Vaccination, Choice, Public Health Options

COVID-19 vaccines received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA after clinical trials demonstrated that they are safe and effective; COVID-19 vaccines aren’t experimental

CLAIM
“Not one COVID-19 vaccine is FDA approved. ... They are all experimental.”

VERDICT
MISLEADING

SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook, 8 Mar. 2021

DETAILS
Misleading: Many vaccines are tested for safety and efficacy, and some vaccines are proven to be effective against disease even if they haven’t been approved by the FDA. Three COVID-19 vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, which is better suited to ongoing health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic than standard approval process.

KEY TAKE AWAY
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a fast-track process for approving vaccines and drugs when their benefits outweigh the potential risks to a population. EUA is well-suited for addressing ongoing global health threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Three COVID-19 vaccines received EUA from the FDA, after clinical data showed they were effective at protecting vaccinated individuals against the disease and had few risks for the general population. Continued monitoring of vaccinated populations is a standard procedure to increase our knowledge about a vaccine’s benefits and risk in a real world setting.

FULL CLAIM: “Not one COVID-19 vaccine is FDA approved. ... They are all experimental. You are in the experiment”

REVIEW...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-received-emergency-use-...

Instagram post overlooks FDA sign-off on COVID-19 vaccines
Jon Greenberg March 31, 2021

If Your Time is short

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to three COVID-19 vaccines.

The clinical trial results and other requirements for emergency use are little different from what is required for final approval.

See the sources for this fact-check

An Instagram post from a Tampa Bay nurse casts doubt on the value of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"So, you injected the non-FDA-approved experimental agent, but you still have to wear a mask and social distance?" the March 30 post asks. "Does that imply the jab, the mask and the social distancing don’t work? #sodumb"

Here, we check the claim that any of the COVID-19 vaccines rely on a "non-FDA-approved experimental agent." FDA is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The claim’s main flaw is it fails to reflect that the FDA authorized the vaccines after months of clinical testing.

Emergency Use Authorization...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/31/instagram-posts/instagram-post...

Mass Covid-19 vaccination will not lead to ‘out of control’ variants
Alex Cadier | 31 March 2021 at 14:03

A scientist’s open letter to the World Health Organization claims that the large-scale Covid-19 vaccination drives currently underway around the world should cease before they produce the catastrophic appearance of more deadly variants of the coronavirus and increased risk for younger people. But medical experts say the claims are false and that vaccination is urgently needed to control virus mutation through widespread immunity.

The letter’s author, self-described “independent virologist and vaccine expert” Geert Vanden Bossche, shared it on his Twitter account on March 6, 2021...

...AFP Fact Check has debunked numerous false and misleading claims about the Covid-19 vaccines here. ( https://factcheck.afp.com/fact-checking-search-results?keywords=vaccine )

https://factcheck.afp.com/mass-covid-19-vaccination-will-not-lead-out-control-va...

No, it’s not safer to skip the COVID-19 vaccine to avoid permanent side effects
Tom Kertscher | March 31, 2021

If Your Time is short

Getting vaccinated reduced the likelihood of COVID-19 infection by as much as 95% in clinical trials.

If you get vaccinated and still get COVID-19, vaccines make it less likely that you’ll get seriously ill.

There is no evidence of permanent side effects...

...What the science shows is vaccines dramatically reduce the chances of getting COVID-19. And if you do contract COVID-19 even after a vaccine, you’re less likely to get seriously sick, thanks to the work of the vaccine.

As for permanent side effects, this is an area still being studied. But as one virologist put it, the risk "is extremely low to the point of being almost impossible to measure."...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/31/facebook-posts/no-its-not-safe...

Wow! No wonder some folks are vaccine-hesitant, reading such scary claims without the background or inclination or time to question validity.

Fact check: COVID-19 vaccine not associated with neurodegenerative disease
Miriam Fauzia | March 31, 2021

The claim: COVID-19 vaccines are associated with prion disease

With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout advancing at about 2.77 million average doses administered a day – a steady increase since vaccinations began in late December – a supposed research paper is rousing fear about the vaccine's safety on social media.

"Covid19 vaxines (sic) are associated with Prion's disease (sic), which you may better recognize Mad Cow Disease," writes Facebook user Rachel LeBert Cox in a March 23 post.

The source behind Cox's bold claim is a paper titled "COVID-19 RNA Based Vaccines and the Risk of Prion Disease," written by J. Bart Classen. A screenshot of the first page accompanies the post and provides an explanation: The messenger RNA, or mRNA, used in the vaccines trigger abnormally shaped proteins, the basis for prion and other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

...Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist affiliated with Georgetown University, told USA TODAY...that the journal (Classen's) article is published in, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, was "not a reputable or reliable journal." (Microbiology & Infectious Diseases is an open-access journal published by SciVision Publishers, a potential predatory publisher intended for profit rather than academic peer-review.)

...Our rating: False

The claim that COVID-19 vaccines can cause prion and other neurodegenerative diseases is FALSE, based on our research. The claim originates from a paper (likely not peer-reviewed) published earlier this year that asserts the mRNA component of the vaccine causes prion disease. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna, both of which manufacture mRNA-based vaccines, reported cases of prion or other neurodegenerative diseases. The federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System also has not received any such reports. Scientific experts have said Classen's claim is highly speculative and lacks actual proof...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/03/31/fact-check-covid-19-vac...

No doubt anti-vaxxers will seize on this (as they have on Astrazeneca's clotting scare), so...

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is delayed by a U.S. factory mixup.
Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland | March 31, 2021

Workers at a plant in Baltimore manufacturing two coronavirus vaccines accidentally conflated the ingredients several weeks ago, contaminating up to 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and forcing regulators to delay authorization of the plant’s production lines.

The plant is run by Emergent BioSolutions, a manufacturing partner to both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish company whose vaccine has yet to be authorized for use in the United States. ...(The two vaccines use the same technology employing a harmless version of a virus — known as a vector — that is transmitted into cells to make a protein that then stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies. But Johnson and Johnson’s and AstraZeneca’s vectors are biologically different and not interchangeable.)

The mix-up has delayed future shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses in the United States while the Food and Drug Administration investigates what occurred....

The error does not affect any Johnson & Johnson doses that are currently being delivered and used nationwide, including the shipments that states are counting on next week. All those doses were produced in the Netherlands, where operations have been fully approved by federal regulators.

...None of the doses ever left the plant, and the lot has been quarantined...

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/31/world/covid-19-coronavirus

Is the Biden Administration Creating or Mandating ‘COVID-19 Passports’?
The administration has said it is seeking a regulatory role in the development of digital vaccine certificates.
Alex Kasprak | 31 March 2021

Claim
The Biden administration is working to launch a COVID-19 passport that "Americans must have to engage in commerce."

Rating: False

Context
The White House has assembled a task force to create standards for digital vaccine certificates, but they have explicitly stated that implementation of these programs would be left to the private sector and that the federal government will not maintain or mandate such a system.

Origin
...On March 28, 2021, The Washington Post published a story titled “Vaccine Passports’ Are on the Way, But Developing Them Won’t Be Easy.” That story discussed a Biden administration initiative “to develop a standard way of handling credentials … that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated” against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

...White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on March 29, 2021, that “there will be no centralized universal federal vaccinations database, and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.” ...

The point of the work being performed by the White House’s interagency task force is to make sure that initiatives competing to build a framework for digital certification of vaccines adequately protect privacy and that any proposed solution does not contribute to widening health inequalities. In the view of the Biden administration, trust in such a solution would be better achieved through the private sector.

Because the Biden administration is not producing, maintaining, or mandating the use of digital vaccination certificates, the claim that they are “set to launch a COVID-19 passport that Americans must have to engage in commerce” is “False.”

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-vaccine-passport/

COVID-19 vaccines don’t hamper the function of the immune system and are likely to limit the generation of variants;
no evidence that they produce more lethal variants
Rubén Portela Carballeira

Claim...13 March 2021..Inaccurate

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-dont-hamper-the-functio...

______________________________________________________________

COVID-19 vaccines received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA after clinical trials demonstrated that they are safe and effective;
COVID-19 vaccines aren’t experimental
Pablo Rougerie

Claim...8 Mar. 2021...Misleading

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-received-emergency-use-...

Flawed Report Fuels Erroneous Claims About COVID-19 Death Toll
Angelo Fichera | April 2, 2021

Viral social media posts cite a flawed paper in falsely claiming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed death certificate procedures and violated federal law, resulting in wildly inflated COVID-19 deaths. The CDC hasn’t altered how death certificates for COVID-19 are filled out, and there is no federal law governing the process.

A conservative talk radio host recently told her listeners that because of a change in death certificate procedures specific to COVID-19, “there is a huge chance that COVID death numbers are exaggerated, to the tune of 94%.”

That’s false. It’s based on a flawed report whose authors also have penned related claims for an anti-vaccination organization.

Wendy Bell, the radio host, made the claim in a March 25 episode of her Pennsylvania-based show. The show was streamed live on Facebook in a video titled, “Has the CDC skewed Covid Fatalities?”...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/04/scicheck-flawed-study-fuels-erroneous-claims-a...

How White Evangelicals’ Vaccine Refusal Could Prolong the Pandemic
Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham | April 5, 2021

Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Tenets of faith and mistrust of science play a role; so does politics...

...The opposition is rooted in a mix of religious faith and a longstanding wariness of mainstream science, and it is fueled by broader cultural distrust of institutions and gravitation to online conspiracy theories. The sheer size of the community poses a major problem for the country’s ability to recover from a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of half a million Americans. And evangelical ideas and instincts have a way of spreading, even internationally.

There are about 41 million white evangelical adults in the U.S. About 45 percent said in late February that they would not get vaccinated against Covid-19, making them among the least likely demographic groups to do so...

...Many high-profile conservative pastors and institutional leaders have endorsed the vaccines...

But other influential voices in the sprawling, trans-denominational movement, especially those who have gained their stature through media fame, have sown fears...

...Some evangelicals believe that any Covid restrictions — including mask mandates and restrictions on in-person church worship — constitute oppression.

...And some have been energized by what they see as a battle between faith and fear, and freedom and persecution.

...One widespread concern among evangelicals is the vaccines’ ties to abortion. In reality, the connection is remote: Some of the vaccines were developed and tested using cells derived from the fetal tissue of elective abortions that took place decades ago.

...White evangelicals who do not plan to get vaccinated sometimes say they see no need, because they do not feel at risk. Rates of Covid-19 death have been about twice as high for Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans as for white Americans.

...Distrust of scientists has become part of cultural identity, of what it means to be white and evangelical in America, (Elaine Ecklund, professor of sociology and director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University) said.

...Among evangelicals, Pentecostal and charismatic Christians may be particularly wary of the vaccine, in part because their tradition historically emphasizes divine health and miraculous healing in ways that can rival traditional medicine, said Erica Ramirez, a scholar of Pentecostalism and director of applied research at Auburn Seminary...“It’s extra-medical...It’s not anti-medical, but it decenters medicine.”

...Curtis Chang, a consulting professor at Duke Divinity School ...is leading an outreach project to educate evangelicals about the vaccine...includes a series of short, shareable videos for pastors, answering questions like “How can Christians spot fake news on the vaccine?” and “Is the vaccine the Mark of the Beast?” The latter refers to an apocalyptic theory that the AntiChrist will force his sign onto everyone at the end of the world.

...Uganda...hospital had received 5,000 vaccine doses, but had only been able to administer about 400, because of the hesitancy of the heavily evangelical population. “How American evangelicals think, write, feel about issues quickly replicates throughout the entire world,” (Chang) said.

...Politics has increasingly been shaping faith among white evangelicals, rather than the other way around, (Joel Rainey, who leads Covenant Church in Shepherdstown, W.Va.) said. Pastors’ influence on their churches is decreasing. “They get their people for one hour, and Sean Hannity gets them for the next 20,” he said.

Mr. Rainey helped his own Southern Baptist congregation get ahead of false information by publicly interviewing medical experts — a retired colonel specializing in infectious disease, a church member who is a Walter Reed logistics management analyst, and a church elder who is a nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs. On the worship stage...he asked them “all of the questions that a follower of Jesus might have...It is necessary for pastors to instruct their people that we don’t always have to be adversaries with the culture around us...We believe Jesus died for those people, so why in the world would we see them as adversaries?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/us/covid-vaccine-evangelicals.html
_________________________________________________________

Immunizations and Religion
Occupational Health Clinic (Vanderbilt)

Most religions have no prohibition against vaccinations, however some have considerations, concerns or restrictions regarding vaccination in general, particular reasons for vaccination, or specific vaccine ingredients. Below is a list of the current position of some of the more common religious faiths...

https://www.vumc.org/health-wellness/news-resource-articles/immunizations-and-re...

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines aren’t operating systems, and won’t transform the human body into a virus-making factory
Fernanda Ferreira

CLAIM
The mRNA vaccine is “an operating system that takes over the machinery of your cells” ; “...by the time you get your fourth shot your body will be making all four proteins that make up the COVID-19 virus.”

VERDICT
INACCURATE

SOURCE: Damon Jones, Vintage King, Facebook, Instagram, 28 Mar. 2021

DETAILS
Factually inaccurate: Firstly, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are substances that protect vaccinated individuals from the disease and aren’t operating systems. Current mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are administered in two doses, not four, and both doses carry the same mRNA that codes for the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

KEY TAKE AWAY
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are substances that stimulate the immune systems of vaccinated individuals to recognize and respond to infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines aren’t computer operating systems. mRNA vaccines are unable to stimulate the production of the virus that causes COVID-19, since they only carry information to produce the spike protein, which is present on the surface of SARS-CoV-2.

FULL CLAIM: ...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/the-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-arent-operatin...

How US history explains vaccine passport scepticism (BBC)

As the pace of vaccination accelerates, governments, corporations and schools have signalled support for so-called vaccine passports - standardised proof of inoculation. But in the US, the idea has been met with swift resistance...

Interesting that this article refers to a yellow fever outbreak in the USA a couple of centuries ago. In the region of the world where I live yellow fever is still a risk, and we cannot travel from country to country without a certificate confirming that we have been vaccinated against yellow fever, in other words, a "vaccine passport". It is routine, has been in place for as long as I can remember (certainly for the 45 years that I have been traveling internationally), and as far as I am aware it has never been controversial. We also used to have to have a "vaccine passport" for cholera, but that requirement was dropped maybe twenty or so years ago. My vaccination card also includes all the vaccinations which are not compulsory but which are considered routine in the tropics - hepatitis, meningitis, typhoid, rabies, tetanus, polio, etc, as well as common flu.

Did 4 States Halt Administration of J&J Vaccine Due to Safety Concerns?
Adverse reactions in four states led to a temporary cessation of the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, but the CDC has not "found any reason for concern."

Alex Kasprak | 9 April 2021

Claim
Four states have stopped administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in response to adverse effects.

Rating
Mixture

What's True
Adverse reactions documented in Iowa, Georgia, Colorado, and North Carolina led to a temporary halt in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a few sites.

What's False
These sites, and the states that operate them, have not permanently discontinued the use of the vaccine, and the CDC continues to recommend its use.
Context

The primary adverse event described was fainting. The CDC continues to recommend the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine...

...Per The AP:

CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said it is aware of adverse reactions in some people who received the vaccine shots in Iowa, Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina. Those reactions include dizziness, light headedness, feeling faint and rapid breathing.

She said the CDC is working with state and local officials to evaluate the issues and has performed vaccine lot analyses and not found reasons for concern. The CDC is not telling health departments to stop vaccinations.

Because adverse reactions halted distribution at some clinics, but because the halt was not permanent and because the CDC continues to recommend the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s use, the claim is a “Mixture.”

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/johnson-vaccine-concerns/

US cardiologist makes false claims about Covid-19 vaccination
Rémi Banet | 09 April 2021

Video of a cardiologist claiming that there is no reason for healthy people under the age of 50 or those who have recovered from Covid-19 to be vaccinated against the virus has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media...

Healthy people younger than 50 do not need a Covid-19 vaccine: FALSE...

People who have recovered from Covid-19 do not need the vaccine: FALSE...

No evidence of asymptomatic spread of Covid-19: FALSE...

https://factcheck.afp.com/us-cardiologist-makes-false-claims-about-covid-19-vacc...

>8 margd:, contd. Another rebuttal of claim that vaccines are responsible for variants:

Self-described Virologist Bossche Makes False COVID-19 Vaccine Claims The veterinary doctor falsely claims that the vaccines will create more deadly variants of SARS-CoV-2 Follow us on By - AFP | 31 March 2021

A scientist's open letter to the World Health Organization claims that the large-scale COVID-19 vaccination drives currently underway around the world should cease before they produce they produce the catastrophic appearance of more deadly variants of the coronavirus and increased risk of younger people. But medical experts say the claims are false and that vaccination is urgently needed to control virus mutation through widespread immunity....

Viral mutation and spread...

Suppression of 'innate immunity'...

Covid-19 antibodies...

Vanden Bossche's credentials...

Authorities endorse vaccines...

https://www.boomlive.in/world/self-described-virologist-bossche-makes-false-covi...

Good news for asthmatics with budesonide inhalers?

Sanjay Ramakrishnan et al. 2021. Inhaled budesonide* in the treatment of early COVID-19 (STOIC): a phase 2, open-label, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (Published:April 09, 2021) DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00160-0 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(21)00160-0/fullt...

Summary
Background
Multiple early reports of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 showed that patients with chronic respiratory disease were significantly under-represented in these cohorts. We hypothesised that the widespread use of inhaled glucocorticoids among these patients was responsible for this finding, and tested if inhaled glucocorticoids would be an effective treatment for early COVID-19.

Methods
...adults within 7 days of the onset of mild COVID-19 symptoms. ...Budesonide dry powder was delivered using a turbohaler at a dose of 800 μg per actuation. Participants were asked to take two inhalations twice a day until symptom resolution. The primary endpoint was COVID-19-related urgent care visit, including emergency department assessment or hospitalisation... The secondary outcomes were self-reported clinical recovery (symptom resolution), viral symptoms measured using the Common Cold Questionnare (CCQ) and the InFLUenza Patient Reported Outcome Questionnaire (FLUPro), body temperature, blood oxygen saturations, and SARS-CoV-2 viral load. ...

