of the FSMB’s aggressive “misinformation” policy questioned where the organization derives its authority and who’s really behind it.

What is the FSMB — and who funds it?

Created in 1912 at a “small annual gathering of state board executive officers with no permanent staff or headquarters,” the FSMB today has almost 200 employees and two national headquarters — one in Texas and another in Washington, D.C.

The private tax-exempt 501(c)(6) trade association says it supports “America’s state medical boards in licensing, disciplining and regulating physicians and other healthcare professionals” and works to “keep patients safe.”

Since its inception, the FSMB has been staffed with members who presently or previously held positions with other medical governing bodies.

In fact, FSMB’s leadership — in conjunction with the U.S. government — in May 1994 spawned another medical authority agency — the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA).

According to IAMRA’s website, the IAMRA was formed when “FSMB, under contract with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), planned and hosted the 1st International Conference on Medical Regulation in Washington, D.C.”

FSMB and IAMRA share an office address in Texas. Their official phone numbers are nearly identical. And when a person calls the phone number listed on IAMRA’s website, the prerecorded welcome message tells the caller they’ve reached FSMB and IAMRA, in that order.

FSMB’s president and CEO, Chaudry, is also the secretary of the IAMRA. This overlapping of leadership positions extends beyond FSMB and IAMRA into medical councils in other countries.

For example, Dr. Emanuel Garcia, a psychiatrist living in New Zealand who publicly voiced concern about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, noted in an Aug. 22 article for Global Research that the chair-elect of the IAMRA, Joan Simeon, “just happens” to be the CEO of the Medical Council of New Zealand.

Garcia, who questioned whether the FSMB and IAMRA’s true motivations were ensuring safe medical practices, said:

“In casting an eye over the years since the dramatic introduction of the COVID pandemic, the near total shutdown of the world, the immense transfer of wealth from the middle and poorer classes upwards, the universal imposition of an inadequately tested so-called vaccine, and the vehement suppression of critical early treatment, one cannot but conclude that there is indeed an agenda beyond health and welfare.

“The FSMB and the IAMRA have shown by their actions that they are tools whose task is to further this agenda, and that this agenda is both anti-medical and inhumane.”

In addition to contracting with the U.S. government and IAMRA, the FSMB runs its own foundation that functions as a separate 501(c)(3) organization but is supported by a “generous seed endowment” from the FSMB.

Last April, the FSMB foundation celebrated its 10-year anniversary by hosting its annual fundraising luncheon. Its annual highbrow luncheons have raised thousands of dollars to support the organization’s activities, including “the study of state responses to the COVID-10 pandemic.”

The FSMB foundation’s website does not disclose its donors.

Commenting on the FSMB’s July 2021 statement, “Spreading COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation May Put Medical License at Risk,” Garcia said, “The outstanding question remains: Where does the FSMB derive its authority to regulate United States medical boards and, through its apparent international partner, the IAMRA, direct medical councils around the world to discipline doctors?”

So many questions …


Dr. Meryl Nass, an internist and biological warfare epidemiologist who had her medical license suspended in January for “spreading misinformation,” told The Defender the FSMB’s authoritative actions raise many questions.

Nass, a member of the Children’s Health Defense scientific advisory committee, outlined the questions in an email:

  • Why would a nonprofit with no regulatory authority suddenly decide it was important to trash the First Amendment, the Nuremberg Code and other legal doctrines to push for punishing doctors who fail to tell the government’s story and use COVID-19 treatments the government doesn’t want used?
  • Why is the FSMB monitoring the states and collecting information on their attempts to investigate and/or punish doctors for doing their duty to act as learned intermediaries to their patients?
  • Why did the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American Medical Association and the American Association of Pediatrics push identical policies in lockstep in mid-2021 that would destroy physician autonomy, when physicians are, one would think, their clients?
  • Why did the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists push for experimental vaccinations during all trimesters of pregnancy?
Nass suggested all of these questions should be investigated.

A history of ties to Big Pharma

Historically, there is evidence of Big Pharma funneling money to the FSMB.

For example, a decade ago, MedPage Today broke the story on how the FSMB turned to a pharmaceutical company with a $3.1 million request to underwrite the cost of producing and distributing a book about its opioid prescribing policy.

After the FSMB’s guidelines for the use of opioids to treat chronic pain patients were adopted as a model policy, the organization asked Purdue Pharmaceuticals for $100,000 to help pay for printing and distributing the policy to 700,000 practicing doctors.

The initial $100,000 was just a small downpayment on the $3.1 million the FSMB’s foundation estimated it would cost for its campaign to get out the word about the “safe” use of opioid analgesics in the treatment of chronic pain, according to MedPage.

The FSMB also has a history of challenging and attacking non-pharmaceutical medical approaches used by integrative doctors as falling outside the “standard of care” as they define it.

Dr. Christiane Northrup, a former board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist with more than 30 years of experience, told The Defender she intuitively sensed the FSMB had questionable associations and chose not to renew her medical license when it came up for renewal in 2015.

Northrup, who had shifted her professional activities away from directly seeing patients, said she asked herself, “Do I need this for what I’m doing now?” and concluded, “Let’s not renew this.”

Northrup pointed out the historical connection between pharmaceutical companies and the FSMB. She told The Defender that “what we’re talking about is a very carefully orchestrated attempt to control doctors.”

Many people who have been taught that “the doctor knows best,” Northrup said, cannot comprehend the “horror” of the implications of the FSMB’s actions.

The Defender reached out to the FSMB and the IAMRA for comment, but neither had responded at the time of this writing.
 

Zoner

Veteran Member
(fair use applies)


JAPAN
Bodies stacking up at mortuaries as COVID-19 deaths surge

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 5, 2022 at 18:53 JST

In mid-August, a cold storage facility in a mortuary at a funeral home in Tokyo area was filled with nine bodies, the maximum capacity.

All the boards with the names of the deceased had the word “COVID,” as they were confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus.

The mortuary, where bodies were kept before they are sent to the crematorium, was no longer able to house them since August.

Bodies approaching the cremation date were stored in a separate room of the funeral home with 10 kilograms of dry ice in their coffins.

Even so, there were more bodies that could not be accommodated. The funeral home was forced to leave those bodies in other funeral homes’ refrigerated storage facilities.

In a month from the end of July, the funeral home received more than 100 bodies, mostly elderly people.

“I have no idea when (the pandemic) will end. COVID is a disaster,” a manager at the mortuary said.

Funeral homes in Japan are being overwhelmed with bodies that await cremation as the COVID-19 death toll continues to rise amid the ongoing seventh wave.

The number of related deaths exceeded 7,000 in August, the highest monthly figure on record.

Bodies that could not be accommodated in refrigerated storage facilities are pouring into mortuaries. The demand comes as many crematoriums are limiting their acceptance of infected bodies, citing the infection risk, although the risk from dead bodies is considered low.

In the Tokyo metropolitan area, many bodies have been waiting more than a week to be cremated.

REALITY OF DEATHS AMONG 7TH WAVE

At the overwhelmed mortuary at the Tokyo funeral home, an employee picked up the phone at 10 a.m. on a recent day.

“We received a call that one person died at a hospital and one at an elderly care facility. We are going to pick them up,” the employee said.

Around noon, two staffers wearing protective medical gowns removed a body wrapped in a transparent body bag from a coffin, which was taken out of cold storage.

They applied light makeup to the deceased’s face. It was part of the preparation to show the face to the bereaved family as they bid their final goodbyes.

The funeral home could finally send the body to a crematorium on the eighth day after receiving it.

But half an hour later, two more bodies were brought in, which the funeral home had received requests for in the morning.

Staff were also scurrying to another hospital to pick up another body.

At 6:30 p.m., the body of a woman in her 80s who died at a nursing home was placed in cold storage.

By 8:30 p.m., the funeral home accepted five bodies from hospitals and elderly care facilities. Including those accepted up to the day, a total of 26 bodies were being kept in the cold storage facility or stored with dry ice in a separate room.

