One of my husband's childhood friends died from COVID at age 32. My husband is shocked that he died from this virus. Maybe now he will take shit seriously and wear his mask 24/7 on the job. He's an idiot.
One of my husband's childhood friends died from COVID at age 32. My husband is shocked that he died from this virus. Maybe now he will take shit seriously and wear his mask 24/7 on the job. He's an idiot.
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin
Originally Posted by bowieluva
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...ine-site-again
Days after anti-vaccination and far-right protesters disrupted operations at one of the nation’s largest COVID-19 vaccination sites at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday said any such protests in the future would be met with quick arrests.
“Our action is to be immediate and swift in the sense of holding them accountable for that unlawful activity,” Moore said during a virtual meeting of the Police Commission in the morning.
Protests will be confined to an area near the stadium’s entrance in an effort to balance people’s 1st Amendment rights with the need to keep the vaccination site operating, Moore said. Officers, he added, will have no patience for a repeat of Saturday’s debacle, when maskless protesters roamed through the long queues of cars, intimidating people and stalling their entry into the stadium site.
“It’s my expectation and direction that ... individuals will be arrested, they’ll be cited, and their actions will be caused to be ceased,” Moore said. “This going forward is a means of ensuring that the lines will stay open, that the vaccine sites will be unhindered.”
Commission President Eileen Decker welcomed the chief’s assurances, calling protesters’ attempts to block people from getting the vaccine “sad” and “tragic.”
“To interfere with people obtaining lifesaving vaccines is just beyond reprehensible,” Decker said.
She said people “certainly have a 1st Amendment right to express themselves,” but not to interfere with others’ medical care.
Moore’s promises followed outrage from local officials who demanded that no incident like the one over the weekend be allowed to happen again.
After 40 to 60 demonstrators appeared Saturday on Stadium Way holding signs decrying masks and shouting baseless claims about the dangers of the vaccine, Los Angeles Fire Department officials closed the main entrance for about an hour.
Images of the closed gate spread rapidly. Some who were in the line waiting for a shot expressed frustration with how police had handled the situation. County officials expressed dismay at the thought that such an important public health effort — critical to a region of millions — could be hampered by a few dozen ill-informed demonstrators.
Moore on Tuesday reiterated earlier assurances that vaccinations continued to be administered while the gates were closed and that people who had appointments were still able to get their shots. He said officers at the scene had acted appropriately in de-escalating the situation and eventually getting the protesters to move on.
Nonetheless, the gate closure gave the public the wrong and dangerous impression that the protesters had succeeded in halting vaccinations, which was “an image that I’m very dissatisfied with,” Moore said. “That imagery, in my view, did offer a chilling effect, or could have offered a chilling effect of intimidation or fright.”
https://www.khon2.com/international/...frica-variant/
LONDON (AP) — Developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine expect to have a modified jab to cope with the South Africa coronavirus variant by autumn, the vaccine’s lead researcher said Sunday.
Health officials in Britain are trying to contain the spread of the variant first identified in South Africa amid concerns that it is more contagious or resistant to existing vaccines. More than 100 cases of the South African variant have been found in the U.K.
Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher for the Oxford team, told the BBC on Sunday that “we have a version with the South African spike sequence in the works.”
“It looks very likely that we can have a new version ready to use in the autumn,” she added.
Her comments came as Oxford University said that early data from a small study suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers only “minimal protection” against mild disease caused by the South Africa variant.
The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, involved 2,000 people, most of whom were young and healthy. The volunteers’ average age was 31.
“Protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalization or death could not be assessed in this study as the target population were at such low risk,” Oxford University said.
Robin Shattock, a scientist who is leading the coronavirus vaccine research at Imperial College London, urged caution about the study’s early findings. But he said it was “concerning to some extent that we’re seeing that it’s not effective against mild or moderate disease.”
Authorities in England last week went house-to-house to administer COVID-19 testing in eight areas where the South Africa variant is believed to be spreading, after a handful of cases were found in people who had no contact with the country or anyone who travelled there.
The testing blitz is a bid to snuff out the variant before it spreads widely and undermines the U.K.’s vaccination rollout. Public health officials are concerned about the South Africa variant because it contains a mutation of the virus’ characteristic spike protein, which is targeted by existing vaccines.
