The Federal Government's Covid Failure Becomes Even More Apparent
Today I was busy with medical issues. Nothing bad to report on my side. But I feel somewhat sad for the people in the U.S. who's health get screwed by its 'elite' over and over again.
Seven days ago the CEO of Delta Airlines asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cut quarantine time for Covid breakthrough cases:
Delta Air Lines Inc's chief executive asked the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday to shrink quarantine guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals who experience breakthrough COVID-19 infections, citing the impact on the carrier's workforce.CEO Ed Bastian, along with the company's chief health officer and a medical adviser, asked in a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky seen by Reuters that the agency's recommended quarantine period for anyone who tests positive with a breakthrough COVID-19 infection be reduced to five days from the current 10.
The letter suggested that individuals could end isolation with appropriate testing.
...
"With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations," Bastian wrote. "Similar to healthcare, police, fire, and public transportation workforces, the Omicron surge may exacerbate shortages and create significant disruptions."
...
Delta said that "as part of this policy change, we would be interested to partner with CDC and collect empirical data."
The CDC immediately set off to do what the business side of the U.S. told it to do. Yesterday it changed its guidelines for recommended isolation and the quarantine period:
Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to 5 days, if asymptomatic, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.Additionally, CDC is updating the recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for 5 days followed by strict mask use for an additional 5 days. Alternatively, if a 5-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure. Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure. For all those exposed, best practice would also include a test for SARS-CoV-2 at day 5 after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19.
These recommendation are:
- way too differentiated and thereby confusing. Only the first sentence up to but excluding the word 'asymptomatic' will be followed.
- not based on science as the infectious period of Covid cases varies over a relative wide range and can be even more than ten days after symptom onset.
- misses the use of tests after the five day period.
- does not mention the varying quality of different masks and does not recommend the use of K95/FFP2 masks which are the only ones that should be used by likely infectious persons.
The recommendations give backing to businesses who tell their workers to come to work even when sick.
They go far beyond what the Delta CEO asked for. The three points set in bold in the first quote above get ignored in the CDC recommendations.
The U.S. doctors and scientist I follow on Twitter all disagree with the CDC.
Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD - 13:50 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
Regardless of what CDC says, you really should try to obtain an antigen test (I know- easier said than done) and confirm it’s negative prior to leaving isolation and quarantine.
There’s not a scientist or doctor I’ve met yet who wouldn’t do this for themselves/ their family.
Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH @ashishkjha - 13:48 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
While new CDC isolation guidelines are reasonable, here's what I would have done differently
1. Required a neg antigen test after 5 days
2. Had different guidelines for vaccinated (contagious for shorter time) versus unvaccinated
3. Specified higher quality masks
Short thread ...
Eric Topol @EricTopol - 14:50 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
The data that supports the new @CDCgov 5 day isolation period without a negative test
Topol's tweet has a picture of an empty paper attached to it.
The often quoted Angie Rasmussen is livid:
Dr. Angela Rasmussen @angie_rasmussen - 15:34 UTC · Dec 28, 2021
Once again, @CDCgov outdoes itself by taking what might be a reasonable policy (test to leave isolation) and removing the part that makes it reasonable (the testing part). This is reckless and, frankly, stupid.Mandatory 10-day isolations could be reduced if a person tests negative sequentially. Example: 2 negative tests 24 hr apart beginning on day 5. But just assuming that people with no symptoms aren’t shedding shitloads of virus? CDC, where have you been this entire pandemic?
SARS-CoV-2 spreads readily from people without symptoms. That’s a key reason why the pandemic has been so hard to contain. @SaskiaPopescu and I reviewed this nearly A YEAR AGO, long before omicron befouled our holidays.
SARS-CoV-2 transmission without symptoms
...
I’m very disappointed with yet another failure to actually use evidence in formulating recommendations. I’m very disappointed in @CDCDirector @RWalensky’s leadership, which has been at best erratic and at worst nonexistent.Actual public health leadership means not putting business interests first during a public health crisis with policies you just pulled out of your ass. It’s callow, it is devastating to public confidence, and it’s going to blow up when omicron cases continue their meteoric rise.
This isn’t changing policy to reflect the changing evidence. This is caving to business interests with a nakedly evidence-free one-size-fits-all solution that was probably cooked up in lieu of the will to actually increase testing availability to make test-to-release possible.
Angie gets political:
We all had such high hopes for the Biden administration’s pledge to let science lead the way out of this pandemic. Those hopes have been dashed repeatedly by the lack of follow through on any of the promises made regarding the pandemic.A year later, we still don’t have enough tests, 40% of people are unvaccinated, there’s no national mask mandate or vaccine mandate, and the country is ablaze with omicron. It didn’t have to be this way and wouldn’t be if @POTUS kept his promises.
Well Angie, its the system that is sick and not the man at the top.
In a phone call with governors Biden yesterday rejected all responsibility:
Republicans wasted no time slamming Joe Biden after the flip-flopping president said 'there is no federal solution' to combatting COVID-19 on Monday.
The CDC changes will ease COVID-related flight cancellations as sick flight personal will be able to help spread the virus even when they don't like to do so:
"We said we wanted to hear from medical professionals on the best guidance for quarantine, not from corporate America advocating for a shortened period due to staffing shortages,” said Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International President Sara Nelson following the CDC announcement shortening the recommended quarantine duration from 10 days to five days.“The CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring,” Nelson said.
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have had so many screw ups during the pandemic that one must doubt their usefulness.
Recently the FDA authorized and even praised Pfizer's Paxlovid anti-Covid drug. But its use is seriously in doubt:
When Paxlovid is paired with other medications that are also metabolized by the CYP3A enzyme, the chief worry is that the ritonavir component may boost the co-administered drugs to toxic levels.Complicating matters, the drugs that pose interaction risks are widely prescribed to people at the greatest risk from Covid because of other health conditions.
The medications include, but are not limited to: blood thinners; anti-seizure medications; drugs for irregular heart rhythms, high blood pressure and high cholesterol; antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications; immunosuppressants; steroids (including inhalers); HIV treatments; and erectile dysfunction medications.
The half of the U.S. population that is most in danger due to Covid will not be able to take Paxlovid as it already uses incompatible medications.
The CDC is still unable to track the number of Omicron cases. Today it admitted that it (again) screwed up its own statistic:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly revised its model of the breakdown of Covid-19 variants on Tuesday, estimating the Omicron strain accounted for about 58.6 percent of U.S. cases as of Dec. 25.The public health agency’s previous estimate that the rapidly spreading variant accounted for 73.2 percent of cases nationwide on Dec. 18 is now revised down to 22.5 percent — a significant drop that falls outside the agency's earlier 95 percent prediction interval, or likely range where future analysis will fall, of 34 to 94.9 percent of all cases.
...
The U.S. is now recording more than 206,000 daily Covid-19 infections — a number that is rapidly growing. Americans continue to travel at high levels through the holidays: more than 2 million people flew yesterday, according to Transportation Security Administration data.
Tomorrow the number of new Cocid cases per day in the U.S. will likely exceed the previous record.
Omicron guarantees that the next few month will be a wild ride. But no matter how high the number of cases will be the U.S. the federal government and its institutions will do nothing about it. They have been proven to be incapable for systemic reasons independent of their leadership. It does not have to be that way but I see no one who is trying to change that.
To be clear. I am not worried for myself. I am vaccinated and was boostered today. But I worry about those who for whatever reason are not vaccinated. And about those who will get sick with non-Covid issues and who will have difficulties to find an empty hospital bed while Omicron rushes through. Good luck to them.
(Like all Covid threads this one too will get policed to eliminate promotions of drugs that are not useful and arguments not based on science.)
Posted by b on December 28, 2021 at 19:56 UTC | Permalink
next page »Well b, there was precious little science behind all the other mask and vaccine mandates and lockdowns. One can quote a great many doctors, epidemiologist, and scientists including Nobel laureates who have been saying that but with little platform or voice without censorship and mass ridicule by the mainstream media. Check out the Great Barrington Declaration as one example.
Science is not what we like or that which assuages our fears - religion is for that. Science is about the relentless pursuit of truth.
Posted by: Moses | Dec 28 2021 20:16 utc | 2
I hope covid gets me. And soon. This is all so tiring.
Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 28 2021 20:19 utc | 3
It is obviously theater. It has never been about community health, otherwise, in the first economic lockdown, they would NOT have closed churches while leaving liquor stores open as essential. Nor would mega-corps (Walmart etc.) been allowed to continue business while shutting down small business who sell the same merchandise.
I won't go into the obvious (due to censorship here-lookin' at you B).
Posted by: Ripplewiggler | Dec 28 2021 20:22 utc | 4
"And about those who will get sick with non-Covid issues and who will have difficulties to find an empty hospital bed while Omicron rushes through."
Worse than that, unfortunately. They will almost certainly be exposed to Covid once in the hospital. And if their body is in a stressed state from other conditions, even an immune system freshly stimulated by a recent booster dose has an imperfect probability of preventing illness. (We've also completely stopped talking about long term effectiveness of existing vaccines).
Given ample evidence from around the world of what level of restrictions are effective at limiting spread of the virus, and what level are not, US (along with UK) have simply given up trying to actually solve the problem -- yet continued to instill fear in everyone just the same. Worst of both worlds.
/rant off
Posted by: ptb | Dec 28 2021 20:37 utc | 5
There is no science in any of this. Bidet's US is not following science. Merkel's Germany was not following science and neither is the new government.
Show me a government which is following science. I will consider moving there.
The stats are clear in Denmark, Canada and the UK. Thanks to the principle of 'not following science' we now have a pandemic of the vaccinated.
I reckon it is too late now to follow science because it has been given a bad rep. Dark ages are upon us...
Posted by: Idiocrates | Dec 28 2021 20:37 utc | 6
Is it my imagination or are people disappearing from this blog?
Posted by: Linda Jean Doucett | Dec 28 2021 20:38 utc | 7
"Check out the Great Barrington Declaration as one example." Posted by: Moses | Dec 28 2021 20:16 utc | 2
Covid-19 and the new merchants of doubt
How The Koch Network Hijacked The War On COVID
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Dec 28 2021 20:41 utc | 8
Since Vitamin D3 is not a drug, I assume I can safely mention that, by taking megadoses of the vitamin, I have succeeded in raising my Vitamin D3 blood content to 84 ng/mL. I guess this site will not allow me to post !inks having to do with the implications of such a level for covid, but those who search for those implications on an uncensored search engine like duckduckgo.com will learn interesting and useful information.
Posted by: Lysias | Dec 28 2021 20:43 utc | 10
I find it curious b says he was boostered today, given that I specifically remember a post of his a few months ago entitled "Why You Should Get Vaccinated But Don't Need A Third Shot". Not trying to imply anything, I'd just be interested to know what exactly made b change his mind, given that the boosters aren't even designed for Omicron, but are just another dose of the old vaccines.
Posted by: Sequel | Dec 28 2021 20:44 utc | 11
like lex, i am not sure how much more i can take. it is not your imagination Linda...
people who like to think for themselves are being pushed in to a corner where the options boil down to hiding in the woods or jumping off a bridge.
(the third option, starting with an R, does not seem to be even a remote possibility)
this is, of course, part of the plan. yay for OneState! yay for the new Dark Age!
Posted by: Rae | Dec 28 2021 21:04 utc | 12
Are you really still going on about the corona doom? Are we all going to die now because we quit quarantining the healthy? LOL. Nonsense on stilts. I don't follow any corona guidelines where I live. We quit largely last summer. I had a cold last week and I took some cold medicine to suppress my cough and carried on as normal. You people are insane.
Posted by: goldhoarder | Dec 28 2021 21:15 utc | 13
Essentially, I wish Angie Rasmussen had thought this through. I don't disagree that asymptomatic transmission is a factor but it is far from clear that it plays a significant role in omicron transmission.
If in January 2020 when the entire world was a naive patient, an asymptomatic person getting onto a plane for a 12 hour flight is relying on his innate immune system to prevent transmission. I'll agree that asymptomatic transmission matters matters in that situation.
What we have had since then are vaccines. The vaccines make you less sick, hence the vaccinated are more likely to be asymptomatic. This wouldn't be a problem if the vaccinated contributed to herd immunity, but I don't see any logic that says that will happen.
If there is a space that has only unvaccinated post covid people, history suggests they have herd immunity. Logically, an asymptomatic person cannot pass enough virus on to them to cause Covid-19 to develop in any of his contacts.
Changed times. I expect asymptomatic transmission to be rare, except among the vaccinated and they are many.
If you see any flaws in my logic, feel free to point that out.
Posted by: richarda | Dec 28 2021 21:27 utc | 14
I suppose that one could ask what "science" is being looked at. I think most of what I see anymore is generated by industry or grant money. That has a tendency toward giving the answer paid for by asking the least publishable question.
Sorry folks, everyone thought that this was within our abilities to fix. That was never reasonable. Everyone want to say what they are doing is "scientific", but measuring something isn't controlling it.
The virus speaks last.
Posted by: Degringolade | Dec 28 2021 21:29 utc | 15
@12, that article was from September 6. The world first started hearing about Omicron in South Africa at the end of November and only gained confirmation of its spread and virulence over the course of the past few weeks. So a probable answer to your question might be the advent of Omicron and its quick arrival in Germany (and everywhere in the world.)
In that post b also wrote: "People who are in risk groups, the very old and those with diseases that may make a Covid-19 infection more problematic, should probably take those new shots when they become available. For most people they will most likely still be unnecessary." We've also since learned that b just had a medical procedure which required some recovery time that may be ongoing. So it's not clear that he changed his mind about anything as you were perhaps unfair to imply.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Dec 28 2021 21:44 utc | 16
VK is banned but Perimetr can repeatedly post covid and vaccine nonsense in comment after comment after comment? Comparing vaccinations to the Holocaust is beyond stupidity. He even copied and pasted long quotes from fascist trash and moron Steve Bannon a few days back. These right wing blockheads just can't understand the pandemic in terms of capitalism and its systemic compulsions and class relations. So they come up with screaming conspiracies of 'authoritarianism' and 'FAUCI' and 'Wuhan lab' and 'disinfectant' and 'vaccines kill' and 'China virus' and on and on.
Why are they even here? The blog author has consistently published the scientific consensus on Covid, and in this post amongst others raises the correct point that US capitalist class interests have caused the suffering and death and failure in the US. Since VK was banned, the comments here are just right wing litter.
Posted by: Prof | Dec 28 2021 21:44 utc | 17
Im not a thinker on the level of many of respondants on moa, but i will say this about vitamins:
D3 accompanied by k2 and magnesium, zinc with quercetain just before bedtime. Vit c also, of course.
Regards and good luck!
Posted by: James joseph | Dec 28 2021 21:47 utc | 18
That there are US officials protesting a possible reduction of number of tests only respond to the fact that at this time there are already officials´relatives who are in the business of tests and masks...
Look Ursula and Heiko von Der Leyen...An unknown grey doctor from Leipzig...now at the boarg of Orgenesis, a subisidiary of Pfizer...
Everybody is proffiting as if there was not tomorrow, and it seems that there is not, really...
Why would they care about the number of cases, collpasing of health care facilities, ban of the whole economy, breaking of social contract and social fabric, crippling the health of countries´populations for generations?
When the fat lady chants, they all will have their accounts full with tne times the ammount they had two years ago...
The only thing they need to achieve is that everybody has their QR so that they can then link your bank accounts to increasing requirements you will never be able to fulfill, that will be the way your savings will be wiped out while sucked by the hedge funds...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:03 utc | 19
I got all 3 shots, pfizer, and I still tested positive on Sunday. Sore throat, headache, body aches and cough. If that’s considered mild I don’t want to know what severe covid feels like. This country is a failed state. We essential workers are getting chewed up and spat out.
Posted by: Amber Carey | Dec 28 2021 22:04 utc | 20
The US government are Big Pharma sales people, They exist to maximize Pharma profits, ignore all evidence and keep pushing these deadly :vaccines", I worry about the dupes who have taken these deadly Vaxxes and soon will be dying and have medical issues do to the spike proteins in them and ADE. The Flu shot combined with the Vaxxes will be a medical disaster.
Posted by: John Neal Spangler | Dec 28 2021 22:11 utc | 21
"But I worry about those who for whatever reason are not vaccinated. And about those who will get sick with non-Covid issues and who will have difficulties to find an empty hospital bed while Omicron rushes through. Good luck to them."
