BRUSSELS — The European Union agreed Wednesday to reopen its borders to visitors who have been fully vaccinated with an approved shot and to those coming from a list of countries considered safe from a coronavirus perspective, permitting broader travel just in time for the summer tourism season.

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states endorsed a plan that would allow visits from tourists and other nonessential travelers, who have been mostly barred from entering the bloc for more than a year.

The move has been seen as an economic imperative for tourism-dependent countries such as Greece and Spain.

The new rules are set to become formal policy next week after clearing some bureaucratic hurdles, and, depending on how well each country has prepared to welcome tourists, could be implemented immediately. Some countries, like Greece, have already said that they will remove testing and quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors. But most countries are likely to implement such changes more slowly and conservatively.

Under the EU plan, the bloc would accept visitors who have completed their immunization at least two weeks before their arrival, using one of the shots approved by its own regulator or by the World Health Organization. That covers the vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm, according to a draft of the rules seen by The New York Times. . . .

Emergent BioSolutions, the biotech company whose Baltimore plant ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to its top executives last year, and the company’s board praised its founder and chairman for “leveraging his critical relationships with key customers, Congress, and other stakeholders,” according to documents released Wednesday by a House subcommittee.

The government, which awarded the firm a $628 million contract last year, has so far paid Emergent $271 million, even though U.S. regulators have yet to clear a single dose of vaccine produced at its manufacturing plant in Baltimore, according to the documents released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis in advance of a hearing on Wednesday.

Production at the plant was halted a month ago after workers accidentally contaminated a batch of vaccine, forcing Emergent to discard the equivalent of up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine.

Records from an Emergent board of directors compensation meeting offer a rare glimpse inside a politically connected federal contractor whose business is built largely around a single customer: the United States government. . .

This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president, and Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed,” cover the latest COVID headlines, including discrimination based on vaccine status, Eric Clapton’s experience with the AstraZeneca vaccine and lighting up Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue with the message “Vaccine Saves.”

Mary and Polly also take on the issue of targeting people in lower socioeconomic groups with vaccine incentives and pro-vaccine messaging, including Ohio’s million-dollar lottery and McDonald’s teaming up with the U.S. government to provide “vaccine education” on its packaging.

Here are a few of this week’s highlights:

• As health officials look to “schools, camps, even beaches” in the race to vaccinate teens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced COVID vaccines can now be given alongside other vaccines — a departure from an earlier recommendation that they be spaced out by at least two weeks. The guidance comes even as the CDC acknowledges “data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines.” Mary said, “They have no clue about what will happen, no clue.”
• Merriam-Webster changed the official definition of the word “anti-vaxxer” (a recent edition to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary). It has been changed to include people who oppose forced inoculation mandates.
• Pediatricians are being “primed” to lead the effort to convince the “skyrocketing” numbers of “vaccine-hesitant” to get their kids the vaccine. “No parent should be rushing to give a child an unapproved, unlicensed medical product” — especially for a virus they aren’t at risk from, Mary said.
• An 8-month-old baby became the world’s youngest to get two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
• The World Health Organization continues to stand by vaccines even as India is ravaged by COVID variants — but one scientist warns mass vaccination could be causing more virulent strains. “It’s analogous to antibiotic resistance, where bacteria just evolve to evade the drug,” Mary said. “The virus wants to live.”
• Delta Airlines will require new employees to get the vaccine, but won’t force existing employees to get it. “This shows they’re afraid to lose their workforce,” said Mary. “They realize they’re walking into a hornet’s nest.”
• Vaccine mandate laws are changing. Visit the advocacy portal of the National Vaccine Information Center and sign up to get alerts about bills in your state.
• CHD will be back in New York in July to argue in court against allowing school officials to overrule medical decisions made by students’ physicians.
• Follow Children’s Health Defense Live for more interviews by Polly, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and others. Plus register and tune in May 25 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT for an online town hall forum on all things COVID, featuring medical experts, scientists, researchers, attorneys and community activists and more.

Watch “This Week” with Mary + Polly:

The post ‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: CDC Has ‘No Clue’ What Will Happen When COVID Vaccines Are Given With Other Vaccines + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

Emergent BioSolutions could resume manufacturing doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine “within a matter of days,” the company’s CEO Robert Kramer told a House panel Wednesday.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee pressed Kramer on Emergent’s ability to fix a host of manufacturing issues identified by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection of its Baltimore facility in April.

At least one of those issues led to the contamination of 15 million J&J doses with ingredients from AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which the company was also manufacturing at the time.

As a result, the FDA paused production and essentially quarantined the remaining doses on hand to conduct thorough quality checks. The Biden administration also ordered AstraZeneca to find a new manufacturing partner.

There are more than 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine on hold, Kramer said, disclosing for the first time just how much of the vaccine has been affected. . . .

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he has “increasing confidence” vaccines are working against all coronavirus variants, raising hopes that the last lockdown rules will be lifted as planned next month.

