Utah public health officials were warned that allocating COVID drugs based on race violated federal law, but did so anyway with the backing of the Biden administration, emails and documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
Utah’s points-based system for prioritizing COVID patients, which allocated more points for being non-white than for having congestive heart failure, troubled two law professors specializing in bioethics. They informed the doctors who designed the system in September 2021 that it was probably illegal.
“The use of non-white race really set off alarm bells,” Teneille Brown, a professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, said in an email.
The “consensus among legal academics,” Brown’s colleague Leslie Francis added, is that a system like Utah’s would “violate federal law.”
This piece is based on materials obtained via a third-party public records request and shared with the Free Beacon.
The doctors Brown and Francis emailed were part of the state’s Crisis Standards of Care workgroup, assembled by the Utah Hospital Association at the behest of the health department. When COVID surged in November 2020, the health department asked the group to develop a system for allocating scarce therapies. The group conceded its approach hadn’t been “reviewed legally.” But, they assured the law professors, it did have the blessing of the Biden administration.
The Department of Health and Human Services “has lauded our approach,” said Mark Shah, the director of Utah’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team and a member of the group. In February 2021, Shah’s colleague Brandon Webb presented the race-based allocation system to HHS, according to power point slides reviewed by the Free Beacon. HHS subsequently listed the system as a “promising practice” for other states to consider.
Such race-conscious policies proliferated throughout the pandemic, sparking both moral outrage and legal scrutiny. Like Utah, Minnesota and New York prioritized non-white residents for moncolonal antibodies. Vermont did the same for vaccines. Some states, including Utah and Minnesota, scrapped their policies in the wake of political backlash—and amid threats of legal action from conservative nonprofits.
The emails suggest Utah was ground zero for many of these schemes. The state initially defended its system by invoking guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, which lists race as a risk factor that can qualify patients for monoclonal antibodies. But according to the emails, it was Utah that inspired that guidance in the first place.
“The FDA reviewed our Utah Risk Score and used it as precedent for including ‘race and other risk factors’ as qualifiers,” Shah told the group in June 2021. Minnesota in turn used that precedent to justify its own allocation system.
The emails reflect the race-conscious consensus that has taken hold of medical bureaucracies across the country. As that consensus has consolidated at every level of government, it has emboldened public health officials to flout anti-discrimination law, which they assume won’t be enforced.
The gap between law and policy widened with the pandemic, which provided an emergency pretext for suspending civil rights. Nondiscrimination, the emails suggest, was seen as an obstacle to crisis management.
“I’d prefer just using the ‘we’re too busy trying to save lives during the surge’ excuse,” Webb, an infectious diseases specialist at Intermountain Healthcare, emailed his colleagues after some back and forth with the law professors.
That utilitarian mindset extended to Utah’s Republican governor Spencer Cox, who in January 2022 told health officials to modify the allocation system, a spokesperson for the governor said—but only after it became clear that the drugs weren’t reaching minorities. The problem wasn’t that the system discriminated by race; it was that the discrimination didn’t work.
“Despite the inclusion of race and ethnicity,” the spokesperson told the Free Beacon, “communities of color did not receive monoclonal antibodies proportionate to their share of COVID-test positives.”
“I’m frankly surprised that this has not yet been subject to a legal challenge,” Webb wrote the law professors. He added that in 2020, the group asked “the Office of Civil Rights” for guidance on the use of race but didn’t receive a response.
It is unclear to which office Webb was referring. A draft copy of the group’s inquiry includes no date or letterhead, and Roger Severino, HHS’s director of civil rights at the time, said it never came across his desk.
“Had this been brought to my attention,” Severino told the Free Beacon, “I would have told them they risked violating Title VI and would have merited my office investigating them had they gone through with such explicit race based rationing.”
Reached for comment, Webb said Shah was the one who sent the inquiry. Shah did not respond to a request for comment.
The group, which developed the system in November 2020, took for granted that all racial minorities should receive special treatment. It borrowed heavily from an allocation system used by the Cleveland Clinic, which prioritized African Americans for monoclonal antibodies. The “only knock” against that system, Webb wrote the group, is that “it only gives disparity weighting to black race rather than recognizing elevated risk associated with other race/ethnicities.”
Utah’s system was based on an analysis of 20,000 COVID patients between March and October 2020. Though some minorities are at higher risk than others, according to the state’s own data, the analysis lumped all of them together, comparing hospitalization rates between “white” and “non-white” Utahns.
The result was a “risk score calculator” that gave “non-white race or Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity” two points—more than it gave hypertension, chronic kidney disease, or shortness of breath. Utahns needed to score a certain number of points to be eligible for monoclonal antibodies.
The calculator was first used by the Intermountain hospital system, which employed many members of the group, including Webb and Shah. By September 2021, it was causing controversy among COVID-stricken patients.
“We have been forced into a defense of the scoring system as now constituents are reaching out to elected leaders asking why they are not eligible,” lamented Kevin McCulley, the Preparedness and Response director for the health department.
As pushback mounted, the department’s main concern was semantic rather than substantive. Officials spent days wordsmithing an online “self-screening tool” based on the calculator, in part to ensure it didn’t run afoul of progressive sensibilities.
“Latinex should have the ‘e’ removed (Latinx),” Matthew Plendl, a member of the health department, said of an early draft.
Some exchanges read like parodies of progressive racecraft, with officials attempting to sort out who would count as “non-white.”
The calculator lets “someone select more than one race category,” noted Jenny Johnson, a member of the health department’s communications team. “Would this mean anyone who marks ONLY White would not meet the criteria? And those who mark at least one race category that is not White does meet the criteria?”