Findings
...Clinical recovery was 1 day shorter in the budesonide group compared with the usual care group (median 7 days...in the budesonide group vs 8 days...in the usual care group... The mean proportion of days with a fever in the first 14 days was lower in the budesonide group (2%...) than the usual care group (8%...) and the proportion of participants with at least 1 day of fever was lower in the budesonide group when compared with the usual care group. As-needed antipyretic medication (reduces fever) was required for fewer proportion of days in the budesonide group compared with the usual care group (27% ... vs 50%...) Fewer participants randomly assigned to budesonide had persistent symptoms at days 14 and 28 compared with participants receiving usual care (difference in proportions 0·204... to 0·334...). The mean total score change in the CCQ and FLUPro over 14 days was significantly better in the budesonide group compared with the usual care group (CCQ mean difference −0·12...to −0·02 ...; FLUPro mean difference −0·10...to −0·00... Blood oxygen saturations and SARS-CoV-2 load, measured by cycle threshold, were not different between the groups. Budesonide was safe, with only five (7%) participants reporting self-limiting adverse events.

Interpretation
Early administration of inhaled budesonide reduced the likelihood of needing urgent medical care and reduced time to recovery after early COVID-19....

___________________________________________

* Budesonide (BUD), sold under the brand name Pulmicort among others, is a medication of the corticosteroid type.1 It is available as an inhaler, pill, nasal spray, and rectal forms. The inhaled form is used in the long-term management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The nasal spray is used for allergic rhinitis and nasal polyps. The pills in a delayed release form and rectal forms may be used for inflammatory bowel disease including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and microscopic colitis. (Wikipedia)

Are Covid passports a threat to liberty? It depends on how you define freedom (Guardian)

The pandemic is once again causing governments to pit incompatible ideas of freedom against each other...

Clinical trials and post-trial monitoring show that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the spread and occurrence of the disease

CLAIM- COVID-19 vaccines are experimental and don’t prevent infection or transmission; most of us have a 0.05% chance of dying from COVID-19

VERDICT- INACCURATE

SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook, 5 Apr. 2021

DETAILS
Inaccurate: COVID-19 vaccines prevent infection, as demonstrated both during clinical trials and after the vaccines have been approved for use.
Misleading: COVID-19 vaccines aren’t experimental. Their safety and efficacy was demonstrated in clinical trials.
Unsupported: Estimations such as case mortality rate or infection mortality rate can be used to indicate the lethality of a disease, but not to calculate the probability that a person will die from that disease.The probabilities of dying from COVID-19 are based on characteristics of each individual, such as age or medical condition.

KEY TAKE AWAY
The COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have demonstrated their safety and effectiveness at preventing the disease. Estimations for the lethality of a disease cannot be extrapolated to individuals, since the probability of an individual dying from a disease depends on their own characteristics, such as age and preexisting conditions.

FULL CLAIM: "We’re about to be forced to have a digital ID, proving we’ve had an experimental vaccine, which doesn’t prevent infection or transmission of a virus that most of us have a 0.05% chance of dying from, so we can live a ‘normal life’."

REVIEW

Claim 1 (Incorrect): COVID-19 vaccines don’t prevent infection or transmission

Claim 2 (Misleading): COVID-19 vaccines are experimental

Claim 3 (Unsupported): Most people have a 0.05% chance of dying from COVID-19

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/clinical-trials-and-post-trial-monitoring...

Tiffany misses mark with claim that young adults are not susceptible to coronavirus
Madeline Heim | April 8, 2021

If Your Time is short
Younger people are less likely than their older counterparts to have severe outcomes from contracting COVID-19, but hospitalizations and deaths have occurred within the group.

What’s more, vaccines are about more than just protecting yourself. Widespread vaccination can drive down disease rates and eventually help reach “herd immunity” from a virus...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/08/tom-tiffany/tiffany-misses-mar...

Why vaccine hesitancy must be addressed empathetically
Jennifer Huizen | April 3, 2021

According to a new editorial, vaccine hesitancy could seriously threaten efforts to stop the pandemic.

The editorial blames vaccine hesitancy on the controversy, misinformation, a lack of confidence surrounding vaccine trial data, anxiety about vaccine safety, and historical mistrust of the medical establishment due to current or past negative treatment.

They also state that there are also important differences between people who are vaccine hesitant versus people who are anti-vaccine or “anti-vaxx,” referring to definitions of anti-vaxxers as activists who deliberately spread misinformation.

Health experts must communicate vaccine information with more empathy and address all vaccine questions or concerns without prejudice or bias...

Vaccine hesitancy vs. anti-vaxx
...150 anti-vaxx organizations have more than 10 million followers on social media.

Increasing empathy and reducing stigma

The long road ahead

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-vaccine-hesitancy-must-be-addresse...

------------------------------------------------------

Heidi J. Larson and David A. Broniatowski. 2021. Volatility of vaccine confidence (EDITORIAL). Science 26 Mar 2021:
Vol. 371, Issue 6536, pp. 1289 DOI: 10.1126/science.abi6488 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6536/1289

-------------------------------------------------------

The Anti-Vaxx Playbook
Center for Countering Digital Hate
(~Oct 2020)
54 p
https://www.counterhate.com/playbook

The Anti-Vaxx Playbook
WHO WE ARE–UK/ US non-profit that disrupts the spread of digital hate and misinformation.

OUR REPORT-Reveals the messages and strategies anti-vaxxers are using to exploit the Covid pandemic and disrupt the rollout of the Covid vaccine. We include detailed recommendations on how to counter anti-vaxxer narratives.

WHAT’S NEW?-In late October, the world’s leading anti-vaxxers held a private three-day meeting in which they discussed how to destroy confidence in the Covid vaccine. Our research team was present to record, transcribe and analyse their candid discussions.

WHAT WE DISCOVERED
(1) THERE IS AN ORGANISED AND DISCIPLINED ANTI-VAXX INDUSTRY:
•Anti-vaxxers see Covid as an opportunity to drive long-term vaccine hesitancy.
•The total English-language audience for anti-vaxxers online has grown significantly in the past year and now stands at 59 million followers.
•Some anti-vaxxers are economically-motivated hucksters, some are true believers.
•Either way, to win, they need to undermine confidence in the scientific establishment.

(2) THIS IS AN ASYMMETRICAL CONFLICT:
•Health professionals need to persuade the public to take an action.
•Anti-vaxxers need only to create doubt as to its efficacy, safety or necessity.
•That’s why anti-vaxxers operate by asking questions

(3) FORGET INDIVIDUAL ANTI-VAXX MEMES. THEIR GARISH CONTENT IS DESIGNED TO DISTRACT AND SEEK TO CREATE DOUBT ABOUT:
1.The threat posed by Covid
2.The safety of vaccines
3.Whether we can trust experts

HERE’S OUR FIVE POINT PLAN FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS:
1.Focus your communications on our core messages:
...a.Covid is deadly
...b.Vaccines are one of the safest, most effective, most consequential medical inventions. They have saved countless people from disease, disability and death.
...c.Doctors and scientists are motivated by wanting to help people.
2.Do not share or engage with anti-vaxx misinformation online. This spreads it further. Instead, ask people to share and engage with pro-vaccine messages.
3.Meet people where they are online. Create“answering spaces” where the public can ask questions, e.g.,doctors could join their local Facebook groups and offer to answer queries.
4.Empower, support and amplify a diverse range of expert message carriers on social media.
5.Expose the methods and motives of anti-vaxxers, not the content of their narratives

Ontario...

Covid-19 vaccinations offered by Ontario mobile clinics are voluntary
AFP Canada | 16 April 2021 at 12:18

Social media posts claim that medical authorities are going door-to-door to force people to get Covid-19 vaccines in Ontario. This is false; vaccination is not mandatory in Canada, and public health experts say mobile clinics have been set up in Ontario to reach mostly older people in densely populated, high-risk neighborhoods who otherwise might have difficulties accessing the shots...

https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-vaccinations-offered-ontario-mobile-clinics-a...

Covid-19 precautions do not mean vaccines are ineffective
AFP USA | 16 April 2021 at 11:42

Fox News host Tucker Carlson asks in a video viewed more than 450,000 times on Facebook why people immunized against Covid-19 need to observe measures such as mask use if vaccines are effective. But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes clear that precautions remain necessary because it is not yet known how well the shots protect against variants or prevent the spread of Covid-19...

https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-precautions-do-not-mean-vaccines-are-ineffect...

Buffalo Sabres and Bills have made future attendance at their games conditional on fans being vaccinated. Those who control popular venues should follow suit. If I were an employer I would also make it conditional on new hires at the very least. I think it shouldn’t just be up to the medical community to parse to the public why. I think a spectrum of societal pressure from everything from corporations, mass transit and entertainment venues should be put into play. We aren’t just lone gun individuals in this. We are all connected and responsible to others to the degree our actions or non-actions might harm others. This is what being part of a society is about.

Tucker Carlson falsely claims COVID-19 vaccines might not work
Bill McCarthy | April 15, 2021

If Your Time is short

Clinical trials and real-world studies have shown the available COVID-19 vaccines to be effective at protecting against COVID-19 infections and severe symptoms.

Responding to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s suggestion that the vaccines might not work, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the clinical trials showed “an overwhelming signal of efficacy.”

The CDC still recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks and keep their distance in public spaces. There are legitimate reasons for that, experts said, including the fact that many Americans have not yet been vaccinated...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/15/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Report: Lachlan Murdoch returning to the US in September
Thomas Moore - 04/14/21 tember

Lachlan Murdoch, CEO and executive chairman of Fox News’s parent company, Fox Corp., will move back to the United States in the fall after recently moving to Australia with his family, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Murdoch “will go back to working and living in the US” starting in September in order to help reopen the Los Angeles office of Fox Corp., a Fox spokesperson told Reuters.

He had moved to Australia, the country where his father Rupert Murdoch first began forging the family’s international media business, last month along with his wife and children...

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/548125-report-lachlan-murdoch-returning-to-th...

There is NOTHING anti-vaxxers won't throw--whatever comes to mind--to see if it sticks to the wall!
Erectile dysfunction, miscarriage...

Experts say there are numerous factors behind erectile dysfunction, but the Covid-19 vaccine is not one of them
AFP Indonesia | 19 April 2021
https://factcheck.afp.com/experts-say-there-are-numerous-factors-behind-erectile...

Fact check: No evidence of miscarriage surge since vaccine rollout
Miriam Fauzia | April 12, 2021. Updated April 14.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/12/fact-check-no-evidence-...

>25 margd: On the other hand, environmental pollutants are affecting both.

“According to (Shanna) Swan’s research, BPA, phthalate, parabens, and atrazine are the main culprits behind decreasing libido and fertility. These chemicals are found commonly in plastics, herbicides, toothpaste, and beauty products and act as endocrine disruptors which leads to premature birth, lower IQs, obesity and, according to Swan’s research, smaller penis size.”

Swan has a recent book on this - Count Down.
http://www.librarything.com/work/26154403

https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5b4bq/pollution-shrinking-human-penis-sperm-cou...

The Most Popular J&J Vaccine Story On Facebook? A Conspiracy Theorist Posted It
Miles Parks | April 15, 2021
Heard on Morning Edition

...The most popular link on Facebook about the Johnson & Johnson news was shared by a conspiracy theorist and self-described "news analyst & hip-hop artist" named An0maly who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control.

It's a stark example of what experts warn could be a coming deluge of false or misleading information related to the one-shot vaccine.

In the case of the post by An0maly, a Facebook representative said the company has taken action against previous posts of his that have broken the social media platform's rules. It broadly removed more than 16 million pieces of content over the past year related to COVID-19 misinformation, but because this specific post did not contain any factually incorrect information, it would stay up.

Experts call this sort of tactic gray area misinformation and said it can have the same impact on an audience as blatant falsehoods when it's being received without proper context or by people with preconceived ideas...

Confidence-shaking event...

A trending topic means opportunity...
..."The issue is this is a factual report," said Sarah Roberts, an information studies professor at UCLA. "But the people reading the report either have such deeply held preconceived notions about its meaning or they lack appropriate context to receive the information."

Overall, it's hard to overstate the degree to which the Johnson & Johnson story blew up online...

Disinformation economy...

...it's likely this development has ripple effects, especially driven by those who have made fear a business model and built their brands on vaccine skepticism...

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/15/987182241/the-most-popular-j-j-vaccine-story-on-f...

Covid-19 shots not found to have caused deaths that followed vaccinations
AFP USA | 20 April 2021

Social media posts claim there have been 3,005 “Covid vaccine deaths” since December 1, 2020. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it has received that many reports of deaths among people who took a Covid-19 vaccine, but found no evidence of the immunizations contributing to the fatalities*...

https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-shots-not-found-have-caused-deaths-followed-v...
---------------------------------------------------------------------

* https://perma.cc/RR9W-PA83?type=image

Irish Professor Makes Unfounded Claims About Long-Term Effects of mRNA Vaccines
Angelo Fichera | April 21, 2021

...a video clip circulating online shows Dolores Cahill — a professor in Ireland who until recently was the chair of the right-wing Irish Freedom Party — baselessly claiming that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will cause widespread deaths in the coming years.

Cahill specifically alleges that “anyone who’s over 70 who gets one of these mRNA vaccines will probably be — sadly die within about two to three years.”

“And I would say anyone who gets the mRNA injection, no matter what age you are, your life expectancy will be reduced to you know die, if you’re in your 30s, within five to 10 years,” continues Cahill, a professor at the medical school at the University College Dublin who has previously come under criticism for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

There is no medical evidence for such claims...

...The video clip of Cahill has been repeatedly posted and viewed by tens of thousands on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Telegram and is branded as coming from a group called the “World Freedom Alliance,” which Cahill helped found in November. In a video announcing the group’s formation, one member referred to COVID-19 as a “hoax”; Cahill said the group would “expose the truth of what’s going on” in order to protect freedoms.

The clip now spreading online is taken from a speaking event in Belfast in March. The full video shows Cahill making a host of other erroneous claims, including that the vaccines “contain nanoparticles and you can be tracked.” The nanoparticles (a unit of size) referenced are actually lipid nanoparticles, material that helps to protect and transport the mRNA to the cell; they are not part of a technology that can track people...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/04/scicheck-irish-professor-makes-unfounded-claim...

Does COVID-19 Vaccine Cause Herpes?
Generally, herpes is an asymptomatic condition only diagnosable during an outbreak.
Madison Dapcevich | 22 April 2021

Claim
A scientific study proved there is a causal link between a COVID-19 vaccine and herpes.

Rating
False

Context
An observational study in the scientific journal Rheumatology in April 2021 used case reports to document herpes zoster (that's shingles, not oral/genital herpes) outbreaks in six patients. However, as the authors of the study warned, it was inaccurate to imply that the vaccine had been proven to cause the infection. Rather, it is more likely that the viral reactions described in the report were the result of a previous infection that was spurred by an immune response to the vaccine. In short, there's no evidence to suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine causes herpes, but rather that it may elicit an immune response resulting in a dormant virus breaking out...

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-19-vaccine-herpes/

Not vaxx, but related misinformation...

Study making false claims about masks is misattributed to Stanford University
Marisha Goldhamer, AFP USA, François D'Astier, AFP France | 22 April 2021 at 14:00

Online articles claim a study from Stanford University found that mask wearing, which is recommended to help slow spread of Covid-19, is “ineffective” and harmful. But the study’s author is not employed by the prestigious California university, and it repeats previously debunked claims about the use of face coverings during the pandemic.

“Stanford Study Results: Facemasks are Ineffective to Block Transmission of COVID-19 and Actually Can Cause Health Deterioration and Premature Death,” warns the headline of an April 19, 2020 article from The Gateway Pundit, an online publication that has made other inaccurate claims that AFP Fact Check has debunked....

https://factcheck.afp.com/study-making-false-claims-about-masks-misattributed-st...

Malaria vaccine hailed as potential breakthrough
BBC | 4/23/2021

A malaria vaccine has proved to be 77% effective in early trials and could be a major breakthrough against the disease, say its developers from the University of Oxford.

...The vaccine showed 77% efficacy in the higher-dose group and 71% in the lower-dose group.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56858158
----------------------------------------------------------------

Mehreen S. Datoo et al. 2021. High Efficacy of a Low Dose Candidate Malaria Vaccine, R21 in 1 Adjuvant Matrix-M™, with Seasonal Administration to Children in Burkina Faso. (Preprint) The Lancet (20 Apr 2021) 30p. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3830681

Preprint

Abstract
Background: Stalled progress in controlling Plasmodium falciparum malaria highlights the need for an effective and deployable vaccine. RTS,S/AS01, the most effective malaria vaccine candidate to date, demonstrated 55·8%... efficacy over 12 months in African children.

Methods: We conducted a double-blind, randomised, controlled trial of a low-dose circumsporozoite protein-based vaccine, R21, with two different doses of adjuvant, Matrix-M™ (MM), in children aged 5-17 months in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, a highly seasonal malaria transmission setting. Three vaccinations were administered at 4-week intervals prior to the malaria season with a fourth dose one year later. Vaccine safety, immunogenicity and efficacy were evaluated over one year.

Findings: 450 children were randomised to receive the R21/MM vaccine or a control rabies vaccine. R21/MM had a 43 favourable safety profile and was well-tolerated. At 6 months, 43/146 (29·5%) who received R21/MM with low44 dose adjuvant, 38/146 (26%) who received R21/MM with high-dose adjuvant, and 105/147 (71·4%) who received the rabies vaccine developed clinical malaria. Vaccine efficacy (VE) was 74% ... and 77% ... in the low- and high-dose adjuvant groups, respectively. At 1 year, VE remained high at 77% ... in the high-dose adjuvant group. Participants vaccinated with R21/MM showed high titres of malaria-specific anti-NANP antibodies 28 days after the third vaccination, which were almost doubled with the higher adjuvant dose. Titres waned but were boosted to levels similar to peak titres following the primary series of vaccinations after a fourth dose administered one year later.

Though not vaxx, more misinformation--following 60 Minutes report(?)