Do not worry at all, today, in what it seems a breaking of the officialist consensus, a medical association of the primary level of health care stated in the public radio that they are collapsed by the unnecessary repetition of testing, that it is not necessary to re-test once the test has been negative or positive, and that all the ( allegedly, since we ridiculously, and totally out of any scientific sense, continue with the same tests testing for, allegedly, different variants..) Omicron cases are mild and no one ends in hospital...
Heard in a public radio of one of the Spanish autonomous regions with harshest measures and higuest number of cases...
Anyway, how do you explain that there are so many cases with so much percentage of population already vaccinated and even boosted?
There are clains in Twitter of people stating they are alone, the unvaccinated, covering at their jobs for all the vaccinated absent on sick leave...
That the management by central and regional governments have been and is disastrous is a fact after two years already.
With experimental "vaccines" at play, one wonders why no government had the caution to keep at least half the crews unvaccinated, especially health care crewsin and flight crews, just in case the "vaccines" would fail, which was always a possibility, as it happens always in a trial, and had happened so far in trials involving Coronavirus vaccines and the mRNA technology...What could go wrong? Why do not intelligent people criticize the crazyness behind the mass vaccination during a pandemic, as warned Luc Montagnier?
Due they willingly decided to not consider these basic precautions, we must conclude, as a bunch of citizens and scientists of several fields related to medicine, virology, biology, epidemiology have doen, that this mass vaccination campaign has nothing to do with combating a pandemic ( even there have been regional officials stating in tv that the so called "Covid Pass" is not a matter of public health but a civic one...) and everything to do with collapsing the health care systems and economy so that the countries can be colonized by foreign capital from countries which are going through the mother of all financial and political crisis, and the necessity to control the population when they will awake to the obvious fact they are being plundered...
BTW, I read in Telegram that people in Germany took to the streets in hundreds of cities with lanterns and Christmas lights, to walk, chanting, in protest against apartheid and the dictatorial measures in Germany...It seems that due the size of the protests the media have started to inform about them, silent as they were till now, as if there was no growing, I would say historic in size, contestation to this madness...
You, except those directly sustaining and proffiting from this dictatorship, will lose everything too...
The sooner you realize you are in the same ship as they are the unvaccinated, the better...
The curtailing of rights will reach you too, at the due time, this is the way of all dictatorships...
Look at the guys in the cold muddy Ukrainian trenches...
In Spain, in certain regions, after the hostelery submitted to act like policemen asking for the Covid Pass, and in passing losing a bunch of clients, the government granted them today with the prize of closing of bars and restaurant at 1am starting today, and thus, including New Year Eve, which will imply losing the most proffitable night of the year, plus reducing afluence to 60%....Good Boys....
They have turn the people into dogs, everybody with their "vaccines", their vaccines documents, and the muzzle...Soon, they are announcing it already, the microchips will arrive, it is a matter of time that everybody lose their basic rights, dogs have no human rights..if you have not noticed...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:18 utc | 22
what do you all make of Novavax?
NOVAVAX update: the “Traditional” COVID VACCINE (non mRNA)—imminent release
Posted by: ahji | Dec 28 2021 22:18 utc | 23
#25:
"Sore throat, headache, body aches and cough. If that’s considered mild I don’t want to know what severe covid feels like."
Errr, that's the definition of "mild", actually, and if the great great majority of people "suffer" in this manner from Omicron (like some of the other regulars here have been reporting) then we really really need to get back to normal asap.
Posted by: Caliman | Dec 28 2021 22:19 utc | 24
If this was about public health, then Pfizer would have released their vaccine before the US election, not after; and the EU would have approved use of Russian vaccines.
Posted by: Passerby | Dec 28 2021 22:28 utc | 26
I don't have a link but read that the US is stopping using the PCR test at the first of the year...don't know what the plan B is
To those in the US or other place where mRNA drugs have been administered and you are getting the flu/Covid, I suggest getting on an Ivermectin prophylaxis or treatment protocol to supplement your health care during this time.
I am seeing more males wearing masks under their noses in my local outings...and they look angry.
The shit show continues until it doesn't and what a shit show we have in front of us folks!!!
If there were a public measure of cognitive dissonance, I think the numbers are really going to start climbing as the Covid lies become non refutable. Will the implosion be controlled by the elite to usher in an authoritarian sort like Trump?.....I personally would hope for a joining of forces among the under class to over turn the global private finance cabal and get on with merit competition with other nations along with outright cooperation in some areas.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 28 2021 22:33 utc | 27
The central and federal governments do not perform effectively becuase they are not in charge.
Biden acts like the Spanish prime minister, delegating on the regions, as it does Putin, they all try to wash their hands so as to avoid the unavoidable political price they will have to pay in the next elections, in case there are more...
There are some few corporations in charge.
Corporations do not care about public health, but about results. In the leaked contracts between the pharma companies and the governments it iwas signed thah the nature of the product object of suhc contracts was "especulative" nature...
The past two years have resulted highly proffitable for those few corporations, some even entering new stock markets they never dreamt about due their criminal background and market credibility, and even reaching the top positions...
Why would they need to change such profitable product? A product, morevoer, over whose side effects they are eximed from responsability?
Why would they need to end this "pandemic"?
That the governments do not know what to invent to try to explain the unexplainable is an obvious fact, hence the contradictions, the rudder strokes, the repetition of measure widely proved failing..
This is why we have in charge, as mere dummies, or arriving in charge, the dumbest of the class at every country...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:34 utc | 28
Compare Covid vaccines, and Boeing 737 MAX authorization process.
The Designed by clowns and supervised by monkeys scheme applies to both.
COVID drugs are the same circus yet again. Old (vax) con is over, time to launch the new one.
And that's only criminal negligence perspective, without even considering depopulation conspiracy people are talking about.
Posted by: pppp | Dec 28 2021 22:36 utc | 29
I wonder, after the astounding success of its "vaccine", who in its sane mind will take the Pfizer pill against the Coronavirus, invented, like the "vaccine", in zero coma...
Unless they are thinkig of forcing that pill through your throats...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:46 utc | 31
All you are achieving with this nonsense is to discredit yourself.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 28 2021 22:46 utc | 32
Because I am ignorant, I have a question. If COVID affects the brain, as I have read, does that mean that the Chinese have now become cleverer than the Americans? Presumably, average IQ in the US has declined somewhat, while that in China will hardly have moved.
Posted by: Manuel | Dec 28 2021 22:47 utc | 33
There is one commenter wondering whether "b" cpould be in the health field as he shows himself so keen on these "vaccines" and control measures..
Well, the health field is not the only one proffiting here, there is also "security and military"...
Concretely, Atos, the French corporation which Thierry Breton positioned at the CAC40, ans is to proffti from all digital from craddle to grave, including health care and Covid Pass, whose data it will host through its high velocity computers, is in a joint venture with Thales, for military and security purposes...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:51 utc | 34
The final chapter of Robert Kennedy Jr.'s book is about the connections between covid and the US security state.
Posted by: Lysias | Dec 28 2021 22:55 utc | 35
The covid hoax is beginning to collapse because it is obvious that Omincron just isn't dangerous.
England is not locking down over New Year and this is in stark contrast to Scotland and Wales (within the UK) and the authoritarian nightmare that is unfolding in the EU. The UK is a major player in this hoax, if the UK can't proceed then the whole thing begins to collapse.
Posted by: ADKC | Dec 28 2021 22:55 utc | 36
B:
'This isn’t changing policy to reflect the changing evidence. This is caving to business interests with a nakedly evidence-free one-size-fits-all solution that was probably cooked up in lieu of the will to actually increase testing availability to make test-to-release possible.'
Fortunately the corporate capture we see infesting legislatures, regulators, judiciary, media, social media, the War Party, National Security & the cross-control among these could never lead to unsafe & ineffective vaccines, or the collapse of our Pharmacovigilance systems:
Posted by: Paul Damascene | Dec 28 2021 22:56 utc | 37
@Posted by: Lysias | Dec 28 2021 22:44 utc | 39
Also, the Japanese government has added a warning toi the vaccines labels related to their dangerous side effects, has declared that the vaccination only will be done under informed and willing consent, and has asked the population to not discrimante those who are not willing to be vaccinated.
It could well be the Japanese government, with one of the oldest population on Earth, is not willing to risk the lives of its aging population and probably keeps some sovereignty left...Or it is simnply that they respect their population....
Our governments can not backpedal, since gone so far with all this, pissing on the peoples´dignity, that a public execution could not be discarded..