“This is the reality,” a young staffer said.

LIMITED NUMBER WILLING TO ACCEPT COVID-RELATED BODIES

The health ministry released guidelines in July 2020 stating that the risk of infection from dead bodies is low.

On Aug. 23 of this year, the ministry once again asked local governments to inform the funeral industry that novel coronavirus-infected bodies should be cremated in the same manner as noninfected bodies.

Even now, however, there are a limited number of crematoriums that accept the bodies of those who died from COVID-19. Of these, many have quotas for the number of bodies that they will accept.

Some crematoriums cited the risk of infection among the bereaved family members and staff as the reason.

Some local government officials said, “separate cremation services can maintain privacy for the bereaved family” and “there is a high psychological hurdle in having usual cremation and COVID cremation be conducted in the same place.”

According to a health ministry tally, Japan’s COVID-19-related deaths in August was 7,295, 5.6 times the number in July. It far surpassed the previous monthly high of 4,897 recorded in February.

The surge in the death toll resulted in exceeding the quotas for the COVID-19-related deceased at crematoriums. There were a number of cases where bodies were kept in mortuaries for more than a week for cremation in various areas.

Tokyo’s 23 wards have nine crematoriums, but only two public and three private crematoriums are accepting cremations for those who died of COVID-19.

Due to the rapid increase in the death toll, the total quota for infected bodies was doubled compared to July, to around 30 per day.

Even so, at the peak, the public crematoriums were fully booked up to a week in advance, while one private crematorium was fully reserved up to 10 days in advance.

Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, which had a one-week wait for cremation, decided to eliminate the quota starting in September.

Yokohama expanded the quota to a maximum of 22, more than seven times the number in early August.

In southern Okinawa Prefecture, two public crematoriums were accepting infected bodies. One with a daily quota of four had an up to two-week wait for cremation, so nine bodies were cremated in a day as a special exception.

Nagoya which had a five-day wait for reservations, increased the quota to 12 in August, four times the number in July.

In Osaka, a city-run crematorium raised the quota to around a dozen.

(This article was written by Tetsuro Takehana and Kazuhiro Nagashima.)
No mention of how many were vaxxed although I believe Japan has 85% vaxxed.
 

MinnesotaSmith

Membership Revoked

SHOCKING: UK Government admits COVID Vaccinated Children are 4423% more likely to die of any cause & 13,633% more likely to die of COVID-19 than Unvaccinated Children​

BY THE EXPOSÉ ON JULY 27, 2022

"The UK Government has quietly confirmed that the Covid-19 vaccines are killing children at an unprecedented rate.

Shocking figures contained in an official report, published just hours before Boris Johnson announced his resignation as Prime Minister of the UK, reveal Covid-19 vaccinated children are 4423%/45x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children and 13,6333/137x more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children.


A UK Government agency, known as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), recently published new data on deaths by vaccination status in England.

The latest dataset from the ONS is titled ‘Deaths by Vaccination Status, England, 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2022‘, and it can be accessed on the ONS site here, and downloaded here.

image-207.png
Source
Table 6 of the dataset contains data on deaths involving Covid-19, deaths not involving Covid-19 and all-cause deaths by age group in England between 1st January 2021 and 31st May 2022, and it includes the number of deaths among children aged 10 to 14 by vaccination status, and teenagers aged 15 to 19 by vaccination status.

However, it is quite clear from the data that the ONS are not being as transparent as we would like to believe. This is because they fail to provide the death rate per 100,000 person-years among children or teenagers, whereas they have provided it for all other adult age groups in every other table contained in the dataset.

For example, here’s a snapshot of the data from table 1 of the dataset showing the death rate per 100,000 person-years by vaccination status in April 2022 –

Source
Unfortunately for the ONS, they have failed in their attempts to disguise the horrific mortality rates among Covid-19 vaccinated children because they still provide us with enough information for us to calculate the mortality rates ourselves.

Here’s a snapshot of the ONS data on deaths among children aged 10 to 14 between 1st Jan 2021 and 31st May 2022 by vaccination status –

Source
The data above includes the number of deaths and the number of person-years among each vaccination group.

Therefore, all we need to do is divide each vaccination group’s ‘person-years’ by 100,000, and then divide the number of deaths among each vaccination group by the answer to the previous equation, to work out the mortality rates by vaccination status.

e.g. Unvaccinated 2,881,265 Person-years / 100,000 = 28.81
Unvaccinated Covid-19 Deaths (9) / 28.81 = 0.3 Deaths per 100,000 person-years


The following two charts show the mortality rates by vaccination status per 100,000 person-years among children aged 10 to 14 in England for the period 1st January 2021 to 31st May 2022, according to the figures provided by the ONS –

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Due to the large amount of information contained in the above two charts we’ve cherry-picked the most significant findings to create the following chart –


In regard to Covid-19 deaths, the ONS reveals that the mortality rate among unvaccinated children aged 10 to 14 equates to 0.31. But in regards to one-dose vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to 3.24 per 100,000 person-years, and in regards to triple vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to a shocking 41.29 per 100,000 person-years.

These figures reveal that unvaccinated children are much less likely to die of Covid-19 than children who have had the Covid-19 injection.

Based on Pfizer’s vaccine efficacy formula, this data reveals that the Covid-19 injections are now proving to have negative effectiveness against death among children, with the real-world effectiveness between January 2021 and May 2022 being as follows –

Formula:
Unvaccinated Death Rate – Vaccinated Death Rate
/
Unvaccinated Death Rate x 100 =
Vaccine Effectiveness against Death

The Covid-19 injections are proving to have real-world negative effectiveness against death of minus-966.67% among partly vaccinated children, and a shocking real-world negative effectiveness against death of minus-13,633.33% among triple vaccinated children.

This isn’t anywhere near the claimed 95% effectiveness against death made by Pfizer, is it?

In other words, partly vaccinated children are 11x/966.67% more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children, and triple vaccinated children are 137.3x/13,633.33% more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children.

And unfortunately, there is little improvement when it comes to non-Covid-19 deaths. Here’s the chart again showing the mortality rates by vaccination status among children in England –


The all-cause death mortality rate equates to 6.39 per 100,000 person-years among unvaccinated children, and is ever so slightly higher at 6.48 among partly vaccinated children.

However, the rate goes from bad to worse following the administration of each injection. The all-cause death mortality rate equates to 97.28 among double-vaccinated children, and a shocking 289.02 per 100,000 person-years among triple-vaccinated children.

This means, according to the UK Governments own official data, double vaccinated children are 1422% / 15.22x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children. Whilst triple vaccinated children are 4423% / 45.23x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children.

Unfortunately, we see much of the same when it comes to vaccinated teenagers.

The following two charts show the mortality rates by vaccination status per 100,000 person-years among teenagers aged 15 to 19 in England for the period 1st January 2021 to 31st May 2022, according to the figures provided by the ONS –

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

Again, due to the large amount of information contained in the above two charts we’ve cherry-picked the most significant findings to create the following chart –


What we discover from the above is that triple vaccinated teenagers are 136% / 2.35x more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated teenagers, and 38% more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated teenagers.

The worst figures in terms of all-cause deaths are however among double-vaccinated teenagers. Official UK Government data reveals that double vaccinated teenagers, with a mortality rate of 36.17 per 100,000 person-years, are 149.3% / 2.5 x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated teenagers with a mortality rate of 14.51 per 100,000 person-years.

To summarise, the official UK Government figures published by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, prove that COVID-vaccinated children and teenagers are more likely to die of both Covid-19 and any other cause than unvaccinated children and teenagers.

This indicates that in regard to Covid-19, vaccination is actually worsening the immune response to the alleged virus and increasing the risk of both hospitalisation and death. But in regards to all-cause deaths, this indicates the Covid-19 injections are directly killing children."
 

abby normal

insert appropriate adjective here

SHOCKING: UK Government admits COVID Vaccinated Children are 4423% more likely to die of any cause & 13,633% more likely to die of COVID-19 than Unvaccinated Children​

BY THE EXPOSÉ ON JULY 27, 2022

"The UK Government has quietly confirmed that the Covid-19 vaccines are killing children at an unprecedented rate.