Britain has seen Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with over 112,000 confirmed deaths, but it has embarked on a speedier vaccination plan than the neighboring European Union. So far the U.K. has given a first coronavirus vaccine jab to about 11.5 million people.
___
Follow AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at:
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
https://www.khon2.com/news/national/...o-die-at-home/
https://www.khon2.com/coronavirus/se...aii-confirmed/MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Mortuary owner Brian Simmons has been making more trips to homes to pick up bodies to be cremated and embalmed since the pandemic hit.
With COVID-19 devastating communities in Missouri, his two-person crews regularly arrive at homes in the Springfield area and remove bodies of people who decided to die at home rather than spend their final days in a nursing home or hospital where family visitations were prohibited during the pandemic.
He understands all too well why people are choosing to die at home: His own 49-year-old daughter succumbed to the coronavirus just before Christmas at a Springfield hospital, where the family only got phone updates as her condition deteriorated.
“The separation part is really rough, rough rough,” said Simmons. “My daughter went to the hospital and we saw her once through the glass when they put her on the ventilator, and then we never saw her again until after she died.”
Across the country, terminally ill patients — both with COVID-19 and other diseases — are making similar decisions and dying at home rather than face the terrifying scenario of saying farewell to loved ones behind glass or during video calls.
“What we are seeing with COVID is certainly patients want to stay at home,” said Judi Lund Person, the vice president for regulatory compliance at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “They don’t want to go to the hospital. They don’t want to go to a nursing home.”
National hospice organizations are reporting that facilities are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of patients being cared for at home.
The phenomenon has played out Carroll Hospice in Westminster, Maryland, which has seen a 30% to 40% spike in demand for home-based care, said executive director Regina Bodnar. She said avoiding nursing homes and coronavirus risks are the biggest factor behind the increase.”
Lisa Kossoudji, who supervises nurses at Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, pulled her own mother, now 95, out of assisted living and brought her home to live with her after the pandemic hit. She had gone weeks without seeing her mother and was worried that her condition was deteriorating because she was being restricted to her room as the facility sought to limit the potential for the virus to spread.
Her mother, who has a condition that causes thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries in her brain, is now receiving hospice services. Kossoudji is seeing the families she serves make similar choices.
“Lots of people are bringing folks home that physically, they have a lot physical issues, whether it is they have a feeding tube or a trachea, things that an everyday lay person would look at and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t do this,’” she said. “But yet they are willing to bring them home because we want to be able to be with them and see them.”
Before the pandemic, hospice workers cared for patients dying of heart disease, cancer, dementia and other terminal illnesses in long-term care facilities and, to a lesser extent, home settings. Many families hesitated to go the die-at-home route because of the many logistical challenges, including work schedules and complicated medical needs.
But the pandemic changed things. People were suddenly working from home and had more time, and they were more comfortable with home hospice knowing the alternative with lack of visitation at nursing homes.
“What happened with COVID is everything was on steroids so to speak. Everything happened so quickly that all of a sudden family members were prepared to care for their loved ones at home,” said Carole Fisher, president of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation. “Everything accelerated.”
“I have heard families say, ‘I can care for my aged mother now very differently than I could before because I am working from home,’” she added. “And so there is more of a togetherness in the family unit because of COVID.”
Dying at home isn’t for everyone, however. Caring for the needs of a critically ill relative can mean sleepless nights and added stress as the pandemic rages.
Karen Rubel recalled that she didn’t want to take her own 81-year-old mother to the hospital when she had a stroke in September and then pushed hard to bring her home as soon as possible.
She is president and CEO of Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas, which has designated one of its in-patient facilities for COVID-19 patients.
“I get where people are coming from,” she said. “They are afraid.”
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawai’i Department of Health State Laboratories Division confirms a second case of coronavirus with the B.1.1.7 variant in Hawai’i.
Hawaii’s Weather Station–Visit KHON’s storm preparation page here.
The department reports that both cases involve individuals on O’ahu.
Both cases have no history of travel, and the two people who have it are not known to have had contact with one another.
The DOH Disease Outbreak Control Division is continuing active investigation of both cases and ensuring that both individuals are isolating, and contacts are in quarantine.
https://news.yahoo.com/rfk-jr-kicked...171539088.html
Instagram on Wednesday banned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, from repeatedly posting misinformation about vaccine safety and COVID-19.