Particularly vexing was the status of Hispanics.
“Someone with a high level of cultural competence should help us wordsmith this,” McCulley wrote his colleagues. “Is your race Non-white or Hispanic/Latinex Ethnicity? I don’t think Hispanic is a race.”
The post Utah Was Warned Racial Rationing of COVID Drugs Was Illegal. It Did It Anyway. appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
Skip The Scoop | Seek Understanding
Gates and Soros-backed organization buys U.K. Covid-19 testing company for $41 million
The U.K.-based maker of Covid-19 tests, Mologic, has been bought out by Global Access Health, a new Bill Gates and George Soros-backed consortium.
George Soros’ Open Society Foundation confirmed the deal on Monday in a statement, which says Global Access Health members will invest ‘at least’ $41 million into the project.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also behind the initiative led by the Soros Economic Development Fund.
Mologic was founded in 2003 and has previously worked with the Gates Foundation. . . .
Wireless Radiation Exposure for Children Should Be ‘Hundreds of Times Lower’ than FCC Limits, Environmental Group Says
A peer-reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) recommends stringent health-based exposure standards for both children and adults for radiofrequency radiation emitted from wireless devices. EWG’s children’s guideline is the first of its kind and fills a gap left by federal regulators.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Health, relies on the methodology developed by the Environmental Protection Agency to assess human health risks arising from toxic chemical exposures. EWG scientists have applied the same methods to radiofrequency radiation from wireless devices, including cellphones and tablets.
EWG recommends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adjust its woefully outdated health standards for wireless radiation, last revised a quarter-century ago, well before wireless devices became ubiquitous, heavily used appliances synonymous with modern life.
The recommendation draws on data from a landmark 2018 study from the National Toxicology Program, or NTP, one of the largest long-term studies on the health effects of radiofrequency radiation exposure.
EWG’s new guidelines, the first developed in the U.S. to focus on children’s health, recommend that children’s exposure overall be 200 to 400 times lower than the whole-body exposure limit set by the FCC in 1996.
The EWG recommended limit for so-called whole-body Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR, for children is 0.2 to 0.4 milliwatts per kilogram, or mW/kg. For adults, EWG recommends a whole-body SAR limit of 2 to 4 mW/kg, which is 20 to 40 times lower than the federal limit.
The FCC has not set a separate standard for children. Its standards for radiofrequency radiation set a maximum SAR of 0.08 watts per kilogram, or W/kg, for whole-body exposure and an SAR for localized spatial peak — the highest exposure level for a specific part of the body, such as the brain — of 1.6 W/kg for the general population.
The NTP studies examined the health effects of 2G and 3G wireless radiation and found there is “clear evidence” of a link between exposure to radiofrequency radiation and heart tumors in laboratory animals. Similar results were reported by a team of Italian scientists from the Ramazzini Institute.
Cellphone radiation was classified a “possible carcinogen” in 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, a conclusion based on human epidemiological studies that found an increased risk of glioma, a malignant brain cancer, associated with cellphone use.
EWG scientists say that more research is needed on the health impacts of the latest generation of communication technologies, such as 5G. In the meantime, EWG’s recommendation is for strict, lower exposure limits for all radiofrequency sources, especially for children. . . .
Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges in LA court
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to a slew of sex-crime charges Wednesday during his first appearance in court in California, where he will stand trial on the new round of allegations.
The 69-year-old convicted rapist was rolled into a Los Angeles courtroom in a wheelchair, dressed in a brown jail jumpsuit and face mask, for his arraignment on an indictment charging him with 11 sexual assault counts, including four counts of rape.
Defense attorney Mark Werksman entered the plea, and Weinstein spoke only to say “thank you” to Judge Sergio Tapia, who wished him good luck as the hearing ended.
The disgraced producer is already serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault following his conviction in Manhattan in February 2020.
On Tuesday, he was whisked away from the Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York and booked into a downtown LA jail — ending a lengthy fight to stop his extradition to the Golden State. . . .
Eliminating virus risk at Tokyo Olympics is impossible, WHO leader says
How infections are handled is what matters most, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.
TOKYO — The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of COVID-19 cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible, the head of the World Health Organization told sports officials Wednesday as events began in Japan.
How infections are handled is what matters most, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.
“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted,” he said.
The number of Games-linked COVID-19 cases in Japan this month was 79 on Wednesday, with more international athletes testing positive at home and unable to travel.
“The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases,” Tedros said, noting the athletes who already tested positive in Japan, including at the athletes village in Tokyo Bay, where most of the 11,000 competitors will stay.
Teammates classed as close contacts of infected athletes can continue training and preparing for events under a regime of isolation and extra monitoring.
Health experts in Japan have warned of the Olympics becoming a “super-spreader” event bringing tens of thousands of athletes, officials and workers during a local state of emergency.
“There is no zero risk in life,” said Tedros, who began his keynote speech minutes after the first softball game began in Fukushima, and added Japan was “giving courage to the whole world.”
The WHO leader also had a more critical message and a challenge for leaders of richer countries about sharing vaccines more fairly in the world.
“The pandemic is a test and the world is failing,” Tedros said, predicting more than 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 worldwide before the Olympic flame goes out in Tokyo on Aug. 8.
It was a “horrifying injustice,” he said, that 75% of the vaccine shots delivered globally so far were in only 10 countries.
Tedros warned anyone who believed the pandemic was over because it was under control in their part of the world lived in “a fool’s paradise.”
The world needs to produce 11 billion doses next year and the WHO wanted governments to help reach a target of vaccinating 70% of people in every country by the middle of next year.
