Why do governments persist with lockdowns, or the threat of lockdowns, given a growing body of evidence showing that lockdowns don’t save lives? Will lockdowns that were meant to only ‘flatten the curve’ now be sidelined because COVID vaccines are considered the panacea?

This week on Speaking Naturally, we interview Knut Wittkowski, Ph.D. He is an eminent scientist with a long track record as a biostatistician and epidemiologist. He was one of the earliest to call out the folly of lockdowns. His main recommendations to shield or treat early the most vulnerable, while letting the infection run its normal course through healthy populations — stated as early as March 2020 — subsequently became the basis of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Video: 1 Hour 12 Minutes 27 Seconds

Brazil is expected to pass the U.S.’s January high for COVID-19 deaths as the country experiences a deadly virus surge, …

Thirteen people at a COVID-19 vaccination site in Colorado had adverse reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Wednesday — shutting down operations for the day, a report said. Officials did not disclose the types of reactions suffered by less than 1 percent of the more than 1,700 people given shots. Officials did not…

Michigan data indicate that 246 state residents tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks past when they were considered fully vaccinated against the virus that causes the disease.

Minnesota health officials on Tuesday reported nearly 500 Minnesotans are hospitalized due to the coronavirus as case numbers continue to rise despite the state’s vaccination campaign.

Marco Cavaleri, head of health threats and vaccine strategy at the Amsterdam-based agency, told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper on Tuesday that the European Union’s medicines regulator is preparing to make a more definitive statement on the topic this week.

ROME — A top official at the European Medicines Agency says there’s a causal link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots, but that it’s unclear what the connection is and that the benefits of taking the shot still outweigh the risks of getting COVID-19.

Marco Cavaleri, head of health threats and vaccine strategy at the Amsterdam-based agency, told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper on Tuesday that the European Union’s medicines regulator is preparing to make a more definitive statement on the topic this week.

Asked about Cavaleri’s comments, the EMA press office said its evaluation “has not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing.” It said it planned a press conference as soon as the review is finalized, possibly Wednesday or Thursday.

Based on the evidence so far, Cavaleri said there’s a clear association between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the dozens of rare blood clots that have been reported worldwide amid the tens of millions of AstraZeneca shots that have been given out.

“It is becoming more and more difficult to affirm that there isn’t a cause-and-effect relationship between AstraZeneca vaccines and the very rare cases of blood clots associated with a low level of platelets,” Cavaleri was quoted as saying.

The president moved up his target date by two weeks, matching the timetable already being put in place by many states.

The governor of Texas issued an executive order prohibiting vaccine passports. He said vaccines are always voluntary and never forced. Texas and Florida are the first states to ban them.

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