Kennedy Jr. has amassed a huge following on social media, where he frequently posts debunked or unproven claims about vaccines. He also uses his social media pages to post about large pharmaceutical firms and environmental health concerns.
“We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said Thursday.
In an emailed statement, Kennedy Jr. stood by his Instagram posts, adding they have been carefully vetted.
“This kind of censorship is counterproductive if our objective is a safe and effective vaccine supply,” he said.
Most recently, Kennedy Jr. has posted misinformation about COVID vaccines. In a late January post, he described COVID vaccines that are currently being administered in the U.S. as posing a potential danger, despite studies on tens of thousands of people that found no serious side effects.
The suspension of Kennedy Jr.’s Instagram account comes just days after Facebook, which owns Instagram, announced it would step up efforts block the spread of vaccine misinformation, including claims that the shots are ineffective, toxic, dangerous or cause autism. Countries around the world are ramping up efforts to inoculate citizens with version of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Still, Kennedy Jr.’s Facebook page, which has a following of more than 300,000 users, remained active as of Thursday morning. The company did not immediately respond to questions about Kennedy's Facebook account.
A Twitter account belonging to Kennedy Jr. also remains live, where he has more than 200,000 followers.
The controversial environmental lawyer has for years helped to popularize a debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines may cause autism, although repeated scientific studies in the U.S. and abroad have found no evidence linking vaccines to the developmental disorder.
Earlier this week Facebook announced it would ban ads on its platform that discourage vaccinations — with an exception carved out for ads about government vaccine policies. Unpaid posts by people or groups that discourage vaccinations will still be allowed.
Facebook has taken other steps to try to stop the spread of vaccine and coronavirus-related misinformation on its platform. Last year, it said it would begin hiding groups and pages that spread misinformation about vaccinations from the search function of its site.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt..._headlines_hed
Men posed as US marshals to avoid wearing masks
Last edited by raisedbywolves; 06-28-2021 at 12:36 PM.
https://www.valleycentral.com/news/l...andemic-raged/
Texas-based anti-vaccine organization Informed Consent Action Network was among five anti-vaccine groups that collectively received more than $850,000 in federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Washington Post reported Monday. The organization received $166,000 in May 2020, according to founder Del Bigtree.
“Vaccine hesitancy” or “vaccine skepticism” poses a significant and ongoing challenge for health authorities trying to overcome mistrust within communities of color, by the anti-vaccine crowd and general uncertainty nationwide. Doctors and scientists say the coronavirus vaccines currently available in the United States are safe and effective.
“At a minimum, it’s a mixed message from the government,” said Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. “Those individuals who are hesitant are going to be looking to various pieces of information to help them make this decision…and if one of the key pieces of information coming out is the government funding anti-vaccine groups, it could send a signal to these individuals that maybe they shouldn’t be vaccinating,” he told The Texas Tribune.
The Austin-based nonprofit has more than 43,000 followers on Facebook and regularly posts information questioning the safety of the coronavirus vaccines. Bigtree’s online anti-vaccine talk show was penalized by Facebook and YouTube last year for violating misinformation policies and downplaying the severity of the pandemic.
Facebook has cracked down on several of the groups that received the PPP loans, a spokesperson for the social network told the Post. Informed Consent Action Network’s page, labeled with a link to Facebook’s Coronavirus Information Center, is not being recommended to users by the company’s algorithms, the Facebook spokesperson told the Post.
In an interview, Bigtree said his organization spent the funds on employees’ salaries. “Just like everybody else, we were trying to keep employees employed instead of putting them on unemployment,” Bigtree told The Tribune. He described the effect of Facebook’s anti-misinformation efforts on his organization’s content as “censorship” and a “dangerous” sign of the times.
Recent polling shows vaccine skepticism poses a public health threat in Texas, where Republican elected officials have largely echoed President Donald Trump’s minimizing of the pandemic, said James Henson, head of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. An October University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll found that if a vaccine against the coronavirus became available at a low cost, 42% of Texas registered voters said they would try to get it and 36% said they wouldn’t — a significant drop from the 59% who said in a UT/Texas Politics Project poll in June that they would get vaccinated against the disease.