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 22:57 utc | 38
This is not science, this is being managed and projected as a religion, as a cult.
How otherwise are there no people protesting in the streets becuase of the prices of electricity, gas, and gasoil?
People, even my mother recognized it already, have noticed a fascist dictatorship unfolded, and in places accustomed to this stimuli, Like Spain, the people just felt an ancient reflect and already positioned itself as submitted serfs, or in the resistance...
People who did not submit, will never submit, even if it is amtter of life and death, in fact it is...
The jesuits in charge who never broke a finger nail working will not last the first round...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 23:24 utc | 40
Thank you, Perimetr @ 15. I've felt the unvaccinated are not different from the vaccinated; they are the control group in a scientific experiment not yet resolved. As b is concerned for the unvaccinated, we have equal concern for the vaccinated, among whom are our own loved ones. May we all follow best practice, isolating as often as possible and masking when we must be in public - as each of us face the pressures of the constant changes of this virus.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 28 2021 23:30 utc | 41
I think I've seen just about enough. I suppose I could be wrong, but I think this entire Covid event has been a coordinated operation of the Western eleet relentless drovers and the government of China, to cull the fat and the sick and the weak among their human livestock. There, I said it. Few will recall that Vladimir Putin furtively commented that it could eventuate in a nuclear war. I say, this is not your grandfather's science, but this is NAZI science. A Gerontocide, a Covidocaust, I'll call it.
They will call me a 'conspiracy theorist', but remember bottom-up suspicions are called 'conspiracy theories', while identical top-down suspicions are called 'suspicions of subversion'.
Posted by: blues | Dec 28 2021 23:46 utc | 42
If we claim for science, I ask, what is the science behind mass masking?
There are a lot of graphic testimony of "experts" at first times of the pandemic, including the "super expert" Fauci, denying the effectivity of such measure, of course, when nobody had a factory making masks in the family..
At this point of time there is wide evidence on that masks are in any case counterproductive if reused or used badly, most people touches its masks several times while wearing them during long periods of time, ending exposed to a higuest numbers of microorganism than if they were walking free over there.
The humidity they produce around the outside respiratory system is a good grow ground for fungi and many bacteria, inlcuding Neumococo...
It could well be the case that the astounding number of penumonia is contributing to the collapsing of hospitals, besides of the usual complications of flu, has its origin in the bad use of masks..
Then it is the fact that a virus can trespase masks, even FFP2..
Mass masking acts as a conditioning measure, to educate and humiliate people, as it is done with dogs...
If you do not want people to revolt whiule plundering them you need to low their mood enough so that they do not react to the higuest electric charge applied...
This is the only science behind this ridiculous measure...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 23:49 utc | 43
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 28 2021 21:19 utc | 15
Best of luck to the plaintiffs. If history is any guide, however, their suit will be thrown out. The US government violates the Geneva Conventions on a minute-by-minute basis and has long held itself above the law and accountability. This protection extends to individuals as well, or George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump among many others would be reading this blog from a jail cell.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 28 2021 23:52 utc | 44
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 28 2021 22:47 utc | 42
Re: The claimed deaths as *a result of* the COVID vaccines isn't backed up by any of the information available on (or linked to by) openvaers. However, looking at their days-to-onset graphic, it would appear that vast majority of the deaths being attributed (by them) to the vaccine happen within zero, one or two days. That leads me to believe that many if not most of them are not caused by the vaccine, but rather another unrelated event like a heart attack or stroke in people who were already ill (which, of course, are also being attributed to vaccines in some non-peer reviewed preprints). In other words, I think they're mistaking correlation with causation in order to make a political point.
If there is actual data about each and every death that occurred within X number of days after receiving the vaccine and it demonstrates that in fact the vaccine *is* directly responsible, I'll happily reconsider. That said, I know a lot of people. Not a single person I know directly or through friends and family has had any negative side effects beyond a sore arm and in some cases, slight cold-like symptoms the day after.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 0:03 utc | 45
For whatever reason Brian Deer's work doesn't get much circulation in the USA. He's known for his detailed investigative journalism in the health care, pharmaceutical and vaccine industries. One of his most arduous and highly regarded investigations exposed the fraud at the heart of the anti-vaxx 'movement' that sprung up in the UK over the MMR vaccine. That was the root of the modern anti-vaxx phenomenon and despite proving that the vaccines do not cause the symptoms (including autism) claimed by people who were poised to monetize this position. That was literally the "scandal" that got people like Jenny McCarthy and other 'concerned moms' in the USA on the bandwagon despite all of it being a fraud.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Deer
It should be noted that he's very impartial. He's taken down drug manufacturers, gotten drugs pulled from the market, and exposed other scams and schemes. I'm going to dig around to see if he's done any writing on COVID-19.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 29 2021 0:14 utc | 46
With an infection incubation time now reduced to 2 days and many infections occurring from asymptomatic and or pre symptomatic people, the USA authorities do not have the tools to halt the proliferation of the Omicron VOC short of doing a China public health move — total shutdown. So they pretend they have the science to justify their continued inaction, which is pre determined by their previous negligence of the public’s health, the investment cost having been seen as taking away from their private predatory cash cow.
—-
South Africa has halted all contact tracing, shifting from containment strategy to a mitigation strategy:
____
Also, South Africa data is showing the time from infection to potential serious disease onset and hospitalization with Omicron has been shortened to ~10 days, compared to 14-21 days for previous VOCs; its mostly young population which has a high serum positivity rate (previous natural infection exposure) has much lower need for hospitalization, oxygen and intensive care. Although the sheer high number of cases may become a problem.
—-
Imagine if a potentially mild Omicron rescues parts of the world denied vaccine access from experiencing serious effects of the aerosolized disease. That would be poetic justice.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 0:30 utc | 47
The Russians and Chinese know Covid-19 isn't some sort of fraud or hoax; rather, they know it's a virus that in its affects is rather similar to the virus that causes influenza. As Ms. Popova relates, the Covid virus must mutate to continue to live because that's the nature of viruses as some of us have written in an effort to educate. As for Covid being a plot to advance the evil intent of the Outlaw US Empire, there is likely some truth underlying that assumption, particularly when we learn that Anglo scientists are busy reviving deadly virulent viruses that took great efforts to stamp-out, and criminals like Fauci were involved in gain of function experiments on viruses to make them cause greater harm. IMO, Fauci is a far greater threat to humanity than Trump.
Again, back in January 2020 when the pandemic first appeared, I suggested nations that had a collective-based socio-cultural foundation would do far better than those with an individualistic, profit over people approach. In that assumption, I've been proven 100% correct. Today, it's very clearly seen that Russia and China are on the forefront of making sure all people are protected at no cost to themselves whereas the Outlaw US Empire and its Neoliberal vassals [with notable exceptions, Japan and South Korea] are exactly the opposite--people must pay and pay and pay to gain what amounts to very poor protection--and in all too many cases, they pay with their lives.
Initially, we had a short debate--Bioweapon or natural virus. Now after almost two years plus the fact that Sputnik-V is still not globally certified despite its being proven to be the most affective vaccine along with the addition of more evidence, IMO it's possible that Covid-19 was both since we know BigPharma in collusion with the Outlaw US Empire had already laid plans for market & legal control of vaccines needed to solve the issue. We also know of very longstanding desires by several very rich and influential global oligarchs in eugenics and with announced plans to cull humanity. Every Covid-related thread here at MoA has contained such discussions. The topper IMO besides prohibition on Sputnik-V are the deliberate attempts to prevent people from gaining access to medicines that fight Covid's affects. Add to that how well those nations that allowed science to run the prevention versus those where politics reigned and continue to do so despite the evidence that approach is 100% wrong is more than enough to replace a tin-foil hat with Sherlock's Stovepipe.
Like flu, covid will remain within human culture for many generations to come. The goal of all parasites is to mutate to the point where it no longer kills its host, and that's where covid is going. But given Neoliberal sickness, it seems highly likely that capital crimes were performed using the pandemic as cover. On that basis alone, IMO no Neoliberal government can ever be trusted.
Thanks Karlof1 #55
If it was about VACCINE...
The Russian vaccine Sputnik V was the first in the world to be registered, and we share the results of these developments with partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Vaccine production technologies have been transferred, factories have been built,Why is Sputnik VERBOTEN by EU under Von der Leyen Regime?
If it was about a NEW UNKNOWN VARIANT...