Shocking figures contained in an official report, published just hours before Boris Johnson announced his resignation as Prime Minister of the UK, reveal Covid-19 vaccinated children are 4423%/45x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children and 13,6333/137x more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children.


A UK Government agency, known as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), recently published new data on deaths by vaccination status in England.

The latest dataset from the ONS is titled ‘Deaths by Vaccination Status, England, 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2022‘, and it can be accessed on the ONS site here, and downloaded here.

image-207.png
Source
Table 6 of the dataset contains data on deaths involving Covid-19, deaths not involving Covid-19 and all-cause deaths by age group in England between 1st January 2021 and 31st May 2022, and it includes the number of deaths among children aged 10 to 14 by vaccination status, and teenagers aged 15 to 19 by vaccination status.

However, it is quite clear from the data that the ONS are not being as transparent as we would like to believe. This is because they fail to provide the death rate per 100,000 person-years among children or teenagers, whereas they have provided it for all other adult age groups in every other table contained in the dataset.

For example, here’s a snapshot of the data from table 1 of the dataset showing the death rate per 100,000 person-years by vaccination status in April 2022 –

Source
Unfortunately for the ONS, they have failed in their attempts to disguise the horrific mortality rates among Covid-19 vaccinated children because they still provide us with enough information for us to calculate the mortality rates ourselves.

Here’s a snapshot of the ONS data on deaths among children aged 10 to 14 between 1st Jan 2021 and 31st May 2022 by vaccination status –

Source
The data above includes the number of deaths and the number of person-years among each vaccination group.

Therefore, all we need to do is divide each vaccination group’s ‘person-years’ by 100,000, and then divide the number of deaths among each vaccination group by the answer to the previous equation, to work out the mortality rates by vaccination status.

e.g. Unvaccinated 2,881,265 Person-years / 100,000 = 28.81
Unvaccinated Covid-19 Deaths (9) / 28.81 = 0.3 Deaths per 100,000 person-years


The following two charts show the mortality rates by vaccination status per 100,000 person-years among children aged 10 to 14 in England for the period 1st January 2021 to 31st May 2022, according to the figures provided by the ONS –

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Due to the large amount of information contained in the above two charts we’ve cherry-picked the most significant findings to create the following chart –


In regard to Covid-19 deaths, the ONS reveals that the mortality rate among unvaccinated children aged 10 to 14 equates to 0.31. But in regards to one-dose vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to 3.24 per 100,000 person-years, and in regards to triple vaccinated children the mortality rate equates to a shocking 41.29 per 100,000 person-years.

These figures reveal that unvaccinated children are much less likely to die of Covid-19 than children who have had the Covid-19 injection.

Based on Pfizer’s vaccine efficacy formula, this data reveals that the Covid-19 injections are now proving to have negative effectiveness against death among children, with the real-world effectiveness between January 2021 and May 2022 being as follows –

Formula:
Unvaccinated Death Rate – Vaccinated Death Rate
/
Unvaccinated Death Rate x 100 =
Vaccine Effectiveness against Death

The Covid-19 injections are proving to have real-world negative effectiveness against death of minus-966.67% among partly vaccinated children, and a shocking real-world negative effectiveness against death of minus-13,633.33% among triple vaccinated children.

This isn’t anywhere near the claimed 95% effectiveness against death made by Pfizer, is it?

In other words, partly vaccinated children are 11x/966.67% more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children, and triple vaccinated children are 137.3x/13,633.33% more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated children.

And unfortunately, there is little improvement when it comes to non-Covid-19 deaths. Here’s the chart again showing the mortality rates by vaccination status among children in England –


The all-cause death mortality rate equates to 6.39 per 100,000 person-years among unvaccinated children, and is ever so slightly higher at 6.48 among partly vaccinated children.

However, the rate goes from bad to worse following the administration of each injection. The all-cause death mortality rate equates to 97.28 among double-vaccinated children, and a shocking 289.02 per 100,000 person-years among triple-vaccinated children.

This means, according to the UK Governments own official data, double vaccinated children are 1422% / 15.22x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children. Whilst triple vaccinated children are 4423% / 45.23x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated children.

Unfortunately, we see much of the same when it comes to vaccinated teenagers.

The following two charts show the mortality rates by vaccination status per 100,000 person-years among teenagers aged 15 to 19 in England for the period 1st January 2021 to 31st May 2022, according to the figures provided by the ONS –

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

Again, due to the large amount of information contained in the above two charts we’ve cherry-picked the most significant findings to create the following chart –


What we discover from the above is that triple vaccinated teenagers are 136% / 2.35x more likely to die of Covid-19 than unvaccinated teenagers, and 38% more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated teenagers.

The worst figures in terms of all-cause deaths are however among double-vaccinated teenagers. Official UK Government data reveals that double vaccinated teenagers, with a mortality rate of 36.17 per 100,000 person-years, are 149.3% / 2.5 x more likely to die of any cause than unvaccinated teenagers with a mortality rate of 14.51 per 100,000 person-years.

To summarise, the official UK Government figures published by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, prove that COVID-vaccinated children and teenagers are more likely to die of both Covid-19 and any other cause than unvaccinated children and teenagers.

This indicates that in regard to Covid-19, vaccination is actually worsening the immune response to the alleged virus and increasing the risk of both hospitalisation and death. But in regards to all-cause deaths, this indicates the Covid-19 injections are directly killing children."
My pop (in his mid 70s) was really pressuring me to get my kids vaccinated for covid, he was among first in line to get all the shots and boosters, even joking that he was 5g enabled... love that man but so thankful I trusted my gut.

With all the news coming out about kids dying from this poison, I would hate to be a parent that jumped on that bandwagon.

It's good to be a rebel and a skeptic
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)

US moved online, worked more from home as pandemic raged
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
yesterday

During the first two years of the pandemic, the number of people working from home in the United States tripled, home values grew and the percentage of people who spent more than a third of their income on rent went up, according to survey results released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Providing the most detailed data to date on how life changed in the U.S. under COVID-19, the bureau’s American Community Survey 1-year estimates for 2021 showed that the share of unmarried couples living together rose, Americans became more wired and the percentage of people who identify as multiracial grew significantly. And in changes that seemed to directly reflect how the pandemic upended people’s choices, fewer people moved, preschool enrollment dropped and commuters using public transportation was cut in half.

The data release offers the first reliable glimpse of life in the U.S. during the COVID-19 era, as the 1-year estimates from the 2020 survey were deemed unusable because of problems getting people to answer during the early months of the pandemic. That left a one-year data gap during a time when the pandemic forced major changes in the way people live their lives.

The survey typically relies on responses from 3.5 million households to provide 11 billion estimates each year about commuting times, internet access, family life, income, education levels, disabilities, military service and employment. The estimates help inform how to distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending.

Response rates significantly improved from 2020 to 2021, “so we are confident about the data for this year,” said Mark Asiala, the survey’s chief of statistical design.

While the percentage of married-couple households stayed stable over the two years at around 47%, the percent of households with unwed couples cohabiting rose to 7.2% in 2021 from 6.6% in 2019. Contrary to pop culture images of multigenerational family members moving in together during the pandemic, the average household size actually contracted from 2.6 to 2.5 people.

People also stayed put. More than 87% of those surveyed were living in their same house a year ago in 2021, compared to 86% in 2019. America became more wired as people became more reliant on remote learning and working from home. Households with a computer rose, from 92.9% in 2019 to 95% in 2021, and internet subscription services grew from 86% to 90% of households.

The jump in people who identify as multiracial — from 3.4% in 2019 to 12.6% in 2021 — and a decline in people identifying as white alone — from 72% to 61.2% — coincided with Census Bureau changes in coding race and Hispanic origin responses. Those adjustments were intended to capture more detailed write-in answers from participants. The period between surveys also overlapped with social justice protests following the killing of George Floyd, who was Black, by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020 as well as attacks against Asian Americans. Experts say this likely lead some multiracial people who previously might have identified as a single race to instead embrace all of their background.