That anti-vaccine groups received PPP funds “sticks out as being really at odds with public health, but the bigger problem here is that there has been a pronounced lack of consistent messaging on the safety, effectiveness and necessity of the vaccine from both national and statewide leaders, in particular Republicans,” Henson said. “That’s left a huge vacuum where there should be unambiguous messaging about the vaccine.”
The five groups that received the loans are The National Vaccine Information Center, Mercola Com Health Resources LLC, Informed Consent Action Network, Children’s Health Defense Co., and the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center, according to the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Post reported.
I am so mad right now. I have a lady I used to volunteer with. She still calls me up to chat, but I wish she wouldn't. She is a GOPer, and I am sure she voted for Trump. She was very questioning of the virus early last year, kept asking me things like "how can we really know it exists" and saying that it was just a bad cold. She showed up to one of our meetings (all of them were cancelled from March until this one, and then after this one they got cancelled again) without a mask. This was the meeting that I am convinced my friend got COVID and died from. She went to a class reunion last summer, she threw a graduation party and a wedding last summer. She would say she was scared of it by summer and fall, but then not really take any precautions. I am not sure I have ever seen her wear a mask, although she claims she does (to be fair, I haven't seen her much in the last year, but every time I saw her she had no mask and I wore mine and stayed as far away from her as I could get).
Since the vaccines have come out she calls me all the time to bitch about people jumping the line, and the fact that she can't get one yet (she's just under the age cut off). She called me just 2 days ago to bitch about people having the time to wait around for the leftover shots since she works and cannot do that. Today she gleefully texted me that she drove 2 hours away and managed to get on the list to get a shot. How? I don't know, but I am livid.
If I had my way no one that was a denier or who endangered everyone else would be getting the shot before teachers, food service workers, etc.
Oh, and on top of that DeSansBrains is using the vaccine to play political games here in Florida. He's setting up shot clinics in super highly GOP populated areas and requiring you to live in the zip to get a shot there. When he was criticized for it he said he would take the shots away. He thinks they're his own personal property to dole out as he sees fit.
Last edited by raisedbywolves; 02-18-2021 at 05:25 PM.
So frustrating!!
Ugh it bothers me that she got on a list but won't even wear a damn mask.
I don't understand the whole vaccine guide thing. People are getting them that shouldn't have.
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin
Arrrgh. She is the type that will get the shot cause she is entitled and then not wear a mask still. I get delivery and recently so many don't wear their masks, I was told by one driver to back off and when I suggested I don't tip him, I was called the C word. I was told by another that there was no need they had their first shot. There is no use explaining it to them. I am so tired of these fucking people. I agree with you that no deniers and people with flagrant disregard for others should be getting shots this quick and before others who need them. Why is it so hard to sit their asses down in their homes? We are having so many adult tantrums from these nutters.
Last edited by Deviant Toaster; 02-18-2021 at 06:16 PM. Reason: words
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/tourist...animals-52657/
Tourists could be spreading the virus causing COVID-19 to wild mountain gorillas by taking selfies with the animals without following precautions. Researchers from Oxford Brookes University examined nearly 1,000 Instagram posts and found most gorilla trekking tourists were close enough to the animals, without face masks on, to make transmission of viruses and diseases possible.
Examining the photos from people visiting mountain gorillas in East Africa, lead author and Oxford Brookes University Primate Conservation alumnus Gaspard Van Hamme said: “The risk of disease transmission between visitors and gorillas is very concerning. It is vital that we strengthen and enforce tour regulations to ensure gorilla trekking practices do not further threaten these already imperiled great apes”.
In January 2021, captive gorillas at San Diego Zoo tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, providing evidence that the current pandemic has the potential to also possibly also can affect great apes. Tourists’ photos examined for this research found people were close enough to the animals that disease transmission would be possible.
The importance of wearing face masks
Dr Magdalena Svensson, lecturer in biological anthropology at Oxford Brookes University added: “In the photos we analysed, we found that face masks were rarely worn by tourists visiting gorillas and that brings potential for disease transmission between people and the gorillas they visit. With people all over the world getting more used to wearing face masks we have hope that in the future wearing face masks will become common practice in gorilla trekking.”