Viruses must change, this is their peculiarity, this is their property, they simply do not develop otherwise.Why are this bunch of Covid Billionaire just pushing for more dope and don't even study?"The current change, which was detected and revealed in the Republic of South Africa, initially, when we saw the unfolded sequence, somewhat alarmed us, because the number of changes, mutations there is quite large. I would like to thank our President Vladimir Putin, who instructed us to be on a mission to the Republic of South Africa. Within 24 hours, we, together with the staff, specialists of the Ministry of Health, were there. We were probably the only foreign specialists, doctors and virologists, epidemiologists, who were on the ground.
"Sputnik V" accurately neutralizes a new strain of "omicrone". He told me that only the clinic can give a definitive answer to the question: to what extent. But the level of neutralization is very high. Just two days ago, I spoke to him. They conducted these studies, but now we need to conduct the second stage – these are clinical studies, and see to what extent. He says: what we have done at the institute, we can say for sure, 100 percent, neutralizes and neutralizes to a fairly high degree.
Are Russian pushing Conspiracy Theories?
"At the global level, against the backdrop of the pandemic, destructive forces are making attempts to radically reform the international health architecture. The goal is to create tools to influence biosecurity policy, to give international structures the right to investigate outbreaks of infections in the territory of states, to introduce mandatory external capacity checks in the field of biotechnology.
Posted by: MineHop | Dec 29 2021 0:33 utc | 49
jo6pac @ 49 said;"Amerika doesn't do science, Amerika does profit"
Yep, case closed. And that fact cuts both ways in the great Covid debate....
Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 29 2021 0:44 utc | 50
@ karlof1 | Dec 29 2021 0:30 utc
I agree with you except for this:
“The goal of all parasites is to mutate to the point where it no longer kills its host...”
That may true of the type of institutional parasites described by dr Michael Hudson, but not of the biological sort.
Biologically it is good enough for the virus’ random mutations, winnowed by natural selection, to have their host live only long enough to spread it to other hosts.
Presymptomatic and asymptomatic spread occurs with covid2 so evolving to become more lethal would not deprive it hosts as it spreads before serious disease or death onset. We are extremely lucky so far imo.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 0:51 utc | 51
Re: suzan | Dec 29 2021 0:51 utc | 67
Yes, suzan, that is scientifically correct. Except that, from my information, it is not 'possible' to actually spread the Covid unless one does have discernible symptoms, of some kind.
The 'killing of the host' issue is probably rather 'nuanced', as they say.
Posted by: blues | Dec 29 2021 1:06 utc | 52
Susan 67; parasites have no other goal than to successfully reproduce …pls do not “ RAT-amorphi”. There is no debate between various mutations, other than who is left when the sun comes up, regardless how achieved. Most parasites have succeeded by not killing their host quickly, but that is only the system dynamics. There is no goal other than to throw the dice, and see who survives the next throw….
Posted by: James joseph | Dec 29 2021 1:21 utc | 53
As you most know, I am not one of those who congratulate Bernhard for this, or that, even when it might be richly deserved.
But then again, this bastid ventures headlong into the florid swamp of the Great Covidocaust. Gotta love him.
Posted by: blues | Dec 29 2021 1:27 utc | 54
suzan @65--
Thanks for your reply. The parallel we're following is influenza's, which has a very long baseline.
MineHop @64--
Thanks for your reply! Those are good questions. The hypothesis posed goes with the attempt to form a "Rules Based Order," and is also seen in other UN agencies as Russia often notes. Also note the complete lack of enthusiasm by West for joint Covid investigation.
suzan | Dec 29 2021 0:51 utc | 67 Re:
"Biologically it is good enough for the virus’ random mutations, winnowed by natural selection, to have their host live only long enough to spread it to other hosts."
No it isn't !! In order to avoid extinction viruses have to leave the host in good enough condition to breed. Causing lasting damage to a host is sub-optimal for any parasite.
Posted by: MarkU | Dec 29 2021 1:40 utc | 56
Hi,
there is a simple technical answer to COVID. We need a live attenuated vaccine strain to induce mucosal IgA response, T-cell and B-cell responses to all the viral antigens not just the spike. This ought to be very simple as we know a lot about the virus. A few choice mutations would make the strain infect the subject but not cause significant disease but induce a big immune response. We did it with polio for all 6 strains- SARS2 ought to be really easy. The best thing is that it would be administered as drops in the nose-- real easy.
Posted by: cj | Dec 29 2021 1:52 utc | 57
thanks b.... apparently it's your blog, but regardless some one hit losers want to bad mouth you randomly... such is life.. you visit some other persons place and immediately spit on their carpet? these losers are really showing their true nature! i will continue to applaud b for stating his viewpoint whether i agree with it or not!
i have felt the past 20 and more years that the power of corporations has increased significantly... aside from wanting to support independent journalists - like b - i think b's article puts this lobbying influence of the corporations in clear perspective with a very clear example.. is this the death of the usa and etc? it is certainly a bad sign as i see it where money is calling the shots in such a blatant manner... i suppose one could argue it has always been this way, but it seems it is much more blatant today then ever before..
@ lex talionis | Dec 28 2021 20:19 utc | 3... i was wiped out christmas and boxing day.. whether it was omicron or what - i never went and got tested.. this whole covid thing seems like a really big circle jerk to me... i guess it is the new game.. instead of people having colds or flus they have 'variants' as described by scientists who are working coincidentally for big pharma and also coincidentally are preparing special vaccines to deal with the new named variants as they come up - moving forward... i've had 2 vaccine shots the past year.. i am not inclined to get a booster.. i am very mistrustful at this point... i hope you don't get anything, but even more, i hope that this ongoing nightmare would be over sooner then later!
@ Linda Jean Doucett | Dec 28 2021 20:38 utc | 8... holidays might account for some temporary changes... however vk isn't coming back and jackrabbit hasn't been seen since early december as memory serves... people come and go and moa is no different in this regard..
@ blues | Dec 29 2021 1:27 utc | 71... lol... happy trails blues!
Posted by: james | Dec 29 2021 2:01 utc | 58
@ MarkU | Dec 29 2021 1:40 utc
A complex multi cellular organism classified as a parasite, yes, as you say because of their life cycles.
The confusion here arises from viewing an RNA virus as a parasite .
As the virus rapidly replicates in a host, random mutations occur. Natural selection windows those down.
Contrary to what blue says, presymptomatic transmission occurs, allowing the virus to spread to other hosts regardless of virulence post transmission.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 2:13 utc | 59
@ James joseph | Dec 29 2021 1:21 utc
That is exactly what I was saying too. The words in quotation marks are what I was objecting to. They were not my words.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 2:22 utc | 60
Johns Hopkins reports the world is eradicating COVID:
Japan; COVID 19 eradicated (Google search "Japan COVID 19 chart")
Uttar Pradesh: COVID 19 eradicated (Google search "Uttar Pradesh COVID 19 chart")
Bangladesh: COVID 19 eradicated (Google search "Bangladesh COVID 19 chart")
and the list goes on: Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Chiapas, Mexico, etc.....
Posted by: john fritsch | Dec 29 2021 2:37 utc | 61
"Joe Rogan and Dr. Peter McCullough (Full Interview)"
[2h:45min, first published at 18:24 UTC on December 18th, 2021].
https://www.bitchute.com/video/zZ4eW2Paxgii/
I could not find this interview via google search – too much noise (pundits reading off the script in attack mode on the interview) – eventually found a copy via Yandex. Worth the time, imo.
Numerous points by top US expert. Including a very simple nasal hygiene method being applied in Bangladesh, and that Pfizer has made $33billion profit this year and expect to make $36billion next year with zero research and marketing costs (normally 50% of a $1b bumper drug]. See around the 2:33:30 mark.