DARPA developed a hydrogel sensor which monitors blood for infections at early stages,
not a microchip for COVID-19 identification or location tracker
Marina Yurieva | April 2021

CLAIM
“Pentagon develops microchip that detects COVID under your skin”; Pentagon microchip can track your location

VERDICT
INACCURATE

SOURCE: Ben Swann, Truth in Media, 16 Apr. 2021

DETAILS
Inaccurate: The sensor can only detect the presence of an infection but cannot identify the pathogen responsible for the infection. In addition, the sensor only tests an individual's blood and is unable to track a person's location.
Imprecise: The researchers at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed a sensor (not a microchip) that tests blood for early markers of infection, such as a sudden decrease in oxygen levels.

KEY TAKE AWAY
In collaboration with the private biotech company Profusa, researchers at DARPA developed a hydrogel sensor to detect infection. The hydrogel biosensor technology was developed with the aim of serving as an early identification system for infectious disease outbreaks, such as during pandemics and biological attacks. It is sensitive enough to identify signs of illness a few days before symptoms appear, but it cannot identify the cause of the infectious disease. The sensor can only measure markers of biochemical changes and immune response in the blood...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/darpa-developed-a-hydrogel-sensor-which-m...

>32 margd:

We've been waiiting decades for a malaria vaccine. It seems it took COVID to make it happen.

>34 John5918: Go, Oxford U!
__________________________________________

Michael Mina (Epidemiologist, Immunologist, Physician, Harvard Public Health/Medical School) @michaelmina_lab | 10:34 PM · Nov 23, 2019:
I was advocating for vaccines to an avid anti-vax person other day who asked: "Do you consider yourself an expert on vaccines".
I said "Yes."
Her response: "And you don't think that's a conflict of interest?" ...and that's where we're at in 2019.

Why do people turn to celebrities for health advice?
Americans believe in experts. We look to CPAs to complete our tax returns and plumbers to fix our pipes. Why do so many of us turn to actresses and other celebrities for health advice?
statnews.com
-----------------------------------------------------

People don’t go to doctors to be entertained. Why do they turn to celebrities for health advice?
Nina Shapiro | March 15, 2018
https://www.statnews.com/2018/03/15/celebrities-health-advice-vaccines/

:D

Fact check: No luciferase enzymes – or satanic connections – in coronavirus vaccines
Adrienne Dunn | April 23, 2021

The claim: COVID-19 vaccines contain luciferase, tracking materials

More than half of U.S. adults have now received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but misinformation and hesitancy surrounding vaccinations are still prevalent across the country.

Some of those lean on conspiracy theories for support, including a March 25 claim linking the Moderna vaccine and the devil.

The Facebook post claims the "luciferase" enzyme is part of the Moderna vaccine and that recipients now have a "barcode or imprint or pattern to I.D. you."

Other posts about the luciferase enzyme being in the coronavirus vaccine, including this one from Instagram, link the vaccine to the devil, since the term resembles the name Lucifer.

The posts are wrong on both fronts. The enzyme is not in the vaccine, and it has nothing to do with Satan.

Luciferase is an enzyme that produces light and is found in organisms like fireflies and luminescent marine microorganisms...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/23/fact-check-coronavirus-...

Fact check: Comparison of blood clots from COVID vaccines and birth control lacks nuance
Miriam Fauzia | April 23, 2021

...Our rating: Missing context

We rate the claim that blood clots linked to birth control are more common than those linked to vaccines as MISSING CONTEXT based on our research. This statement is statistically accurate, as clots are more common in birth control. But experts warn it's not an ideal comparison given the differences in how the two applications came to be, how they are treated and where they appear.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/23/fact-check-birth-contro...

White, male Rs with medical backgrounds, pitching freedom, worship--and VACCINES. Might just work?

Brendan Nyhan @BrendanNyhan | 1:42 PM · Apr 27, 2021:
Republican leaders with medical backgrounds. This is great.

Quote Tweet
Dr. Roger Marshall @RogerMarshallMD · 3h
Last year, the entire world was forced to face the COVID-19 pandemic head on. And now, we – the American people – have the opportunity to achieve peace of mind and live life as free as before by choosing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

2:06 ( https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1387052380089315329 )

Mariah Carey didn’t fake getting her COVID-19 vaccine. A retractable needle was used
Samantha Putterman | April 27, 2021

...Retractable needles are used to help protect patients and health care workers from injury.

"Needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries which expose workers to bloodborne pathogens continue to be a significant hazard for hospital employees," the Occupational Safety and Health Administration says on its website.

In a display of the many different types of needles, the agency explains how retractable syringes work: "After the needle is used, an extra push on the plunger retracts the needle into the syringe, removing the hazard of needle exposure."...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/27/instagram-posts/mariah-carey-d...

Peter Hotez. 2021. COVID vaccines: time to confront anti-vax aggression. Nature 592, 661 (27 April 2021)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01084-x https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01084-x

Halting the spread of the coronavirus will require a high-level counteroffensive against new destructive forces.

...I have a long-standing disagreement with many of my US public-health colleagues. I admire their commitment to disease prevention, but when I ask for a more direct way to counter anti-vaccine aggression, I’m told, “that’s not our approach; confrontation gives them a platform and oxygen.” In my opinion, this attitude reflects a time when we had dial-up modems. Today, the anti-vaccine empire has hundreds of websites and perhaps 58 million followers on social media. The bad guys are winning, in part because health agencies either underestimate or deny the reach of anti-science forces, and are ill-equipped to counter it.

Investigations by the US State Department and the UK Foreign Office have described how Russian intelligence organizations seek to discredit Western COVID-19 vaccines...

The United States hosts the world’s largest and best-organized anti-vaccine groups...

Global anti-vaccine messaging around the adenovirus vaccines means that more people will die and the pandemic will be prolonged...

Many people in Africa are tapping into anti-vaccine messaging...

Accurate, targeted counter-messaging from the global health community is important but insufficient, as is public pressure on social-media companies. The United Nations and the highest levels of governments must take direct, even confrontational, approaches with Russia, and move to dismantle anti-vaccine groups in the United States.

Efforts must expand into the realm of cyber security, law enforcement, public education and international relations...

A high-level inter-agency task force reporting to the UN secretary-general could assess the full impact of anti-vaccine aggression, and propose tough, balanced measures. The task force should include experts who have tackled complex global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and nuclear armament, because anti-science is now approaching similar levels of peril. It is becoming increasingly clear that advancing immunization requires a counteroffensive.

Vaccine Hesitancy Is as Old as Vaccines. I Take Comfort in That.
David Motadel | April 28, 2021

...Opposition to vaccination is as old as vaccination itself. And despite consistent and often widespread hostility, vaccination campaigns have always, eventually, succeeded.

Take smallpox...polio epidemics...measles...

Throughout history, critics of vaccines have argued that immunization is more dangerous than disease itself. They have claimed that there are malicious, nonmedical reasons behind vaccinations, such as the profiteering of Big Pharma and biological schemes intended to reduce the human population. And they have been driven by exquisitely complex and diverse reasons: uncertainty, fear, science skepticism, anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism; sometimes they are motivated by profit.

But although attempts to delegitimize vaccines have posed a serious threat to human health, anti-vaccination movements, at least in the long run, have never succeeded in stopping rollouts. The spread of medical information, which took away most people’s fear of the unknown, as well as the actual experience of the successes of vaccinations, have made populations increasingly less receptive to anti-vaccination messaging — even as communicating those messages has gotten easier.

To put it another way, enough people have accepted vaccines that they have always been effective in immunizing societies. And that’s likely to be true of this pandemic, too.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/vaccine-hesitancy-smallpox.html

#42—after watching 5+ years of trumpian nonsense and all the goofy bullshit that administration paraded out throughout the pandemic to watching a ginned up mob of would be capitol rioting knuckleheads make their pathetic attempt at overthrowing the govt I’m kind of skeptical that anyone can get through to a lot of those conservatives who have been all along drinking Donald’s kool-aid. Some of them I think would rather close family members die of covid than admit that Donald is an evil clown.

Insufficient evidence to claim COVID-19 vaccines cause menstrual irregularities in vaccinated women;
vaccinated people aren’t making unvaccinated people ill

CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines cause menstrual problems in women; vaccinated people are causing health problems in unvaccinated people around them

VERDICT
UNSUPPORTED

SOURCE: Social media users, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, 11 Apr. 2021

DETAILS
Unsupported: Determining whether the prevalence of menstrual irregularities in vaccinated women is higher than in unvaccinated women is important to establish a causal relationship between the COVID-19 vaccine and menstrual irregularities. To date, there aren’t enough data that allow us to make this comparison.

Incorrect: There is no biological mechanism to support allegations that vaccinated people cause illnesses in unvaccinated people. And RNA vaccines cannot cause viral shedding in vaccinated people, since they don’t contain the virus.

KEY TAKE AWAY
Millions of women in the U.S. received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. No significant safety concerns related to fertility or pregnancy have emerged in clinical trials or safety monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. For the moment, there isn’t sufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between the COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual irregularities that women experienced after vaccination. More studies are needed to shed light on this subject.

FULL CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines cause menstrual problems in women; vaccinated people are causing health problems in unvaccinated people around them because they shed live virus and/or spike protein...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/insufficient-evidence-to-claim-covid-19-v...

Joe Rogan (Not a Doctor) Spreads Anti-Vaccine Misinformation
Dr. Anthony Fauci called the podcast host's recent comments about young people and COVID-19 vaccines "incorrect."
Dan Evon | 28 April 2021. Updated 30 April 2021

Claim
Young, healthy people don't need to "worry" about getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rating
False

Context
Whether or not someone should worry is a subjective decision, but any implication that young people are at no risk of serious COVID-19 complications is a fiction. So far, young, healthy people have been less likely to develop serious complications from COVID-19, however, low risk is not the same as no risk, especially as variants spread. Also, getting vaccinated decreases transmission of the disease, which can benefit young people's friends, families, and community members who may be at a higher risk...

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rogan-dont-need-to-worry-vaccine/

Fact check: Coronavirus vaccines don’t cause death, won’t decimate world’s population
Daniel Funke

The claim: Coronavirus vaccines are killing people and will decimate the world’s population

Several widely shared videos and blog posts on Facebook say the coronavirus vaccines are a matter of life and death — but not due to the risk of COVID-19.

In an article published April 22, and later taken down, a website called Red Pill University (a reference to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory) wrote that COVID-19 vaccines “will decimate world’s population.” As evidence, it cites a video featuring Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi.

Bhakdi is a microbiologist who has promoted ideas that run counter to the scientific consensus about the coronavirus pandemic, including the false claim that face masks don’t protect against infection. In the video, which was originally published by the New American, a conservative magazine, Bhakdi says coronavirus vaccines are deadly.

...Over the course of the 40-minute clip, Bhakdi calls the pandemic “a fake,” says wearing masks and quarantining is “absolutely ridiculous nonsense,” and coronavirus tests don’t work. In this fact-check, we’re focusing on the claim that coronavirus vaccines are killing people.

That claim sounds scary coming from a scientist, but it's not accurate...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/30/fact-check-covid-19-vac...

Fact check: Fatality rate among fully vaccinated people who developed COVID-19 misleading, experts say
Miriam Fauzia | April 30, 2021

The claim: Death rate among COVID-19 vaccinated people is significantly higher compared to unvaccinated population

Data mostly reflects serious COVID-19 cases

Vaccinated people are those most at risk

Our rating: False

We rate the claim that the death rate from COVID-19 among fully vaccinated individuals is significantly higher than the unvaccinated FALSE, based on our research. Experts say because the total number of vaccine breakthrough infections is unknown and voluntary state reporting to the CDC skews toward more serious COVID-19 cases, it is not possible to directly infer an accurate death rate. And regardless, any comparison between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated is heavily skewed by the fact that the vaccinated group at present has a much higher proportion of older adults who are most at risk...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/04/30/fact-check-misleading-c...

stated on April 18, 2021 in a Facebook post:
COVID-19 “has killed less people than the damn flu.”

Ciara O'Rourke | April 27, 2021
No, COVID-19 hasn’t killed fewer people than the flu

If Your Time is short

About 3.1 million people around the world have died of COVID-19 since the first case was reported in December 2019.

The flu kills an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 people every year worldwide. The average number of U.S. flu deaths has been about 36,000 a year over the past decade.

In the United States, about 572,549 people have so far died of COVID-19...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/27/facebook-posts/no-covid-19-has...

The coronavirus vaccine skeptics who changed their minds
The White House and public health experts study the Americans who went from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on shots
Dan Diamond | May 3, 2021

...The emergence of these mind-changers suggests that at least some vaccine-wary Americans are willing to reconsider when their concerns are addressed by those they regard as credible...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/03/vaccine-hesitant-americans-chan...

Covid-19 vaccine does not make people dangerous to others
AFP Canada | 29 April 2021 at 14:08

Social media posts claim that people vaccinated against Covid-19 pose a health risk to those who have not been immunized by “shedding” spike proteins. But experts say this is impossible, and that there is also no proof for the claim that the shots affect fertility.

https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-vaccine-does-not-make-people-dangerous-others

__________________________________________________________

ETA:
Debunking the anti-vaccine hoax about ‘vaccine shedding’
Bill McCarthy | May 6, 2021

If Your Time is short

Medical experts and the CDC said it’s not biologically possible for the COVID-19 vaccine to “shed” or affect unvaccinated people, despite what anti-vaccine activists claim.

The misinformation about “vaccine shedding” has had a real-world impact. One Miami private school recently instructed immunized teachers to stay away from students, citing the baseless claim that unvaccinated people can experience menstrual irregularities and other reproductive harm simply from interacting with vaccinated people.

There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines cause fertility or menstruation problems in people who get them, let alone in their close contacts, experts said...

https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/may/06/debunking-anti-vaccine-hoax-about...

Millions Are Saying No to the Vaccines. What Are They Thinking?
Feelings about the vaccine are intertwined with feelings about the pandemic.
Derek Thompson | May 3, 2021

...The coronavirus is a wildly overrated threat. Yes, it’s appropriate and good to protect old and vulnerable people. But I’m not old or vulnerable. If I get it, I’ll be fine. In fact, maybe I have gotten it, and I am fine. I don’t know why I should consider this disease more dangerous than driving a car, a risky thing I do every day without a moment’s worry. Liberals, Democrats, and public-health elites have been so wrong so often, we’d be better off doing the opposite of almost everything they say...

...I don’t need some novel pharmaceutical product to give me permission to do the things I’m already doing. This isn’t even an FDA-approved vaccine; it’s authorized for an emergency. Well, I don’t consider COVID-19 a personal emergency. So why would I sign up to be an early guinea pig for a therapy that I don’t need, whose long-term effects we don’t understand? I’d rather bet on my immune system than on Big Pharma...

...the no-vaxxers I spoke with just don’t care. They’ve traveled, eaten in restaurants, gathered with friends inside, gotten COVID-19 or not gotten COVID-19, survived, and decided it was no big deal. What’s more, they’ve survived while flouting the advice of the CDC, the WHO, Anthony Fauci, Democratic lawmakers, and liberals, whom they don’t trust to give them straight answers on anything virus-related.

The no-vaxxers’ reasoning is motivated too. Specifically, they’re motivated to distrust public-health authorities who they’ve decided are a bunch of phony neurotics, and they’re motivated to see the vaccines as a risky pharmaceutical experiment, rather than as a clear breakthrough that might restore normal life (which, again, they barely stopped living). This is the no-vaxxer deep story in a nutshell: I trust my own cells more than I trust pharmaceutical goop; I trust my own mind more than I trust liberal elites‪.

...From my conversations, I see three ways to persuade no-vaxxers: make it more convenient to get a shot; make it less convenient to not get a shot; or encourage them to think more socially.

1. Try something like “DoorDash for vaccines.”...
2. Make it suck more to not be vaccinated...
3. “What if natural immunity isn’t enough to protect your grandmother?”...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/the-people-who-wont-get-the-va...

>51 margd:

It seems that in the hyper-individualistic and polarised USA it is not possible to appeal to the common good, that I get vaccinated not primarily to protect myself but to protect others, both in my own country and the world, and that reaching a certain percentage of vaccinated people in the population will effectively make the disease go away (as it did with smallpox) or at least reduce it to very manageable proportions (as with polio, TB and measles). Sad.

The misinformation bubble threatening Brazil's indigenous people (BBC)

False information from the mouths of politicians and preachers is reaching remote villages in the Amazon via WhatsApp... worried about vaccine rumours being spread to indigenous people through mobile phones...

Information on chat apps tends to come from people closer to us, who we instinctively trust - but data packages discourage people, particularly the cash-strapped, from double-checking health information... "What we have today is a 'fake' internet. When you see fake news, you can't check it," Anapuaka says. "So it feels like I'm on the internet, but not really. I'm almost on the intranet of a large company." Anapuaka cites one recent example circulated on the app - a story about 900 indigenous Xingu people dying after receiving a vaccine. It was false. ..

The benefits of getting the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks; there is no increased mortality rate among vaccinated people relative to unvaccinated people
Share
Tweet
CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines killed people; COVID-19 has a “99.97% survival rate”
VERDICT

SOURCE: Anonymous, Earthley, 2 May 2021
DETAILS
Factually inaccurate: The mortality rate in vaccinated people isn’t higher than in unvaccinated people. The meme’s suggestion that COVID-19 is less dangerous than the vaccines is false. While the COVID-19 vaccines produce side effects, the most common side effects, like fever and pain at the injection site, are relatively mild and short-lived compared to the risks of actual infection. The risk-benefit profile of the vaccines are better than that of the illness.
Misleading: There isn’t a blanket COVID-19 “survival rate” for everyone as implied by the meme. Every individual’s likelihood of dying from COVID-19 is different due to factors such as age and certain health conditions, like obesity and pregnancy. Furthermore, citing “survival rate” alone to suggest that COVID-19 is trivial overlooks the fact that the disease can produce persistent health problems in survivors.
KEY TAKE AWAY
To date, hundreds of millions of people around the world have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Review of clinical trial data by regulatory agencies, in addition to continued monitoring of safety signals during the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, show that vaccinated people aren’t more likely to die compared to unvaccinated people. While the COVID-19 vaccines are associated with certain side effects, the most common ones, like fever and pain at the injection site, are mild and short-lived. Their benefits outweigh their risks and it is safer to take the vaccine than to get the disease.