Gorilla numbers in the balance
Mountain gorillas are endemic to the East African region. They are present in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Virunga National Park), Uganda (Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park), and Rwanda (Volcanoes National Park). In recent decades, these populations have suffered from the ill effects of human activities but in more recent years gorilla numbers have started to increase and now it is estimated that there are 1,063 individuals.
Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka from Conservation Through Public Health, Uganda, said: “This research provides a valuable perspective on how much tourists are willing to share their too close encounters with mountain gorillas through Instagram, which creates expectations for future tourists. It highlights a great need for responsible tourism to provide adequate protection while minimizing disease transmission, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
San Diego Zoo reports gorillas test positive for SARS-CoV-2
Tourism: environment and wildlife
Trekking is an important financial support to mountain gorilla conservation. But large visitor numbers can impact on the wildlife and environment – guidelines to mitigate these include maintaining a minimum distance of 7 metres between visitors and gorillas. The Oxford Brookes study shows that these guidelines are not adequately followed and enforced.
Russell A. Mittermeier, Chair of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, who was not involved in the study, commented: “It has become apparent in the past few years that studies of anthroponotic and zoonotic disease spread are crucial to the field of primate conservation. With that in mind, it is very exciting to see the new research on this topic coming out of the Primate Conservation Group at Oxford Brookes University. While this study focused on one species, the mountain gorilla, the lessons learned are also applicable to many other primate species that are increasingly coming into contact with people. This line of research will certainly become more important in the future.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rd-nights.html
Elle Macpherson's links to the anti-vaxxer community are getting stronger after the supermodel was filmed making guest appearances at controversial awards nights.
The 56-year-old attended the 'Doctors Who Rock' black-tie gala in Florida in 2017 as a 'special guest' presenter.
Macpherson was seen handing out awards to prominent anti-vaxxer figures over the course of the night.
'Elle was intimately involved in the making of this film,' he said in front of an audience in North Carolina.
Macpherson responded: 'You made this film during Covid, and it's interesting because it's such beautiful, sacred timing when you watch the film, because it's so pertinent and so relevant... And for it to come in this divine time where vaccination and mandatory vaccination is on everybody's lips.'
Wakefield, originally from Berkshire, was struck off the medical register in 2010 after his research showing the supposed link between the MMR jabs and autism was exposed as an 'elaborate fraud'.
His false claims led to a downturn in vaccination among children and renewed measles outbreaks.
He moved to the US and reinvented himself as a filmmaker and campaigner, and in recent months has seized on paranoia owing to the coronavirus pandemic to spread conspiracy theories around vaccination.
Wakefield has dismissed the coronavirus as what he calls 'WuFlu', after the city of Wuhan in China, where the pandemic began.
Wakefield and Macpherson were first linked in 2018 when pictures emerged of them kissing at a Miami street market, shortly after he split from his wife of 30 years, who had stood by him throughout the MMR scandal.
Despite being ostracised by the medical community in Britain, Wakefield has become something of a minor celebrity in the States.
Can people get regular sick or is it all covid now?
I have a fever of 100.6 and body chills.
I'm not throwing up and I can taste stuff.
Of course you can get regular sick, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to seek out a COVID test to know for sure. Take care and let us know how you're doing!
I've been thinking about this, and the way you feel is certainly understandable. No question. But it might help to re-frame this. Typhoid Mary is going to be less of a danger to herself and others! From a fairness perspective, no it's not fair that the people who haven't been taking things seriously get shots ahead of those of us who haven't been out of the house for 11 months and counting. But from a greater good perspective, especially for those of us in Free-dumb loving states? If you won't make them wear a mask and won't make them stay home? For god's sake inoculate them. It will save lives. Not just them but everyone who has no choice but to be in contact with them.
If I ran the world I would have done things differently, but I don't so letting the people who live the risky lives jump the line may help us all.
And that's just horrific. In a just world we'd tar and feather and run these people out of the country on a rail.Oh, and on top of that DeSansBrains is using the vaccine to play political games here in Florida. He's setting up shot clinics in super highly GOP populated areas and requiring you to live in the zip to get a shot there. When he was criticized for it he said he would take the shots away. He thinks they're his own personal property to dole out as he sees fit.