“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” Tedros said. “It is in our hands.” . . . .
Drug Distributors and J.& J. Announce $26 Billion Deal to End Opioids Lawsuits
After nearly two years of wrangling, the country’s three major drug distributors and a pharmaceutical giant have reached a $26 billion deal with states that would release some of the biggest companies in the industry from all legal liability in the opioid epidemic, a decades-long public health crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
The agreement, announced Wednesday afternoon by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general, lays the framework for billions of dollars to begin flowing into communities across the country for addiction treatment, prevention services and other steep expenses from the epidemic.
If the agreement is finalized, thousands of local governments as well as states would drop lawsuits against the companies and also pledge not to bring any future action.
The deal comes as the addiction crisis is worsening. Overdose deaths from opioids hit a record high in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this month, a rise driven partly by the isolation and shutdown of services during the coronavirus pandemic. In all, more than 500,000 have died from overdoses to prescription and illegal street opioids since 1999, according to federal data.
“The urgency of the problem continues,” said Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III of Tennessee at the news conference announcing the deal. “It’s just relentless.” Tennessee, whose own spike in opioid deaths was particularly sharp in 2020, could receive more than $500 million if the agreement is finalized.
The four companies that would be bound by the settlement — Johnson & Johnson and the drug distributors Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson — are widely seen as having some of the deepest pockets among the corporate opioid defendants and this agreement was eagerly anticipated as a major pillar in the national litigation.
Bezos says he’s creating a space industry with Elon Musk and Richard Branson
‘It’s NOT a competition’: Jeff Bezos says he’s not racing Branson and Musk to space and they’re all working to create a space ‘industry’ with plans for internet satellites, tourist flights and moving pollution away from Earth
- Bezos told Gayle King on Tuesday he is not competing against SpaceX and Virgin Galactic
- He said there was room in space for all of them and that it would become an ‘industry’
- Bezos wants to create reusable, operable capsules and rockets that will allow industries to be moved to space
- He says it’ll save the planet by protecting its fragile environment from pollution
- Virgin boss Richard Branson wants to establish space tourism with flights to the edge of earth’s atmosphere
- Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars and set up broadband internet satellites
- Branson was the first of the three to go to space on his VSS Unity earlier this year
- Musk hasn’t yet made it but SpaceX has sent two teams of astronauts up
EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Answers From Biden Over Work With Facebook To Flag ‘Disinformation’
Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs wrote a Wednesday letter to President Joe Biden demanding answers from the White House regarding their work with Facebook to flag posts deemed disinformation.
Biggs was joined by twelve other House Republicans, who signed the letter. In it, they mention the White House’s “tyrannical decision” to monitor and flag Facebook posts of U.S. citizens. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced Thursday that the White House is working with Facebook to flag disinformation on vaccines and that it is also asking Facebook to share data on the reach and engagement of posts that have been deemed disinformation.
“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” Psaki said in the briefing.
The lawmakers called the news “abhorrent to all freedom- loving Americans.” Adding, that it “is antithetical to America’s founding and is more in line with the authoritarian regimes in Russia, China, and Cuba. You must immediately stop these actions and fire all federal employees who worked with Facebook to implement this policy.”
In the letter, they ask Biden a list of questions and ask for a response by August 1. . . .
GOP leader rips Pelosi for rejecting Banks, Jordan on Jan 6 panel, threatens boycott
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has effectively voted U.S. Reps. Jim Banks and Jim Jordan off the island in what Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is condemning as an “abuse of power.”
The two congressmen were set to serve on the so-called bipartisan select committee to investigate the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, but apparently they were too pro-Trump and too resistant to hyperbole, if not propaganda, for Pelosi’s liking, who has the final say.
“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee. The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision,” Pelosi announced today.
Pelosi is evidently taking exception to the fact that both congressmen objected to the certification of the Election 2020 presidential outcome.
In her announcement, the speaker also claimed, “The violent domestic attack on Congress on January 6th was the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812 and the worst domestic assault on American Democracy since the Civil War.” . . .
Biden Homeland Security Announces Travel Restrictions for Americans at Border Due to COVID Variant But Southern Border Will Remain Open to Illegals
At least one million illegals and fake refugees flooded across the US southern border this year. Another million is expected by the end of the year.
The Biden Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that they will be cracking down on Americans and limiting non-essential travel across the border due to the very dangerous Delta COVID variant.
DHS is in constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 21, 2021
This is at the same time tens of thousands of illegal migrants and fake refugees are flooding across our border every week.
That’s OK.
For something calling itself Homeland Security they sure have no idea of the lack of security going on at our homelands Southern border. pic.twitter.com/2V1uAuaJtE
— Kevin Dalton (@NextLAMayor) July 21, 2021
The post Biden Homeland Security Announces Travel Restrictions for Americans at Border Due to COVID Variant But Southern Border Will Remain Open to Illegals appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Canada: Modern but No Longer Very Democratic or Western
I lived in two developing African countries for 16 years: Kenya and Tanzania. Despite their countries having been wracked by tribalism, corrupting Marxist ideologies, and violence, when you get to know East Africans one on one and in small groups, you will find them looking for the joy of life, deeply appreciative of what they have, funny, down to earth, tolerant of strangers, yet loyal to family and clan and desirous of development.
What do they mean by development? They mean a “country that functions,” a modern country with proper roads, clean water, dependable electricity, and border security, where financial corruption is minimal and nepotism disappears among a growing middle class that slowly takes over representative government from the tribal oligarchs. They would tell me, “A country just like yours—Canada!”
