Tag: vaccines

At Vatican conference, Chelsea Clinton calls for global crackdown on anti-vaccine social media posts

Chelsea Clinton has spoken out against freedom of vaccine-critical speech at a Vatican conference dedicated to dialogue.

Speaking during a pre-recorded online meeting, Clinton, 41, responded to a question about so-called “vaccine hesitancy” regarding COVID-19 vaccines by saying that there must be a global effort to crack down on vaccine-critical social media posts.

“I personally very strongly believe there has to be more intensive and intentional and coordinated global regulation of the content on social media platforms,” she said.

“We know that the most popular video across all of Latin America for the last few weeks that now has tens of millions of views is just an anti-vax, anti-science screed that YouTube has just refused to take down.”

Clinton added that anti-vaccine content created in the United States “flourishes” across the world by way of social media platforms. Her attempts to convince the managers of these sites to remove the material has not worked, she said.

“We know that — because I have tried — that appealing to the leadership of these companies to do the right thing has just not worked, and so we need regulation.”

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An army of Big Biotech companies is using psych tactics to ‘create vaccine demand’

“[P]ublic health experts know that the last inch – getting the vaccine from vial to arm – can be the hardest,” according to the Vaccination Demand Observatory

Launched last week, the Observatory runs a “beta dashboard” of data and resources “intended for select global public health professionals.”

The Observatory was established by a group called the Public Good Projects (PGP) which “designs and implements large-scale behavior change programs for the public good,” UNICEF – which has received $86.6 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since 2020 – and the Gates-subsidized Yale Institute for Global Health. .

PGP was founded by Joe Smyser, a public health academic who trained at the CDC and has partnered with Google and Facebook. Its board members include executives from Merck pharmaceuticals, Pepsi, Levi-Strauss, the Advertising Council, Sesame Street, Campbell’s, and TikTok.

PGP’s website says that through “media monitoring and bots, grassroots social media organizing, or thought leadership, we deploy our considerable resources and connections to communication for change.”

Bots – or internet robots, also known as crawlers – can scan content on webpages all over the internet and create automated conversations and comments.

“PGP is monitoring coronavirus-related media conversations 24/7 to provide organizations with real-time public health expertise and messaging guidance.”

The group has promoted vaccines before. It developed the #StopFlu campaign, recruiting 120 “‘micro’ social media influencers” in the “African American and Latinx communities across eight states” and giving them prompts to sell their audiences the ideas that flu is a serious problem and that healthy people need flu shots.

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Seattle Mariners announce $10 tickets for vaccinated-only sections at T-Mobile Park

The Seattle Mariners announced Friday fully vaccinated fans will be able to purchase tickets to vaccine-only sections and receive special rewards to fans that show proof of full vaccination.

Tickets start at $10 and go on sale Friday for games May 13 through May 19.

Along with becoming the first major league ballpark to offer vaccinations to fans, Mariners chairman John Stanton said, “Getting vaccinated is the single most important thing we can all do to protect ourselves, our families and our community. Encouraging vaccinations and helping make them accessible to everyone will save lives.”

Fans that show proof of full vaccination will have access to special entrances at the park, 20% off food and drinks and exclusive access to the Trident Deck on the View Level.

In addition, the T-Mobile ‘Pen has been closed due to social distancing requirements; however, fully vaccinated fans will have access to the ‘Pen for the first time this season.

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PolitiFact Ignores Facts In Article Claiming 15-Year-Old Did Not Die After Receiving Pfizer Vaccine

PolitiFact botched an attempted fact check of a National File article reporting that a 15-year-old boy in Colorado reportedly died of a heart attack only two days after receiving the controversial Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine despite having no previous medical conditions or medical history of severe allergic reactions.

In its fact check, in which PolitiFact writer Tom Kertscher misspells the name of Colorado Department of Public Health Director of Communications Jessica Bralish, PolitiFact acknowledges “Jesscia [sic] Bralish, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the CDC ‘has confirmed that they are investigating this report,’ but that she couldn’t provide more information.” This, combined with the fact that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System is hosted by the CDC but open to the public, suggests to PolitiFact that the death did not occur. PolitiFact then brazenly disregards facts presented by the official Colorado COVID-19 resource website by declaring that, “The CDC said in a statement that there are no circumstances under which a 15-year-old would have been eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.”

On the official Colorado COVID-19 resource website, in its frequently asked questions category, the state acknowledges that none of the controversial COVID-19 vaccines are currently available to teenagers younger than 16. However, the website also acknowledges that, “children as young as 12 years old have been enrolled in vaccine studies.” National File asked PolitiFact whether they knew this before publishing their article and did not receive a response.

In fact, the same Colorado media outlet quoted by PolitiFact – Fox 31 – acknowledges that the Pfizer vaccine is being tested on children and teens aged between 12 and 15, and quotes a Colorado doctor who claims the efficacy of the vaccine in this age group represents a “game changer.” Fox 31 quotes “Dr. Reginald Washington, the chief medical officer at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver” as saying “I think it’s welcome news,” and ” none of the vaccinated children came down with COVID, and the immune response was very robust, meaning they had a very high number of antibodies.” National File asked PolitiFact if they were aware of this before publishing their fact check and did not receive a response.

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AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine blood clot disorder far more common than reported

  • AstraZeneca Covid-19 is not approved in the U.S.
  • A new study in Europe shows a concerning incidence of a serious brain blood clots, CVST, following AstraZeneca’s shot.
  • Initially, the blood clots were thought to occur about 3 or 4 in a million. The study estimates the true occurrence is closer to 25 in a million (1 in 40,000).
  • Scientists say the true number of adverse events is assumed to be much higher than the number reported since it’s assumed that most events are not properly diagnosed and reported.
  • Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine recently added a new warning about heightened risk of blood disorders.

The following are excerpts from Medscape News

A new study that systematically monitored rates of vascular and thromboembolic events in people receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has found it to be associated with a rate of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) of 1 in 40,000.

Using national health records, the researchers identified rates of arterial and venous events in a cohort of 282,572 people aged 18-65 years within 28 days of receiving a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Denmark and Norway from February 2021 through to March 11, 2021 and compared these with expected rates in the general population of the same age and sex.

Results showed seven cases of CVST in the vaccinated cohort.

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