My husband told me essentially the same thing. My only concern is that I have seen several news reports that says for the most part the vaccine doesn't stop you from getting it, it just makes it a non-event. So Ms. COVID Mary can now be protected and spread it even more since she feels safe is how I see it. IDK. I read an article today that said they do think it might protect you some from actually getting it, as opposed to just not getting symptoms, so there's that.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/20/healt...day/index.html
Covid-19 vaccines may prevent infection and not just symptoms, study suggests
I'm also irritated that she keeps telling me she got it because of her pre-existing condition (which I have never heard of in 6 years of knowing her), which Florida isn't giving it for that, no matter what is wrong with you, if you're under 65. Her husband and daughter got it when they shouldn't have because they work for a hospital and were given it as soon as it was available, even though neither of them EVER encounter patients. I have seen other hospitals get busted for the same thing, but this is our BIG religious hospital all through Florida, so of course they are going to get away with it. Her boss that she cleans houses for is a high up with this hospital, and he helped her get it before she was supposed to.
And sweaty, disheveled Trump-ass kissing DeSansBrains is going to use it as much as he can. He's going to run for President in 2024 (although I wonder how Trump possibly running again is going to play out with that?) and he's trying to make a name for himself now. He's also trying to crack down on Florida voting, so he can get rid of those pesky non-GOP votes.
I've seen that, but Tony Fauci says maybe not. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...pread-n1258142 lets hope he's right, cause I don't expect that most people will continue (hell start) being careful once they feel protected.
And yeah Gnome thinks she's on track to run as well. I hope they all go down in flames. None of them should be trusted with any power whatsoever.
I hope Fauci is right.
I just saw this and it made me laugh. I'm sure our illustrious governor is super pissed off!
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...-slow-n1258360
Feds plan Florida, Penn. mass Covid vaccination centers as storms slow distribution
The federal government is opening five new Covid-19 mass vaccination centers in Florida and Pennsylvania, adding to an increasing number of distribution points that aren't being left to state governments to operate.
Yeah. I saw that and thought about what you said about how your idiot is trying to make points with his people using the vaccines.
I wish we could shut these aholes down. Your gov, my gov, and all the others.
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/...isinformation/
The opening testimony Wednesday in support of a legislative effort to allow lawmakers to vote down public health orders went far enough off the rails for YouTube to remove footage of the speaker.
Tom Renz, an attorney for Ohio Stands Up, filed a lawsuit in federal court in September seeking to overturn any and all health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A federal judge last week deemed the arguments nearly “incomprehensible” and ordered Renz to show cause for why he shouldn’t dismiss the suit for procedural errors.
The Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, an anti-vaccine activism group aligned with Renz, posted to YouTube footage of Renz’s 35-minute, oftentimes rambling testimony to the House State and Local Government Committee.
The video was soon taken down for violating YouTube’s terms of service.
“We have clear Community Guidelines that govern what videos may stay on YouTube, which we enforce consistently, regardless of speaker,” said Ivy Choi, a spokeswoman for Google, which owns YouTube.
“We removed this video in accordance with our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content that claims a certain age group cannot transmit the virus. We do allow material with sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic (EDSA) value.”
The policy states videos cannot spread medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s medical information about COVID-19.
In his testimony, Renz baselessly claimed no Ohioans under the age of 19 have died of COVID-19. Data from the Ohio Department of Health shows 10 children in the age group have died of the disease during the pandemic.
Similarly, Renz said children can neither contract nor spread COVID-19. He even claimed the CDC says this as well, which is untrue. CDC guidance states children can contract and spread the coronavirus.
While it’s unclear which specific COVID-19 misinformation from Renz sparked YouTube’s decision, there’s a lot to choose from.
Renz’s testimony was a firehose of COVID-19 conspiracy theorizing: He said unspecified entities “provide funding for people to find a COVID-19 death;” the ODH “whitewashes” its coronavirus data; that PCR testing, which public health officials consider to be a premier diagnostic, is “garbage” or “absolutely useless.”
He claimed the lockdown orders of the spring to be “the most drastic curtailment of rights ever taken in American history.” The statement was made without acknowledgement to the enslavement of Black Americans, the mass detention of Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II, the forced relocation of Native Americans, or any number of national atrocities through American history.
While YouTube removed the footage, Ohio Republican lawmakers praised Renz for the testimony.
Chairman Scott Wiggam, who has falsely proclaimed that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, praised Renz for bringing “the other side of the data” to the table.