Is Canada that kind of country anymore? I am afraid not. The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed municipal, provincial, and national bureaucrats, both elected and selected, to grab enormous power, all in the name of the “common good.” The various draconian and near endless lockdowns have taken away basic rights of assembly and freedom of movement that go back to the Magna Carta. The lockdowns have beggared the working classes and have contributed to rising unemployment.
The “one size fits all” of the closure of schools has ignored the growing scientific evidence from around the world that kids from 1 to 12 are at a lower risk from COVID-19 than is the adult population. The near ongoing public “non-discussion” of the Swedish health model for handling the pandemic is also worth noting. . . .
‘Unintentional Injuries’ and the Lockdown
How devastating was the 2020 pandemic and how devastating was government’s reaction to the pandemic? It will likely take years to reach definitive conclusions, but the latest annual federal report on U.S. mortality is a start in discovering the answers. Along with the well-documented ravages of Covid, the government is reporting a stunning increase, especially among young people, in a broad category called “unintentional injuries” that demands further investigation.
The Journal’s Betsy McKay reports:
Life expectancy in the U.S. fell by 1.5 years in 2020, the biggest decline since at least World War II, as the Covid-19 pandemic killed hundreds of thousands and exacerbated crises in drug overdoses, homicides and some chronic diseases.
Provisional data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that American life expectancy dropped to 77.3 years in 2020, roughly the same level as in 2003, erasing years of hard-won gains in the nation’s public health.
Covid was the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer last year, but the virus was the leading contributor to the decline in life expectancy, according to the government. In trying to track all the non-Covid deaths, there are a number of unresolved issues. Reports Ms. McKay:
The full toll of the pandemic has yet to be seen, doctors and public-health officials said. Many people skipped or delayed treatment last year for conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure and endured isolation, stress and interruptions in normal diet and exercise routines.
“That has led to intermediate and longer-term effects we will have to deal with for years to come,” said Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and president of the American Heart Association…
More deaths from homicide, diabetes and chronic liver disease—which is related to heavy alcohol use—also contributed to last year’s life expectancy drop, the CDC said. Pandemic lockdowns, recession and a backlash against police tactics contributed to a sharp rise in homicides in large U.S. cities that has continued in 2021, according to police, researchers, mayors and community leaders.
Life expectancy would have fallen even more, the CDC said, if not for decreases in mortality due to cancer, chronic lower-respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, and other factors.
There are so many questions here, such as how cancer mortality could have declined in a year when so many were skipping cancer screenings and treatments. Were some deaths that otherwise might have been ascribed to cancer or bronchitis categorized as Covid fatalities? . . . .
(FORUM) Government and Big Tech are among biggest purveyors of misinformation on Covid
If you’re not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the U.S., you’re in the majority.
According to CDC, slightly less than half of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated. Experts say just about everyone who wants to get vaccinated has now had the opportunity to do so.
As the chief marketer of vaccines, CDC is joining with vaccine companies in trying to vastly expand the vaccinated footprint. However, CDC is not being forthright with complete, accurate information that allows Americans to understand their individual risk of both Covid and the vaccines.
For example, CDC repeatedly falsified information regarding effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines in people who have already had coronavirus. Studies showed no benefit to those people, but CDC claimed otherwise and is still pushing the vaccines, which have risks of side effects, on the people who have already had Covid.
According to scientists, those who had Covid-19 have longer lasting proven immunity, so far, than those who have gotten vaccinated. . . .
US Surgeon General Asks Big Tech to Restrict Voices That Challenge Biden Regime Narrative on Vaccinations
Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, Vice Admiral, U.S. Public Health Service Surgeon General of the United States, has produced new guidance to combat “misinformation” about health guidance as provided by the U.S. Government. [pdf Here] Comrades, the ‘Ministry of Truth’ is becoming very real.
The government push to promote vaccinations for COVID-19 has gone well beyond reasonable advancement for the public health. Now, we are entering a phase where the ongoing demand is becoming problematic, propaganda. More government advocates are pushing toward mandatory vaccinations for a virus that has 99.9% survival rate.
If you stand back – the scale of the demand far exceeds the known risk from the virus itself…. things just don’t add up.
Additionally, the alliance between government and Big Tech is becoming increasingly worrisome. Now the surgeon general is asking Big Tech to get even more involved and start pushing even more consequences for those who ask reasonable questions and are righteously skeptical of the government position.
In a 22-page publication intended to allow only one standard for acceptable discussion as sanctioned by the U.S. government, the Surgeon General tells Big Tech what to do:
“Prioritize early detection of misinformation “super-spreaders” and repeat offenders. Impose clear consequences for accounts that repeatedly violate platform policies.” (page 12)
In other words, silence the opposition. The Government will be the “single source of truth“. . . .
Doctors for COVID Ethics: Halt Use of Pfizer COVID Vaccines in Adolescents ‘Immediately’
For months, Doctors for COVID Ethics, a Europe-based international alliance of hundreds of concerned doctors and scientists, has been issuing urgent warnings about the short- and long-term risks of COVID vaccines, particularly for children.
In May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) extended Pfizer’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) — previously granted for ages 16 and up — to 12- to 15-year-olds.
Pfizer was the first company to test experimental COVID vaccines in children, and is the only manufacturer thus far to have been granted EUA for vaccine recipients under age 18.
In addition to submitting three admonitory letters to the EMA — on March 10, April 1 and April 20 — Doctors for COVID Ethics on May 18 served Notices of Liability to all members of the European Parliament for COVID-vaccine-related harms and deaths to children.