Posted by: imo | Dec 29 2021 2:37 utc | 62
@Posted by: suzan | Dec 29 2021 2:13 utc | 77
"The confusion here arises from viewing an RNA virus as a parasite"
That would be a purely semantic matter, like 'Are viruses alive' or 'Is Pluto a planet'
It is more or less universally held by ecologists that viruses adapt to the host and become milder over time. As one of my lecturers used to say "you can always tell an old disease, it doesn't kill people". Ideally a host should be able to walk around and infect as many people as possible. I don't know what you've been reading but I suspect it might be from the 'Be afraid, be very afraid' (of Covid) scaremonger crew. The only cases I can think of where a virus has got worse are quite recent and human intervention is either acknowledged (Marek's disease in chickens) or suspected (Ebola) Tell me, whatever happened to the Spanish flu? It killed an impressive number of people, where is it now? I notice the common cold viruses are still around. That is not to say that viruses can't be fairly nasty and still succeed but there is a penalty for killing those with susceptible genes, or are you going to argue that somehow there isn't? (Those past their breeding age being an obvious exception)
Posted by: MarkU | Dec 29 2021 3:32 utc | 63
Holistic treatment for Sinoamerican disease (caused by Sinoamerican virus):
1. First shot.
2. Second shot.
3. Booster.
4. Stabilizer.
5. Amplifier.
6. Modulator.
7. Terminator.
Posted by: Kim Jong Il | Dec 29 2021 4:56 utc | 64
it's not a bug, it's a feature. It's all by design. Thats that US does bet, introduces chaos into the system. Come on, stop being so innocent who doesn't know or understand anything. Why should I even waste my time reading your essays if you claim such ignorance?
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 29 2021 6:00 utc | 65
@76 james - I am glad that you didn't get super sick. I very much enjoyed your music from the other day. I remaine in the control group of the unwashed- oops unvaxed. If I vanish from MoA, either i met my maker, or i felt too much shame for saying something stoopid at b's bar. much love everyone.
I will make sure the door doesn't hit my booty on the way out. ;)
Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 6:01 utc | 66
b wrote: "Well Angie, its the system that is sick and not the man at the top."
Correction: Well Angie, its the system that
is sick and not JUST the man at the top.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 29 2021 6:04 utc | 67
@ lex talionis | Dec 29 2021 6:01 utc | 86... thanks lex.... i certainly hope you don't vanish! don't worry about saying something stupid.. i periodically do... it is the only way to learn.. make mistakes! i love your energy and posts and attitude... stay well and happy trails!
Posted by: james | Dec 29 2021 6:52 utc | 69
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 28 2021 23:49 utc | 56
Wearing masks reduces the probabilty of someone getting a significant load of the virus, thus lessening the likelihood of getting the disease. They are not useless, and no one claims they will be perfect.
Obviously, they have to be worn correctly to have any effect. They are not necessary in the open air, but only really in enclosed crowded spaces with poor ventilation, like shops, minibuses, buses, trams, bank branches, those sorts of things.
In Turkey, most people wear them in these types of places, but few in the open air.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 28 2021 23:49 utc | 55
Thanks for that. It is obvious that the US and its allies have been keeping the pandemic going by any means possible in order to increase the wealth of certain corporate capitalists and capitalist enterprises, as well as to increase the surveillance state, and enhance its authoritarian powers. This has been happening through other means for the past thirty years, at least.
The give away is the unwillingness to recognize effective Chinese and Russian vaccines in order to create a "Western" Big Pharma cartel of vaccines and profits; and also, to reject and denigrate any potentially inexpensive prophylactics and therapeutics that might help mitigate the effects of the virus.
The latter is underscored by the unwillingness of state institutions (not to mention Big Pharma) to run proper trials concerning them. Thus, their effectiveness cannot be shown, so they cannot be approved by Big Pharma's controlled institutions.
Yes, it does seem to have a lot in common with the US/EU effort to enforce a "rules based order" on the world in tandem with all their other non-compliance with international law and efforts to control international institutions. This keeping the pandemic going is just one front on which the US and its allied oligarchy is waging a war on all for global dominance.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 29 2021 8:06 utc | 70
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 29 2021 0:30 utc | 63 Today, it's very clearly seen that Russia and China are on the forefront of making sure all people are protected at no cost to themselves
Are you fucking serious????
According to Russia's own data they have more than 300k deaths from Covid-19 this far which is abysmal. Even if Sputnik V is a well-developed and effective vaccine it doesn't seem like Russians are too fond of taking it!
Posted by: v | Dec 29 2021 8:52 utc | 71
I am reading more and more about the extremely negative impacts of the incompetent COVID responses of Western nations upon scientific research and new product development - as so much innovation comes from face to face interactions between scientists. When added to the years and years of cuts in both state and private funding, and the most recent anti-China rhetoric (many important US scientists are of Chinese origin) the US is creating problems that will severely retard its attempts to compete with China in many technology areas.
With China rapidly growing its research ranks it is also in a position to poach US staff (especially of Chinese origin) to greatly improved job and research prospects in expanding public and private labs, adding more experienced scientists to its massive yearly output of new STEM graduates. The US will (someday!) exit the COVID mess and find that it has lost years to the Chinese in important technological areas that cannot be recovered.
I will NEVER get vaccinated, sorry B. I've already had Covid and I don't think this Omicron can hurt me. But I wish you as many boosters as possible.
Posted by: hes | Dec 29 2021 9:12 utc | 73
@Tom_Q_Collins
Fully agree. Most US presidents since Eisenhower are waiting in queue.
MoA has a full spectrum of world opinion, even about the SARS CoV-2 ravaging through the population. the virus is real and will find the weak spots in a country’s healthcare and where fools are masquerading as political “leaders”. LMAO
Thx b, always appreciate yr analysis and opinion.
The need for wasp removal is directly proportional to how often they bother you.
@IronForge
There are dozens of approved PCR tests, today the FDA published an alert not all self-tests detect the Omicron variant. Omicron has the most freedom and does most harm in unvaccinated part of the population. In The Netherlands, there are 5,000 healthcare workers with long covid who are about to become unemployed.
Posted by: v | Dec 29 2021 8:52 utc | 92
Yes, there are over 300,000 deaths and only 62% of Russians over 60 have taken the vaccine. The people can only be as protected as they want to be. The government has not mandated that people take vaccines, but has tried to reason with them.
As we know, those over 60 are most at risk, Delta is still prevalent in Russia, so it is the resposiblity of those over 60 to consider the risks that the Russia government has made clear.
The irony is that there indeed is no cost to themselves in taking the vaccine and being treated for the virus, unlike in some Western countries. Still Russia seems to have a lot of anti-vaxxers who seem to need more justification than the apparent 300,000 deaths.
It would be interesting to know what the real issues are. Anyone got any insight about Russia on this.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 29 2021 9:39 utc | 76
Posted by: Oui | Dec 29 2021 9:37 utc | 96
"Omicron has the most freedom and does most harm in unvaccinated part of the population."
Seems not to be the case in South Africa which has a very low rate of vaccination. Then again, there seems to be a lot of natural immunity in SA because of the low rate of vaccination.
It has been hypothesized by researchers that this may be why SA are likely to be better protected from the virus than Western populations, given that the vaccines work poorly at preventing transmission of Omicron. DR. John Campbell has been following Omicron closely in South Africa on his you tube channel.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 29 2021 9:47 utc | 77
Posted by: Oui | Dec 29 2021 9:37 utc | 96
Some links or references to underpin these statements would be useful. Thanks
Posted by: Anto | Dec 29 2021 9:56 utc | 78
@Blue Dotterel
True … population of African nations have a more active immune system. Important difference with the Western world with a high degree of hygiene. There are some reports from Malaysia that people infected in 2003 with SARS CoV-1 have “super-immunity” after a new mRNA vaccination. There are 29 proteins which can offer a key to a new virus variant to infect cells. Poliomyelitis was eradicated through vaccination, the Covid-19 virus will be with us in the foreseeable future and we will manage.
I didn't realize vk was banned. Found him and his many links most useful over the years - anyone knows whether he posts elsewhere? I liked his collection - often from places I rarely consult or know about.
Posted by: Merlin 2 | Dec 29 2021 10:23 utc | 80
Quick perusing of the comments here reveals that more than 90% of the commentators are not on-board with the official Covid story, or the official vaccine story, or the official anything emanating from government officials that we already know are mostly corporate and/or Deep State mouthpieces (at least this is so in the US and most of the official "west"). People question different aspects of the "official story" ever more frequently, especially now that an Omicron variant has arisen that, if anything, seems to follow the usual path of viruses, such as influenza, flu, etc - ie, more contagious but far less deadly.
