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WHO Doesn’t Recommend COVID Booster Doses Right Now, Citing Lack of Data
The World Health Organization doesn’t recommend COVID-19 booster shots “at this time,” the group’s top vaccine doctor said Wednesday, citing a lack of data on their effectiveness.
Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHO’s director of immunization, vaccines and biologicals, said the organization is still researching whether a booster shot is needed to increase protection against highly contagious mutations of the coronavirus.
Executives from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, which make the three COVID vaccines authorized for use in the U.S., have all said Americans would eventually need a booster following their first series of vaccinations.
‘Recipes for Regulatory Corruption’: How CDC, NIH Pull in Millions From Licensing Deals, Including COVID-Related Technologies
With 27 different institutes and centers housed under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) umbrella — including the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — NIH is the largest biomedical research agency in the world.
Operating under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH currently wields a hefty annual budget of nearly $42 billion.
Within NIH, the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) plays a “strategic role” in supporting patenting and licensing for inventions that emerge from laboratories at the NIH and also Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: ‘They Are Ramping Up Coercion to Get Vaccinated’
This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president, and Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed,” cover the latest COVID headlines, including how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention corrected the number of reported deaths after COVID vaccines by dumping foreign reports, and news that 49 fully vaccinated New Jersey residents died from COVID.
Also on tap this week is news the CDC is withdrawing its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for one of the earliest real-time PCR tests for COVID, and word that George Soros and Bill Gates are part of a consortium to buy UK COVID test maker, Mologic.
Mary and Polly also discuss a warning from immunologist and former National Institutes of Health scientist J. Bart Classen that COVID vaccines are producing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Pfizer Raises 2021 COVID Vaccine Sales Forecast to $33.5 Billion
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) on Wednesday raised its full-year sales forecast for the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with Germany’s BioNTech by 29% to $33.5 billion, as nations stock up on doses for the rest of the year.
The company also said it could apply for an emergency use authorization for a potential booster dose as early as August, reiterating that a third shot will likely be needed to enhance protection amid a resurgence in infections in many countries.
Woman Allegedly Pepper-Sprays Maskless Mother, Child Over COVID Fears
Police in Seattle arrested a 32-year-old woman on Monday, alleging she pepper-sprayed a mother and her child in an elevator at Pike Place Market.
Officers responded to a report of an assault at the market at around 4:30 p.m., according to a news release from the Seattle Police Department.
They arrived at Pike Place and located the woman, identified as Czarina Slape, pushing a stroller that contained a bottle of bleach and carrying a can of pepper spray.
Study: COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Holding Constant Among Some Groups
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among American adults fell by one-third in the first five months of 2021, a new study finds, but distrust of vaccines and the government are still keeping many people from getting vaccinated.
Researchers analyzed data gathered from about 1 million Americans a month between January and May as part of an ongoing national COVID-19 survey.
Those who said they would probably not or would definitely not get vaccinated were considered to be vaccine-hesitant. Who were these people?
‘There Is a Real Cost’: as COVID Shows, Barring Bedside Visitors From ICU Deprives Patients of the Best Care
For Teresa Ciappa, home was other people — and for the people in her life, Teresa Ciappa was home. Teresa hemmed pants, crocheted booties, and decorated wedding cakes for anyone who asked, and many who didn’t. To her five grandchildren, whose teddy bears she lovingly patched up, the sunny Italian emigrant was “Dr. Nonni.” Among her family and friends, Teresa was the one who kept in touch, even from across an ocean, the one who never forgot a birthday or anniversary …
The Ciappas were only allowed at Teresa’s bedside on one occasion, for her last breath. Michelle, who is 45 and lives in Columbus, Ohio, said she wonders whether her mother would have survived COVID-19 if her many loved ones had been able to visit her. “She was alone in a room. That’s the opposite of who she was,” Michelle said. “Just to be there, to give her any comfort, maybe the outcome would’ve been different.”