Now, three of the group’s founding signatories — Dr. Michael Palmer (Canada), Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, (Germany) and Stefan Hockertz, Ph.D. (Germany) — have assembled in one document powerful expert evidence showing COVID vaccines are not only unnecessary and ineffective but also dangerous for children and adolescents.
On July 3, Italian lawyer Renate Holzeisen submitted the expert document to the European General Court as part of a lawsuit challenging the EMA’s late-May decision to extend emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.
The 20-page report’s value stems not just from the three authors’ impeccable professional credentials but from their meticulous aggregation and analysis of manufacturer data, regulatory agency assessments and published science.
As the medical/scientific trio compellingly argues, the evidence allows only one possible conclusion: Not only should Pfizer’s vaccine not be given to adolescents, but its use needs to stop immediately in all age groups.
Not necessary
The report begins by demolishing the argument that adolescents need to be vaccinated against COVID. The three experts emphasize that the “particularly low” COVID-19 prevalence in adolescents and the utter absence of severe cases children and teens 10 to 17 years old obviates any rationale for vaccinating young people — particularly given the availability of effective treatments for the tiny proportion who experience anything other than mild illness.
Recent studies confirm this crucial point, showing that “the risks of severe illness or death from SARS-CoV-2 are extremely low in children and young people.”
The expert summary also highlights other factors negating the case for teen vaccination. For example:
- A “large proportion of individuals in all age groups, including adolescents, already have specific, reliable immunity to COVID-19” and are also protected from severe disease by robust cross-immunity, which, the European experts point out, “will be particularly effective in healthy adolescents and young adults.”
- According to Doctors for COVID Ethics, large-scale studies have “unambiguously” refuted the notion of “asymptomatic transmission” (used to support the claim that kids pose a risk to others). These studies show that no illness has been traced to individuals who tested “positive” but did not exhibit signs of illness.
- From the beginning, the COVID infection fatality rate (IFR) — the number of deaths divided by the number of infections — has been strongly biased toward the elderly. In addition, a recent study, which revised “biased inflated estimates” of the IFR downward to an average of 0.15%, “reassuringly” makes the IFR for COVID comparable to that of influenza.
The three authors mention, in passing, that few European countries view childhood vaccination against influenza as either “urgent or necessary.” In fact, European infectious disease experts have stated they do not want the pediatric vaccine schedule to be “too busy,” while also acknowledging the “mixed” evidence on flu shot effectiveness and the unknown “long-term effect of repeated annual vaccination from an early age.”
These notes of caution could apply equally well to COVID shots that are threatening to morph into an annual (or even more frequent) requirement. Disturbingly, France is preparing to administer millions of booster shots in September, barely seven to eight months since experimental COVID vaccination began.
Not effective
The second section of the expert report digs into Pfizer’s claims of 95%–100% effectiveness for its COVID vaccine — representations, the report’s authors assert, that “cannot be trusted.” . . . .
Five Times More Children Committed Suicide Than Died of Covid in First Year of UK Lockdown: Study
Nearly five times as many children died of suicide during the first year of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic in the UK than died of the virus itself, research from top British universities has found.
Studies conducted by researchers at University College London, the University of York, the University of Liverpool, and the University of Bristol appeared to confirm the widely held belief that the Wuhan virus does not present an overwhelming risk of death to children.
In a not-yet-peer reviewed preprint study — but nevertheless, one widely reported by the establishment media — it was found that only 25 children under the age of 18-years-old died of the coronavirus from the start of the pandemic until the end of February 2021. In total 61 children had died after testing positive for the virus, however, in 36 cases it was determined that the virus “did not contribute to their death”.
During the same time period, the studies found that there were 124 child suicides and 268 deaths from trauma, which the researchers said emphasised how the coronavirus is “rarely fatal” for children.
The study concluded, therefore: “The risk of removal of [children and young people] from their normal activities across education and social events may prove a greater risk than that of SARS-CoV-2 itself.” . . .
‘They Should Be Fired’ – Scientist Says Washington State COVID Test Info That Prompted Lockdowns Is ‘Garbage Data’
“In May 2020, when it was becoming clear that the data’s garbage, we went back to living as normal as we possibly could,” he said. “My wife and I discussed that for the sake of our sanity … for our kids’ emotional sanity let’s just get back to normal. It’s not worth it.”
Knopik began prying information out of the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to find out what the numbers revealed.
The more he discovered about the test result data the angrier he became. “The more I dig, the more upset I get,” he said. “It’s troubling that there’s people out there that aren’t as lucky as I am with my family.”
“Never in my professional career [have I seen] this level of vagueness and corrupted data,” Knopik added. “It wouldn’t be stood for in private business or in a doctoral study. This is just amazing to me. The level of impactful decisions made on just garbage data – that’s what I’m calling it, garbage data – I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Knopik told Seattle radio host Todd Herman (full disclosure: this writer fills in for Todd on KTTH radio) that he’s now confirmed that the COVID testing data are useless and yet have been used to lock down the state. . . .
Germany Calls on China to Allow Further Investigations Into COVID Origins
BERLIN—German Health Minister Jens Spahn called on China to make it possible for investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to continue, saying more information was needed.
Speaking during a visit to the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, Spahn also announced a 260 million euro donation to WHO’s ACT-Accelerator program, which aims to ensure the entire world, including poorer countries, receive coronavirus vaccines and tests.
“I call on China to make it possible for the investigations into the origins of COVID to be continued,” he said. . .
WHO admits errors in report of COVID origins, says will correct mistakes
The World Health Organization said Thursday the groups joint report with China on the origins of COVID-19 has “unintended errors” that will be corrected.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told The Washington Post that the errors were in editing and did not change the accuracy of the overall, roughly 4-month-old report, nor its conclusions.