I have the utmost respect for b and his analyses on all matters geopolitical, media malfeasance, Boeing Max and numerous other issues on which he has collected and disseminated invaluable information, complete with deep analysis like no other (OK there are a few others who are great analysts but rarely on as broad a scale as MoA). His is a voice of sanity in a swamp full of nothing but innuendo, hatchet jobs, outright lies, and yes conspiracies against both common sense and the people by them who are supposed to provide something once known as "leadership". Yet, on this one issue, and only on this one issue, b is taking a different tone, one that is allied with "the official story". I don't mean the pro- vs anti-vaxx or any such simplistic approach. I mean the suspension of doubt and skepticism in what we are fed, day in, day out, by government officials, including epidemiologists employed/supported by either these governments or by the corporate Big Pharma establishments, in whose emanations we are now supposed to believe and whose recommendations have acquired a legitimacy they do not enjoy on any other topic.
In this stance b is cordoning off areas of discussion much as the Saker does, who is also an astute analyst when it comes to anything Russiasphere vs Wokesphere. mark me down as one who is curious about the special place awarded to a Pandemic, one where we all are expected to sing from the same hymn book - hooray for vaxes (which barely work, it appears, or do but only for a short while), usher in the masks and follow the science, including on restrictions, lockdown, tanking of the economy and outright destruction of the social milieu that sustain our young.
My own doubts are continually fed by those few strange things that should have happened but didn't. Among the dogs that just won't bark, are:
1. Sputnik - by all accounts the most effective - and safest - vaccine (as shown in places where it's been administered along with other vaccines) is still treated as persona-non-grata by the WHO (which is chok-full of those scientists who we are asked to trust), the CDC, the EU regulators, and indeed by the entirety of the official West's healthcare industry. Sputnik, whichhas already been seen as far more effective even against the Omicron variant. At this point there's only one question that needs asking: why the vaccine-hesitancy on the part of the West?
2. The all-out campaign against Invermectin, a drug that is by all accounts quite safe and has been used for over 40 years to treat infectious diseases such as malaria. Yes, we all understand that it's not covered by a patent any longer and is cheaper, but even so, why the venom against people who may want to keep some on their shelves? where's the harm in that and why put all that effort out to discredit any account that Invermectine, taken early, and along with other things like vitamins, can and has helped people avoid more serious health impacts once infected?
3. The bizarre, wall-to-wall denial that the mRNA vaccines in particular, do have side effects, some more serious than others. Why can't people be made aware of these and offered alternative vaccines should they so choose? at least in the US?
4. Why not offer - on a wide scale - antibody testing to determine the level of immunity against the virus people have at any given time, be it through natural immunity (having been infected before) or through vaccines? this is the one sensible thing to do, IMHO, to establish what/where/to what extent any given gathering is safe? such as schools, events, cruise ships, etc?
These are just some of the questions I have, the most significant ones.
For the record: I have been vaccinated with the J&J (including a booster) as this was the only alternative open to me in the US (would have gladly taken the Sputnik of course, but alas, this was not an option if I wanted to travel).
Posted by: Merlin 2 | Dec 29 2021 10:24 utc | 81
I'm unvaccinated, and will remain so. Not only for 'covid' but for all the other ills which vaccination is supposed to defeat. You could call me a moderate anti-vaxer; moderate because I acknowledge that there MAY be some occasions when some vaccines are really, genuinely useful, but not often; and they need to be comprehensively proven to be absolutely safe, and actually effective: a pair of hurdles rarely overcome by most vaccines. I regard the 'anti-vaxer' label - under the above provisos - as a badge of honour, and not one that worries me in the least.
When I got the covid infection, in 2020, aged 79, I did the usual thing which has kept me totally free of illnesses from colds and flu for more than quarter of a century: I upped my regular daily prophylactic intake of vitamin C from two grams to thirty grams (sic!) per day, and continued that regimen for the three days that it took for me to off the infection completely. During that time, I was just slightly under the weather, and spent most of my time keeping warm and taking it easy. Since then, I have had no bother whatever from any of the - allegedly lethal - 'variants'. Nothing. Zero special precautions taken, no masks, distancing, isolating and all the rest of the hysteria, but no problems whatever.
The Wuhan thing - if that's really where it came from - has been no more to me than a standard-issue passing flu, that has - as ever - failed to make me ill, and to which I'm now naturally immune, I'm assuming.
But then, I live in a radically-different belief system from the one currently driving the covid troobleevers into constant hysterical panic.
Get - psychologically - well soon, guys! :)
Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Dec 29 2021 10:30 utc | 82
@Richard Steven Hack | Dec 28 2021 20:41 utc | 9
Does your reappearance on this blog on this very contentious topic in support of the covid narrative and in violation of your assertion in The MoA Election Week In Review comment #140 Nov 9 2020, 12:52 utc that you are "done here" imply that your words mean nothing and your death threats to other commenters posted there are no longer in force, or does it mean that this blog approves of those illegal threats of physical violence? Why are you not banned here?
To remind you, here's your post.
And here is a backup.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 29 2021 10:33 utc | 83
Posted by: Oui | Dec 29 2021 10:21 utc | 101
Poliomylytis cannot be compared to coronaviruses, flu viruses or other airborn viruses tend to be more easily transmissible and can mutate more freely.
The vaccines are also different in that the polio vaccine enabled long term immunity rather than the limited time protection afforded by the current vaccines which are also rather leaky.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 29 2021 11:05 utc | 84
The evidential significance of thought experiment in science … from one theory to the next.
[https://twitter.com/rf_hfc?lang=en] Robin Fransman, Covid-19 sceptic and prominent anti-vaxxer died today due to the virus infection. Has not lived to see his hypothesis proved him wrong … perhaps it was more an assumption.
Recently a super healthy strongest person of Belgium passed away … unimaginable. After his death, his widow pronounced … still Covid-19 doesn’t exist. True, the individual right to take steroid jabs but refuse new vaccines in experimental phase. The winner is …
Couple of snippets from Little Englanders this morning
‘ A fear of catching Covid-19 is not a protected belief under the Equality Act, a judge has ruled, after a woman claimed she was discriminated against by her employer when she refused to go into work during the pandemic.’
&
‘ There are currently no walk-in PCR tests available to book anywhere in England or Northern Ireland. The NHS website also said no home tests were available either for the general public or for essential workers.’
From The Guardian rag paper now.
————-
This should be clear to all that the western Anglo Imperialists have abandoned ALL semblance of controlling the pandemic and are now going fully for the death and illness laden Herd Mentality!
As I alluded a few days ago this is equivalent to the 1914-18 trench warfare designed to exterminate the young men of Europe who otherwise would have risen up against their continued slavery at the hands of the rich masters.
The lady in the first bit of news was like all of us in lockdown in 2020. When everyone was directed to isolate and she is in the right - however the judiciary is an ass.
There have been no PCR RESULTS since 23rd December - a week ago. The last numbers before then were a 1 in 10 infection rate in London doubling every 3 days - do the sums and we are now at 1 in 2.
That is a fact.
Just now the clown prime minister and its presstitute media just subtly changed the narrative of these in intensive care units from these who were unvaccinated to these who hadn’t been boostered!
I believe it true (based on direct reports by people who work in ICU’s that most who were ending up there prexmas were Unvaccinated AND had NOT had a previous infection.
So it seems that the results from around the world is showing that the best protection is from having contracted and recovered from Covid since it appeared.
But even that is not stopping Omicron re infections.
Second best is having had vaccines and boosters - because that provides a T cell response to Moronic.
But that depends on WHICH vaccine.
The WHO has been crap at giving details of ALL vaccines only just these being pushed by the Big Pharma (and their combined totals are fewer than all the others).
Worst outcomes are for these who are in neither of the above groups - and they are largely demographically discernible.
Posted by: D.G. | Dec 29 2021 11:19 utc | 86
@Posted by: Kim Jong Il | Dec 29 2021 4:56 utc |
But, the "Covid Pass" has blanks to fill for 8 doses...This is why all European countries, at least those most under colonization process, have alread purchased millions of doses of these "vaccines" from the same company, in spite of the obvious bad result...Why would anyone in its sane mind repeat purchasing a product which showed uneffective and harful already the first time?
This has no explanation unless you think about a mafia like tax from the invading corporations....
What would the 8th dose be for?
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 29 2021 11:24 utc | 87
That's like if you buy seven Pizzas, you get one free.
If you get eight jabs, you can have the ninth free -
All the others are payable in advance....
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 29 2021 11:40 utc | 88
Please see this video about life jackets, it protects against drowning. But soon you need to have two life jackets, or else you will not be allowed to see your family.
Please take the time to watch. It’s for your own safety!
