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Biden Pandemic COVID Medicine Politics Reprints from others.

Pres Candidate Ramaswamy pitched governments to install universal covid patient surveillance database

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Thanks to

Before rebranding as a warrior for free speech and a passionate crusader for privacy rights, newly announced presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy was pitching the U.S. and world governments on his efforts to install a broad, centralized database of private medical records.

All without the consent of the actual patients

In a pursuit forged through one of his subsidiary companies, a “health information” data mining outfit called Datavant, Ramaswamy’s outfit pursued the establishment of a single national and global database for all covid-related patient health records.

Through a partnership with Snowflake, a San Francisco-based cloud computing company, Ramaswamy wanted to “fight covid-19” by manufacturing a “single repository of all the real-world medical data” thanks to the production of a “national data infrastructure” of private and public patient records, all without the consent of the actual patients.

Datavant claimed the records would be anonymized through their internal systems and that the broad database would only be available to researchers and government officials. However, some weren’t buying the sales pitch, citing gross violations of medical privacy. Moreover, none of the methods to supposedly anonymize records were made open source for review.

Nonetheless Ramaswamy’s Datavant sought to profit off of the hysteria and violate basic ethical standards in the process. They succeeded in establishing a partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

While some companies were happy to contribute to the Datavant endeavor, citing the “national emergency” as the ultimate precedent for violating patient consent standards, many others balked at the idea, citing privacy issues.

Anthem Inc (now known as Elevance Health), the second largest health insurance company in the U.S., rejected the appeal to deliver customer records into a national and global database. When reached by the Wall Street Journal, an Anthem spokesperson said that “Anthem takes the security of its data and the personal information of health plan members very seriously.”

“Datavant’s proposed registry would be free for government and academic researchers to access, and would aim to include every patient who has been tested for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus,” The WSJ story reported. “The consortium is aiming to have data covering 80% of U.S. medical claims, including those submitted to private insurers as well as Medicaid and Medicare Advantage.”

A fierce privacy advocate and “free speech absolutist”?

Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale University, expressed concern about Ramaswamy’s data mining effort, telling Endpoints News: “This is highly sensitive information and the effort is important, but it is important to know the details.”

Datavant later helped to establish a global Covid-19 research database. However, like most of Ramaswamy’s previous business ventures, the end product was not remotely successful. The database is linked to a handful of incredibly shoddy covid-19 studies.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Ramaswamy has presented himself as a fierce privacy advocate and “free speech absolutist.” Nonetheless, his blunder-heavy business record shows a man who has long been invested in financing and developing tools to invade sovereignty and personal privacy.

For more on Ramaswamy’s paradoxical advocacy and his continually changing political posturing, read Vetting Vivek Ramaswamy in The Dossier.

https://www.dossier.today/p/vetting-vivek-ramaswamy


He’s running as a “R(ino)EPUBLICAN?” Just from this alone, if I had to choose between this yahoo and Pence, I’d be forced to vote for Pence — whom I can’t stand. –TPR

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Biden Pandemic COVID Drugs Medicine Reprints from others.

Australian Garlic Can Eliminate 99.9 Percent of COVID-19, Flu Cells: Garlic Shortage coming?

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Garlic has been known as a mild antibiotic for centuries — hence why vampires avoid it.

By: Daniel Y. Teng for The Epoch Times – Australia

Scientists in a “world first” study now say Australian garlic could be key to fighting COVID-19 infections and the flu.

In a study by the Melbourne-based Peter Doherty Institute, researchers extracted a specific ingredient, the Proprietary Ingredient SupaG, from Australian-grown garlic varieties.

“The results came as a world first, with the findings from specific garlic varieties proving to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza type A viruses,” said the Victorian Chamber of Commerce in a statement.

Dr. Julie McAuley, manager of the high containment facility COVID-19 research lab at the Doherty Institute, said the team had assessed a variety of garlic products over the last 18 months—finding that a strain from Iraq was effective against COVID-19.

“We performed several blinded experiments and found one of [Australian Garlic Producers (AGP)] products could reduce the infectious titre of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza by 3-log-fold (99.9 percent). We could barely detect any remaining virus genome, indicating nearly complete virucidal activity.”

While Dr. Martin Elhay, business development director at the institute, said Doherty was committed to “the global effort to combat the spread” of COVID-19. The Doherty Institute was a prominent voice during the pandemic years on issues such as COVID-19 vaccination and public health orders.

Plans to Retail the Product

The AGP, who commissioned the study, will patent and commercialize the extraction process with plans to start retailing in supermarkets.

“Over the past 25 years, we have collected over 309 garlic cultivars from around the globe,” said Nick Diamantopoulos, CEO of the AGP.