FULL CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines killed people; COVID-19 has a “99.97% survival rate”

REVIEWhttps://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/the-benefits-of-getting-the-covid-19-vaccine-outweigh-its-risks-there-is-no-increased-mortality-rate-among-vaccinated-people-relative-to-unvaccinated-people/

>49 margd: changing peoples' minds, contd. (Alberta leads other provinces in # cases.) :(

Neeja Bakshi (internal MD Royal Alexandra Hospital Edmonton Alta) @NeejaB | 8:37 PM · May 7, 2021:

14 months in, we are that point where COVID deniers are coming in with severe infection, openly admitting participation in freedom and anti-mask rallies. /1

Every patient I see is so incredibly unfortunate, and a very common sentiment is "I didn't think this would happen to me." /2

In a particularly sad case recently, a patient said to me- "I didn't think COVID was anything more than a cold. I laughed at masks. Now I'm here. And my dad is dead. And my mom is in an ICU. This isn't a cold."/3

The sadness was palpable. The silence was haunting. The realization that it didn't have to be this way was heavy./4

The divisiveness of this pandemic is ugly. Brings out the worst in so many.

But at the end of the day, the human suffering is deafeningly unifying.

https://twitter.com/NeejaB/status/1390828197504110598
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1390828197504110598.html

This man is developing an inexpensive, unfussy COVID vaccine, being tested in India. He doesn't suffer fools...

Online trolls take anti-vaxx hate speech to a new level, attacking Houston's Dr. Peter Hotez
Lisa Gray | May 7, 2021

Internet trolls unleashed a new wave of hate speech Thursday directed at Houston vaccine researcher Peter Hotez, a longtime nemesis of the anti-vaxx movement.

The website Natural News, which promotes false conspiracy theories about 5G and Bill Gates, posted a story about Hotez at the top of its website. “Echoing the fascism of genocidal maniacs like Hitler and Stalin,” it said, “Peter Hotez displays his own brand of insanity by equating vaccine skeptics with cyber criminals and nuclear terrorism.”

The author, Mike Adams, called on his followers to “pray for this sad monster of a man” to “seek forgiveness for the crimes against humanity being committed by whatever twisted, dark soul currently occupies his once-human body.” The story included Hotez’s contact information.

“We have been contacted by a few individuals who are opposed to vaccines,” Kaylee Dusang, a spokesperson for Baylor, said via email.

On Twitter Thursday night, Hotez posted, “Today was rough, more than most.”

Natural News’ followers, he wrote, had sent messages evoking Nazism, “comparing me to Mengele, sending image after image of Nuremberg.” Hotez posted a sample image sent to him: The 1946 photo shows a Nazi about to be hanged for the commission of war crimes.

Hotez is Jewish...

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/Trolls-take-a...

___________________________________________________

ETA:

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD @PeterHotez | 11:42 PM · May 8, 2021:
I don’t complain, I express concern about a piece of American life living in dark places infused with Nazi violent imagery rallying around White nationalism. Now antiscience is front center partly orchestrated by Russian intelligence. They tried to destroy me this wk they failed

Pope Francis backs vaccine patents waiver to enable 'universal access to vaccines' (CNN)

Pope Francis has backed growing calls for a patents waiver for Covid-19 vaccines in a video message for a "Vax Live" benefit concert airing Saturday. Global advocacy groups argue that waiving patents for Covid-19 vaccines could help expand the global supply of shots and narrow the vaccination gap between rich and poor nations. The Vatican's official news site reports that in the message, the Pope calls for "universal access to vaccines and the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights"...

I once submitted a VAERS report (for another vaccine, not COVID) when my son developed a problem after several vaccines. I figured I was doing a service, in case a pattern of rare reactions was developing, one that was not visible to an individual. An admirably transparent vehicle for feedback on vaccines, VAERS is also a playground for anti-vaxxers...

Tucker Carlson misrepresents government data on Covid-19 vaccines
W.G. Dunlop | 07 May 2021

Fox News host Tucker Carlson claims US government figures show the “apparent death rate” from Covid-19 vaccines...then cited statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) showing that 3,362 people died after receiving Covid-19 shots in the United States between late December 2020 and April 23, 2021.

The figures cited by Carlson are actual US government data, but VAERS statistics do not show the “apparent death rate” among people who are vaccinated against Covid-19. His misleading remarks are part of a flood of inaccurate information about vaccines that is spreading online as nations seek to immunize people against the disease.

...An official description of VAERS says it “contains information on unverified reports of adverse events (illnesses, health problems and/or symptoms) following immunization with US-licensed vaccines,” and that it accepts reports “from anyone.”

A disclaimer on the same webpage says: “VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Most reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases.”

Users must click a button to indicate they have read and understand the disclaimer before they can search VAERS data.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which runs the VAERS program with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), previously said that the system “accepts all reports of adverse events after vaccination, without regard to whether or not the vaccine caused the event.”

“Because of this and other limitations, data in VAERS generally can’t be used to determine if a vaccine caused the adverse event (including deaths),” it said.

The figures cited by Carlson are also outdated. VAERS received “4,178 reports of death... among people who received a Covid-19 vaccine” from December 14, 2020 to May 3, 2021, according to the CDC.

“A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records has not established a causal link to Covid-19 vaccines,” it said.

“However, recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen Covid-19 Vaccine and a rare and serious adverse event -- blood clots with low platelets -- which has caused deaths.”

...Carlson also compared the number of deaths reported to VAERS that followed Covid-19 vaccinations with those that came after flu shots, which are far lower.

But the CDC previously said that deaths following Covid-19 vaccinations must be reported, while those that come after other immunizations do not.

There is a “requirement that health care providers report all deaths that occur after Covid-19 vaccination (required by the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)), regardless of whether the health care provider believes the vaccine was the cause,” the CDC said, referring to the authorizations allowing the shots to be administered.

“This reporting requirement does not apply to other vaccines.”

The requirement is mentioned in FDA statements on the EUAs for the Pfizier-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

https://factcheck.afp.com/tucker-carlson-misrepresents-government-data-covid-19-...

Interesting read:

The Statistical Secrets of Covid-19 Vaccines
They’re really very good, and they’re the only way out of the pandemic. But a tour through the numbers could bring the vaccine-hesitant into the tent.
Adam Rogers | 05.06.2021

...If the response to the pandemic has had one lesson, it’s that people with more information make better decisions. You want to get your normal life back? You have to stop the pandemic for other people. The sin of vaccine statistics is making that simple truth murky instead of clear.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-statistical-secrets-of-covid-19-vaccines/

>57 John5918:

Video message from Pope Francis at VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQggPOTF5tA

VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World is a global broadcast special aired on May 8, 2021, to celebrate hope as families and communities reunite after receiving the vaccine, and call on world leaders to step up for equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. (link)

Covid vaccines do not harm placenta, contrary to social media misinformation, study finds
Sandee LaMotte | May 11, 2021

(CNN) There's no biological basis behind ongoing social media claims that Covid-19 vaccines can harm the placenta, the organ that provides a growing baby oxygen and nutrients during pregnancy...Yet that hasn't stopped the spread of misinformation that can foster fears and lead to vaccine hesitancy among expectant mothers.

...(Dr. Emily Miller, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Medicine and Dr. Jeffery Goldstein, assistant professor of pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) examined placentas from 84 vaccinated women and 116 unvaccinated women who gave birth at one hospital in Chicago. In addition to looking for abnormalities, the team also searched for evidence of abnormal blood flow, which had been previously reported in pregnant patients who have tested positive for Covid-19.

The authors saw "no increased incidence" of blood flow issues or placental lesions or malformations in the women who had the vaccine versus those who did not.

"The Internet has amplified a concern that the vaccine might trigger an immunological response that causes the mother to reject the fetus...These findings lead us to believe that doesn't happen," Goldstein said. "From what we can tell, the COVID vaccine does not damage the placenta."

...Benefits for the baby too
An earlier study by Miller and Goldstein published in April found pregnant women vaccinated against Covid-19 successfully make and transfer antibodies to their growing babies. (margd: My understanding is that IgG antibodies are transferred from mother to baby. IgM (not found) would be produced by fetus if it were infected.)

In fact, women who were vaccinated early in their third trimester had a better chance of passing protective antibodies to their newborns than women who were vaccinated closer to their delivery date...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/11/health/covid-vaccines-placenta-misinformation/ind...

---------------------------------------------------------

Leena B. Mithal et al. 2021. Cord blood antibodies following maternal coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination during pregnancy (Research Letter). American J of Obstetrics & Gynecology (March 31, 2021) DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.03.035 https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(21)00215-5/fulltext

Objective
Vaccination of pregnant women can be an important strategy to confer protection to neonates and young infants...However, there are limited data on the immunologic response of pregnant women to the messenger RNA (mRNA) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations...and the kinetics of transplacental antibody transfer...

Our objective was to investigate the transfer of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G (IgG) to infants following maternal COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and the factors associated with an increased efficiency of transfer.

Study Design
This was a prospective case series of pregnant women who delivered at the Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago, IL (between January 2021 and March 2021). Women who received a COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy were identified via review of the electronic health records (EHRs). Demographic and clinical information, including the specific vaccine used and the latency from vaccination to delivery was obtained from the EHRs. At the time of the study, 2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the Pfizer (New York, NY) and Moderna (Cambridge, MA) vaccines, had received emergency use authorization, and healthcare workers were the initial qualifying group. Maternal blood and umbilical cord blood (herein referred to as “infant”) were retrieved from specimens submitted for blood typing. SARS-CoV-2 IgM* and IgG* antibody levels were measured from the plasma using the Access SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Antibody tests (DXI Platform, Beckman Coulter, Brea, CA) in a Certified Analytics Professional and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certified clinical laboratory. The chemiluminescent assay quantitatively reports antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain in arbitrary units AU/mL, with values of greater than 1 considered positive. The antibody transfer ratio was calculated as the infant IgG concentration divided by the maternal IgG concentration. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Linear regressions were used to identify factors significantly associated with the antibody transfer ratios and the infant IgG values. This study was institutional review board approved before its initiation.

Results
We collected matched maternal plasma and cord blood from 27 women who received a COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy; they delivered 28 infants (1 twin pair). The average maternal age was 33±3 (mean±standard deviation) years; race and ethnicity was 75% non-Hispanic white and 11% Hispanic. The average gestational age at first vaccine dose was 33±2 weeks. For the vaccine type, 18 (64%) received the Pfizer vaccine, 6 (18%) received the Moderna vaccine, and 4 (14%) received a vaccine with the manufacturer unknown. Of note, 22 women (74%) received both vaccine doses before delivery with a mean latency of 6±3 weeks. About half of the women (15/27) and none of the infants had a positive IgM test ( greater than 1) (Figure, A). All but 1 woman (26/27) had a positive SARS-CoV-2 IgG test at the time of delivery. Only 3 infants did not have positive IgG tests (1 set of twins); these 2 women had received their first vaccine dose less than 3 weeks before delivery. The average maternal to infant IgG transfer ratio was 1.0±0.6 (Figure, B), however, an increased latency from vaccination to delivery (weeks) was associated with an increased transfer ratio (β=0.2...)... Correspondingly, having received the second vaccine dose before delivery was significantly associated with increased infant IgG levels (β=19.0...). Similarly, latency from vaccination to delivery was associated with increased infant IgG levels (β=2.9...)...

...Conclusion
Most pregnant women who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine during the third trimester had transplacental transfer of IgG to the infant. The observed mean IgG transfer ratio demonstrated that infant antibody levels are about equal to the maternal levels. This is slightly lower than what has been reported for the pertussis vaccinations ...but greater than the transfer ratio following SARS-CoV-2 infection ...

A novel finding is that the transfer ratio seems to increase with latency from vaccination. These data suggest, at least among women in their third trimester, that earlier vaccination may produce a greater infant immunity, the immunobiology of which requires further study. Notably, owing to vaccine eligibility and timing, most women included herein were healthcare workers in their third trimester. Future research, including a more diverse cohort of women and women who received vaccination earlier in their pregnancy, is needed. Nevertheless, these results show promising evidence for passive immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in newborns after maternal receipt of COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COVID vaccine earlier in pregnancy leads to better antibody transfer to baby
Findings should sway women who are thinking, 'Maybe I’ll wait until after I deliver'
Kristin Samuelson (Northwestern Media Release) | April 1, 2021
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/04/covid-vaccination-earlier-in-pregn...

Anti-Maskers Ready to Start Masking—to Protect Themselves From the Vaccinated
Mack Lamoureux | May 11, 2021

An anti-vaccine conspiracy about the vaccinated are leading some anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers to contemplate wearing a mask and social distance...

https://www.vice.com/en/article/88nnwg/anti-maskers-ready-to-start-maskingto-pro...

Those outside North America are unfortunately not spared mis/disinformation, homegrown apparently as well as imports...

Nigerian pastor falsely claims Covid-19 jabs are 'death warrants' and mandatory in the country
AFP Nigeria | 12 May 2021

Nigerian preacher David Oyedepo claimed during a church service that Covid-19 vaccines are effectively death warrants, stating that the jabs were not tested before they were distributed globally. He also told followers that the shots are mandatory in Nigeria. These claims are false; Covid-19 vaccines are recommended in Nigeria, but not obligatory, while the national agency in charge of managing the disease has reported no deaths linked to vaccinations since their rollout began in March 2021. The Covid-19 vaccines endorsed by the World Health Organization have undergone rigorous testing for emergency use approval...

https://factcheck.afp.com/nigerian-pastor-falsely-claims-covid-19-jabs-are-death...
___________________________________________________________

Fact check: India's COVID-19 surge not connected to vaccinations
McKenzie Sadeghi | 11 May 2021

...As researchers and health officials attempt to identify what's behind the COVID-19 surge in India, some users have taken to social media to suggest vaccines are to blame...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/11/fact-check-indias-covid...

The unwitting are the target of COVID-19 falsehoods online
ALI SWENSON and BEATRICE DUPUY | 5/14/2021

Dr. Michelle Rockwell lost a pregnancy in December and shared her heartache with her 30,000 Instagram followers. Weeks later, she received the COVID-19 vaccine and posted about that, too.

By February, Rockwell was getting past the grief and finally starting to experience moments of joy. But then, to her horror, social media users began using her posts to spread the false claim that she miscarried as a result of the shot.

...Sharing other people’s posts or photos out of context is a common tactic in the disinformation playbook because it’s an “easy, cheap way to gain credibility,” said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University psychology professor who studies how false claims spread...

https://apnews.com/article/science-entertainment-coronavirus-pandemic-health-8c8...

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (McGill U) @paimadhu | 6:37 AM · May 15, 2021:
OMG, literally
Image: card, "Vaccinated by the Lord" ( https://twitter.com/paimadhu/status/1393515897751580672/photo/1 )

---------------------------------------------------

Isaiah 53: 4-5 ESV:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

Matthew 4:7-8 ESV
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

How do we perceive risk?: Paul Slovic’s landmark analysis
Sara Gorman | January 16, 2013

...Slovic argues that risk management is a two-way street: just as the public should take experts’ assessments of risk into account, so should experts respect the various factors, from cultural to emotional, that result in the public’s perception of risk...

http://www.thepumphandle.org/2013/01/16/how-do-we-perceive-risk-paul-slovics-lan...

------------------------------------------------------------

P Slovic. 1987. Perception of risk. Science . 1987 Apr 17;236(4799):280-5.
doi: 10.1126/science.3563507. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3563507/

Abstract
Studies of risk perception examine the judgements people make when they are asked to characterize and evaluate hazardous activities and technologies. This research aims to aid risk analysis and policy-making by providing a basis for understanding and anticipating public responses to hazards and improving the communication of risk information among lay people, technical experts, and decision-makers. This work assumes that those who promote and regulate health and safety need to understand how people think about and respond to risk. Without such understanding, well-intended policies may be ineffective.

Fact check: COVID-19 vaccines won't make the common cold or flu 'extremely lethal'
Miriam Fauzia | May 19, 2021
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/18/fact-check-covid-19-vac...

Here's Where Major Religions Actually Stand On Vaccines
Almost all U.S. states allow religious exemptions to immunization. But the issue has almost nothing to do with religion.
Antonia Blumberg | 03/31/2017

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heres-where-major-religions-actually-stand-on-vac...

Reasons to not get the vaccine (parody)
Brittlestar
1:39 ( https://www.instagram.com/p/CMa6KSFLgJC/ )

The unseen covid-19 risk for unvaccinated people
Dan Keating and Leslie Shapiro | May 21, 2021

...adjustments for vaccinations show the rate among susceptible, unvaccinated people is 69 percent higher than the standard figures being publicized. With that adjustment, the national death rate is roughly the same as it was two months ago and is barely inching down. The adjusted hospitalization rate is as high as it was three months ago. The case rate is still declining after the adjustment...

...The adjusted rates in several states show the pandemic is spreading as fast among the unvaccinated as it did during the winter surge. Maine, Colorado, Michigan and Washington state all have covid-19 case spikes among the unvaccinated, with adjusted rates about double the adjusted national rate...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2021/covid-rates-unvaccinated-...

Faced with anti-vaccination parents, teens are helping one another get Covid shots
Ali Gostanian and Corky Siemaszko | May 23, 2021

The dilemma for some teenagers is "I know vaccines are lifesaving, but I don't want to become homeless" by defying their parents' wishes.

...Nearly all states require consent from a parent or guardian to administer a Covid-19 vaccine shot to children ages 12 to 15, the group the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved for shots this month, according to a recent CNN analysis.

There are exceptions in just five states: In North Carolina, teenagers can receive vaccinations without parental consent; in Tennessee and Alabama, teenagers 14 and older don’t need consent; in Oregon, the age is set at 15; and in Iowa, it’s up to the health care provider to decide.

In all other states, those 12 to 15 are required to have parental approval before receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. For teenagers 16 to 18, though, it’s all over the map.