Rep. Diane Grendell, who without evidence accused ODH of publishing “corrupted” data to a panel of state senators in November, also praised Renz.
Footage of the hearing is still publicly available on the Ohio Channel, and OAMF has since re-uploaded it to Rumble, which has looser content guidelines.
Renz made the statement supporting House Bill 90, which would allow lawmakers to vote down public health orders related to the pandemic. A similar version of the proposal passed the Senate earlier this week.
The lawsuit against ODH was Renz first filing in federal court after passing the bar on his fifth attempt, according to records from the Ohio Supreme Court.
His “about me” page for his website claims lists no prior legal experience besides serving as a clerk on the Indian Supreme Court. However, in a prior interview, he said he did not remember when he served on the court and said he did not speak Hindi.
Renz declined to answer questions about his testimony.”
“This should not be right and left and we should not be fighting over facts,” Renz told lawmakers. “The question I would ask to the people who are saying that I’m incorrect or lying, is who are you working for and how much are you getting paid? Because inevitably, I’m finding they typically are working for someone or getting paid somewhere.”
This is why I stopped shopping at Publix. They are so up in this crap. This is from a couple of weeks ago, and I suspect this is why Biden is bringing in fed gov vaccine clinics to Florida.
https://www.salon.com/2021/02/01/aft...ution_partner/
After $100K donation, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis awards contract for supermarket vaccine distribution
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...248817950.html
Quite a return on their $100,000 investment on DeSantis.
This is, plain and simple, dirty pay-to-play politics — corruption made possible by having a manipulative governor who kept COVID-19 infection data secret and is now doing the same with vaccine distribution as people struggle to get appointments.
Last edited by raisedbywolves; 06-28-2021 at 12:38 PM.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/can...prion-disease/
. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began and antivaxxers made common cause with COVID-19 cranks, deniers, and conspiracy theorists, I?ve been repeating a simple message: Everything old is new again. The pandemic has resulted in a lot of scientists and other people paying attention to the antivaccine movement in a way that they never have before. Many of these newbies have been amazed at some of the antivaccine misinformation and disinformation that have been spread about the new COVID-19 vaccines. False antivax claims about these vaccines include a veritable antivax ?greatest hits? of pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and distortions, a veritable playbook of claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill, cause miscarriages and/or infertility, cause autoimmune disease, ?permanently alter your DNA?, are unnecessary because COVID-19 is not dangerous, that the number of cases are exaggerated, and that the vaccines are filled with ?toxins? (in the case of the mRNA vaccines, the lipid nanoparticles used to encapsulate the mRNA coding for COVID-19 spike protein). Now two more famous antivax claims from the past are popping up in my social media feeds, and they are related. I?m referring to the false claim that the COVID-19 vaccines cause prion disease and that they cause Alzheimer?s disease. We have ?immunologist? Dr. J. Bart Classen to thank for this disinformation and antivaxxers like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for spreading it.
First, let?s show how his claim is yet another example of my adage regarding disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine that ?everything old is new again?.
Vaccines and Alzheimer?s disease: A brief history
One of the earliest antivaccine claims that I ever dealt with was a rather specific claim about the influenza vaccine. I first encountered it when Bill Maher parroted it in an interview with Larry King on Larry King Live, way back in December 2005. (Yes, you read that correctly, 2005.) I think it?s useful to recount what Maher said in this exchange:
MAHER: I?m not into western medicine. That to me is a complete scare tactic. It just shows you, you can?
KING: You mean you don?t get a ? you don?t get a flu shot?
MAHER: A flu shot is the worst thing you can do.
KING: Why?
MAHER: Because it?s got ? it?s got mercury.
KING: It prevents flu.
MAHER: It doesn?t prevent. First of all, that?s?
KING: I haven?t had the flu in 25 years since I?ve been taking a flu shot.
MAHER: Well, I hate to tell you, Larry, but if you have a flu shot for more than five years in a row, there?s ten times the likelihood that you?ll get Alzheimer?s disease. I would stop getting your?
KING: What did you say?
MAHER: That went better in rehearsal but it was still good. Absolutely, no the defense against disease is to have a strong immune system. A flu shot just compromises your immune system.