“Our extensive R&D over many years with leading Australian universities and institutions has shown that garlic varieties not only vary in their agronomic and physiological properties but also in their biochemical properties.”

Diamantopoulos said the extensive research work is what led to the identification of “superior properties” in Australian garlic types.

The AGP harvests 100 percent of its garlic from the Australian jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. The next study will look at the potential benefits of garlic in lowering cholesterol levels.

Paul Guerra, CEO of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, said the partnership between the Doherty and AGP was a perfect example of how businesses and scientists could work together to deliver a “global game changer.”

 

Meanwhile, former federal MP Craig Kelly accused governments of spending billions on vaccines when a vegetable could have achieved the same effect.

“How stupid must the world feel today, having wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on useless vaccines and destroyed trillions of dollars of wealth with panicked lockdowns—when it’s now discovered that garlic kills COVID?” he wrote on Twitter.

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Biden Pandemic Economy Links from other news sources.

Here’s what you get with Wind and Solar. 2/3 of the country may suffer blackouts.

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Here’s what you get with Wind and Solar. 2/3 of the country may suffer blackouts. Large swathes of the U.S. could suffer blackouts this summer, according to the annual assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

So as we continue to shut down coal and Natural Gas plants the threat gets greater for summer black outs. Wind and Solar just aren’t reliable. They say wind and solar are less expensive but you see the cost rising nation wide.

Those regions include the entire continental U.S. from Texas to the West Coast, along with large portions of the Midwest and New England.

(Courtesy: NERC)Have we so soon forgotten what happened in California and Texas? Now with more electric vehicles, the strain will be greater.

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Biden Pandemic Corruption Reprints from others.

Biden Falsely Claims GOP’s Debt Ceiling Bill Would Cut Veterans’ Healthcare

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President Joe Biden falsely claimed again on Tuesday that Republicans’ legislation to raise the debt ceiling and curb spending cuts “$22 billion in veterans’ healthcare.”

Speaking at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York, Biden falsely asserted that the Limit, Save, Grow Act takes aim at veterans’ benefits.

“Now, they want to go back to the levels where we cut those folks that now provide that kind of help. This amounts to a $22 billion cut in veterans’ health care,” he said. It appears that Biden meant to say “22 percent,” the figure he has falsely used in other recent claims about the legislation.

However, the Limit, Save, and Grow Act makes no mention of veterans or their health benefits but caps discretionary spending at $1.47 trillion with one percent annual increases, as Breitbart News reported when he tweeted the claim earlier this month:

The bill would also take back all unobligated COVID relief money, rescind nearly $71 billion to the IRS to hire new workers and upgrade technology, block Biden from waiving $10,000 to $20,000 in student loan debts and reduce monthly payments for undergraduate loans, repeal most of the tax breaks Democrats passed to promote their clean energy agenda, and impose work requirements for federal cash and food assistance.

Republicans said that veteran health benefits would not be touched ahead of the vote a few weeks back, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reiterated this while speaking with CNN in Israel last week, as Just the News noted:

Can you tell me where in the bill it cuts the V.A.? It doesn’t. See this is the damage that when people do not tell the truth about the bill. It actually goes to the funding where we were four months ago. If you look back to the Obama-Biden budget that they passed for the next ten years, this actually spends more than what they proposed at this time, and the work of Congress gets to decide where spending and it’s just like every family household. I’m very sad that the Democrats would think about cutting the veterans because we would not. 

The “22 percent” cut that Biden has seized onto comes from an estimate provided by his director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler detailed how the Biden administration sewed the narrative by seizing on the lack of detail surrounding discretionary spending in the Limit, Save, Grow, and Act. Young’s estimate assumes that Republicans would make no cuts to 050-funded programs – which the House Budget Committee notes “includes the military activities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the nuclear weapons-related activities of the Department of Energy (DOE), the national security activities of several other agencies” –  meaning that steep savings would need to come from other programs to cap the figure at $1.47 trillion. Per Kessler, the administration used the Department of Veterans Affairs and the help of Democrat-leaning veterans’ groups to create the narrative:

The administration carefully laid the groundwork for the attack. On April 21, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a news release warning of the bill’s impact, with specific numbers — “30 million fewer Veteran outpatient visits, and 81,000 jobs lost across the Veterans Health Administration.” Then, more than 20 veterans groups allied with Democrats, such as VoteVets, sent lawmakers a letter requesting that VA funding be protected in the bill. The president of Veterans of Foreign Wars also wrote McCarthy, seeking “explicit assurances” that funding for veterans care would not be disrupted.