“The pattern is strong evidence of shifting self-identity. This is not new,” said Paul Ong, a professor emeritus of urban planning and Asian American Studies at UCLA. “Other research has shown that racial or ethnic identity can change even over a short time period. For many, it is contextual and situational. This is particularly true for individuals with multiracial background.”

The estimates show the pandemic-related impact of closed theaters, shuttered theme parks and restaurants with limited seating on workers in arts, entertainment and accommodation businesses. Their numbers declined from 9.7% to 8.2% of the workforce, while other industries stayed comparatively stable. Those who were self-employed inched up to 6.1% from 5.8%.

Housing demand grew over the two years, as the percent of vacant homes dropped from 12.1% to 10.3%. The median value of homes rose from $240,500 to $281,400. The percent of people whose gross rent exceeded more than 30% of their income went from 48.5% to 51%. Historically, renters are considered rent-burdened if they pay more than that.

“Lack of housing that folks can afford relative to the wages they are paid is a continually growing crisis,” said Allison Plyer, chief demographer at The Data Center in New Orleans.

Commutes to work dropped from 27.6 minutes to 25.6 minutes, as the percent of people working from home during a period of return-to-office starts and stops went from 5.7% in 2019 to almost 18% in 2021. Almost half of workers in the District of Columbia worked from home, the highest rate in the nation, while Mississippi had the lowest rate at 6.3% Over the two years, the percent of workers nationwide using public transportation to get to work went from 5% to 2.5%, as fears rose of catching the virus on buses and subways.

“Work and commuting are central to American life, so the widespread adoption of working from home is a defining feature of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Michael Burrows, a Census Bureau statistician. “With the number of people who primarily work from home tripling over just a two-year period, the pandemic has very strongly impacted the commuting landscape in the United States.”?
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)


Hundreds of Americans still dying of COVID-19 each day ahead of the fall
ARIELLE MITROPOULOS - GMA
Thu, September 15, 2022, 5:04 AM

It has been more than two and half years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite a return to a new form of normality for many people across the country, there are still hundreds of Americans dying from the virus every day, a grim reality of the pandemic's continued destruction.

The U.S. is currently averaging just under 400 daily COVID-19 related deaths. Although the daily number of fatalities is far lower than it was at the nation's peak, in January 2021, 3,400 Americans died of COVID-19 each day.

"The seven-day average daily deaths are still too high, about 375 per day — well above the around 200 deaths a day we saw earlier this spring and, in my mind, far too high for a vaccine-preventable disease," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House press briefing with the COVID-19 response team last week.

Over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported 2,500 deaths, and since the beginning of 2022, more than 221,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19.

The vast majority of Americans who are currently dying of COVID-19 are over the age of 75. Although more than 92% of Americans of the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, many are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, and are at a higher risk for severe disease due to the virus.

The persistently high death rate, alongside concerns over the potential threat of a COVID-19 resurgence, has reignited the call for all Americans to get vaccinated. It is particularly important for those older or more vulnerable to get vaccinated and boosted with the new bivalent shots, which target not only the original strain of the virus, but also the omicron variant, experts said.

"We’re calling on all Americans: Roll up your sleeve to get your COVID-19 vaccine shot," White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said during a press briefing last week. "If you’re 12 and above and previously vaccinated, it’s time to go get an updated COVID-19 shot."

As the vaccine rollout expands, Jha added the administration plans to put "special efforts" into reaching older Americans, people living in congregate care settings such as nursing homes, and others who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Throughout the summer, COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers have oscillated widely across the country. Numbers appeared to be on the decline, but in recent weeks, the number of U.S. wastewater sites reporting increases in the presence of COVID-19 in their samples appears to be back on the rise, after declines seen throughout the latter part of the summer.

In the U.S., about 50% of wastewater sites, which are currently providing data to the CDC, have reported an increase in the presence of the COVID-19 virus in their wastewater, over the last 15 days, up from the 40% of sites reporting increases, last month, according to federal data.

Several sites across the Northeast, in particular, appear to be seeing notable increases. In Boston, wastewater levels had plateaued, after a spring and summer surge, but in recent weeks, data indicates that COVID-19 sampling levels have increased again to their highest level in two months.

However, it is important to note that data is unavailable for many areas of the country, particularly across much of the South and the West.

The U.S. is currently reporting about 70,000 new cases a day. This comes as testing levels have plummeted in recent months, with now under 350,000 tests reported each day — the lowest total since the onset of the pandemic.

However, hospital admission levels continue to fall nationally. About 4,500 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day, down by about 8.4% in the last week.

There are currently about 33,000 virus-positive Americans receiving care in the U.S., down from about 37,000 total patients receiving care, one week ago. Overall, the totals remain significantly lower than at the nation's peak in January, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)


China's Xi skips dinner with Putin, allies as COVID precaution -source

by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov
Thu, September 15, 2022, 11:39 PM

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (Reuters) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping stayed away from a dinner attended by 11 heads of states at a regional security summit in line with his delegation's COVID-19 policy, a source in the Uzbek government told Reuters on Friday.

Xi, who is making his first foreign trip since the beginning of the pandemic, is attending a meeting this week of the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.

However, he was absent from group photographs published late on Thursday when the leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, went for dinner.

An Uzbek government source confirmed Xi's absence and said the Chinese delegation cited its COVID-19 policy as the reason.

In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Xi, 69, is set to secure a historic third leadership term at a Communist Party congress that will begin next month.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
(fair use applies)


The Lancet Opens Pandora's Box, Suggests COVID Could Have Originated In US Labs
by Tyler Durden
Thursday, Sep 15, 2022 - 04:40 PM

After providing a platform for a massive 'Natural Origins' Covid-19 disinformation campaign by EcoHealth Alliance head Peter Daszak, The Lancet appears to have done a 180 - suggesting Covid-19 may have originated "in US laboratories engaged in the laboratory manipulation of SARS-CoV-like viruses," among other possibilities.

"No independent, transparent, and science-based investigation has been carried out regarding the bioengineering of SARS-like viruses that was underway before the outbreak of COVID-19," writes The Lancet's Covid-19 commission, following two years of work.

"Independent researchers have not yet investigated the US laboratories engaged in the laboratory manipulation of SARS-CoV-like viruses, nor have they investigated the details of the laboratory research that had been underway in Wuhan. Moreover, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has resisted disclosing details of the research on SARS-CoV-related viruses that it had been supporting, providing extensively redacted information only as required by Freedom of Information Act lawsuits."

Regular readers will recall that four months before the Obama administration outlawed 'gain-of-function' research on US soil, EcoHealth landed a lucrative NIH contract to offshore the risky research to Wuhan, China - where he was tasked with manipulating bat COVID to be more transmissible to humans.

Daszak notably also wanted to create 'chimeric viruses, genetically enhanced to infect humans more easily,' but his $14 million request to DARPA was declined for being too risky.

Angus Dalgleish, Professor of Oncology at St Georges, University of London, who struggled to get work published showing that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had been carrying out “gain of function” work for years before the pandemic, said the research may have gone ahead even without the funding.
“This is clearly a gain of function, engineering the cleavage site and polishing the new viruses to enhance human cell infectibility in more than one cell line,” he said. -Telegraph

And after Sars-CoV-2 broke out in the same town where Daszak was manipulating Bat Covid, The Lancet published a screed by Daszak (signed by over two-dozen scientists), which insisted Covid could have only come from a natural spillover event, likely from a wet market, and that the scientists "stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin." The Lancet only later noted Daszak's conflicts of interest.

Now, The Lancet's Covid-19 Commission has kicked the door open to several new theories, including that Covid-19 could have been engineered in, or escaped from, US laboratories - and that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has "resisted disclosing the details of its work."