In California, for example, minors can’t get the Covid-19 vaccination without their parents’ consent, according to the vaccine information website VaxTeen. But a 16-year-old in South Carolina can do so without parental permission.

Just how many teenagers are in this predicament remains unclear...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/faced-anti-vaccination-parents-teens-are-he...

French influencers offered €2,000 to claim Pfizer vaccine is dangerous
The French health ministry says it is monitoring the ‘obvious attempt to spread disinformation’ from a communications agency with a fake London address
Joanna York | 25 May 2021

...The agency, called Fazze, describes itself as an ‘influencer marketing platform’ on its website. It is based in the UK but is not a British registered business. Its London address is fake, and in 2018 it was domiciled in the British Virgin Islands.

It is known to have Russian employees or employees who studied in Russia, all of whom have now deleted or hidden their social media accounts. A LinkedIn page for the business, which has also been hidden, said the agency is based in Moscow.
Stars offered thousands to discredit vaccine

The agency targeted French influencers who specialise in scientific and medical content...

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/French-influencers-offered-2-000-to-...

Vaccine Ingredient SM-102 Is Safe
Saranac Hale Spencer | May 26, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna uses an ingredient called SM-102 to deliver the mRNA that carries instructions for how to develop antibodies against the novel coronavirus. A widely shared video is now spreading the falsehood that SM-102 is harmful, but the warning label it shows is for chloroform, not SM-102.

...SM-102, which is a lipid, a fatty molecule that doesn’t dissolve in water. We’ll explain more about it below.

The only evidence offered to support the false claim that SM-102 is dangerous is a misrepresentation of the website for a company called Cayman Chemical, which sells scientific research materials.

Cayman Chemical offers a version of SM-102 for research purposes that is packaged in chloroform, a potentially toxic chemical. So the safety data sheet from Cayman Chemical for that product includes warnings related to chloroform — not SM-102.

But both (Alex) Jones and the viral TikTok video present that sheet as though the warnings are related to SM-102...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/scicheck-vaccine-ingredient-sm-102-is-safe/

Tennessee anti-vaxxer arrested after deliberately plowing car through vaccination site
Matthew Chapman | May 26, 2021

..."Deputies arrested Virginia C. Brown, 36, of Greenback, TN, on Monday morning after she drove through a vaccination center set up at the Foothills Mall," reported Chuck Morris. "Deputies assigned to assist at the site saw a blue Chrysler SUV traveling at a high rate of speed through a closed cone course and through an enclosed tent with several Health Department and National Guard personnel working under the tent. The deputy observed the Chrysler SUV exit the tent and continue to drive recklessly through the cone course. A deputy was able to follow Brown after she drove through the site and arrest her. She was charged with seven counts of felony reckless endangerment."

According to the report, workers reported that she shouted something that sounded like "No vaccine!" as she blew past them, and after being apprehended, she denied driving recklessly...

https://www.rawstory.com/tennessee-anti-vaccine-violence/

Sad story of Denver Sheriff Deputy “Duke”, a former Marine, who posted anti-vaccine videos/pictures on Facebook and died of COVID-19--at 33--the 2nd Denver Sheriff to die in 2 weeks...

0:30 ( https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1398104302493777920 )

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Second Denver sheriff’s deputy dies from COVID-19 in less than 2 weeks
Daniel “Duke” Trujillo, a former Marine, was 33
Jake Shapiro and Noelle Phillips | May 27, 2021
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/05/27/denver-deputy-dies-covid/

Employers Can (Mostly) Require Vaccines For Workers Returning To The Office
Jaclyn Diaz | May 28, 2021

...Under recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers have the legal right to make such a requirement.

It's not a new concept. The federal workplace watchdog has allowed companies to mandate flu and other vaccines but allowed employees to claim exemptions where appropriate. Workers can still keep their jobs while opting out of receiving the vaccine by claiming medical or religious exemptions...

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1001116485/for-employers-the-law-is-mostly-on-the...

_______________________________________

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws
Technical Assistance Questions and Answers - Updated on May 28, 2021.

( Q&As. e.g., Employer Incentives For COVID-19 Voluntary Vaccinations Under ADA and GINA )

https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-covid-19-and-ada-rehabilita...

Two articles from Radio Tamazuj relating to South Sudan. The first one reminds us of the problems involved in reaching people for vaccination in far flung isolated places with limited communications and infrastructure. The second is a timely reminder that there are other dangerous diseases which require vaccination. As I have pointed out before, people in Africa would find it difficult to understand the resistance to "vaccine passports" in the USA and other rich countries, as we have required a yellow fever vaccination certificate (a "vaccine passport") to travel in and out of many African countries for as long as I've been here, which is 45 years now, and the same is true in many other parts of the world. In fact this week I am applying for a visa to visit a neighbouring country, and one of the documents I have to present to the embassy is my yellow fever vaccination certificate.

Health ministry says return of Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX in order

The South Sudan ministry of health has said the return of Covid-19 vaccines to the COVAX facility, the global initiative for equitable access of vaccines, should not cause concern as it is based on the country's absorption capacity. The undersecretary of the health ministry, Mayen Machut Achiek, explained in an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the move was compelled by the realization that the country cannot administer the vaccines before their expiry date. “With the African countries that are having financial problems with storing the vaccine, what the COVAX facility has done is they will take from you the quantity that you are unlikely to deploy before the expiring date,” Machut explained. “So instead of (the vaccine) expiring in your cold chain, they will take it and put it on the platform. Now when it is still on the platform, a country will pop up and say it will be able to deploy it in three weeks, and therefore, all of us win.” The undersecretary added, “For example, in our case, they are going to take 72,000 doses. The moment we finish with the current doses we have, we will go back to the COVAX platform and we will get back the amount we have committed"...

Yei launches Yellow Fever vaccination campaign

Health officials in Yei River County have launched a five-day yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting 60,000 people ranging from 5-60 years of age. The move is aimed at containing the spread of the disease in Yei River County after two people reportedly died of the disease in Kajo-Keji County...

COVID-19 vaccines are safer than the risk of COVID-19 infection for people of all ages

CLAIM
COVID-19 vaccines caused as many deaths as the disease in young people

VERDICT UNSUPPORTED

SOURCE: Wendy Bell, Wendy Bell Radio, 24 May 2021

DETAILS
Inadequate support: Death reports in the U.S. VAERS database contain unverified information and cannot demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccines caused the death of recipients.
Lack of context: The rate of COVID-19 survival alone is insufficient to estimate the risks of the disease. Even if a person only had mild symptoms, COVID-19 infections can lead to long-lasting effects after recovery, such as fatigue, cognitive issues, and tissue damage.

KEY TAKE AWAY
COVID-19 caused millions of infections and over 3.5 million deaths worldwide. Most children and young adults who get infected only experience mild symptoms of the disease. However, a small proportion of people younger than 24 can still develop severe COVID-19 and die. Even those that survive the disease can suffer from persistent health problems after recovery. Despite the high survival rate among young people, COVID-19 vaccines can help protect them from risks associated with the disease. In parallel, COVID-19 vaccination can help reduce the spread of the virus, especially among vulnerable people who aren’t able to take the vaccine for medical reasons.

FULL CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines caused as many deaths as the disease in young people, VAERS records COVID-19 deaths

REVIEW...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-are-safer-than-the-risk...

Fact check: Nobel Prize winner did not say COVID-19 vaccine recipients have 'no chance of survival'
Adrienne Dunn | May 27, 2021

...A May 22 viral Facebook post with more than 1,000 shares claims Nobel Prize winning virologist Luc Montagnier said that there is "no chance of survival" for recipients of the coronavirus vaccine.

"There is no hope and no treatment for those who have been vaccinated already. We must be prepared to incinerate the bodies," the post reads.

While Montagnier has made anti-vaccination comments in the past, he did not make the statements that the Facebook post attributes to him...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/27/fact-check-false-claim-...

₽₽₽?

No, a video doesn’t prove the COVID-19 vaccines allow people to be tracked through a 5G network.
Andy Nguyen | May 28, 2021

A video shared by a radio host resurfaces a previously debunked claim that vaccines contain a microchip allowing a person to be tracked through the 5G cellular network.

Hal Turner posted a four-minute Russian-language video with English subtitles to his website on May 20 allegedly showing a programmer hacking into a leaked database for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

"Claim: Vaccinated People Are Being TRACKED in Real Time via 5G Cellular, and all that data can be hacked-into to track YOU," the post’s headline reads.

...In the video, the programmer claims he’s able to use the database to access information that’s been transmitted over the 5G cellular network from a microchip that was injected into a vaccinated person. The information allegedly showed the person’s real-time location, that he was currently asleep at the time and the microchip’s current firmware.

"We know that our government is doing stuff like mass jabs and not everything is as they tell us," the man says...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/may/28/hal-turner-radio-show/no-video...

Fact check: Fauci didn't say half of CDC, FDA employees refused COVID-19 vaccine
McKenzie Sadeghi | May 30, 2021

"NEW: About 40-50% of CDC, FDA employees are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine according to Fauci, Marks" reads a screenshot of a May 14 tweet from the account Breaking 911. The screenshot was shared by Facebook and Instagram users on May 15.

...In the middle of the hearing, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., questioned Fauci on what percentage of employees at the nation's public health agencies had been vaccinated.

Speaking about employees of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, (Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) responded saying, "You know I’m not 100% sure, senator. But I think it’s probably a little bit more than half, probably around 60%."

Burr posed the same question to (Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research), who said he couldn't give "the exact number" of vaccinated FDA employees but that it was "probably in the same range" of 60%...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/30/fact-check-fauci-didnt-...

>80 margd: For that microchip claim to be true, everyone involved in administering the vaccine and those keeping track of the paperwork would have to be in on it.
Where do they claim the microchip is added? In the multi dose bottle? That doses 10 random people in a row. In the syringe? Who is responsible for putting it there? The technician? And who tunes the microchip to correspond to each individual so that each person is trackable?
Logic is scarce here.

>82 2wonderY: For too many, magical thinking appears to have replaced critical thinking... I remember older family members, who, while not formally schooled, were informed, open/curious, and skeptical in a good way. If alive today, would they be wearing foil-lined, red hats?
-------------------------------------------------------

A Run-In With An Unvaccinated Woman Has Me Rethinking How We Can End The Pandemic
“The ‘I got vaccinated because I believe in science’ and ‘the vaccine contains a microchip’ camps are not the only ones that exist.”
Michael J. Stern | June 4, 2021

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-pandemic-unvaccinated_n_60b79806e4b02df1ad8...

If we can vaccinate the world, we can beat the climate crisis (Guardian)

Rich countries can’t expect to be trusted on their climate promises if they fail the poorest on vaccines...

Covid: PM to push for world vaccination by end of 2022 (BBC)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge leaders of other wealthy countries to commit to vaccinating the world against Covid-19 by the end of next year. He will lay out a target for global vaccination at a summit of the G7 group of advanced economies on Friday...

Fact check: Post misleads on effectiveness of J&J COVID-19 vaccine in older adults
Miriam Fauzia | June 6, 2021

..."The clinical trial indicates that in subjects 65 years and older, the (J&J) vaccine may be only 39% effective, and in subjects 75 years or older, the age group that comprises about 60% of all COVID-19 deaths, the vaccine may be 0% effective," claims a May 18 Facebook post by a California-based anti-vaccine group called Physicians for Informed Consent, or PIC.

The post, which includes a chart detailing these and other alleged statistics, also claims the vaccine "may not be effective" in people 60 years and older with severe risk factors for COVID-19.

...it's important to clarify that while PIC refers to vaccine effectiveness in its post, the data it cites from the FDA's memorandum actually refers to vaccine efficacy, a slightly different but related measure.

Efficacy is a value obtained from randomized clinical trials and represents a best estimate of how well the product being tested (a vaccine in this case) works in an idealized condition, said Natalie Dean, assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida.

In the setting of a vaccine trial, this is done by comparing the number of disease or infection cases occurring among the vaccinated group to that in the unvaccinated, or placebo, group, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If vaccine efficacy is 0%, this means the vaccine doesn't considerably reduce the risk of a disease or infection for the group who received it compared to those who received a placebo. A vaccine efficacy nearing or at 100% means it most likely does.

Effectiveness, on the other hand, gives an idea of how well a drug or other treatment works outside of a clinical trial under real-world settings, though it relies on a similar calculation.

Dean said it's likely vaccine effectiveness will match vaccine efficacy, but there are a variety of reasons why they might not: age of the vaccine recipient, presence of underlying chronic illnesses and use of medications, as well as how a vaccine is stored and administered or if the targeted virus mutates.

...Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is not effective in older adults. The statistics provided by Physicians for Informed Consent in its post and accompanying table were taken from the FDA's emergency use authorization for J&J's vaccine but are misrepresented.

The 39% figure is the lower bound of a confidence interval for vaccine efficacy 28 days post-vaccination in the 65 and older age group. It's doesn't represent the actual efficacy. Confidence intervals are meant to give information about the precision of a value like vaccine efficacy, not to represent vaccine efficacy itself. The claim the vaccine could be "0% effective" among those 75 and older is flat wrong. The report actually shows the efficacy in that group is at least 89.7%. And while vaccine efficacy was lower for those 60 years and older with pre-existing conditions, that's because there were fewer COVID-19 cases and shorter follow-ups in this group. No COVID-19 related deaths or cases requiring medical intervention were observed in these individuals, according to the FDA.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/06/fact-check-post-mislead...

Vaccines are risky for me, but I don’t regret getting my Covid jab (Guardian)

Why did I get vaccinated as an immunocompromised person? The short answer is because of you...

Which reiterates a point I have made before. Getting vaccinated is not just about personal protection of an individual - it is part of protecting others, one's family, one's community, one's nation, the world.

Southern African Bishops Dispel COVID-19 Vaccine Fear, Say Jab is "a safe risk” (ACI Africa)

Members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) have sought to address concerns around the COVID-19 vaccine. In a statement shared with ACI Africa June 5, the President of SACBC, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, blames the low uptake of the vaccine on the safety and ethical concerns that he says have been raised, creating reluctance among the people and urges the people of God in South Africa to get vaccinated...

They further say the fact that Pope Francis as well as other leaders in the Church have been vaccinated should be motivation enough for the people to go for the jab. “As Pope Francis has led by example when he got vaccinated, we should be encouraged to take the vaccine,” the Bishops say, and add, “Pope Emeritus benedict XVI and a large number of Religious Leaders across the world and here in South Africa have been vaccinated.”

They underscore the need of the vaccine to be made available to all, saying, “Let us join the efforts for equitable distribution of the vaccine and call those rich countries hoarding COVID-19 vaccine to task so that this common good may be accessible to all”...

Duplicate post deleted

On COVID vaccinations for refugees, will the world live up to its promises? (The New Humanitarian)

‘When I was starving, you were not there, or when I was being evicted from the house, you were not there’...

As of the end of May, at least 54 countries have started vaccinating refugees, according to data shared with The New Humanitarian by the UN’s refugee agency. Out of 157 countries UNHCR is monitoring, 150 have said publicly or privately that they will include refugees in their inoculation campaigns. But so far, “the main thing that is actually stopping equitable access to vaccines for refugees is the global supply”...

Around 85 percent of vaccines already administered have gone to people in high-income and upper-middle-income countries, while 85 percent of the 26 million refugees in the world are hosted in developing countries...

When supplies do eventually catch up, experts say many refugees and displaced people still risk not being vaccinated because of: design oversights in national vaccine registration systems; the logistical challenges of reaching people in remote areas and conflict zones; and the compounding issues of vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, lack of trust in authorities, and pre-existing social marginalisation...

That opening quote should ring a bell with any Christians who are reading this, including the right wing evangelical bible fundamentalist variety. "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me" (Matthew 25:35-36).

OHIO: Anti-vaccine *expert* witness claims
vaccine causes forks and keys to stick to your forehead and it’s linked to 5G network towers….
Up there trying to out-Tennessee us!...

5:52 ( https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1402408416228806663 )
From Tyler Buchanan

The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller | 7:33 PM · Jun 8, 2021

-------------------------------------------

Cleveland doctor tells Ohio lawmakers COVID-19 vaccine can leave people magnetized, interfaced with 5G towers
Kristine Varkony | Jun 8, 2021

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)– A Cleveland doctor and anti-vaccine advocate went on a rant about 5G internet and metal objects sticking to the bodies of vaccinated people while giving testimony at an Ohio House Health Committee meeting Tuesday.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny testified in favor of House Bill 248 which would keep a business or the government from requiring vaccinations.
Ohio Gov. DeWine makes plea with 200K vaccine doses set to expire

During her testimony Tenpenny stated:

“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized. They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick, because now we think that there’s a metal piece to that.

“There’s been people who have long suspected that there’s been some sort of an interface, ‘yet to be defined’ interface, between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers.”

Vaccines for COVID-19 do not contain metals or microchips that make recipients magnetic at the site of injection, physics and medical experts have told Reuters.

There’s no evidence that 5G harms the immune system scientific director of SciProof International in Sweden Myrtill Simko told the Associated Press last year.

The theories gained momentum in 2019 from Russian state media outlets, which helped push them into U.S. domestic conversation, disinformation experts said in that same AP report.

Tenpenny’s testimony comes one day after the Ohio Department of Health hosted a conference dispelling myths about the COVID-19 vaccine.

https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/cleveland-doctor-tells-ohio-lawmakers-covid-19...

_______________________________________________

ETA:

You don't even know the best part - Meet the Twitter endorsement of Dr.Tenpenny the expert.
Endorsement of a not FDA evaluated cure for...metal toxins in the body. Works like a magnet.
Grift is an essential part of the anti-vax movement ...
Image ( https://twitter.com/beccaturmo/status/1402612329863331843/photo/1 )
Image ( https://twitter.com/beccaturmo/status/1402612329863331843/photo/2 )
Image ( https://twitter.com/beccaturmo/status/1402612329863331843/photo/3 )
- Nana Malcontent walks with Lincoln @beccaturmo | 9:03 AM · Jun 9, 2021

Don't you hate it when you spend a half hour searching for your house keys and
they were magnetized to your forehead the whole time?
- Benjamin Dreyer @BCDreyer | 8:48 AM · Jun 9, 2021

False ‘reasons’ to refuse Covid-19 vaccines circulate online
Richard Kang, AFP Korea | 09 June 2021

As South Korea races to speed up its Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, posts emerged on social media sharing a list of “reasons” not to get the jab. The claims are false: AFP has previously debunked all purported reasons cited in the misleading posts, including claims that coronavirus vaccines have not been tested on animals or that their ingredients have not been published by pharmaceutical companies....

https://factcheck.afp.com/false-reasons-refuse-covid-19-vaccines-circulate-onlin...