The corrections include specifically altering the virus sequence IDs for three of the 13 earliest patients listed in the report. It will also clarify that the first family cluster did not come from the seafood market in Wuhan, China, as Chinese officials originally said.
Jasarevic also told The Post that the first known patient was probably not the first case, therefore the competing claims about where that person lived is not relevant to the origin of the virus.
The updates follow after the newspaper outlined inconsistencies on the earliest known patient. The WHO upon hearing about the inconsistencies launched an investigation into the report and found other editing errors. . . .
China says pandemic won’t delay 2022 Winter Olympics
Organizers have not announced what rules will be in place for athletes, officials and coaches at the 2022 Winter Olympics, or if fans will be allowed.
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — With the postponed Summer Olympics set to open in Tokyo next week, Beijing has made moves to show its preparations for the Winter Games are well on track for February despite the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journalists taken on a tour of snow event venues in the outlying city of Zhangjiakou this week were shown the locations for ski jumping, snowboarding and Nordic events.
While China has largely eliminated local transmission of the coronavirus, it has maintained strict quarantine regulations. Organizers have not announced what rules will be in place for athletes, officials and coaches at the 2022 Winter Olympics, or if fans will be allowed.
Jia Maoting, general manager of the company overseeing construction of the venues, told reporters that the “pandemic situation is uncertain, we cannot guess how it will develop.”
“We have solid determination to face the changing world,” Jia added. “We built good venues in any case and then we wait and expect a good result.”
China has also faced calls for a boycott of the games from foreign politicians and human rights groups over the country’s detention of more than 1 million members of the Uyghur and other Muslim ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Beijing says it provided voluntary job training and anti-radicalization classes and has denounced boycott calls as a politicization of sports based on false evidence.
The Chinese capital hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and is the first city to be given rights to host the Winter Games as well.
Chen Rongqin, an official with the planning committee’s construction department, said work was largely completed apart from construction on temporary facilities that can’t be built too early.
“We still need to build some more facilities and houses in the next few months, and those are our major work now,” Chen said.
The National Ski Jumping Center was one of the major venues for the tour, highlighted with an evening light show. It is has been nicknamed Snow Ruyi, after an ancient ski slope-shaped jade ornament symbolizing good fortune. As well as its two ski jumping tracks, it has a football pitch at its base.
Zhangjiakou is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the west of Beijing in Hebei province, connected by highway and a high-speed rail line.
It is due to host ski jumping, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combined and biathlon competitions during the Games.
The 2020 Summer Games were last year postponed for 12 months because of the pandemic.
There’ll be heavy restrictions on all participants at the Games, which open July 23. And with Tokyo in a state of emergency and rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the city, there’ll be no fans allowed at most of the Olympic venues.
IT BEGINS: The Government Is Keeping a List of Who Has Taken the COVID Vaccine and Contacting Individuals Not Vaccinated
Colorado is keeping a list of individuals in the state who have not taken the China coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and calling them and encouraging them to take it.
One citizen in the state of Colorado shared with us that she had been contacted by the state.
I thought I’d share this with gateway. Tonight I received a phone call from a phone number called, CO VAX CO. After looking up the number, I was directed to the Colorado Department’s of Public Health and Environment’s website where I came across a paragraph that alarmed me:
REMOTE, (June 18, 2021): On Monday, June 21, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) will begin making outgoing phone calls to Colorado residents age 18 and older who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The individual shared the call information –
According to the Colorada Department of Public Health and Environment, they are beginning a call campaign to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Monday, June 21, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) will begin making outgoing phone calls to Colorado residents age 18 and older who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine. Callers will provide information about vaccination, help with scheduling appointments at local vaccine locations, and answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccines.
The outbound call campaign is an important step toward Colorado’s goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4. This goal is in line with President Biden’s National Month of Action, which aims to increase vaccination rates across the country.
“I’m excited that Coloradans will have a new opportunity to learn more about COVID-19 vaccines to help them make informed decisions about their health,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director, CDPHE. “It’s normal to have questions about COVID-19 vaccines. These outgoing calls will provide Coloradans with accurate information and help them find a free vaccination appointment in their neighborhood if they choose to be protected from COVID-19.”
The calls will be completed by COVAXCO, the call center that has been answering inbound calls about COVID-19 vaccination in Colorado. Information will be available in multiple languages. Coloradans can continue to call the inbound vaccine hotline at 1-877-CO VAX CO (1-877-268-2926). The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Our source shared – This confirms our government is indeed keeping a list of who has taken the COVID vaccine.
California Woman Is Charged in Fake Covid-19 Vaccine Card Scheme
A homeopathic doctor in California is the first person to face federal charges for selling fake Covid-19 vaccination cards, the authorities said.
The doctor, Juli A. Mazi of Napa, Calif., also sold Covid-19 “immunization pellets” to patients, federal prosecutors said. She was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters, according to a criminal complaint. Ms. Mazi faces up to 20 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, the authorities said.
Ms. Mazi sold pellets for $243 that she said contained a “very minute amount” of the coronavirus that would trigger an immune response and provide “lifelong immunity to Covid-19,” the complaint said. To encourage customers to purchase the pellets, prosecutors said, Ms. Mazi falsely told them that the three Covid-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States contained “toxic ingredients.”
She also offered homeopathic immunizations for childhood illnesses that she falsely claimed would satisfy immunization requirements for California schools, according to the complaint.
A federal public defender, David W. Rizk, for Ms. Mazi declined to comment on Thursday. . . .