The full section in question:

As of the time of publication of this report, all three research-associated hypotheses are still plausible: infection in the field, infection with a natural virus in the laboratory, and infection with a manipulated virus in the laboratory. No independent, transparent, and science-based investigation has been carried out regarding the bioengineering of SARS-like viruses that was underway before the outbreak of COVID-19. The laboratory notebooks, databases, email records, and samples of institutions involved in such research have not been made available to independent researchers. Independent researchers have not yet investigated the US laboratories engaged in the laboratory manipulation of SARS-CoV-like viruses, nor have they investigated the details of the laboratory research that had been underway in Wuhan. Moreover, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has resisted disclosing details of the research on SARS-CoV-related viruses that it had been supporting, providing extensively redacted information only as required by Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

In brief, there are many potential proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2, but there is still a shortfall of independent, scientific, and collaborative work on the issue. -The Lancet

As The Telegraph notes, the Lancet report comes as controversy swirls the Covid-19 Commission chair, economist Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, who said at a conference in Madrid earlier this year that he was "pretty convinced" Covid-19 "came out of a US lab of biotechnology, not out of nature," a claim promoted by Chinese diplomats.

Sachs also appeared on an August podcast hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - who has been criticized over his prominent anti-vaccine stance.

"Sachs’ appearance on RFK Jr’s podcast… undermines the seriousness of the Lancet Commission’s mission to the point of completely negating it," said Prof Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada. "This may be one of the Lancet’s most shameful moments regarding its role as a steward and leader in communicating crucial findings about science and medicine," she added.

Sachs stood by his previous comments, telling The Telegraph that he personally "oversaw this part of the work" on the emergency of Sars-Cov-2, after disbanding an initial task force headed by Daszak which was never re-formed.

"Everybody has signed off on the final text. The question of a possible laboratory release mostly involves the question of US-China joint work that was underway on Sars-like viruses," he said.

The Lancet Commission's report also criticized the World Health Organization over its slow reaction in the early days of the pandemic, suggesting it "repeatedly erred on the side of reserve rather than boldness," including a delay in calling a public health emergency, as well as a "hesitancy" to report that Covid spread via airborne transmission.

The UN health agency also “fell victim to the increasing tensions between the United States and China”, the commissioners warned, adding that better international collaboration will be key to prevent epidemics becoming pandemics in future.
The WHO said it welcomed “the overarching recommendations”, but said there were “several key omissions and misinterpretations” around the agency's initial response.
The researchers analysed the varying approaches to the disease around the world, too. The Western Pacific “stands out for its very low average mortality rate,” possibly as the region’s experience of the Sars epidemic in 2003 had left it better prepared to tackle new pathogens. -The Telegraph

According to a Lancet spokesperson, the journal "regularly evaluated the work of each Task Force as scientific evidence about Covid-19 evolved, to ensure that the final peer-reviewed report will provide valuable new insights to support a coordinated, global response to Covid-19 as well as to prevent future pandemics and contain future disease outbreaks."
 

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Omicron Sub-Variant BA.2.75 Detected In South Africa, South Korea Warns People Of A Possible Flu Outbreak
Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75 has also been detected in several other countries including India, where it was first detected in June.

Written by Longjam Dineshwori
Updated : September 16, 2022 11:54 AM IST

Although Covid-19 cases continue to decline worldwide, health experts are reminding people that the pandemic is not over yet. The National Health Department of South Africa is making sure that its citizens get the Covid-19 vaccines and receive booster shots as a new sub-variant of Omicron has been detected in the country.

According to Health department spokesperson Foster Mohale, the new Omicron sub-variant called BA.2.75 "is of interest, but not of concern" and so far, it has not had any impact and severity. It was first detected in July in one sample in Gauteng, but has not been found in any other areas, a news agency quoted him as saying.

Mohale added that BA.4 and BA.5 continued to be the most dominant sub-variants in South Africa.

Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75 has also been detected in several other countries including India, where it was first detected in June.
 

Heliobas Disciple

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Fauci, the Master Bureaucrat, Says Its Not His Fault
Jeffrey A. Tucker
September 15, 2022

COMMENTARY

Let’s imagine that one day, liberty, prosperity, security, and rationality were all shredded. Most of the country could not go to church, send their kids to school, get a drink at a bar, go to the gym, or even hold a dinner party. Hospitals intubated patients and 88 percent died. This persisted for months, even a year in some places, after which the government came along with a shot many were forced to get else lose a job, and this shot was not needed by most and had sketchy efficacy and safety data.

One might suppose that if such a thing should happen, the perpetrators of such an outrage would be found and justice would be meted out.

Of course all the above did in fact happen in this land of the free. But here is where it gets strange: no one seems responsible for it all. Another way to say this: no one is willing to take responsibility for what happened.

Anthony Fauci, more than anyone else, appears to be the main architect of American lockdowns and vaccine mandates. He was doing several media appearances a day for the better part of two years, adored by the media and parading around like a master of the universe. He claimed that attacks on him were nothing but attacks on science.

One might suppose that he, more than anyone, would bear responsibility for failure. According to him, the opposite is true. He never gave any orders to anyone, he says. Clearly, he has been planning his escape for years.

Once his emails started coming out thanks to FOIA requests, I noticed that he had a special talent for avoiding responsibility. He is a master bureaucrat. Even though he was running everything, he was always careful never to give direct orders in email or make strong judgements. His emails were carefully worded to avoid that. He would always answer in vague terms, never decisively and never with revealing text.

Even when he and his cohorts ordered a direct hit on the Great Barrington Declaration, he tried to keep his fingerprints off of it. It was Francis Collins of the NIH who called for a “quick and devastating takedown” of the document, whereas Fauci merely sent back links. He did not add any strong words of encouragement. And when confronted about this by Rand Paul, he pointed that out.

This is how a master bureaucrat works. They gain ever more power but they also get ever better at not leaving a paper trail, always setting others up for failure while the master bureaucrat himself avoids having the blame for failure pinned on him.

Such people are everywhere in the workforce, not just the government. You have probably experienced them before in your workplace. They are unusually maddening figures, typically lacking in much skill at all besides the skill of surviving and thriving in a bureaucratic thicket of their own making. Lacking actual skill, they surround themselves with people who can do their work, leaving them all the time in the world for plotting, scheming, and taking credit for all successes. They are equally flattered by everyone around them and secretly despised by these same people.

They have no loyalty to others but demand 100 percent loyalty to themselves. They are always ready to conspire against colleagues and hurl them out if there is a perception of any threat to themselves. They are constantly creating alibis to mask their own incompetence. People fear them so much that they can get away with this caper for years. Eventually of course such people wreck whole institutions.

Senator Rand Paul knows exactly what is going on with Fauci and works to expose him in whatever way he can, given the very limited time he has when Fauci testifies before the Senate. Yesterday, the subject concerned Fauci’s very obvious and completely untenable neglect of natural immunity in the case of COVID.

Rand’s point is very obviously beyond dispute. It’s one of the biggest scandals of the whole pandemic era. NIH and the CDC in their studies and guidelines buried this point of science as deeply as possible. Why? Because doing so helped whip up disease panic, underscore the thinking behind masks and force human separation, and prepared the way for vaccine mandates. It got so bad that even the World Health Organization removed natural immunity from its website.

In the end, of course, it was natural immunity—exposure then recovery—that got us out of the pandemic. No one really disputes that, especially given that the vaccine predictably protects against neither infection nor transmission. Even when Fauci was asked point blank about the subject during the pandemic, he would quickly demur and say that they are studying the problem.

That Fauci buried this known point of science is truly beyond dispute. Of course with Fauci, ever clever, he cannot be trapped. Rand began his brief interrogation by showing a video of Fauci from 2004 in which Fauci says that the best vaccine is infection and recovery. Fauci immediately picks up a sheet of paper from Reuters claiming that the video is taken out of context.

Then Rand moved on to discuss vaccine trials, guidelines, and mandates and how they too completely neglected natural immunity. “Almost none of your studies, from the CDC or from the government,” said Rand, “include the variable of whether or not you have been previously infected.” He demanded to know why Fauci has so completely neglected the topic.