VoteVets even launched an advertisement claiming that veterans could die as a result of the legislation, a claim Kessler said warranted four Pinocchio’s.

“The VoteVets ad, using the White House numbers as a source, takes the spin to a Four-Pinocchio extreme, suggesting veterans may die when in fact no vote on the fiscal 2024 Veterans Affairs budget has yet been cast,” he wrote.

Biden pointed to the veterans’ groups while speaking Wednesday as evidence that the bill would cut veterans’ benefits:

Nowhere in their actual proposal, are there exclusive protection for veterans. But they say I’m – it’s unusual language we use with presidents these days – they say I’m lying when I say that. Well, the truth is, why have so many veteran groups spoken out in opposition the Republican proposal. They’re not all Democrats.

The Limit, Save, and Grow Act is the only legislation to raise the debt ceiling in Washington, DC. However, Senate Democrats refuse to take up the bill while simultaneously failing to offer any alternative measures on how to offset runaway debt.

Following congressional leadership’s meeting with Biden at the White House Tuesday, McCarthy stated, “I didn’t see any new movement,” but added their staff would continue talks.

“What we have here is we’re running out of time,” said Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “It’s time for the president to get serious and to sit down with the speaker and get a solution.”

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Biden Pandemic Links from other news sources. Politics

Yes Virginia there is a Conservative God. Biden running in 2024.

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Yes Virginia there is a Conservative God. Biden running in 2024. Republicans get a Christmas present early. Straight from the horses’ mouth.

Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.

That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States.

https://youtu.be/ChjibtX0UzU
Joe has no choice but to run. The Democrats know that their hold is slipping and even with Joe’s bad poll numbers, no other Progressive even comes close to his horid numbers.
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Biden Pandemic COVID Links from other news sources.

What an Ass. Biden loon claims the Pandemic was a good thing.

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What an Ass. Biden loon claims the Pandemic was a good thing. Outgoing Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the Department of State Monica Medina saw the Biden-Obama Pandemic as being beneficial.

So millions of people dying, the thousand upon thousands who suffered side effects was good? What a sicko. Sat what? “people really appreciated how much they enjoyed getting to be in the environment more days than they would” if they had been at work and that “we saw pollution levels go down and people went, huh, my quality of life is a little bit better now” because they didn’t have to worry as much about air pollution as they did before.

One sick person.

 

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Biden Pandemic COVID Drugs Life Science Stupid things people say or do.

White House to invest $5 billion in next-generation COVID vaccines. Here’s why we [don’t] need new ones.

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Story by Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY

Bracketed comments by Phoenix

The Biden Administration Monday announced a $5 billion program to accelerate the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

[Of course, the elephant in the room is: “Why? We already have effective treatments, ones that don’t kill people.” Oh, wait: they’re cheap, and Big Pharma can’t make more Billion$ from them. Carry on…..]

Like Operation Warp Speed, which developed and distributed vaccines in the early days of the pandemic, Project NextGen will cut across government agencies and involve public-private collaborations, a senior Biden official told USA TODAY.

Current vaccines, developed rapidly in the heat of the emergency, are “really good, but they’re not great,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who worked with the administration to develop the new program. “There is a substantial amount of work (to be done) to take these good vaccines and hopefully achieve better vaccines.”

Project NextGen has three primary goals, which Osterholm and colleagues laid out in a “roadmap” issued in February: Develop a nasal vaccine that will hopefully prevent infection as well as severe disease; develop longer-lasting vaccines; and create “broader” vaccines that protect against all variants and several different coronaviruses

[ Why do they need a “new” nasal vax when two already exist? Oh, wait. Same answer.]

It will also include funding to develop more durable monoclonal antibodies resistant to new variants, according to the administration. Antibodies were highly effective treatments earlier in the pandemic but have not been able to keep up with the virus as it evolved and are no longer available.

The Biden administration Monday announced a $5 billion program to accelerate the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

Like Operation Warp Speed, which developed and distributed vaccines in the early days of the pandemic, Project NextGen will cut across government agencies and involve public-private collaborations, a senior Biden official told USA TODAY.

Current vaccines, developed rapidly in the heat of the emergency, are “really good, but they’re not great,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who worked with the administration to develop the new program. “There is a substantial amount of work (to be done) to take these good vaccines and hopefully achieve better vaccines.”

Project NextGen has three primary goals, which Osterholm and colleagues laid out in a “roadmap” issued in February: Develop a nasal vaccine that will hopefully prevent infection as well as severe disease; develop longer-lasting vaccines; and create “broader” vaccines that protect against all variants and several different coronaviruses

It will also include funding to develop more durable monoclonal antibodies resistant to new variants, according to the administration. Antibodies were highly effective treatments earlier in the pandemic but have not been able to keep up with the virus as it evolved and are no longer available.

