Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday touted new prizes to incentivize New Yorkers to get COVID-19 vaccines — as the governor warned that the inoculation rate across the state is dropping “dramatically.”

“We’ve got more to do, unquestionably,” the mayor said at his daily press briefing, noting that half of Big Apple adults still aren’t fully vaccinated.

To boost the figures, de Blasio said Gotham will be offering 10 annual Crunch gym memberships and 50 tickets to the Governor’s Ball to a lucky few randomly picked from those either getting their shots or booking an appointment for one at a city-run site this week.

“Every week, we will announce a new contest,’’ de Blasio said. “This just continues to show there are so many ways to get people focused and excited about getting vaccinated.” . . .

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) on Monday signed a bill banning private businesses and public institutions from requiring COVID-19 “vaccine passports.”

As the Montgomery Advertiser reports, the bill passed the Alabama state House 76 to 16 a week ago.

The legislation states that public entities such as schools “may not issue vaccine or immunization passports, vaccine or immunization passes, or any other standardized documentation for the purpose of certifying the immunization status of an individual, or otherwise require the publication or sharing of immunization records or similar health information for an individual.”

It does not, however, affect vaccine requirements already in place in schools, the newspaper notes.

The bill only applies to vaccines that were approved as of Jan. 1 and may have to be revisited in future legislative sessions.

The British government has been reported to have secretly surveilled the movements of millions of citizens to track changes in behaviour following the administration of coronavirus vaccines.

A report from the SPI-B committee of government scientists has revealed that the government tracked up to ten per cent of the British public’s phones in February, all without permission or notification to the public.

Britain’s Covid crisis will be ‘OVER’ within a few weeks if vaccines work as expected against Indian variant, top scientist says amid calls for No10 to ‘roll back’ lockdown-easing roadmap if cases keep rising nationally

• PHE analysis concluded two-dose jabs offered similar level of protection against Indian variant as Kent one
• Oxford’s Professor Andrew Pollard said the pandemic could be ‘over’ if jabs stop Covid hospitalisations
• Ministers say England is on track for June 21’s ‘freedom day’, despite fears Indian variant could stop plans
• But some scientists are not convinced by No10’s ever-growing optimism regarding the mutant strain
• Up to 70% of all cases in the North West are now being caused by the Indian variant, official data shows

In their race to vaccinate the entire U.S. adult population, health officials are urging everyone to get a COVID shot, regardless of whether or not they’ve already been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and spending billions of dollars in taxpayer funded propaganda to convince people to get the vaccine.

This is an important distinction, however, with at least one scientist warning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that “clear and present danger” exists for those who have had COVID-19 and subsequently get vaccinated.

That scientist — Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, a cardiac surgeon and patient advocate — warned the FDA that prescreening for SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins may reduce the risk of injuries and deaths following vaccination, as the vaccine may trigger an adverse immune response in those who have already been infected with the virus.¹

Unfortunately, health agencies continue to assert that everyone should get vaccinated, even if they’ve already acquired natural immunity via previous infection.

CDC: Get Vaccinated Even if You’ve Had COVID

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that it’s rare to get sick again if you’ve already had COVID-19. Despite this, they say those who have recovered from COVID-19 should still get vaccinated:²

“You should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible — although rare — that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.”

Your immune system is designed to work in response to exposure to an infectious agent. Upon recovery, you’re typically immune to that infectious agent. This is why, for instance, proof of prior diagnosis with chickenpox, measles and mumps is allowed instead of vaccination to enter most U.S. public schools³ — once you’ve had the disease and recovered, you’re immune.

If you’ve had COVID-19, you have some level of immunity against the virus. It’s unknown how long it lasts, just as it’s unknown how long protection from the vaccine lasts. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden:⁴

“If you have had COVID-19, you have some protection against reinfection. This means that you are less likely to become infected and seriously ill, and less likely to infect others if you are exposed to the virus again.

Over time, the protection that you get after an infection wanes and there is an increased risk of getting infected again. At present, we estimate that the protection after having had COVID-19 lasts at least six months from the time of infection.”