Fauci says in response. “You keep saying you approve, you do this, you do that. The committees that give approval are FDA, through their advisory committee. The committees that recommend are CDC through their advisory committee …. They are not my committees …. I don’t have any idea what goes on.”

Here is the full exchange.

Complete exchange between Sen. @RandPaul and Dr. Anthony Fauci at Monkeypox hearing.
Sen. Paul plays @cspanwj clip of Dr. Fauci.
Fauci: "That film that you showed was really taken out of context…Reuters fact-checked, looked at that…"
Paul: "Actually, words don't lie." pic.twitter.com/d9tvNtli87
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 14, 2022

Wow. Listening to Fauci on this occasion, you would think he bears no more responsibility for the pandemic response or bad vaccine science than the server who brought my veal parmesan to the table last night. He is completely innocent of all things! He even posed as a victim here, shoving all responsibility for everything to some vague committees.

This is another master bureaucrat trick: surround yourself with committees that you can always blame for all failure. An investigator can take the next step and talk to all committee members one by one. In the event of success, every member will be glad to take all credit. In the event of a true failure, every single member will claim to have been skeptical all along but got overruled by other idiots on the committee. This is absolutely inevitable, and precisely why these committees exist in the first place: so that no one in particular is ever made responsible.

This strange pattern not only exists at the federal level. It exists in every state, every county, and every city. For that matter, it exists in every country. There is right now a vast and international scramble to avoid all responsibility. We end up with the spooky reality that the world was utterly wrecked by human hands and yet no one can figure out who or what is at fault. We think we know but pinning the disaster on anyone in power is like nailing jello to the wall.

And the problem is across the board. I touch a nerve by writing on the murderous use of ventilators early in the pandemic. Thousands died unnecessarily. But try to find the responsible party and you come up dry. Readers said that I was unfair to Jared Kushner and that might be correct, since he was just following the prescribed treatment at the time. But who prescribed this ghastly method of addressing a respiratory infection? No one seems to know.

Here is the essence of the problem of systemic human evil through history. We know what happened and we know how horrible it all was. But we are too often at a loss to assign agency in the actions themselves. For the bureaucrat, success means avoiding all responsibility. Anthony Fauci is the paradigmatic case of a person who has mastered the craft. His most perfected science is the science of survival.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
 

Heliobas Disciple

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Governments ‘Failed to Collaborate’ to Control COVID-19 Pandemic and WHO ‘Acted Too Cautiously,’ Says Lancet Commission
By Katabella Roberts
September 15, 2022

A report released on Sept. 14 by the Lancet Commission has highlighted mass failures by governments in their response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and called the death toll from the virus “a profound tragedy and a massive global failure at multiple levels.”

The Lancet COVID-19 Commission was established in July 2020 and is made up of 28 commissioners who are “leading experts” in areas such as public policy, epidemiology and vaccinology, economics and financial systems, and mental health.

Its report is the result of two years’ worth of analyses.

The lengthy report cites multiple failures with regards to international cooperation in the response to the pandemic, including a lack of timely notification during the initial outbreak of the virus, “costly delays” in acknowledging and implementing appropriate measures across the globe regarding the airborne exposure pathway of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and delays in implementing measures to slow the spread of the virus.

The report also notes the lack of coordination among countries with regards to stemming the spread of the virus, and the failure of governments to adopt best practices to control the pandemic, including managing the economic and social spillover.

Other failures the Lancet Commission cites include a lack of funding for low-income and middle-income countries and a lack of adequate global supplies of protective gear, vaccines, and diagnostic equipment.

It also cites political leaders’ failure to “combat systematic disinformation” regarding the virus.

‘Too Many Governments Have Failed’

“Too many governments have failed to adhere to basic norms of institutional rationality and transparency, too many people—often influenced by misinformation—have disrespected and protested against basic public health precautions, and the world’s major powers have failed to collaborate to control the pandemic,” the report states.

The commission further states the World Health Organization (WHO) “acted too cautiously and too slowly on several important matters” related to the virus, including its failure to declare a public health emergency of international concern in a timely manner; to warn about the human transmissibility of the virus; and to endorse public use of protective gear, such as face coverings.

However, the commission noted that it is not “an investigative group, nor a body of biomedical specialists in key fields such as virology, vaccine development, and medicine,” and is instead focused on “science-based policy, global cooperation, and international finance.”

Its report aims to “propose guideposts for strengthening the multilateral system to address global emergencies and to achieve sustainable development,” it said.

As of Sept. 14, there have been over 607 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6.5 million deaths, reported to the WHO.

The Lancet Commission made a number of recommendations for ending the pandemic and preparing for future potential pandemics, while noting that governments need to remain vigilant for new variants of COVID-19 as well as “waning protection from vaccinations and previous infections.”

Recommendations include utilizing “strong monitoring and surveillance systems” throughout the world to establish the risk of a new wave of the virus, intensifying efforts to ensure high levels of immunization coverage, particularly in low-income countries, rehabilitation and social support for people with so-called long COVID, and “complementary public health and social measures such as the use of face masks, the promotion of safe workplaces, and economic and social support for self-isolation.”

Further Research Needed to Find COVID-19 Origins


The report also calls on China, the United States, the EU, India, the Russian Federation, and other major regional and global powers to “put aside their geopolitical rivalries to work together to end this pandemic” and to prepare for the next global crisis.

The commission also said it supports a push for a deeper search into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, including a “possible natural spillover or a possible research-related spillover.”

In a lengthy statement following the release of the report, the WHO said that while it welcomes the commission’s findings, the report contains “several key omissions and misinterpretations,” particularly regarding the “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and the speed and scope of WHO’s actions.”

“WHO echoes the Commission’s conclusions that COVID-19 exposed major global challenges, such as chronic underfinancing of the UN, rigid intellectual property regimes, a lack of sustainable financing for low- and middle-income countries, and ‘excessive nationalism,’ which drove vaccine inequity,” the statement read.

However, the health body stated that it had repeatedly warned of the potential of asymptomatic human-to-human transmission and had done its best to provide masks early on to those who were deemed high risk.

It also pointed to early recommendations regarding travel measures to be put in place and pointed to “guidance and enhanced surveillance protocols” it issued early in the pandemic to “identify contacts among people prior to the development of symptoms,” among other responses.

The health body noted that while the pandemic is not yet over, “the end is in sight” while vowing to lay a “stronger foundation for the future.”
 

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Woman Escapes COVID-19 Hospital Treatment Protocols, Says Others Not So Lucky
By Matt McGregor
September 15, 2022

Over a week after Gail Seiler’s physician had given her a terminal diagnosis, her husband, Brad Seiler, wheeled her out of the back door of the hospital where she had been admitted for COVID-19 on Dec. 3, 2021.

“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Seiler, but you are going to die,” she recalled her physician telling her on Dec. 5.

On Dec. 15, despite resistance from hospital staff, Brad extracted Seiler from Medical City Plano hospital in Plano, Texas, where the couple lives.

Seiler is one of the few patients who has lived to tell her story about what she said she witnessed on the inside with COVID-19 hospital treatment protocols.

“It became clear to me that people are not dying in hospitals from COVID. They are dying from these protocols,” Seiler told The Epoch Times.

Seiler went in for a monoclonal antibody infusion with the request that she be given the early-treatment protocols prescribed through the Front Line Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), which included the use of ivermectin and budesonide.

However, when staff discovered she was unvaccinated, “the whole tone changed,” she said.

“I quickly lost the right to advocate for my own medical care,” she said.

‘I Didn’t Come Here to Die’

After a 26-hour wait, she finally got a bed in the intensive care unit (ICU), but no family members were allowed to visit, she said.

This is where she met Dr. Giang Quach, the physician who told her she was going to die because she was unvaccinated, she said.

“I told him, ‘I didn’t come here to die,’” she said.

Seiler said Quach pushed her to take remdesivir, a drug known to cause kidney failure. She repeatedly asked for a different doctor, but her pleas went unanswered and Quach remained in charge of her care, she said.