The administration said the initial allocation of $5 billion for Project NextGen would be financed through money saved from contracts costing less than originally estimated. The investment was first reported Monday by the Washington Post.

Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group who was also involved in the earlier roadmap, said he and others have been advising the White House since last summer to launch something like Project NextGen.

The funding is a start, he said, “but much more will be needed to accomplish all three goals,” he said. “The need though is urgent and now – something government generally doesn’t do well, hence the key will be prioritization and implementation.”

The Biden administration Monday announced a $5 billion program to accelerate the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

Like Operation Warp Speed, which developed and distributed vaccines in the early days of the pandemic, Project NextGen will cut across government agencies and involve public-private collaborations, a senior Biden official told USA TODAY.

Current vaccines, developed rapidly in the heat of the emergency, are “really good, but they’re not great,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who worked with the administration to develop the new program. “There is a substantial amount of work (to be done) to take these good vaccines and hopefully achieve better vaccines.”

Project NextGen has three primary goals, which Osterholm and colleagues laid out in a “roadmap” issued in February: Develop a nasal vaccine that will hopefully prevent infection as well as severe disease; develop longer-lasting vaccines; and create “broader” vaccines that protect against all variants and several different coronaviruses

It will also include funding to develop more durable monoclonal antibodies resistant to new variants, according to the administration. Antibodies were highly effective treatments earlier in the pandemic but have not been able to keep up with the virus as it evolved and are no longer available.

The administration said the initial allocation of $5 billion for Project NextGen will be financed through money saved from contracts costing less than originally estimated. The investment was first reported Monday by the Washington Post.

Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group who was also involved in the earlier roadmap, said he and others have been advising the White House since last summer to launch something like Project NextGen.

The funding is a start he said, “but much more will be needed to accomplish all three goals,” he said. “The need though is urgent and now – something government generally doesn’t do well, hence the key will be prioritization and implementation.”

Why do we need new coronavirus vaccines?

When the current vaccines were developed, speed was a priority along with safety and effectiveness. They were 95% effective at preventing all disease when first released in late 2020. But their effectiveness against mild disease, in particular, wanes over just a handful of months.

Protection may also not be as good as the virus continues to evolve. The current bivalent booster is aimed at both the original virus and the BA.5 variant.

But SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, is the third new coronavirus to pop up in the last two decades, following Middle-Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory (SARS). If and when a fourth turns up, it would be great to already have a vaccine that could protect against” it,’ said Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

[ “…when a fourth turns up, it would be great TO ALREADY HAVE a vaccine that could protect against it…”  Hmm, Bill Gates & friends have already told us there’s another pandemic coming, is there something they know that we don’t?]

A nasal vaccine is the third item on the wish list. The idea is that by delivering a vaccine directly to the area where the virus enters the body, scientists could set up a barrier of protection to prevent even mild infections and transmission from one person to the next.

[But didn’t they tell us initially that surface contact would spread it? DISINFECT EVERYTHING! And what about people who breathe more through their mouths — like people with allergies such as Hay Fever?]

“I think an initiative like this is much needed and should have been put in place much sooner,” said John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

What happens next?

Reaching these goals will likely be more difficult than it sounds, Moore said. 

“Anyone familiar with vaccine development knows that translation into a practical product is a much harder and more expensive process” than simply creating a basic vaccine, he said. “A lot of designs that look good in the early stages fizzle out because they cannot be manufactured efficiently under the conditions required for human trials.”

[And when did they have time for human testing under Warp Speed?]

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician who directs the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is skeptical that any of these goals are realistic.

Researchers have been trying for more than 40 years to develop vaccines against multiple strains of flu and against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Both have proven elusive, he said, because the viruses mutate so much, as does SARS-CoV-2.

Meanwhile, nasal vaccines are still being tested in clinical trials, so it’s not yet clear how effective they’ll be against COVID. A nasal vaccine for the flu doesn’t provide any more protection than a shot, Offit said, and it’s most effective in young children who have never been exposed to the flu virus before. At this point, nearly every American has already been exposed to the virus that causes COVID.

Moore agrees that developing a nasal vaccine should be a high priority, but “it’s seriously naive to believe that it will be easy to make one.”

Offit worries that the emphasis on making COVID vaccines better will undermine public trust in the ones we already have. He said the current vaccines have been “amazing,” but that vaccines can only do so much.

What did Operation Warp Speed do?