Where did the claim that getting a flu shot more than five years in a row increases your risk of someday developing Alzheimer?s disease originate? While I?m not sure where the claim that the flu shot predisposes to Alzheimer?s disease truly originated, but I?m pretty sure that the specific claim about five years? worth of flu shots increasing the risk of Alzheimer?s disease by ten-fold came from. At the time, a search on that hoary old crank and conspiracy theory website Whale.to quickly revealed this gem from a conference held by the antivaccine group National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) in 1997:
https://apnews.com/article/fda-j-and...f8197149c80f06
WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis released Wednesday by U.S. regulators that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic.
The long-anticipated shot could offer the nation a third vaccine option and help speed vaccinations by requiring just one dose instead of two. Food and Drug Administration scientists confirmed that overall the vaccine is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and about 85% effective against the most serious illness. The agency also said J&J’s shot is safe.
The analysis is just one step in the FDA’s evaluation. On Friday, the agency’s independent advisers will debate if the evidence is strong enough to recommend the shot. With that advice, the FDA is expected to make a final decision within days.
The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. topped 500,000 this week, and the vaccination drive has been slower than hoped, hampered by logistical and weather delays. So far, about 44.5 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine made by Pfizer or Moderna, and nearly 20 million of them have received the second dose required for full protection.
Tests showed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 95% effective at protection against symptomatic COVID-19.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is part of the FDA advisory panel that will scrutinize the J&J data on Friday and cautions that none of the vaccines have been directly compared. Still, he was encouraged that one dose of the J&J vaccine appears as good at preventing serious illness as its two-dose competitors.
“This is a vaccine to prevent you from going to the hospital and dying at a level that’s certainly comparable” to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, he said.
J&J tested its single-dose option in 44,000 adults in the U.S., Latin America and South Africa. Different mutated versions of the virus are circulating in different countries, and the FDA analysis cautioned that it’s not clear how well the vaccine works against each variant. But J&J previously announced that the vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19, compared with 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa.
MORE COVID-19 NEWS:
– Ghana 1st nation to receive coronavirus vaccines from COVAX
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– FDA says single-dose shot from J&J prevents severe COVID
Still, South Africa recently began giving the J&J vaccine to front-line health workers on a test basis after deciding that a vaccine from rival AstraZeneca had not shown strong enough study results.
Across all countries, Wednesday’s analysis showed protection began to emerge about 14 days after vaccination. But by 28 days after vaccination, there were no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccinated group compared with 16 hospitalizations and seven deaths in study recipients who received a dummy shot.
The FDA said effectiveness and safety were consistent across racial groups, including Black and Latino participants.
All of the world’s COVID-19 vaccines have been tested differently, making comparisons nearly impossible. It would not be surprising if one dose turned out to be a little weaker than two doses, and policymakers will decide if that’s an acceptable trade-off to get more people vaccinated faster.
J&J has another large study underway to see if a second dose of its vaccine works better, raising the prospect that countries could eventually add a booster if one turned out to be warranted.
Like other COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J shot are pain at the injection site and flu-like fever, fatigue and headache. No study participant experienced the severe allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, that is a rare risk of some other COVID-19 shots, although one experienced a less serious reaction.
The FDA said there were no serious side effects linked to the vaccine so far, although it recommended further monitoring for blood clots. In the study, those were reported in about 15 vaccine recipients and 10 placebo recipients, not enough of a difference to tell if the vaccine played any role.
J&J was on track to become the world’s first one-dose option until earlier this month. Mexico announced it would use a one-dose version from China’s CanSino, which is made with similar technology as J&J’s shot but initially was developed as a two-dose option until beginning a one-dose test in the fall.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines now being used in the U.S. and numerous other countries must be kept frozen, while the J&J shot can last three months in a refrigerator, making it easier to handle. AstraZeneca’s vaccine — widely used in Europe, Britain and Israel — is made similarly and also requires refrigeration but takes two doses.
Full Coverage: Coronavirus vaccine
If the FDA clears the J&J shot for U.S. use, it will not boost vaccine supplies significantly right away. Only a few million doses are expected to be ready for shipping in the first week. But J&J told Congress this week that it expected to provide 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million by summer.
European regulators and the World Health Organization also are considering J&J’s vaccine. Worldwide, the company aims to produce around a billion doses by the end of the year.
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Associated Press video producer Kathy Young contributed to this report.
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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.
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