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 29 2021 11:45 utc | 89
Sequel @ 11
I find it curious b says he was boostered today, given that I specifically remember a post of his a few months ago entitled "Why You Should Get Vaccinated But Don't Need A Third Shot". Not trying to imply anything, I'd just be interested to know what exactly made b change his mind, given that the boosters aren't even designed for Omicron, but are just another dose of the old vaccines
Yeah, I was wondering about that as well. What gives, b? You immune compromised, or just shilling for the German Ethics Council, which favors mandatory COVID vaccines for all?
Posted by: john | Dec 29 2021 11:50 utc | 90
I recall in this blog there was always uncovering of online social network operations related especially to elections fraud and coups d´etat...
I am astonished "b" had no notice of this operation on Christmas´Eve...just when the obvious explosion of "Omicron" cases was placing the "narrative" on "vaccines" effectivity at its higuest risk so far...
https://twitter.com/profnfenton/status/1474378421149052933
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 29 2021 11:56 utc | 91
Way too complex and NO testing requirement?
This is a big time fail. I naively thought, for people exposed to Covid, it was 5 days isolation, followed by a negative test which seems extremely reasonable to me. For people exposed to Covid, you just need to wait until an infection would show up for a test. Requiring a 10day waiting period always seemed excessive and encourages cheating, especially since there is no govt program to compensate people missing work.
for people with Covid after you test negative, why would you need more than another 3 days followed by a second negative test?
I see that Japan requires a 2 week isolation period for new arrivals, does it really take 2 weeks for an infected person to show a positive test result?
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Dec 29 2021 11:58 utc | 92
Published by Statista Research Department, Jun 30, 2021
The most common cause of death in Russia was circulatory system diseases with approximately 641 deaths per 100 thousand of the country's population in 2020. Furthermore, 202 deaths per 100 thousand population occurred due to neoplasm diseases, which were the second main cause of mortality in the country. The third most common category was COVID-19, at almost 99 deaths per 100 thousand residents.
As India, just turn statistics to ratio x/100000
Posted by: MineHop | Dec 29 2021 12:02 utc | 93
"The last two weeks have brought three new studies finding negative efficacy for two vaccine doses, meaning the vaccinated are more likely to be infected than the unvaccinated. These are study findings, not raw data, so have been adjusted for various biases and confounders, making it harder to dismiss them as anomalous or skewed."
Danish Study (preprint) "found a vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron variant of minus-76.5% for Pfizer and minus-39.3% for Moderna three months after double vaccination (see chart above), meaning the double-vaccinated were considerably more likely to be infected than the unvaccinated. They found the vaccine effectiveness against Omicron was significantly lower than against Delta, with Pfizer vaccine effectiveness at 53.8% and Moderna at 65% against Delta after three months. They reported that a third dose of Pfizer got vaccine effectiveness against Omicron back up to 54.6%, at least for a month."
UKHSA Study "reports zero or negative vaccine effectiveness from a double-dose of all three vaccines (AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna) after five months. The third dose takes it up again, but only into the 40-60% range, and dropping fast."
Eurosurveillance Study "also backs up the observation of negative vaccine effectiveness against Omicron, with a higher proportion of those who tested positive in the particular outbreak in the study being double-vaccinated than those who did not test positive (98% versus 93%)."
Posted by: ADKC | Dec 29 2021 12:02 utc | 94
That's like if you buy seven Pizzas, you get one free.
If you get eight jabs, you can have the ninth free -
All the others are payable in advance....
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 29 2021 11:40 utc | 109
I think the assumption is that nobody would survive to get the 9th dose because the dangers get higher with every booster. The tiny minority who manage to fill out all 8 shots will by that time be so sick they won't survive much longer.
Or maybe if you do get the 8th shot and still survives, that qualifies you to be a free dog-servat to the elites.
Posted by: BM | Dec 29 2021 12:04 utc | 95
So as to show that this is all a government-corporate-media operation, here the claim by Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, on the alleged effectivity of his "vaccine"...In April...
https://twitter.com/AlbertBourla/status/1377618480527257606
Now, you tell me, why no any of the usual "fact-checkers" has debunked this obvious fake news?
I´ll tell you, because, as that report so clearly showed, all of them are part of the same scamdemic...
The alleged "fact-checkers" depending on the mass media and think tanks, and all of them on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the WEF, BlackRock and Vanguard...
Posted by: Black bread | Dec 29 2021 12:04 utc | 96
@sequel
I find it curious b says he was boostered today, given that I specifically remember a post of his a few months ago entitled "Why You Should Get Vaccinated But Don't Need A Third Shot". Not trying to imply anything, I'd just be interested to know what exactly made b change his mind, given that the boosters aren't even designed for Omicron, but are just another dose of the old vaccines.
My first two shots were with Astra Zeneca which recently turned out to be still a reasonable protection against serious disease but, after six months, has the weakest protection against Omicron symptoms.
A local group, with the help of the local volunteer fire company, has organized a vaccination campaign in a local school building here. While shopping I was personally asked by folks here if I wanted a shot of Moderna to 'upgrade'. That was Monday. As this was completely effortless I said yet. On Tuesday I took a 5 min walk, waited 10 minutes to get the shot, and walked back home.
Much better than the first two shots at a central place which each took long rides and hours of wait time. I would probably not have bothered with a third shot if it would have taken more effort.
The vk banning was a mistake, but if vk were here his view would be that the failure of the US covid response is a function of the end phase of US imperial capitalism. China would be held up as the epitome of a successful socialist response.
I agree with the former even if I'm agnostic on the latter. But more crucially I hold that we should adopt a critical theoretical approach to the question of the existence of media events. How?
I have never seen covid and know no one who has. This may sound facetious but I have no way to autopsy the pathogen or gauge its danger. I must rely on a synthesis of often competing scientific discourses which are in turn mediated to me by interest groups who have motives untransparent to me. Some of these include financial actors (as Fabio Vighi has argued very persuasively), Big Pharma, bio-surveillance big state interests, along with a commercial media for whom covid hysteria is a news cycle that keeps on giving.
Thus I myself must submit to the indeterminacy of the virus. What affects my life therefore is a simulacrum of crisis, of pandemic, of emergency. Covid is a not an historical event, it is a media event: it is an event whose existence is mediated by narratives beyond truth or fiction, and therefore whose spectral reality causally derives from these narratives. In the end, what is true is the simulacrum of a pandemic whose reality is, by definition, indeterminable. It subsists on a carefully manipulated cultural imaginary of crisis, disease, viruses and pandemic.
The questions we must therefore ask are not 'is covid real?' or 'do vaccines work?' but rather: what reality is produced by the story of a pandemic, what interests are undergirded by its propagation, and how do we parse the ideological and cultural grammar of the event itself?
Only critical theory can do this. It begins by discovering how power and value are dispersed and accumulated, and then identifying the apparatuses through which this accumulation takes place. It then explores the mythology necessary to supply all this with a legitimacy that can offset the structural contradictions set in motion by processes of the accumulation of power and value. The covid media event, real or not, is woven from such mythemes, co-opting our own latent capitalist ethics and morality to mobilise and realise a narrative into a 'well-founded fiction'.
One example would be discovering the relationship between financial crisis/democratic failure/rising populism/public corruption/oligarchic concentration of wealth, etc, and the pandemic narrative. Is there one? Assuredly? Does this make covid fake? It doesn't matter. It serves capital better if it is real, but capital is not terribly interested in this question.
Covid is therefore not being managed but rather is itself part of the apparatus of the management of capital's continuation. All intelligent analysis needs to look down this path instead of getting lost in the briar patches trying to pin down a 'truth' receding now forever at the speed of light...
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 12:15 utc | 98
As an addendum to the above #115 I very much recommend this article by Jason Moore. While it ostensibly appears to deal with a larger topic those here will be able to see how the pandemic fits into the overall ideological apparatus Jason describes.
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 29 2021 12:24 utc | 99
But I feel somewhat sad for the people in the U.S. who's health get screwed by its 'elite' over and over again.
And what do you feel about German or Austrian governments on Covid?
Alright? Yes!
Nobody gets screwed over here, everything super, ha?
Posted by: Oscar The Red Cat | Dec 29 2021 12:39 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
"Well Angie, its the system that is sick and not the man at the top." Wrong. It's both.
Posted by: par4 | Dec 28 2021 20:13 utc | 1