>90 margd: contd.

Sherri Tenpenny makes false COVID-19 vaccine magnetism claim to Ohio lawmakers
Bill McCarthy | June 9, 2021

If Your Time is short

The available COVID-19 vaccines do not contain microchips or metallic ingredients that could cause a magnet to stick to a recipient’s body.

The CDC says on its website that the vaccines “will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm. COVID-19 vaccines do not contain ingredients that can produce an electromagnetic field at the site of your injection.”

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is an anti-vaccine activist who has spread false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines before...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jun/09/sherri-tenpenny/sherri-tenpenn...

David Fisman (U Toronto) @DFisman | 12:29 PM · Jan 22, 2021:
https://twitter.com/DFisman/status/1352670531007504392

... I don't think the conceptualization risk-benefit with vaccines has ever been stated more clearly than by Ben Franklin.
He had a son (Franky Franklin) who died of smallpox. They didn't have "vaccines" yet but they had a kind of pre-vaccine ...

"Inoculation" (margd: "variolation"), where people got smallpox pus from a pustule rubbed into a scratch in their arm (or sometimes took ground smallpox scabs as a snuff). It worked.

But had an unfavorable "adverse event profile":

1. You could get regular smallpox from inoculation

2. Or you could start a smallpox epidemic in a place that had no smallpox. (That's why George Washington held off vaccinating the Colonial Army, and that's why Quebec is part of Canada...look it up).

And Franklin, looking at this scary stuff, declined to inoculate his son. Who then, because life isn't fair, died of smallpox.

He wrote about it in his Autobiography 60 years later:

“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox…I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation...

...on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”-The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793).

---------------------------------------------------------

...Benjamin Franklin...trumpeted his advocacy in the pages of his own newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette...(e.g., of) 72 Bostonians inoculated in March 1730,...only 2 died...“Of those who had it in the common way, ’tis computed that one in four died.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/health/01smallpox.html

CDC study finds five percent of teens hospitalized due to COVID-19 require ventilation, vaccinating against COVID-19 can help reduce the risk of severe disease in teens

CLAIM
“The kids who were in hospital for other reasons were the ones ... on the ventilators. Not the kids who were in hospital for COVID-19.”

VERDICT: INACCURATE

SOURCE: Wendy Bell, Facebook, 7 Jun. 2021

...KEY TAKE AWAY
A study of adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 found that one-third required intensive care and five percent required invasive mechanical ventilation. Although the mortality rate for adolescents is relatively low, survivors can face persistent health problems due to issues such as long COVID, which is detrimental to their quality of life. The CDC has stressed the importance of vaccination for this age group. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines were shown to outweigh any potential risks. Reports of deaths on the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System alone don’t prove that COVID-19 vaccines were the cause of death....

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/cdc-study-finds-five-percent-of-teens-hos...

>78 margd: VAERS, contd.

Anti-Vaccine Activists Use A Federal Database To Spread Fear About COVID Vaccines
Geoff Brumfiel | June 14, 2021

...Known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the database includes hundreds of thousands of reports of health events that occurred minutes, hours or days after vaccination. Many of the reported events are coincidental — things that happen by chance, not caused by the shot. But when millions of people are vaccinated within a short period, the total number of these reported events can look big.

Epidemiologists consider the VAERS database as only a starting point in the search for rare but potentially serious vaccine side-effects. Far more work must be done before a cause-and-effect link can be determined between a reported health event and a vaccine...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/14/1004757554/anti-vaccine-act...

Wonder what white pine tea tastes like? I think some Indigenous people in our gardening group mentioned that it was taken as a tonic? I can't stop thinking of it simmering as ingredient in Christmas pot pourri! Oils on surface...

Fact check: White pine tea likely not helpful against COVID-19; vaccinated don't 'shed' particles
Miriam Fauzia | June 15, 2021

The claim: White pine tea contains suramin and shikimic acid, which can prevent COVID-19 vaccinated people from “shedding” the spike protein

...vaccine shedding caused by that injection isn't an actual phenomenon, experts say.

And while some research has found suramin might be potentially helpful against COVID-19 infection, it doesn't come from pine needles, and both it and shikimic acid may actually be more harmful than beneficial...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/15/fact-check-white-pine-t...

Fifty Shades of Whey @davenewworld_2 | 11:07 AM · Dec 6, 2020
Trust the science and let's beat this

0:53 TikTok--Will I take the vaccine? ( https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1335616949540311041 )

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t lower sperm count, study says
Jesse O’Neill | June 17, 2021

...Men who received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine did not see a drop in sperm count or quality, a new study found...

https://nypost.com/2021/06/17/pfizer-and-moderna-vaccines-dont-lower-sperm-count...

------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel C. Gonzalez et al. 2021.Sperm Parameters Before and After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination. JAMA. Published online June 17, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.9976 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2781360

Two mRNA vaccines, BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and mRNA-1273 (Moderna), received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration. Despite high efficacy and few adverse events found in clinical trials, only 56% of individuals in the US reported wanting to receive the vaccine.1 One of the reasons for vaccine hesitancy is the potential negative effect on fertility.2 Because reproductive toxicity was not evaluated in the clinical trials and SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with decreases in sperm parameters,3 we assessed sperm parameters before and after mRNA vaccine administration.

...Results
Between December 17, 2020, and January 12, 2021, 45 men volunteered (median age, 28 years IQR, 25-31); follow-up samples were obtained at a median of 75 days (IQR, 70-86) after the second dose. The study ended on April 24, 2021. Baseline samples were obtained after a median abstinence period of 2.8 days (IQR, 2-3) and follow-up samples after a median of 3 days (IQR, 3-4). Of the 45 men, 21 (46.7%) received BNT162b2 and 24 (53.3%) received mRNA-1273. Baseline sperm concentration and TMSC were 26 million/mL (IQR, 19.5-34) and 36 million (IQR, 18-51), respectively. After the second vaccine dose, the median sperm concentration significantly increased to 30 million/mL (IQR, 21.5-40.5; P = .02) and the median TMSC to 44 million (IQR, 27.5-98; P = .001). Semen volume and sperm motility also significantly increased (Table).

Eight of the 45 men were oligospermic before the vaccine (median concentration, 8.5 million/mL IQR, 5.1-12). Of these 8, 7 men had increased sperm concentration to normozoospermic range at follow-up (median concentration, 22 million/mL IQR, 17-25.5), and 1 man remained oligospermic. No man became azoospermic after the vaccine...

COVID-19 itself can cause heart inflammation, in addition to other problems like long COVID;
benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their risks

CLAIM
More than half of myocarditis cases caused by COVID-19 vaccines occur in those aged between 12 and 34, yet this age group has a COVID-19 recovery rate of 99.99%

VERDICT LACKS CONTEXT

SOURCE: Kelly Victory, Twitter, 11 Jun. 2021

DETAILS
Lacks context: RNA vaccines have been associated with a higher incidence of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults. However, most cases so far recovered fully with rest and medical treatment. It’s important to keep in mind the fact that COVID-19 itself can cause heart inflammation, in addition to other complications like long COVID and death.

KEY TAKE AWAY
Myocarditis is a condition in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed. Viral infections are a leading cause of myocarditis, and COVID-19 itself is known to cause heart inflammation. Data from clinical trials and ongoing monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns show that the benefits of the COVID-19 RNA vaccines outweigh their risks. Health authorities recommend that everyone aged 12 and above get vaccinated, because the risks posed by COVID-19, such as health complications and death, are greater than that posed by the vaccines.

DETAILS...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-itself-can-cause-heart-inflammat...

Why People Fall For Conspiracy Theories
Kaleigh Rogers and Jasmine Mithani | Jun. 15, 2021

Flying to conclusions
...jumping-to-conclusions bias...indicates a tendency to make up one’s mind about things quickly, often with very little evidence.

Patterns can be illusory
...the tendency to see patterns where there are none. Respondents who believed there was some kind of predetermined pattern to the coin toss sequences were more likely to believe conspiracy theories...it’s also a deeply human characteristic to perceive order in chaos...

Setting up the chessboard
...our environment has become awash with all kinds of conspiracy theories. Anyone with even the slightest tendency to this kind of thinking would have trouble dodging the rabbit holes...

...Every one of us has a brain that takes shortcuts, makes assumptions and works in irrational ways. The sooner we recognize that, and stop treating loved ones who have adopted conspiratorial beliefs as lost causes, the better we may be at curbing the beliefs that threaten our democracy and public health. We’re all human after all. Well, except for the lizard people.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-people-fall-for-conspiracy-theories/

If only it was that easy:

False claim that coconut water concoction can 'cure Covid-19' circulates online
AFP Indonesia | 21 June 2021 at 21:00

Multiple posts shared on Facebook claim that a concoction of coconut water; salt; honey and lime juice, can cure Covid-19 infection. The claim is false: the recipe has not been proven as a remedy for Covid-19, medical experts told AFP.

The claim was posted here on Facebook on May 25, 2021...translates to English as:
“In the name of Allah. A natural remedy/medicine to cure coronavirus.

“Ingredients:
“Coconut water
“One lime, squeeze its juice
“A half teaspoon of salt and
“Two spoonfuls of honey

“Mix all ingredients and then drink it
“May Allah always bless us with health
“Amen.”

...The claim, however, is false...

https://factcheck.afp.com/false-claim-coconut-water-concoction-can-cure-covid-19...

Fact check: No, video doesn't prove COVID-19 vaccines will connect you to Bluetooth
Miriam Fauzia | June 22, 2021

..."(Vaccine) connected to Bluetooth!!" claims a June 13 Instagram video.

The video, which is in Spanish, shows a man who purportedly received a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on May 21. A smartphone with its Bluetooth pairing mode enabled is brought close to his vaccinated arm. Under "Other devices," a device named "HBPC-J43" appears.

"There it is, HBPC-J43, that's with the Pfizer (vaccine)," says a man off-camera, referring to the supposed presence of an implanted microchip...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/22/fact-check-no-covid-19-...

Useful resource
#ScienceUpFirst (https://twitter.com/ScienceUpFirst): a group, which is partially supported by the Canadian government to debunk misinformation about Covid-19 online. e.g., Image ( https://twitter.com/ScienceUpFirst/status/1404528946771812352/photo/1 ) .

Cdn academic gives fuel to anti-vaxxers around the world, but Canadians appear to be among the most enthusiastic vaxxers once shots became available: ~70% 1st shots and ~20% 2nd, with demand currently leading availability in some places.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Immunologist’s misinterpretation of data fuels misleading Covid-19 vaccine claims
AFP Germany | 22 June 2021

Social media users are sharing a radio interview in which a Canadian immunologist claims that widely used Covid-19 vaccines are dangerous. But a pharmaceutical company document and Harvard study presented by the professor as evidence have been misinterpreted, and experts said the jabs are working safely and effectively as intended.

“The story I’m about to tell is a bit of a scary one. This is cutting-edge science,” says Byram Bridle, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, in a May 27, 2021 radio interview on Global News 980 CFPL. It has been shared more than 22,000 times on Facebook, according to the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.

In the segment, Bridle claims studies show that the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 disease, is circulating via the bloodstream, supposedly posing a health risk to people who choose to be vaccinated.

The mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna differ from previously administered inoculations. Instead of confronting the immune system with part of a virus in a weakened or deactivated form to build antibodies, they give it a “blueprint” of a part of the virus (the spike protein) that the body can then recognize and fight when confronted by it later.

Bridle warns: “We made a big mistake... We never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by vaccinating people, we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.”

Experts, including those with Canada’s #ScienceUpFirst (https://twitter.com/ScienceUpFirst) initiative, disagree.

The group, which is partially supported by the Canadian government to debunk misinformation about Covid-19 online, wrote a Twitter thread to explain that spike proteins induced by the vaccines are different from those present on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and that they are not dangerous.

The Bridle interview was shared throughout the world, leading to misleading claims debunked by AFP in France and Germany.

Contacted by AFP, Bridle did not reply, but he has claimed that he experienced “harassment” from colleagues who do not share his controversial views on the safety of Covid-19 mRNA vaccines...

https://factcheck.afp.com/immunologists-misinterpretation-data-fuels-misleading-...

Post Misrepresents Details of Postmortem Study of Vaccinated Patient
D'Angelo Gore | June 22, 2021

A controversial radio show host and blogger misrepresented findings of a published case report to conclude that an 86-year-old man died as a result of being vaccinated against COVID-19. The case report’s lead author said the man died of bacterial pneumonia and “there was not any sign of vaccination side effect.”...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-post-misrepresents-details-of-postmor...

COVID-19 vaccines can enhance protective immunity in previously infected people

CLAIM
“Individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection do not get additional benefits from vaccination”

VERDICT UNSUPPORTED

SOURCE: Sanchari Sinha Dutta, Medical News, 8 Jun. 2021

DETAILS
Inadequate support: The study didn’t test people without COVID-19 symptoms and involved a small number of previously infected individuals. These limitations mean that the study doesn’t provide information about how the level of protection from previous infection compares to vaccination and the potential benefit of vaccination for people who recovered from the disease.
Lacks context: While studying the rate of reinfection is one way to understand if vaccination is beneficial to previously infected individuals, there are also other important factors to consider, such as the duration of protection and the level of protection against variants of the virus. But the study didn’t examine these aspects.

KEY TAKE AWAY
Most people who had COVID-19 develop some level of protective immunity. However, the immune response can vary a lot between individuals, and not all COVID-19 survivors develop sufficiently protective immunity, since reinfection can occur. COVID-19 vaccines have demonstrated a more robust and reliable immune response than natural infection. They can also provide additional benefits, such as boosting immunity in people who had a low immune response after natural infection or enhancing protection against variants of the virus...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-can-enhance-protective-...

>101 margd: While it won't cure/treat Covid, it'd probably be a passable treatment for dehydration.

>106 rastaphrog: Add a splash of rum and it sounds like pina colada? ;)
_______________________________________

HOW MRNA VACCINES WERE MADE AVAILABLE SO FAST WITHOUT COMPROMISING SAFETY

Dr Prital Patel @prital_| 11:37 AM · Jun 23, 2021:
Replying to @WFKARS
Daniel, pls feel free to use/share/ modify my infographic.
I made this early last year when the concept of mRNA vaccines was fresh & hesitancy high.
Sad to see that it’s still an issue & there’s a dearth of good scientifically sound & accessible comms

Image- https://twitter.com/prital_/status/1407724520270491649/photo/1

Wonder if other countries see a gender gap?

Why Is There Such A Gender Gap In COVID-19 Vaccination Rates?
Angelica Puzio | Jun. 22, 2021

...The magnitude of the gender gap varies from state to state but has hovered just below 10 percentage points on average over the past month...

Hypothesis 1: Early Access
Hypothesis 2: Traditional Masculinity
Hypothesis 3: Preventive Health Behaviors
Hypothesis 4: Political Ideology and Susceptibility to Conspiratorial Thinking

Closing the Gap

Appealing to traditional masculinity, such as framing the vaccine as a way to strengthen the body against the virus, could be one way of closing the gap. That approach may reinforce ideologies that are known to be harmful to men’s health on the whole, but it might be worth the trade-off. “You have to recognize where people are coming from,” said Metzl.

And states appear to be making an effort to do just that. Several have announced new vaccination initiatives, offering things like hunting and fishing licenses, free beer and even custom rifles to those who get the jab. Although not directed explicitly at men, many of these incentives have strong cultural associations with traditional masculinity.

But beyond appealing to masculinity, one of the best ways to increase inoculation rates among those who are hesitant could be making vaccine information readily available in the places where trust already exists, such as churches or barber shops. Reich put it this way: “Often there are other community leaders, brokers of trust or allies that are influential to people beyond doctors. In many ways the solutions really have to educate and empower people in the community to understand information in ways that are accessible.”

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-is-there-such-a-gender-gap-in-covid-19-...

Misinformation About WHO’s COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for Children
D'Angelo Gore | June 25, 2021

SciCheck Digest
A World Health Organization advisory group has concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine “is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above,” and is specifically recommending it for children ages 12 to 15 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19. The WHO did not say “stop giving kids the vaxx immediately,” as some have claimed online...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-misinformation-about-whos-covid-19-va...

Scientists developing mRNA vaccines before outbreak isn’t evidence COVID-19 pandemic was created
Samantha Putterman | June 25, 2021

If Your Time is short
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna have been studying ways to develop vaccines against coronaviruses for several years, well before the identification of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The documents referenced in the articles are from a December 2019 agreement about mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidates for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, known as MERS-CoV. It was signed weeks before the first COVID-19 case was identified in Wuhan, China.

The claims in the articles do not prove that the U.S. government caused or created the pandemic...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jun/25/blog-posting/scientists-develo...

Southern Africa Bishops Decry Continued Exclusion of Refugees in COVID-19 Programs (ACI Africa)

Refugees in various African countries continue to be excluded in COVID-19 programs such as provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and even vaccination against the coronavirus, members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) have said. In their message ahead of the World Refugee Day celebrated on June 20, members of the SACBC office of Migrants and Refugees call upon various governments to promote and support access to health services for refugees in line with the theme of the day, “Together we heal, learn and shine”...

Post Misrepresents Details of Postmortem Study of Vaccinated Patient
D'Angelo Gore | June 22, 2021

SciCheck Digest
A controversial radio show host and blogger misrepresented findings of a published case report to conclude that an 86-year-old man died as a result of being vaccinated against COVID-19. The case report’s lead author said the man died of bacterial pneumonia and “there was not any sign of vaccination side effect.”...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-post-misrepresents-details-of-postmor...

