Tag: coronavirus

British Medical Journal Demands Immediate Release of All COVID-19 Vaccine, Treatment Data

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has demanded the full and immediate release of all data related to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, saying it is in the public’s interest to do so.

BMJ, a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal published by the trade union the British Medical Association, called for the release of the data in an editorial published on Wednesday.

“Today, despite the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the anonymized participant-level data underlying the trials for these new products remain inaccessible to doctors, researchers, and the public—and are likely to remain that way for years to come,” BMJ said.

“This is morally indefensible for all trials, but especially for those involving major public health interventions.”

BMJ also accused pharmaceutical companies of “reaping vast profits without adequate independent scrutiny of their scientific claims,” pointing to Pfizer, whose COVID vaccine trial was “funded by the company and designed, run, analyzed, and authored by Pfizer employees.”

New York-headquartered Pfizer still holds that trial data and has indicated that it won’t begin considering requests for such data until May 2025—24 months after the primary study completion date of May 15, 2023, which is listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Meanwhile, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had asked a judge to give it 75 years to produce all the data concerning the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine.

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CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Announces The Definition of ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Has Changed

During a press briefing Friday afternoon, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced the definition of fully vaccinated has changed and that the agency is “pivoting” its language on how it approaches boosters. This language change includes ditching the use of “fully vaccinated” and replacing it with “up to date.”

“What we are really are working to do is pivot our language so that everyone is as up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines as they personally could be, should be based on when they got their last vaccine. So importantly right now we are pivoting our language, we really want to make sure people are up to date. That means if you recently got your second dose you’re not eligible for a booster. You’re up to date. If you are eligible for a booster and you haven’t gotten it, you’re not up to date and you need to get your booster in order to be up to date,” Walensky said.

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Cross-country truckers convoy departs B.C. for Ottawa to protest vaccine mandate

The first leg of the convoy, dubbed The Convoy For Freedom 2022 , is set to leave B.C. on Sunday. Convoy organizers plan to arrive in Ottawa on Jan. 29, where truckers from other provinces will join.

“I know a lot of drivers who are impacted by this. It has basically removed them from the workforce,” B.C. truck driver Colin Valentim told the Vancouver Sun .

Valentim will lead the B.C. leg of the convoy taking the western route and expects to be accompanied by others along the way. Two other convoys have different starting points: The eastern route is to begin on Jan. 27 in Enfield, Nova Scotia. The southern route will leave on the same day from Windsor, Ont.

A Go Fund Me page for the cause has raised more than $560,000 to help with food, lodgings and fuel for the truckers.

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Virginia Teachers Vow To Exclude, Bully Maskless Students

Teachers from multiple school districts in northern Virginia reportedly vowed to exclude maskless students from their classrooms, according to private social media posts obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

School districts and teachers alike promised to defy newly-inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s repeal of in-school mask mandates. Districts including Arlington Public Schools (APS) and Alexandria County Public Schools (ACPS) claim that universal masking reduces the transmission rate of COVID-19, though the districts point only to CDC data and not any specific study.

ACPS seemingly doubled down on masking students and sent an email announcing that the district received a shipment of KN-95 masks and other surgical masks that allow for double masking, days after Youngkin announced the mask mandate repeal. 

Teachers in other districts promised to take on maskless students by themselves. Heather Lynn Reilly Osial, a teacher in Prince William County Public Schools, reportedly said that students who refuse to wear a mask will not be allowed in her classroom.

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Totalitarian Paranoia Run Amok: Pandemics, Lockdowns & Martial Law

“Totalitarian paranoia runs deep in American society, and it now inhabits the highest levels of government.”—Professor Henry Giroux

Once upon a time, there was a government so paranoid about its hold on power that it treated everyone and everything as a threat and a reason to expand its powers. Unfortunately, the citizens of this nation believed everything they were told by their government, and they suffered for it.

When terrorists attacked the country, and the government passed massive laws aimed at paving the way for a surveillance state, the people believed it was done merely to keep them safe. The few who disagreed were labeled traitors.

When the government waged costly preemptive wars on foreign countries, insisting it was necessary to protect the nation, the citizens believed it. And when the government brought the weapons and tactics of war home to use against the populace, claiming it was just a way to recycle old equipment, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were labeled unpatriotic.

When the government spied on its own citizens, claiming they were looking for terrorists hiding among them, the people believed it. And when the government began tracking the citizenry’s movements, monitoring their spending, snooping on their social media, and surveying them about their habits—supposedly in an effort to make their lives more efficient—the people believed that, too. The few who disagreed were labeled paranoid.

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New research suggests COVID was less deadly than thought in first year of pandemic

COVID-19 was less lethal across nearly every age group in its first full year than previously thought, according to an updated review of global research from Stanford University’s Meta-Research Innovation Center (METRIC).

Between summer and Christmas 2021, METRIC’s estimates of deaths from infection fell by half in multiple age groups, including young people, and less sharply in others.

The international estimates, which have not been peer-reviewed, are not substantially different from the CDC’s own “best estimate” of COVID mortality in the U.S., last updated in March. They use different age ranges, making exact comparisons difficult.

The findings raise questions about ongoing COVID restrictions and mandates, particularly for schoolchildren and college students, who remain at the lowest overall risk from infection. 

The risk-benefit ratio of vaccine boosters is also under scrutiny, with international authorities souring on their wide deployment and a new Israeli study finding that a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines doesn’t stop the Omicron variant.

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Penn State professor: Maybe masked drunk drivers should speed through ‘pro-covid’ neighborhoods

A Penn State University professor recently compared those who say mask and vaccine mandates violate their personal liberties to drunk drivers.

“Why is it a parent’s right to endanger the lives of other people’s kids and of teachers?” Professor Edward Fuller tweeted Sunday. “Maybe ppl wearing masks should just drive drunk and speed thru the neighborhoods of pro-covid parents as a way to exercise their freedom and rights.”

Fuller, an associate professor of education and director of the Penn State Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis, has since deleted the tweet and switched his account to private.

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