In 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Right to Try Act into law, which allowed patients with life-threatening diseases who have exhausted all other options to try certain unapproved treatments.

Because Quach had given Seiler a terminal diagnosis, she was entitled to try FLCCC protocols to treat COVID-19, but the hospital denied her those treatments, she said.

Quach also denied Seiler her right to see a priest to administer her last rites, she said.

So, Seiler made a deal with Quach, she said.

She said she would submit to a round of remdesivir if Quach let her see her priest for final sacraments.

Quach agreed, and Seiler was allowed to see her priest, she said.

“Then, we denied the remdesivir,” Seiler said. “They were pretty angry about it, but honestly, I felt I was in a fight for my soul. When the priest left, I had this renewed feeling that I was going to live and not be killed.”

‘Every Day I Would Tell Them I’m Not a DNR’

Every day, Seiler said, she made it known that she did not want Quach in charge of her care and insisted on seeing a different provider, but Quach always returned.

Seiler’s daughter had access to her online records, where she found that Seiler was classified as Do Not Resuscitate (DNR), she said.

Seiler said she was not supposed to be listed as DNR.

“The scariest part of it was every day I would tell them I’m not a DNR, but them telling me I’m a DNR,” Seiler said.

In order to be resuscitated, Seiler said, hospital staff told her she had to go on the ventilator, the final stage for many who have reported similar hospital stories that ended in death.

Each of the standard treatment protocols for COVID-19, beginning with remdesivir and ending with the ventilator, are reimbursed with lucrative payoffs from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), leading many to believe this is the reason hospitals continue to use these protocols while denying early treatment.

In a Sept. 7 conference titled “Remdesivir Death: Landmark Lawsuit” in Fresno, California, two attorneys announced lawsuits against three hospitals for what they allege are the hospitals using remdesivir without informed consent, leading to wrongful death.

The lawsuit addressed what the attorneys called “the remdesivir protocol,” in which the patients may be admitted to the hospital—often for problems unrelated to COVID-19—and then diagnosed with COVID-19 or COVID pneumonia.

The patients are then isolated and malnourished before being told remdesivir is their only treatment option, according to the lawsuit.

The patients are also placed on a BiPap machine, which uses pressure to push oxygen into the lungs at a high rate, the lawsuit says, with the patients’ hands often tied down so they can’t remove it.

The final stage of the protocol is intubation, at which point the patients die an average of nine days after being admitted, the lawsuit states.

In the end, the hospital can get up to $500,000 in reimbursement per patient for the protocol, according to the lawsuit.

‘Things Just Got Worse’

Seiler goes into more detail about her story on the FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation’s COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal Memory Project.

She became the Texas chairperson for the foundation, where she gathers stories similar to hers to submit to the project’s documented cases.

The foundation also offers multiple online support group meetings where others can tell their stories.

The number of people who say they’ve had family members die in hospitals at the hands of what they call the “death protocols” continues to surface. However, for many of them, their loved ones’ deaths left them with inconceivable stories of administrative cruelty.

Patients and families are scared into accepting treatment such as remdesivir without being informed about the risks such as kidney failure.

Families have reported that physicians will tell them that the patient needs oxygen and rest, then the oxygen is used to such a high degree that later a ventilator is required because the lungs are damaged.

When a patient tries to remove the BiPap mask, they are deemed agitated and given sedatives, leaving them at the mercy of hospital staff, many reported, while being denied access to basic nutrition, hygiene, and exercise.

For Seiler, the lack of nutrition caused hair loss, and she developed a fungal infection called thrush because no one removed her BiPap mask to clean her mouth, she said.

Seiler said the doctors and nurses wouldn’t allow her to even sit up, resulting in bed sores, and she eventually lost her ability to walk.

After two days on a catheter that she said was forced on her because nurses told her they couldn’t take her to the bathroom, she got another infection from the catheter.

“Things just got worse,” Seiler said. “People were dying around me in other rooms. Quite frankly, it was quite scary, and I knew that time was short.”

‘I’m Going to Take You Out of There’

On Dec. 14, 2021, Seiler’s husband, a former nurse and U.S. Army veteran, called 911 to have the Plano Police Department perform a welfare check, she said.

When the police officer arrived, Seiler said she attempted to explain to him what she had experienced.

“I told him they’re going to murder me,” she said. “He said, ‘We don’t have a protocol for this,’ and he left.”

Having exhausted all other options, Brad Seiler and Seiler’s daughter—who had been contacting politicians for help—came up with a plan to get her out of the hospital and take her home.

Brad Seiler set up oxygen and obtained medications with the help of a home consultation service and Dr. Richard Bartlett’s protocols, which emphasize the use of budesonide, she said.

On Dec. 15, Brad called and told her, “I’m going to take you out of there.”

Brad arrived with a cease-and-desist letter and two pieces of patients’ rights legislation, written to allow access to at least one visitor: Texas Senate Bill 572 and Senate Bill 2211.

The state’s House and Senate bills prohibit hospitals from denying visitation, including clergy visitation, during disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seiler said Quach found a loophole in the House bill where it says the doctor can write an order for five days limiting visitation to one person, and then renew that order.

“And that’s what Dr. Quach had done to keep me isolated,” she said. “Still, Quach broke the premise of that bill, because I wasn’t allowed any visitors.”

The Senate bill, which was written by state Sen. Bob Hall, permits a spiritual counselor, she said.

This was written to include family members, which is why Brad was brandishing the legislation—to invoke himself as the spiritual head of the family, Seiler said.

‘I Anticipate There Will be Future Hearings’

Hall, who was involved in making calls to the hospital to petition for Seiler’s care, has been outspoken against “the commandeering of medical practices by the government.”

In June 2022, the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services held a hearing where families testified about their loved ones’ experiences with the medical system during the pandemic.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, Hall said he anticipates future hearings after the committee heard the personal testimonies.

“Patients and doctors must be empowered to make decisions on treatment protocols without fear of threats and intimidation if they differ from government-mandated procedures,” Hall said.

It was the persistence of Seiler’s husband and daughter, Hall said, that made Seiler “one of the few hospital COVID patients to get out of the hospital in time to survive.”

Echoing Seiler’s earlier statement, Hall said “more people died in hospitals like Medical City Plano because of hospital policies, than died of COVID.”

In a statement to The Epoch Times, a Medical City Plano spokesperson said that “like other hospitals in our area, our hospital relies on licensed, independent physicians who use their extensive training and experience to assess patients’ needs and determine the course of treatment. We support our physicians by giving them information and resources, including the latest research to help them provide the best possible care to our patients.”

Of the many consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the erosion of confidence in the medical profession’s “best possible care” has been the most damaging, Hall said.

“The circumstances triggered a number of egregious policies and practices never before seen in our modern hospitals,” Hall said. “Patients were isolated from their families and loved ones, intimidated or coerced into receiving medical protocols with which they disagreed, and in some cases, outright neglected. Government-mandated protocols, which did more harm than good, added fuel and distrust to the fire.”

‘I Know for Certain I Will Die at Your Hands’

Brad Seiler had gone beyond the stage of distrust when he entered the hospital and somehow charged his way into the ICU as security chased him, Gail Seiler said.

When told to leave, Brad told staff, “You’re not going to murder my wife. She’s coming home with me,” Seiler said.

From there, it became almost like an all-day hostage negotiation, Seiler said, with six police officers who were there not to help them, but to make Brad leave.

Hall got involved, telling Brad not to resist if officers were to arrest him, Seiler said, while one of the doctors told her that if she were to leave with Brad, she would die.

“I told her that if I died tonight, ‘I’d prefer it be with Brad trying to save me rather than die at your hands because I know for certain I will die at your hands,’” Seiler said.

Seiler needed a wheelchair because her legs didn’t work due to a lack of physical therapy, she said.

When she was packed and ready to leave, Seiler said the floor nurse led them out through what he called “the shortcut,” which turned out to be the way through the morgue where the funeral homes pick up bodies.

“I think it was to send us a message,” Seiler said.