(one teen's story)

Unvaccinated teens are fact-checking their parents — and trying to get shots on their own
Alex Horton | Feb. 11, 2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/02/10/unvaccinated-teens-are-fact-che...

Online posts falsely claim Covid-19 shots damage blood cells
Juliette Mansour, AFP France, AFP USA | 29 June 2021

Social media posts featuring four microscope slides supposedly showing blood cells before and after Covid-19 vaccination claim that immunization permanently alters human blood. This is false; experts told AFP that the images show incorrectly prepared red blood cell samples unrelated to Covid-19 inoculation, and said that the posts are unscientific...

https://factcheck.afp.com/online-posts-falsely-claim-covid-19-shots-damage-blood...

Just a reminder that COVID is not the only deadly disease which requires vaccination.

South Sudan launches a nationwide second dose of routine Inactivated Polio Vaccine introduction to protect children against all types of poliovirus (Relief Web)

South Sudan has reached another milestone by launching a second dose of routine Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV2). The immunization services led by the Ministry of Health is supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other partners. The second dose of routine IPV is essential for children’s protection from paralysis in South Sudan, as the country remains at risk for importation of the wild polio virus and other polio viruses as demonstrated by the recent outbreak of the circulating derived polio virus... The second dose of this vaccine has been introduced to increase protection against all three types of polioviruses...

Vaccines Editorial Office. 2021. Retraction: Walach et al. The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations—We Should Rethink the Policy. Vaccines (July 2, 2021), 9(7), 729; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9070729 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/7/729/htm

The journal retracts the article, The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations—We Should Rethink the Policy ..., cited above.

Serious concerns were brought to the attention of the publisher regarding misinterpretation of data, leading to incorrect and distorted conclusions.

The article was evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief with the support of several Editorial Board Members.

They found that the article contained several errors that fundamentally affect the interpretation of the findings.

These include, but are not limited to: ...

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/7/729/htm

CDC says more young people hospitalized from vaccine than COVID-19 itself? False
Tom Kertscher | June 30, 2021

If Your Time is short

The CDC categorically rejected the claim.

A blog post that the claim relies on misinterpreted a CDC statistic...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jun/30/instagram-posts/cdc-says-more-...

________________________________________________________

Fact check: Delta variant, not 'vaccine shedding', behind surge in new COVID-19 cases
Miriam Fauzia | Updated July 1, 2021

The claim: Spike protein of COVID-19 vaccines is causing new Delta variant
Vaccine spike proteins cannot cause disease on their own...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/29/fact-check-delta-varian...

Israel, 50% of infected are vaccinated, and base rate bias
Katelyn Jetelina | Jun 27, 2021

...When asked how many of the new COVID19 cases had been vaccinated, (Director General of the Health Ministry of Israel (Professor Chevy Levy)) said that, “we are looking at a rate of 40 to 50%”.

This must mean the Delta variant is escaping our vaccines, right? When I started digging into the numbers, though, this might not be as alarming as it seems.

Base rate bias

This is likely an example of base rate bias in epidemiology (it’s called base rate fallacy in other fields). Professor Levy said that “half of infected people were vaccinated”. This language is important because it’s very different than “half of vaccinated people were infected”. And this misunderstanding happens all. the. time...

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/israel-50-of-infected-are-vaccina...

Journal discredits study it published claiming a COVID-19 vaccine causes deaths
Tom Kertscher | July 2, 2021

Four days after publishing the study ("For three deaths prevented by vaccination we have to accept two inflicted by vaccination."), the journal that published it posted a notice raising serious questions about the study...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/02/liz-wheeler/journal-discredits...

-----------------------------------------------------

Flawed Paper on COVID-19 Vaccines, Deaths Spreads Widely Before Retraction
Angelo Fichera | July 2, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccines have been shown in trials and real-world application to be safe and effective. But a paper shared widely online claimed that vaccines cause two deaths for every three lives saved. Experts say the analysis misinterpreted data and was flawed — and it has now been retracted by the journal that published it...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-flawed-paper-on-covid-19-vaccines-dea...

J Scott Weese (infectious disease vet U Guelph) @weese_scott | 4:44 PM · Jul 5, 2021:
An open letter from a large group of @UofG (Guelph, Ontario) faculty concerned about COVID-19 vaccine misinformation (disseminated by Dr Byram Bridle).

With freedom comes responsibility. That applies to academic freedom too. It should not used to provide cover for misrepresentation and misinformation.

Image https://twitter.com/weese_scott/status/1412150357195726848/photo/1
Image https://twitter.com/weese_scott/status/1412150357195726848/photo/2
Image https://twitter.com/weese_scott/status/1412150357195726848/photo/3
Image https://twitter.com/weese_scott/status/1412150357195726848/photo/4

Where’s My Lyme Vaccine?
The complex downfall of LYMErix—and what’s coming next.
Rebecca Onion | July 01, 2021

...The Food and Drug Administration approved LYMErix, manufactured by SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), for use in 1998. LYMErix worked by inducing antibodies into human blood, which would then go into any ticks that attached to your body. There, they would neutralize the bacteria that cause Lyme, Borrelia burgdorferi, before the bacteria could go from the tick into you. In clinical trials, the shot showed about 78 percent effectiveness after the required three doses (hey, I’d take it). But some patients who got the shot after it went on the market testified that they developed arthritis after vaccination. The FDA investigated, but decided the evidence that the vaccine was linked to patients’ arthritis wasn’t strong enough to withdraw its approval for LYMErix. Sales fell nonetheless, and the company pulled the vaccine in 2002.

...The Lyme vaccine was an optional shot, so it wasn’t covered by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. (The program was set up in the 1980s to encourage pharmaceutical companies to continue production of vaccines by reducing the fear of liability.) Because of that exemption from the federal program, writes Offit, there was no cushion between the manufacturers of LYMErix and anyone who might claim it caused their arthritis. The vaccine “was left to survive the abuses of personal injury lawyers and the inaccurate media reports that inevitably follow.”

...LYMErix hit the market at a bad time for vaccine hesitancy and anti-vax activism.

...it was seen as a choice, one made by privileged adults who wanted to live freer of fear....

https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/lyme-vaccine-history-lymerix-hesitancy-tick...

Fact check: Airlines are not banning vaccinated people from flying
McKenzie Sadeghi | June 30, 2021

The claims: Airlines are banning vaccinated people from flying
No evidence of ban
Our rating: False

The claim that airlines are banning vaccinated passengers from flying is FALSE, based on our research. There are no reports of any airlines banning vaccinated passengers, and organizations representing airlines said the claim is inaccurate. To the contrary, some airlines are encouraging or requiring passengers and crew members to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/30/fact-check-posts-falsel...

>119 margd: contd.

Poznan University of Medical Sciences @PUMS_tweets | 7:13 AM · Jul 6, 2021:
We wish to emphasize that the claims included in dr Harald Walach’s recent article in @Vaccines_MDPI * do not represent the position of @PUMS_tweets. . We find that the article lacked scientific diligence and proper methodology. Dr. Walach’s affiliation with PUMS was now terminated.

* Walach H.; Klement RJ., Aukema W. The Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations – we should rethink the policy Vaccines 2021, 9, 693
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poland
Press Statement: CoViD-19 Vaccinations
the 5th of July, 2021

https://pums.ump.edu.pl/about-pums/news/240-university-statement-regarding-artic...

Misinformation remains the biggest hurdle as vaccination effort turns to cash incentives
Paul Sisson | May 31, 2021

...A survey performed in mid-April by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan health research organization, estimates that 54 percent of Americans believe “common misinformation” about coronavirus vaccines.

...there is solid evidence that the coronavirus itself — not the vaccine — can cause some fertility effects.

...Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, called... assertions highly unlikely (that the trials have simply failed to identify dangerous side effects that will suddenly appear round about the time that most of the population is fully vaccinated). In the history of vaccines, he noted, side effects have always appeared within two months of administration.
( photo of text https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1411693840767995905/photo/1 )

That’s not to say that clinical trials, even those with many thousands of participants, will necessarily spot every rare complication.

As was the case with a very small number of blood clots among the recipients of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, it is possible for indications to crop up only when a very wide swath of the general population has been inoculated.

But, especially where the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines — available for longer than Johnson & Johnson doses — are concerned, we’re now way past the point where even very, very rare side effects should be visible.

...pericarditis — swelling of the tissue surrounding the heart — and myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — among the vaccinated population.

A recent update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that reports of these conditions have begun to show up in its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System with 187 cases of pericarditis and 255 cases of myocarditis listed as of Friday.

Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and a cardiologist,...said this week that he believes the conditions may indeed be related to vaccination.

But it’s important to remember, he added, that these cases, most of which have not been confirmed in the VAERS database, occurred among more than 166 million Americans who have so far received one dose. And to date, he added, there is no evidence that medical consequences have gone beyond chest pain and breathing difficulties.

“We don’t know the mechanism, but, so far, as far as I know, no one has had a rip-roaring case of myocarditis after vaccination,” Topol said. “They’ve been very mild cases; I haven’t yet seen a report where it became a serious issue for a person.”

...The rush to approval under emergency protocols is another oft-cited reason why some are uncomfortable getting vaccinated.

But Topol notes that the trial sizes involved — about 70,000 participants across the Pfizer and Moderna trials — was robust.

And, he added, claims that things were rushed is belied by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s refusal to grant emergency approval in early November as the previous administration frequently claimed would occur.

...“All of these trials went to completion, rather than being stopped early and getting an emergency authorization in October,” Topol said. “The extra several weeks led to the most concrete evidence, the most extraordinary evidence, that has played out in the real world studies of real-world effectiveness. They keep coming out at 95 percent, 95 percent, on and on and on.”

But, so far, that evidence is not translating to overwhelming public confidence...

https://sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2021-05-31/misinformation-rem...

New Don Winslow Video Exposes Boebert’s ‘Monstrous’ Moves
Tara Dublin | July 11, 2021

When both “Bobo” and “#LaurenBoebertIsAMonster” are trending on Twitter, you know Lauren “Squeaky” Boebert is rightly being roasted.

Boebert was one of the speakers at the three-day grift fest disguised as CPAC, the second such gathering of the year because the Florida Retiree has extensive lawyer fees to pay and the money has to come from anywhere except his own bank account. And she definitely performed for the base, knocking President Joe Biden and his administration by saying things like, “We’re here to tell the government we don’t want your benefits, we don’t want your welfare. Don’t come knocking on my door with your Fauci Ouchi, you leave us the hell alone,” Boebert told the CPAC crowd...

https://hillreporter.com/commentary-watch-new-don-winslow-video-exposes-boeberts...

So wait.

Masks don’t work to contain any virus spread but they work so well to contain CO2 that they’re dangerous.

Ok. {Thinking face}

-Jen @TheNextMartha | 11:03 AM · Jul 11, 2021

Did US adults act on faith or science as COVID-19 struck?
New research examines the mindsets of people in the U.S. coping with the pandemic. m

Social scientists at the University of Arizona explored faith- and science-based perspectives and their relation to self-protective behaviors and concerns regarding COVID-19.

A new study suggests that adults in the United States had more confidence in scientific information than religious belief during the pandemic’s early stages.

These findings, published in June 2021, appear in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology...

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/did-us-adults-act-on-faith-or-science-...

-----------------------------------------------------

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Kathryn A.Johnson et al. 2021. Faith and science mindsets as predictors of COVID-19 concern: A three-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Volume 96, September 2021, 104186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104186 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103121000895?via%3Dihub

Highlights

• Faith mindset was a negative predictor of changes in a science mindset.
• Science mindset was a positive predictor of increases in COVID-19 concern.
• COVID-19 concern activated disease avoidance and self-protection motivations.
• Faith declined during the early months of the pandemic.

Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic allowed for a naturalistic, longitudinal investigation of the relationship between faith and science mindsets and concern about COVID-19. Our goal was to examine two possible directional relationships: (Model 1) COVID-19 concern ➔ disease avoidance and self-protection motivations ➔ science and faith mindsets versus (Model 2) science and faith mindsets ➔ COVID-19 concern. We surveyed 858 Mechanical Turk workers in three waves of a study conducted in March, April, and June 2020. We found that science mindsets increased whereas faith mindsets decreased (regardless of religious type) during the early months of the pandemic. Further, bivariate correlations and autoregressive cross-lagged analyses indicated that science mindset was positive predictor of COVID-19 concern, in support of Model 2. Faith mindset was not associated with COVID-19 concern. However, faith mindset was a negative predictor of science mindset. We discuss the need for more research regarding the influence of science and faith mindsets as well as the societal consequences of the pandemic.

Preliminary data indicate that COVID-19 vaccines don’t increase the risk of pregnancy-related adverse outcomes

CLAIM
“82% miscarriage rate among women who got the COVID-19 vaccine between 30 days and 20 weeks pregnant.”
VERDICT FLAWED REASONING

SOURCE: Ian Smith, Instagram, 6 Jul. 2021

DETAILS
Flawed Reasoning: Comparing the number of miscarriages to the number of pregnancies with positive outcomes among women who got vaccinated early during pregnancy would only work if we had waited for all women to complete their pregnancies. Yet, many of those women were still pregnant at the publication of the study. Therefore, negative outcomes such as miscarriages are overrepresented in the dataset, given that it is biologically too early to give birth to live newborns.

Fails to grasp significance of observation: The claim is supposedly based on the results from a scientific study. However, the cited study concluded that there weren’t obvious safety concerns, which is the opposite of the claim.

KEY TAKE AWAY
While initial clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines didn’t include pregnant women, subsequent trials and ongoing monitoring of real-world vaccinations suggest that pregnant women who are vaccinated don’t have poorer pregnancy outcomes than unvaccinated women. More data is needed to draw a more definitive conclusion.

FULL CLAIM: “82% miscarriage rate among women who got the COVID-19 vaccine between 30 days and 20 weeks pregnant.”

REVIEW...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/preliminary-data-indicate-that-covid-19-v...

Newsmax host dangerously declares vaccines go ‘against nature’: Diseases are ‘supposed to’ wipe out people

https://www.rawstory.com/rob-schmitt/

As commented on in the article, this would apply to all medical care.

>129 rastaphrog: Surely, sooner or later, "influencers" will be called out for crossing red line of "yelling fire in a crowded theater"...(?)

_________________________________________

Anti-vaxxers love talking about the numerator when it comes to vaccines, but,
when it comes to Covid, they fall hard for the denominator.

- Loretta Torrago @Loretta_Torrago | 12:36 AM · Jul 13, 2021

>129 rastaphrog: this would apply to all medical care

And to much of the technology, industry, transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, urbanisation, communications, weaponry, etc which are part of the modern world, for good or ill. Is the extreme right wing against all of these things as well?

Rick Wilson (Lincoln Project) @TheRickWilson | 7:24 AM · Jul 14, 2021:
I keep coming back to this story and
the utterly unforgivable, amoral, murderous intent of not getting kids vaccinated.

Major corporate relocations to Tennessee -- looking at you, Oracle --
should be put on hold until the TN govt reverses this decision.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Quote Tweet
Brett Kelman @BrettKelman · 17h
SCOOP: Tennessee Department of Health halts all vaccine outreach to kids – not just for COVID-19, but all diseases – amid pressure from GOP. Staff ordered to remove the agency logo from any documents providing vaccine info to the public, per internal dox.

https://tennessean.com/story/news/health/2021/07/13/tennessee-halts-all-vaccine-...

Opinion: The right’s reckless anti-vaccine campaign is not mere pandering. It’s fatal.
Opinion by the (WaPo) Editorial Board | July 15, 2021

...anti-vaccination voices from conservatives are shamelessly stoking paranoia. They are not alone — anti-vaccination campaigners have been at this for some time — but the latest comments on Fox News and social media are amplifying the dangerous message to millions.

By slowing the uptake of lifesaving vaccines, anti-vaccination voices give the delta variant time and space to claim new victims. This is a threat to everyone because it will prolong the pandemic. Infections are on the rise in the United States. A stark scenario is unfolding in southwestern Missouri, where hospitals are beginning to surpass the level of covid-19 patients seen in December 2020. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday that new cases in St. Louis County had skyrocketed 63 percent in the past two weeks. Missouri is among several states with vaccination rates well below the national average.

Across the country, those getting sick and being hospitalized are almost exclusively the unvaccinated. For Fox News and conservative politicians to be frightening people about vaccines with words like “creepy,” “scandal” and the conspiratorial “let’s talk, comrade” is not mere pandering. It can be fatal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/15/rights-reckless-anti-vaccine-...

Suerie Moon et al. 2021. Averting Future Vaccine Injustice (Perspective). N Engl J Med 15 July, 2021; 385:193-196
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2107528 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2107528

...we believe that governments should legally commit to increasing long-term public investment in both research and technology development and should condition those investments on global public interest safeguards such as contract transparency and open sharing of data, know-how, and IP.

...In 2013, governments rejected the chance to advance a WHO treaty establishing an international public fund for medicines R&D and rules making the resulting technology openly accessible. We should not lose the opportunity now to craft international laws that would make future pandemic vaccines available to all as global public goods and avert a repeat of the ethical, epidemiologic, and economic catastrophe that is unfolding today.

Four Pinocchios for (US Sen (R-WI)) Ron Johnson’s campaign of vaccine misinformation
Salvador Rizzo | July 16, 2021

‘Natural immunity is as strong if not stronger’
...mRNA vaccines in a small number of subjects produced up to 10 times higher antibody titers "than convalescent plasmas from donors who recovered from natural infection.”..

'Some pretty serious side effects, including death’
...No study or case has established this....

...We don’t know what motivates this one-man campaign of misinformation on a vital public health issue, but it’s clear this is a deliberate effort and not just a few stray comments...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/16/four-pinocchios-ron-johnsons-...

Convincing the Skeptics
Michael Brendan Dougherty | July 16, 2021

...a real problem of vaccine advocacy. Proponents of the vaccine are unwilling or unable to understand the thinking of vaccine skeptics — or even admit that skeptics may be thinking at all. Their attempts to answer skepticism or understand it end up poisoned by condescension, and end up reinforcing it.