People With Prior COVID Have More Vaccination Side Effects

An international survey of 2,002 people who had received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine found that people who had previously had COVID-19 experienced “significantly increased incidence and severity” of side effects after the COVID-19 vaccine.⁵ Those who had previously had COVID-19 had a greater risk of experiencing any side effect, along with the following, specifically:

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were linked to a higher incidence of side effects compared to the viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines, but the mRNA side effects tended to be milder, local reactions. Systemic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, flu-like illness and breathlessness, were more likely to occur with the viral vector COVID-19 vaccines.

According to the researchers, the findings should prompt health officials to reevaluate their vaccination recommendations for people who’ve had COVID-19:⁶

“People with prior COVID-19 exposure were largely excluded from the vaccine trials and, as a result, the safety and reactogenicity of the vaccines in this population have not been previously fully evaluated. For the first time, this study demonstrates a significant association between prior COVID19 infection and a significantly higher incidence and severity of self-reported side effects after vaccination for COVID-19.

Consistently, compared to the first dose of the vaccine, we found an increased incidence and severity of self-reported side effects after the second dose, when recipients had been previously exposed to viral antigen.

In view of the rapidly accumulating data demonstrating that COVID-19 survivors generally have adequate natural immunity for at least 6 months, it may be appropriate to re-evaluate the recommendation for immediate vaccination of this group.”

Surgeon Warns of Immunological Dangers, Blood Clots . . .

Immediately Delay Vaccination for These Key Groups . . .

No Proof of Efficacy in People Who’ve Had COVID-19 . . .

CDC Allows Misinformation to Continue . . .

The Big Lie — Natural Infection Isn’t Adequate . . .

Back in February, as the world was beating a path to Taiwan’s door for help to tackle a shortage of semiconductors, the health minister got into a scrap with China over Covid-19 vaccines.

Beijing, he suggested, had used political pressure to derail Taiwan’s plan to purchase five million doses directly from Germany’s BioNTech SE, rather than via a Chinese company which held the rights to develop and market the BioNTech-Pfizer Inc. vaccine across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted that Taipei “should stop hyping up political issues under the pretext of vaccine issues.”

Three months later, Taiwan is paying the price for a lack of vaccines, with a surge in virus cases that threatens to trigger a lockdown. Having successfully sidestepped the first Covid wave, the government now faces a health emergency — only about 1% of its population is vaccinated so far — with the potential to disrupt the chip industry that dominates the local economy, and which is critical to an already-squeezed global supply. . .

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is grappling with another public relations challenge after the disclosure that heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, has hit some teens and young people after Covid-19 vaccination. The news of potential heart-related concerns with the Pfizer and Moderna RNA vaccines comes on the heels of blood clot worries linked to […]

But Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard University, a leading advocate of widespread, rapid testing, said that with more than 60% of Americans not fully vaccinated, screening of those without symptoms still has a role.

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials’ new, more relaxed recommendations on masks have all but eclipsed another major change in guidance from the government: Fully vaccinated Americans can largely skip getting tested for the coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that most people who have received the full course of shots and have no COVID-19 symptoms don’t need to be screened for the virus, even if exposed to someone infected.

The change represents a new phase in the epidemic after nearly a year in which testing was the primary weapon against the virus. Vaccines are now central to the response and have driven down hospitalizations and deaths dramatically.

Experts say the CDC guidance reflects a new reality in which nearly half of Americans have received at least one shot and close to 40% are fully vaccinated.

“At this point we really should be asking ourselves whether the benefits of testing outweigh the costs — which are lots of disruptions, lots of confusion and very little clinical or public health benefit,” said Dr. A. David Paltiel of Yale’s School of Public Health, who championed widespread testing at colleges last year.

While vaccinated people can still catch the virus, they face little risk of serious illness from it. And positive test results can lead to what many experts now say are unnecessary worry and interruptions at work, home and school, such as quarantines and shutdowns.

Other health specialists say the CDC’s abrupt changes on the need for masks and testing have sent the message that COVID-19 is no longer a major threat, even as the U.S. reports daily case counts of nearly 30,000.

“The average Joe Public is interpreting what the CDC is saying as ‘This is done. It’s over,’” said Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard University, a leading advocate of widespread, rapid testing.