New data indicates that “vaccines are effective against all variants, including the Indian variant,” Johnson told MPs on Wednesday. The spread of the new form of the virus had sparked concern that the government will be forced to delay plans to end most restrictions in England on June 21.

There are currently 2,967 cases of the India variant in the U.K., Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Wednesday, up from 2,323 on Monday. Extra testing sites are being set up in eight more districts that have detected spikes in cases, Hancock told parliament. . .

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has moved into Joe Biden’s previous role as America’s Anti-Vaxxer-in-Chief, and it’s not only terrible for the country, it’s blatantly anti-science.

For months and month, His Fraudulency Joe Biden made it his mission to undermine confidence in the coronavirus vaccines. Although he was fully vaccinated, the idiot still wore his mask while outdoors He even wore a mask during a Zoom meeting. There was no scientific rationale for a vaccinated person to behave this way; he just did. And this was after he told the country not to trust the vaccine.

“Let me be clear. I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I don’t trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people can’t either,” he said in September.

In word and example, Biden’s been telling people not to trust the vaccine. . . .

Rand Paul has been smacking around Anthony Fauci’s smug little face for months. To the dismay of everyone in the media with a velvet painting of Fauci that they surround with candles and pray to five times a day. Rand Paul would challenge Anthony Fauci to back up what he says with data. The infallible Pope Tony would accuse Rand of “theatrics.” The media would say, “Yeah, what Fauci said!” So when the sciencey Fauci admitted in so many words that he masks up just for show, Senator Paul had a little somethin’ somethin’ to say about it.

Senator Paul on The Story

My question to [Dr. Fauci] would be “Did you just discover vaccine immunology? Did you not believe in vaccine immunology couple weeks ago when I asked you this? Or were you doing it for show?” … You heard him say he didn’t want people to SEE him without a mask. The thing is, the science hasn’t changed. We’ve known that when you’re vaccinated — we’ve known this for quite a while — that you’re not transmitting it and not getting it. We’ve known that for months now. … But realize they’re still pushing this on our kids now because they’re saying, “[Kids] have to have been vaccinated [to unmask].” …

Kids should be allowed to run around outside without a freakin’ mask.

Senator Paul is a better man than me. I would have a “Fauci Sucks Eggs” T-shirt on everywhere I go. My five-word response would simply be, “I f*cking told you so!” Because Senator Paul has in fact been f*cking telling Fauci so.

• Rand Paul SCOLDS Fauci for Lockdown Effects. It Gets Heated!
• Rand Paul Mocks Anthony Fauci’s ‘Noble Lies’ We’re Told for Our Own Good
• Rand Paul Unloads on Anthony Fauci’s Claim We Need Masks Even After Being Vaccinated
• Rand Paul Wrecks Anthony Fauci Over His ‘Fatal Conceit’
• Rand Paul Confronts Dr. Fauci, TO HIS FACE, About Crappy Covid Modeling

It would take honest reporting to point out all the things Anthony Fauci has gotten wrong, why he got away with it for so long, and how his wrongness prolonged everyone’s misery. I doubt another Senate hearing would help matters. But if it’s Rand Paul grilling Dr. Faucci one last time, it will at least be a blast to watch.

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A husband and father in British Columbia, Canada has lost over half of his small intestine to a blood clot induced by a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, and has issued an urgent warning to other vaccine recipients after being told by doctors he had almost died.

“I really wish they had let us know what “worse case scenario” might look like…,” Shaun Mulldoon posted on Facebook. “If you, or if any of your friends or family have received AstraZeneca vaccine…. I had stomach pains 10 days later (Monday) They continued for 5 more days. Spoke to my family doctor twice, on Monday, and again 4 days later on Friday. Had a negative covid test Wednesday 17 days after my vaccine ended up going into emergency surgery to remove over 6 feet of my small intestine. I had a massive blood clot.”

“Second surgery two days later to [remove] more,” Mulldoon’s post continued. “My surgeon told me it was very close If you get [Astra] and do [not] feel 100%, get yourself to emergency immediately!!! Still in hospital a week later.”

“This is life changing for us,” Mulldoon’s wife Tara said. “I feel like we have a long road ahead of us as far as his recovery goes. He’s lost half of his small intestine.” According to CBC, Mulldoon was vaccinated on April 22 and suffered symptoms that progressed from nausea to headache, vomiting, and fever. Mulldoon reported his symptoms, but was advised to stay home multiple times by doctors.

The symptoms progressed to passing and vomiting blood on May 8, and Mulldoon was in emergency surgery a day later.

Mulldoon’s post was struck with a label by Facebook that reads, “COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness and are then monitored closely,” sourcing the ‘World health Organization.”

“We are not anti-vaxxers,” Tara Mulldoon said. “We just want people to take any adverse symptoms following the vaccine – please take it seriously.” The couple noted that doctors did not accurately represent the risk of serious side effects: “I mean there’s chitter chatter about the risks of blood clots, but … it was presented to us as being so so rare.”

The Norwegian Institute of Health recommended that the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccine be banned earlier month, following numerous reports of dangerous side effects such as blood clots. . .