Dr. Fauci Has Lied To Congress & The American People About Funding Gain Of Function Viruses | Video 6 Minutes 15 Seconds
Things got heated. Rand Paul is going hard against Doctor Fauci.
‘We Can All Learn From China’ – Fauci-Funded Researcher Hyped CCP Vaccines and Lockdowns on Communist State Propaganda Network.
Riley, who has received millions from Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as part of his 100 total grants the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has participated in several China Global Television Network (CGTN) programs.
Riley received most of the grants during his tenure as a Professor and Chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology at the University of California Berkeley’s Li Ka Shing Center.
His resume also reveals grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United States Agency for International Development. Riley has delivered several lectures in China, including at Chinese Communist-run institutions such as the Zhejiang Provincial CDC. He also boasts of having “research collaborations” in China.
CGTN: State-Run, CCP Propaganda.
Forced to register as a “foreign agent” in the U.S. by the Trump administration, CGTN relies on participation from American experts such as Riley to grant credibility to the operation. CGTN has been identified as a “long-standing weapon in Beijing’s arsenal of repression” whose raison d’être is “to attack designated enemies of the Communist Party,” even airing forced confessions to do so. . . .
Carroll County summer camp suspends operations after two staff members test positive for COVID
A summer camp in Manchester shut down Wednesday after two positive cases of COVID-19 were reported among its staff, according to a statement on the camp’s website.
River Valley Ranch’s camp discovered the cases after routine weekly testing, according to the statement. The staff members who tested positive did not have severe symptoms ― one had none and the other had mild symptoms.
The camp is requiring staff members who were exposed to quarantine. With staff out, camp sessions were canceled through next week and will tentatively restart July 25, according to the website.
“The safety of our campers, their families and our staff is always our highest priority. This only applies to overnight camps, and does include both Fort Roller and Frontier Town. Day Camp, which is being held off-site, will continue as planned,” the statement on the camp’s website says. . . .
“Perfect Storm” of Pandemic, Poverty & Jailing Ex-President Unleashes Mass Protest in South Africa
We go to South Africa, where more than 70 are dead and at least 3,000 people have been arrested since demonstrations erupted after former President Jacob Zuma began his 15-month jail sentence for refusing to testify in a corruption probe. Protesters also expressed frustration with entrenched poverty and inequity as South Africa battles a devastating wave of COVID-19. “This was really a perfect storm that has built up,” says Sithembile Mbete, a senior lecturer in political sciences at the University of Pretoria in Johannesburg. “The protests and the unrest has stopped being about former President Zuma and has become more about the socioeconomic conditions that people find themselves in and the problems of hunger.”
Luntz advised Biden’s COVID-19 team
Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz advised President Biden’s COVID-19 team, sharing research with the White House to help develop strategies for encouraging individuals skeptical about the vaccine to get inoculated.
Andy Slavitt, who stepped down from his position as senior adviser to the White House’s COVID-19 response effort last month, told Politico that Luntz, in an unofficial capacity, invited personnel from the White House coronavirus task force into focus groups.
The White House also invited the pollster to take part in a number of briefing calls that were held with television networks, where the conversations focused on how certain language could potentially politicize the pandemic response.
Luntz confirmed that the White House approached him amid the country’s COVID-19 response, telling Politico, “The Biden team didn’t ask me for anything. They simply said, ‘Whatever you find, we want to know.”
Luntz compared those efforts to that of former President Trump, contending that Biden’s predecessor “did not care about the research we started to do.”
“This is more than Trump did. Trump did not care about the research we started to do. The [Trump] White House wasn’t interested in it, he didn’t promote it,” Luntz told the news outlet. . . .
WHO Warns South Africa to Brace For Covid-19 Surge After Riots
South Africa should prepare itself for a surge in coronavirus cases after days of widespread rioting and looting in the two most populous provinces, the World Health Organization’s Africa director said.
The deadliest and most widespread unrest since the end of apartheid followed the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma on July 7. The looting sprees have occurred amid the country’s third and most severe wave of Covid-19 infections.
“We are concerned about the last three or so days of rioting in some parts of South Africa, it may exacerbate the situation of a very severe wave,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s Africa director, said on a conference call on Thursday. “The government has to brace itself, and we in the WHO will be preparing, to see an increase in the cases again.” . . .
False Labelling in COVID Origin Scrutiny Reminiscent of Climate Change Debate, Observers Say
The way the discussion on the origin of COVID-19 was derailed by conspiracy labelling reminds environmental economist Ross McKitrick of the debate around climate change.
“There are ideas that were never disproven and actually have a lot of evidence to support them, but for political reasons and cultural reasons within the university they just aren’t looked at,” McKitrick, a professor at the University of Guelph, said in an interview.
As bias on a certain issue becomes structural, McKitrick says, it makes its way into government communications and even into “big tech” platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which make editorial decisions—decisions they “have absolutely no business making” —to censor one side of the debate.
In the case of the virus, as more scientists and even U.S. President Joe Biden joined the chorus that the lab leak theory can’t be dismissed since a natural origin hasn’t been proven, many media and online platforms such as Facebook had to backtrack on their decision to censor the one side.
“We saw that play out over a period of around 12 months. Now what happens with the climate change issue, it’s the same thing, but it’s playing out over a much larger time frame,” McKitrick said.
Author and veteran science journalist Nicholas Wade was one of the earlier observers who noted that the virus origin discussion had been wrongly steered in a certain direction by influential figures in the scientific community. . . .