Now first, it’s important for streets to run both ways, so I’ll offer that proponents have trouble doing this because many of the most prominent anti-vaxxers do indulge in conspiratorial thinking. Some of it is politically motivated...

...the idea of doing more intellectual work to answer people you think are morons, or are arguing in bad faith, is simply beyond (vaccine proponents).

...a study done at MIT*showed that a substantial portion of public-health skepticism was highly informed, scientifically literate, and sophisticated in the use of data...

...Public-health messaging that is constant but doesn’t address your actual concerns will, quite understandably, feel sinister and propagandistic...

...Getting skeptics on board will require abandoning efforts that seem like open manipulation in defiance of the evidence. It will also mean leveling with people. An ad might acknowledge that indeed there aren’t long-term studies and cannot be any when we are responding to a sudden pandemic, but it could offer medical reasoning to trust that long-term health complications due to these vaccines are unlikely, given how few short-term complications there have been. A public-health campaign would give context to the information about vaccine reactions reported on the government’s own websites — such as the VAERs system — and explain how the government assesses them. In the absence of this, skeptics will take the word of whoever is willing to give this information context.

The American people are unruly and in a sour mood about their authority figures. The 40 percent of people who reported their initial hesitance have barely budged so far — despite millions wasted on public education and ham-fisted attempts to prevent them from sharing their concerns and fears. If vaccine advocates really do want vaccination uptake to increase more than they want to feel superior, they have to change course.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/07/convincing-the-skeptics/
---------------------------------------------------------------

* When more Covid-19 data doesn’t equal more understanding
Social media users share charts and graphs — often with the same underlying data — to advocate opposing approaches to the pandemic.
Daniel Ackerman | March 4, 2021

...(Crystal Lee, study’s lead author and a PhD student in MIT’s History, Anthropology, Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) program and MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), as well as a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society) describes the team’s research as a first step in making sense of the role of data and visualizations in these broader debates. “Data visualization is not objective. It’s not absolute. It is in fact an incredibly social and political endeavor. We have to be attentive to how people interpret them outside of the scientific establishment.”

https://news.mit.edu/2021/when-more-covid-data-doesnt-equal-more-understanding-0...

Vaccinated people are less likely to die from the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 compared to unvaccinated people; viral claim misinterpreted PHE report
Editor: Rubén Portela Carballeira

CLAIM
“You are more likely to die from the Delta variant if you have been vaccinated”

VERDICT
INACCURATE

SOURCE: Anonymous, We Love Trump, 10 Jul. 2021

DETAILS
Inaccurate: Of the 257 deaths caused by the Delta variant in the U.K., only 46% had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the people who died from the Delta variant hadn’t been vaccinated (36%) or had received only one dose of vaccine, which doesn’t offer full protection (18%).

Misleading: COVID-19 deaths occur mainly in people aged 50 or older, who have a higher vaccine coverage (80%) than the rest of the population. Since vaccines don’t offer perfect protection, a few deaths still occur in the vaccinated population, but those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have a lower chance of death than those unvaccinated in the same age group.

KEY TAKE AWAY
COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective but don’t provide 100% protection. Therefore, infections and deaths can still occur among the vaccinated population, but at much lower rates compared to unvaccinated people. The higher proportion of deaths due to the Delta variant was among the unvaccinated population aged 50 and older. Vaccines have prevented tens of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.K. alone.

FULL CLAIM: “You are more likely to die from the Delta variant if you have been vaccinated”; “Delta variant kills more vaccinated than unvaccinated”

REVIEW...

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/vaccinated-people-are-less-likely-to-die-...

Coronavirus doctor's diary: Unvaccinated patients with many regrets (BBC)

As in many other hospitals, the number of patients being treated for Covid-19 in Bradford Royal Infirmary is sharply rising. About half of them had chosen not to be vaccinated, says Dr John Wright - which many now deeply regret...

The Life Cycle Of A COVID-19 Vaccine Lie
Geoff Brumfiel | July 20, 2021
Heard on Morning Edition

Step 1: Start with a kernel of truth
Step 2: Find an influencer to spread doubts and questions
Step 3: Pile on some related myths
Step 4: Make waves in mainstream media
Step 5: Morph to fit the messenger
Step 6: Repeat the cycle with new lies

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/20/1016912079/the-life-cycle-o...
_____________________________________________

Did 45K People Die Within 3 Days of Getting COVID Vaccine?
Allegations were said to have come from a “government insider.”
Madison Dapcevich | 22 July 2021

FALSE

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/45000-people-die-covid-19-vaccine/
_____________________________________________

Joe Biden exaggerates efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines
Amy Sherman | July 22, 2021

..."You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations," Biden said.

It is rare for people who are fully vaccinated to contract COVID-19, but it does happen...

The CDC says that COVID-19 vaccines are effective. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.

CDC data shows that as of July 12, more than 159 million people had been fully vaccinated, and there were 5,492 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among them...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/22/joe-biden/biden-exaggerates-ef...
_______________________________________________

No, There Weren’t More COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths Than COVID-19 Deaths
A vaccine adverse reaction tracking tool was misleadingly interpreted by junk news sites.
Bethania Palma | 22 July 2021

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-vax-deaths-vs-covid-deaths/
_______________________________________________

Viral Posts Lift Bogus ‘Quarantine’ Story from Satire Site
Saranac Hale Spencer | July 22, 2021

A satire site a month ago published a joke about the Biden administration creating “quarantine camps” for the unvaccinated. Now that fabricated story is circulating online, presented as if it’s real...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-viral-posts-lift-bogus-quarantine-sto...

Vaccinated America Has Had Enough
In the United States, this pandemic could be almost over by now. The reasons it’s still going are pretty clear.
David Frum | 7/23/2021

In the United States, this pandemic could’ve been over by now, and certainly would’ve been by Labor Day. If the pace of vaccination through the summer had been anything like the pace in April and May, the country would be nearing herd immunity. With most adults immunized, new and more infectious coronavirus variants would have nowhere to spread. Life could return nearly to normal.

...as summer camp and travel plans are disrupted—as local authorities reimpose mask mandates that could have been laid aside forever—many in the vaccinated majority must be thinking: Yes, I’m very sorry that so many of the unvaccinated are suffering the consequences of their bad decisions. I’m also very sorry that the responsible rest of us are suffering the consequences of their bad decisions.

As cases uptick again, as people who have done the right thing face the consequences of other people doing the wrong thing, the question occurs: Does Biden’s America have a breaking point? Biden’s America produces 70 percent of the country’s wealth—and then sees that wealth transferred to support Trump’s America. Which is fine; that’s what citizens of one nation do for one another. Something else they do for one another: take rational health-care precautions during a pandemic. That reciprocal part of the bargain is not being upheld....

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/vaccinated-america-breaking-po...

(Twitter discussion of article: https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1418527749656940551 )

David R. Liu (Harvard) @davidrliu | 6:41 AM · Jul 24, 2021:
https://twitter.com/davidrliu/status/1418884020851576842

Hosea 4:6 (NIV):
“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you…”
...

_______________________________________________
The entire passage:

Hosea 4:6 NIV

my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

It’s time for a serious debate about vaccine passports (Guardian) by Shami Chakrabarti

This is no time for triangulation or political games. This is high time for an honest debate about how we protect each other as a community, and how soon we should be unlocked together in the safest manner, without making those vulnerable on grounds of race, age or economic insecurity pay for so-called “freedom day”.

LA man who mocked Covid-19 vaccines dies of virus (BBC)

A California man who mocked Covid-19 vaccines on social media has died after a month-long battle with the virus. Stephen Harmon, a member of the Hillsong megachurch, had been a vocal opponent of vaccines, making a series of jokes about not having the vaccine...

The YouTubers who blew the whistle on an anti-vax plot (BBC)

A mysterious marketing agency secretly offered to pay social media stars to spread disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. Their plan failed when the influencers went public about the attempt to recruit them...

Another influential anti-vaxxer (second tier?) who took on COVID early is pediatrician, Lawrence Palevsky https://vaxopedia.org/2019/05/15/who-is-larry-palevsky/ . He produced a one-hour documentary on COVID that starts off reasonably and escalates to full-on anti-vaxxer. As MD he is frequently cited as an expert.

The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online
Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.
Sheera Frenkel | July 24, 2021

...Dr. Mercola, 67, an osteopathic physician in Cape Coral, Fla., has long been a subject of criticism and government regulatory actions for his promotion of unproven or unapproved treatments. But most recently, he has become the chief spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, according to researchers.

An internet-savvy entrepreneur who employs dozens, Dr. Mercola has published over 600 articles on Facebook that cast doubt on Covid-19 vaccines since the pandemic began, reaching a far larger audience than other vaccine skeptics, an analysis by The New York Times found. His claims have been widely echoed on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The activity has earned Dr. Mercola, a natural health proponent with an Everyman demeanor, the dubious distinction of the top spot in the “Disinformation Dozen,” a list of 12 people responsible for sharing 65 percent of all anti-vaccine messaging on social media, said the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. Others on the list include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, and Erin Elizabeth, the founder of the website Health Nut News, who is also Dr. Mercola’s girlfriend.

“Mercola is the pioneer of the anti-vaccine movement,” said Kolina Koltai, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online conspiracy theories. “He’s a master of capitalizing on periods of uncertainty, like the pandemic, to grow his movement.”...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/technology/joseph-mercola-coronavirus-misinfo...
_______________________________________________
REPORT

The Disinformation Dozen
Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers
Center for Countering Digital Hate |
40 p
https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_b7cedc05536...

Just twelve anti-vaxxers are responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content circulating on social media platforms. This new analysis of content posted or shared to social media over 812,000 times between February and March uncovers how a tiny group of determined anti-vaxxers is responsible for a tidal wave of disinformation - and shows how platforms can fix it by enforcing their standards...

Executive Summary (1p)
https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_750e5af82ae...

...Deplatforming repeat offenders is the most effective way of stopping the proliferation of
dangerous misinformation.

● The Disinformation Dozen -- including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Ty and Charlene Bollinger, among others -- continually violate the terms of service agreements on Facebook and Twitter. While some anti-vaxxers identified by CCDH have been removed from a single platform, comprehensive action has yet to be taken, and most remain active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
● CCDH’s ongoing tracking of 425 anti-vaxx accounts finds that the total following across platforms reached 59.2 million in December 2020, an increase of 877,000 since June...

Appendix: The Disinformation Dozen .................................................................................................... 12
1 Joseph Mercola ........................................................................................................................................ 12
2 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ...........................................................................................................................14
3 Ty & Charlene Bollinger ...................................................................................................................... 16
4 Sherri Tenpenny ................................................................................................................................... 18
5 Rizza Islam ............................................................................................................................................... 21
6 Rashid Buttar .........................................................................................................................................24
7 Erin Elizabeth ......................................................................................................................................... 25
8 Sayer Ji .................................................................................................................................................... 28
9 Kelly Brogan ............................................................................................................................................ 31
10 Christiane Northrup ........................................................................................................................... 33
11 Ben Tapper ............................................................................................................................................. 35
12 Kevin Jenkins ....................................................................................................................................... 38

FALSE: COVID-19 vaccines are experimental
Rappler.com | Jul 26, 2021

Claim: COVID-19 vaccines are still experimental.
Rating: FALSE
The facts: COVID-19 vaccines went through three phases of clinical testing before being approved by the Philippines' Food and Drug Administration...

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/fact-check/covid-19-vaccines-experimental

Met police investigate anti-vaxxer’s speech amid fears for safety of medics (Guardian)

Fears have been expressed for the safety of doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff after they were targeted by anti-vaccine activists. Police are investigating comments made by Kate Shemirani, a former nurse who has been struck off for using her position to spread Covid misinformation, during the latest anti-lockdown rally at Trafalgar Square in central London on Saturday. In a widely circulated public speech, she compared medical staff to Nazi war criminals, referred explicitly to their executions and demanded that people gather the names of doctors and nurses in the UK. It is not the first time Shemirani, who has grown a large online following since she started her campaign of Covid scepticism, has used violent language to describe medical staff. Medical staff representatives, senior politicians and her own family have pleaded with her to stop before someone is hurt...

As Virus Cases Rise, Another Contagion Spreads Among the Vaccinated: Anger
Frustrated by the prospect of a new surge, many Americans are blaming the unvaccinated. A tougher stance may backfire, some experts warn.
Roni Caryn Rabin | July 27, 2021

As coronavirus cases resurge across the country, many inoculated Americans are losing patience with vaccine holdouts who, they say, are neglecting a civic duty or clinging to conspiracy theories and misinformation even as new patients arrive in emergency rooms and the nation renews mask advisories.

The country seemed to be exiting the pandemic; barely a month ago, a sense of celebration was palpable. Now many of the vaccinated fear for their unvaccinated children and worry that they are at risk themselves for breakthrough infections. Rising case rates are upending plans for school and workplace reopenings, and threatening another wave of infections that may overwhelm hospitals in many communities...

The rising sentiment is contributing to support for more coercive measures. Scientists, business leaders and government officials are calling for vaccine mandates — if not by the federal government, then by local jurisdictions, schools, employers and businesses.

...Rising resentment among the vaccinated may well lead to public support for more coercive requirements, including mandates, but experts warn that punitive measures and social ostracism can backfire, shutting down dialogue and outreach efforts....

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/health/coronavirus-vaccination-hesitancy-delt...

Video Twists Advice on Delta Variant and Vaccination
Saranac Hale Spencer | July 27, 2021

An epidemiologist recommended that people get the COVID-19 vaccine because some evidence suggests an unvaccinated person who gets the delta variant is “twice as likely to require hospital treatment” than someone infected with the alpha variant. But a Facebook video twists that advice to claim that he said vaccinated people would be twice as likely to be hospitalized...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-video-twists-advice-on-delta-variant-...

..."Corporate America’s vaccine floodgates are opened"
That's how journalist Benjy Renton put it, linking to this CNN story. David Frum on "Erin Burnett OutFront" predicted Wednesday night that "by this time next month, the majority of Fortune 500 companies will be saying you have to be vaccinated if you want to work for us. This is the pandemic of the willfully unvaccinated — the anti-socially unvaccinated..."

https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/16275268401796288532b05ba/raw

>148 margd: contd.
Disneyland and Disney World to Require Masks Indoors Again Regardless of Vaccination Status
The CDC has recommended Americans start wearing masks again as covid-19 cases surge.
Matt Novak | July 29, 2021
https://gizmodo.com/disneyland-and-disney-world-to-require-masks-indoors-ag-1847...

Viral Posts Lift Bogus ‘Quarantine’ Story from Satire Site
Saranac Hale Spencer | July 22, 2021

A satire site a month ago published a joke about the Biden administration creating “quarantine camps” for the unvaccinated. Now that fabricated story is circulating online, presented as if it’s real...

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-viral-posts-lift-bogus-quarantine-sto...

_____________________________________________

Fact check: Claim about unvaccinated being sent to quarantine camps started as satire
Rick Rouan | July 22, 2021
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/07/22/fact-check-claim-unvacc...

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta criticises 'vaccine nationalism' (BBC)

President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that he wants Kenya to move towards vaccine production because it has suffered as a result of vaccine nationalism, a claim that rich countries are buying up vaccine supplies. Less than 2% of Africa's population has been fully vaccinated...

Vaccine Refusers Don’t Want Blue America’s Respect
Victims of a con usually hesitate to admit that they’ve been deceived.
Brooke Harrington

...Many of the people refusing safe, effective vaccination amid a deadly pandemic are enmeshed in a very distinctive type of relationship that sociologists have been studying for more than 70 years: the con job. Con artists gain social or financial advantage by convincing their marks to believe highly dubious claims—and to block out all information to the contrary.

...COVID-19-related cons have become big business, not just for right-wing media outlets that have gained viewers while purveying vaccine disinformation but also for small-time social-media grifters and enterprising professionals.

...The seminal text in the field—Erving Goffman’s 1952 essay “On Cooling the Mark Out”—observes that all targets of con artists eventually come to understand that they have been defrauded, yet they almost never complain or report the crime to authorities. Why? Because, Goffman argues, admitting that one has been conned is so deeply shameful that marks experience it as a kind of social death.

...Goffman notes that other life events, such as being fired or dumped, can evoke similar feelings of humiliation. But people targeted by con jobs can save their pride by denying the con as long as possible—or claiming they were in on it the whole time. This saves face and cheats social death, but allows the con to continue unchecked, entrapping others. In doing so, marks prioritize their self-image over the common good.

...Goffman points out that con artists employ specialists to “cool” marks down when the deception is finally revealed. A cooler, he writes, “has the job of handling persons caught out on a limb—persons whose expectations and self-conceptions have been built up and then shattered.” Coolers prevent blowback from angry marks—encouraging them to blame themselves, not the con artist. They help marks rebuild their social identity, retain their self-respect, and preserve their affiliations with their reference groups.

In this light, the recent volte-face of many prominent conservatives toward enthusiastic endorsement of vaccination is great news for everyone who wants to see an end to the pandemic.

...Having expressed doubts about COVID-19 vaccination or other pandemic mitigation likely makes (Govs) Ivey and DeSantis more effective in persuading other conservatives: Their previous positions signify authenticity and in-group loyalty, making them more trustworthy, not less. High-status leaders such as (Rep) Scalise, (Gov) Ivey, (Sen) Blunt, and (Gov) DeSantis can expand the range of acceptable behavior for other group members through the example of their own actions.

...This is reason for optimism: The conservative coolers are finally on the case, and only they have a chance of transforming partisan vaccine refusers into vaccine adopters....

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/vaccine-refusers-dont-want-blu...

>152 margd:, contd. Good that TN R lawmaker is finally trying to convert anti-masker, anti vaxxer R colleagues.
(Does raise moral question if (anti-masker / anti vaxxer) went to head of line for a liver transplant. Maybe his was a (volunteer!) live donor?)

Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats | 11:08 PM · Aug 1, 2021:
BREAKING NEWS: Tennessee Republican lawmaker David Byrd, who accused Democrats of sensationalizing the pandemic, begs his fellow Republicans to take the Covid seriously after spending 55 days on a ventilator and having a liver transplant due to the virus. RT to spread his plea!