‘A Medical Matrix’

Despite the physician telling Brad Seiler that his wife wouldn’t make it 24 hours if she left the hospital, she lives today to tell her story.

It wasn’t easy, Gail Seiler said, and her healing at home had more to do with recovering from her experience at the hospital than from the virus itself.

However, it was Bartlett’s treatment that saved her life, she said.

“Everything he put in place works,” she said. “I started to improve right away.”

The Seilers later contacted their state representative who contacted Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct an investigation, Gail said.

HHS assigned the investigation to the hospital, which concluded that the hospital had “done a stellar job,” Gail said.

“No one contacted us, and they certainly didn’t look at our medical records because—if anything—even making someone a DNR when they tell you they aren’t a DNR is against the law, right?” Sieler said.

The Seilers were sure no one would believe their story, but as they continued to tell it on podcast and radio interviews, more and more people contacted them to share their own experiences.

Seiler managed to escape the hospital and recover, but she said most of the stories she hears from other people don’t have happy endings, leaving those families wracked with guilt when they realize what took place.

The majority of the cases have ended in the death of the patient, Seiler said, with the family only realizing they had been gaslit after it was over.

“What we’re seeing is doctors aren’t being honest with the patient, and by the time you realize they’re harming you, you’ve not only been harmed, you’ve also been gaslit, and you can’t just leave,” Seiler said. “You’re on a high flow of oxygen and you’re told if you leave, you’ll die. If you get intubated, the only way out is to be transferred to another hospital.”

Patients have generally had the right to advocate for their own medical treatment, and even deny recommendations, but with the emergency declarations related to COVID, hospital staff have been given authority over patients they’ve historically not had, Seiler said.

In some cases, patients have been given remdesivir and other medications not only without informed consent but also after the patient had put in writing that they didn’t want the drug, Seiler said.

Despite this overreach being exercised in hospitals, Brad and the Seiler’s daughter was able to bring enough attention to the case through networking with Hall and Lt. Col. Allen West, Seiler said.

West had also been treated there and—in addition to Hall—made several calls to the hospital on the Seilers’ behalf, which Seiler said she suspects is why staff had to eventually acquiesce to letting Brad remove her.

The Seilers were also helped by the legal team of Paul M. Davis & Associates in Frisco, Texas, a firm that’s representing clients who have also gone through the hospital protocols.

There have been cases in which people have just walked out, but they are rare, Seiler said.

“Once you enter the hospital, you’re in this medical matrix, and the only way out is through death or if someone comes and takes you out,” Seiler said.

Today, Seiler’s mission is to bring awareness by sharing her story and the stories of others, she said.

“My goal is to keep people out of hospitals because this truly is a hospital holocaust.”
 

Zoner

Veteran Member
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Hundreds of Americans still dying of COVID-19 each day ahead of the fall
ARIELLE MITROPOULOS - GMA
Thu, September 15, 2022, 5:04 AM

It has been more than two and half years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite a return to a new form of normality for many people across the country, there are still hundreds of Americans dying from the virus every day, a grim reality of the pandemic's continued destruction.

The U.S. is currently averaging just under 400 daily COVID-19 related deaths. Although the daily number of fatalities is far lower than it was at the nation's peak, in January 2021, 3,400 Americans died of COVID-19 each day.

"The seven-day average daily deaths are still too high, about 375 per day — well above the around 200 deaths a day we saw earlier this spring and, in my mind, far too high for a vaccine-preventable disease," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House press briefing with the COVID-19 response team last week.

Over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported 2,500 deaths, and since the beginning of 2022, more than 221,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19.

The vast majority of Americans who are currently dying of COVID-19 are over the age of 75. Although more than 92% of Americans of the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, many are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, and are at a higher risk for severe disease due to the virus.

The persistently high death rate, alongside concerns over the potential threat of a COVID-19 resurgence, has reignited the call for all Americans to get vaccinated. It is particularly important for those older or more vulnerable to get vaccinated and boosted with the new bivalent shots, which target not only the original strain of the virus, but also the omicron variant, experts said.

"We’re calling on all Americans: Roll up your sleeve to get your COVID-19 vaccine shot," White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said during a press briefing last week. "If you’re 12 and above and previously vaccinated, it’s time to go get an updated COVID-19 shot."

As the vaccine rollout expands, Jha added the administration plans to put "special efforts" into reaching older Americans, people living in congregate care settings such as nursing homes, and others who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Throughout the summer, COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers have oscillated widely across the country. Numbers appeared to be on the decline, but in recent weeks, the number of U.S. wastewater sites reporting increases in the presence of COVID-19 in their samples appears to be back on the rise, after declines seen throughout the latter part of the summer.

In the U.S., about 50% of wastewater sites, which are currently providing data to the CDC, have reported an increase in the presence of the COVID-19 virus in their wastewater, over the last 15 days, up from the 40% of sites reporting increases, last month, according to federal data.

Several sites across the Northeast, in particular, appear to be seeing notable increases. In Boston, wastewater levels had plateaued, after a spring and summer surge, but in recent weeks, data indicates that COVID-19 sampling levels have increased again to their highest level in two months.

However, it is important to note that data is unavailable for many areas of the country, particularly across much of the South and the West.

The U.S. is currently reporting about 70,000 new cases a day. This comes as testing levels have plummeted in recent months, with now under 350,000 tests reported each day — the lowest total since the onset of the pandemic.

However, hospital admission levels continue to fall nationally. About 4,500 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day, down by about 8.4% in the last week.

There are currently about 33,000 virus-positive Americans receiving care in the U.S., down from about 37,000 total patients receiving care, one week ago. Overall, the totals remain significantly lower than at the nation's peak in January, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.
Maybe the reason all these Americans are dying of Covid is because they’re vaccinated and their immune system has been compromised. Maybe they’re dying because they’re not vaccinated against new strains and variants and their compromised immune system is failing them.
 

Heliobas Disciple

TB Fanatic
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0hpT00a8xg
Lancet viral origins report
14 min 32 sec

Sep 15, 2022
Dr. John Campbell

The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic, 14th September 2022 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/la... https://covid19commission.org Viral origins The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 remains unknown. There are two leading hypotheses: that the virus emerged as a zoonotic spillover from wildlife or a farm animal, possibly through a wet market, in a location that is still undetermined; or that the virus emerged from a research-related incident, during the field collection of viruses, or through a laboratory-associated escape. No independent, transparent, and science-based investigation has been carried out regarding the bioengineering of SARS-like viruses that was underway before the outbreak of COVID-19. The laboratory notebooks, databases, email records, and samples of institutions involved in such research have not been made available to independent researchers. Independent researchers have not yet investigated the US laboratories engaged in the laboratory manipulation of SARS-CoV-like viruses, nor have they investigated the details of the laboratory research that had been underway in Wuhan. US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has resisted disclosing details of the research on SARS-CoV-related viruses that it had been supporting, providing extensively redacted information only as required by Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. In brief, there are many potential proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2, but there is still a shortfall of independent, scientific, and collaborative work on the issue. The search for the origins of the virus requires unbiased, independent, transparent, and rigorous work by international teams in the fields of virology, epidemiology, bioinformatics, and other related fields, and supported by all governments. In the absence of an unbiased, independent, and rigorous search for a natural origin by a multidisciplinary team of experts alongside an unbiased, independent, and rigorous investigation of the research-related hypotheses, the public's trust in science will be imperilled, with potentially grave long-term repercussions. It is therefore crucial to investigate all hypotheses fully, not only to ascertain the source of the pandemic and to protect against future emerging infectious diseases, but also to ensure the integrity of science itself. The perceived lack of transparency to date by leading scientific agencies and laboratories is troubling and needs to be addressed. Strategies to prevent research-related releases should include stronger international and national oversight of biosafety, biosecurity, and biorisk management, including the strict regulation of gain of function research of concern. When investigating the origins of any novel pathogen, potential hypotheses should not be prematurely rejected to ensure that time-sensitive data— such as early case information and laboratory records—are collected.
 
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