Why The Border Crisis is a Public Health Crisis
The details of the Biden administration’s (mis)handling of the border crisis remain a mystery to many, but Judicial Watch is fighting hard to get the most pressing questions answered. Concerned about the impacts of President Biden’s lax border policy, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton is raising important questions about the lack of immigration law enforcement. “Is our country being harmed, are citizens being harmed, are illegal aliens being harmed?” Fitton stated Friday. With U.S. Border Patrol failing to conduct COVID-19 testing for all migrants entering the country, Fitton believes the Biden administration’s policies are creating a dangerous public health crisis. “It’s not just national security, it’s not just crime, it’s also public health,” Fitton explained. “Public health rules and the ability of the government to control threats to public health are significant when it comes to controlling and protecting the borders, and the Biden administration has thrown it all out the window.”
As Fitton announced , Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for information on the COVID-19 technical guidance provided to the Office of Refugee Resettlement to illegal aliens released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The lawsuit seeks specific details related to the transmission, testing, mitigation, and/or treatment of COVID-19 for undocumented immigrants who are in or are released from Department of Homeland Security and/or Customs and Border Patrol custody.
“We’re being told by the Biden administration that COVID is a dramatic risk to the American people,” Fitton continued, “and yet all the rules relating to testing aren’t being enforced at the border.”
If you’re concerned about the unfolding humanitarian crisis at our southern border, support Judicial Watch today.
The post Why The Border Crisis is a Public Health Crisis appeared first on Judicial Watch.
Covid-19 UK: Alcohol deaths reach record levels after lockdown drove binge drinking at home
Covid lockdowns helped to fuel a 20% spike in alcohol-related deaths in 2020 with restrictions swaying people into drinking more at home, official data shows
- Alcoholic liver deaths in England jumped 21 per cent from 2019 to 2020
- Biggest increase in drinking during lockdown was seen in the North East
- Just over 12.6million extra litres of alcohol were sold in shops and supermarkets
- Ministers say increase in boozing during the pandemic is ‘deeply concerning’
If California workers must disclose COVID-19 vaccination status, why not state lawmakers?
Some of the legislators who wouldn’t comment revealed last year that they had contracted COVID-19. Last summer, Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D-Marina del Rey) said that she had tested positive for COVID-19. Several weeks later, during the final days of the legislative session, state Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee) revealed he, too, had tested positive.
Both Burke and Jones declined to comment on their vaccination status when approached this week in Sacramento and would not say whether they believe contracting COVID-19 provided them adequate immunity. At least three other legislators who also became infected with COVID-19 last year told The Times they have received a vaccination: Assembly members Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) and Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) and state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton). . . .
8 Fully Vaccinated Health Care Workers Test Positive for CCP Virus in Las Vegas: Report
Eight fully vaccinated health care workers tested positive for COVID-19 in June after attending a party in Las Vegas, according to a report.
A total of 11 health care workers had tested positive for COVID-19 after the gathering, and at least 10 of the 11—or seven out of the fully-vaccinated eight—had the Delta variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing emails from the Southern Nevada Health District that the Brown Institute for Media Innovation’s Documenting COVID-19 project obtained and shared with the paper.
According to the report, eight fully vaccinated people were inoculated between December 2020 and January. Of the remaining three people, two had received one dose of a two-dose vaccine and one person was unvaccinated.
They were all employees of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. Hospital CEO Todd Sklamberg told the paper that the source of the outbreak was “an off-site private party” on June 7 and that the employees have since recovered and returned to work.
He noted that the health care workers had experienced symptoms similar to allergies or the common cold and chose to get tested before finding out they had the CCP virus. . . .
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded July 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 37 Seconds
Episode 1,111 – If America is Gone the World Will Follow. MTG dives into the vaccines, John Solomon talks about Biden’s private email servers, and Darren continues his investigative research on Jan. 6th. Guests are: Marjorie Taylor Greene, John Solomon, Darren Beattie.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded July 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 21 Seconds
Episode 1,112 – Mike Lindell Presents His Golden Ticket Offer. Mike Lindell talks about his Cyber Symposium and Darren continues his investigative research on Jan. 6th. Guests are: Mike Lindell, Darren Beattie.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded July 21, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 1,113 – A Country In Crisis From Washington To Wall Street. Election updates, COVID, and the border crisis. Guests are: Boris Epshteyn, Ben Bergquam, Bianca Gracia, Todd Bensman, Dave Ramaswamy, Joe Allen, Gabe @reviewdork.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded July 20, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 49 Seconds
Episode 1,108 – The Pandemic is Being Used to Root out Populism. Human infrastructure bill is a budget gimmick to force amnesty for millions. Guests are: Natalie Winters, Bill Gertz, Chris Chmielenski, Clyde Prestowitz.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded July 20, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 21 Seconds
Episode 1,109 – The War Room Struggle Session pt. 2. Natalie Winters calls out politically biased staff at Lead Stories. Guests are: Natalie Winters, Alan Duke.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded July 20, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 1,110 – Fauci Perjurers Himself and Gain of Function Research is the Enemy of US. The team deep dives into the lies Fauci has spun over the past year. Guests are: Dr. Peter Navarro, Raheem Kassam, Jack Posobiec, Naomi Wolf.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded July 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 24 Seconds
Episode 1,105 – We Don’t Have to Live With a Fraudulent Election. There’s at least 9 states that need a full forensic audit. Guests are: Ken Paxton, John Eastman, Mark Finchem, Rudy Giuliani.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded July 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 45 Seconds
Episode 1,106 – All 50 States Must Have a Full Forensic Audit. The left grand plan with the border invasion. Guests are: Rudy Giuliani, Nigel Farage, Seth Keshel, David Clements, Mark Krikorian, Kris Kobach.