With more than 60% of Americans not fully vaccinated, he thinks screening of those without symptoms still has a role, particularly among front-line workers who have to deal with the public.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the updated guidelines are based on studies showing the robust effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing disease in various age groups and settings. Even when vaccinated people do contract COVID-19, their infections tend to be milder, shorter and less likely to spread to others.

As a result, the CDC says vaccinated people can generally be excluded from routine workplace screening for COVID-19.

That change could eliminate testing headaches like the one recently reported by the New York Yankees, when one player and several staffers tested positive on a highly sensitive COVID-19 test, despite being vaccinated.

Baseball officials are discussing whether to drop or reduce testing of people who have no symptoms.

But widespread attempts to waive testing for vaccinated people could face the same dilemma seen with the CDC’s new guidelines on masks: There’s no easy way to determine who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t.

Employers can legally require vaccinations for most workers, though few have tested that power, since the vaccines don’t yet have full regulatory approval. Even asking employees to disclose their vaccination status is viewed as intrusive by many employment-law specialists.

For now, testing appears to be continuing unchanged in places that adopted the practice, from offices to meatpacking plants to sports teams.

Pork producer Smithfield Foods said it continues to conduct a combination of mandatory and optional testing for employees, depending on conditions at work sites. Amazon said it will still offer regular, voluntary testing.

The NBA has indicated it plans to keep its testing system in place for now. The league has been praised for using rigorous testing to create COVID-19-free “bubbles” around players, coaches and staff.

On a national level, the supply of COVID-19 tests now vastly surpasses demand. U.S. officials receive reports of about 1 million tests per day, down from a peak of over 2 million in mid-January, though many rapid tests done at home and workplaces go uncounted.

Consumers can buy 15-minute, over-the-counter tests at pharmacies and other stores. That’s on top of increased capacity from U.S. laboratories and hospitals, which ramped up testing after last year’s crushing demand.

The U.S. will be capable of conducting 500 million monthly tests in June, according to researchers at Arizona State University.

As recently as this winter, many health experts were calling for a huge testing effort to safely reopen schools, offices and other businesses. But that was before it was known how effective the vaccine would be in the real world, how quickly it could be distributed and whether it would protect against variants.

“The vaccines overperformed, which is the best news possible,” said Dr. Jeffrey Engel of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “So now you can begin to peel back some of these other layers of mitigation like mask use and screening.”

Congress set aside $46 billion in the last pandemic relief package to boost testing, particularly in schools. But with all Americans 12 and older now eligible for shots, many middle and high school students will be fully vaccinated when they return to classrooms in the fall.

And many school systems have already rejected routine testing for elementary students, since children rarely become seriously ill and a positive test can trigger disruptive quarantines.

Some states have even returned federal testing funds, preferring simpler measures such as mask wearing and social distancing.

Many school officials, Engel said, “just see screening programs as a huge burden that’s not going to help.”

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this story from New York

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

During an appearance on WABC radio, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) – who was the first known U.S. Senator to contract the China-originated virus – revealed that he will not be taking one of the controversial COVID-19 vaccines, because he already had the disease and, thus, already has natural antibodies meant to fight it.

“Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers, or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that I’m not getting vaccinated because I’ve already had the disease and I have natural immunity,” said Paul.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the wave of often-politicized science and advice surrounding it, this was the common way to treat vaccines and their associated illnesses. For example, if a child contracts chicken pox and recovers naturally, doctors advise against taking the chicken pox vaccine. When it comes to the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine, the CDC notes that there is no harm in receiving a dose of the vaccine if one is already immune to one or more of the viruses, however, it does not explicitly advise it.

However, the CDC claims that experts have no idea how long COVID-19 immunity from surviving the virus may last, despite a lack of reports of those who already had the illness contracting it again. Similarly, the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the creation of two of the popular COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States – Moderna and Pfizer – say that their mRNA vaccines will not offer permanent immunity, and have already publicly recommended both six month booster shots and annual inoculations.

Recently, Paul made headlines for his public feud with Anthony Fauci, who recently admitted that he only wears face masks indoors for optical reasons months after Paul accused him of engaging in “theater”. Paul grilled Fauci about his decision to fund “gain of function” research using bats and coronaviruses at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and later suggested Fauci could be “culpable” for the entire COVID-19 pandemic through the funding of this research.