Under the Trump administration, Operation Warp Speed spent about $30 billion beginning in March 2020 to develop, manufacture and distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

The federal government essentially placed bets on six different drug companies hoping at least a few of them would prove successful. Each received over $1 billion (although Pfizer/BioNTech developed its vaccine without government support) with a promise of a guaranteed market if they succeeded. 

Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech both developed, tested, passed regulatory hurdles and produced millions of doses of their mRNA vaccines in under a year. Previously, the fastest vaccine had taken four years to bring to market.

Johnson and Johnson also developed a vaccine based on a different technology. While effective, the vaccine led to a rare side effect and is no longer widely available in the United States.

Novavax pursued a third type of vaccine technology and has also won emergency regulatory approval, though it is not widely available.

►The other two efforts, one by Sanofi and another by AstraZeneca, fell behind early and were not advanced beyond preliminary testing.

[It’s obvious I’m skeptical of the claims here. If the previous record for developing a vaccine was FOUR YEARS, how did they manage to develop –AND TEST– them so quickly (less than a third of that time)? Why weren’t these vaccines pulled after the deadly side effects became apparent? It only took a ‘mere’ 50 deaths to yank the swine flu vaccine; how many THOUSANDS have died/been seriously affected by the clot shots?]

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Biden Pandemic COVID Just my own thoughts Links from other news sources.

Biden Signs Bill Ending Coronavirus National Emergency.

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Biden Signs Bill Ending Coronavirus National Emergency.

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a Republican-led bill to terminate the coronavirus national emergency that former President Donald Trump first enacted in March 2020.

Biden’s White House was planning to wind down the national emergency next month on May 11. However, House Republicans put forth bills to end the national emergency before May.

This should have been done in January of 2021. But Biden, Tony the Fauch, CDC, NIH, and the FDA KEPT THIS GOING.

“Under the guise of COVID, President Biden and the Democrats were able to abuse emergency powers and go on a spending spree in order to prevent the American people from returning to normal,” Murphy said in a statement. “After bipartisan votes in both chambers voted to end this declaration, President Bided finally was forced to end this declaration. Medicine needs to be rooted in hard, objective science, not politics.”

“First, @HouseGOP overturned Washington, D.C.’s pro-criminal, anti-police agenda. Now, President Biden signed into law our resolution ENDING the COVID-19 emergency,” Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) tweeted. “Under @SpeakerMcCarthy, House Republicans are delivering real results for American families.”

The GOP-led bill, introduced by Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar (R) passed the House in February by a 229-197 vote. Despite nearly 200 House Democrats voting against the bill, it received bipartisan support in the Senate, which approved it in a 68-23 vote.

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Biden Pandemic COVID Just my own thoughts

So what have we learned after three years? Beside MSM, NIH, CDC,FDA, WHO, and the Biden administration continues to lie to us.

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So what have we learned after three years? Beside MSM, NIH, CDC,FDA, AMA, WHO, and the Biden administration continues to lie to us. I believe that this Thursday is the three year anniversary of “15 Days To Slow The Spread” campaign.

Without a doubt Tony the Fauch and his boss Collins started this campaign of lies and deceit. And yes Trump bought into this great Hoax of Lockdowns and shutdowns.

Only folks who were really in danger were the seniors and those with existing conditions. The folks who were ignored. The big push was to vaccinate the young, healthy, and children.

So what do we do if this happens again? Ignore folks like the Fauch and hope for the best.

 

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Biden Pandemic COVID Links from other news sources. Reprints from others.

WHO trying to fix what they broke.

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Part of what’s in this report should have come out the first six months of when COVID HIT. I have disagreements with alot of this, but at least they are starting to see the light.

Don’t get me wrong, the WHO was protecting China as was the NIH. CDC and the FDA went along.

The WHO report edited.

SAGE updates COVID-19 vaccination guidance
28 March 2023

News release
Following its 20-23 March meeting, WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) revised the roadmap for prioritizing the use of COVID-19 vaccines, to reflect the impact of Omicron and high population-level immunity due to infection and vaccination.

The roadmap continues SAGE’s prioritization of protecting populations at the greatest risk of death and severe disease from SARS-CoV-2 infection and its focus on maintaining resilient health systems. The roadmap newly considers the cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination for those at lower risk – namely healthy children and adolescents – compared to other health interventions. The roadmap also includes revised recommendations on additional booster doses and the spacing of boosters. The current COVID-19 vaccines’ reduction of post-COVID conditions is also considered but the evidence on the extent of their impact is inconsistent.

“Updated to reflect that much of the population is either vaccinated or previously infected with COVID-19, or both, the revised roadmap reemphasizes the importance of vaccinating those still at-risk of severe disease, mostly older adults and those with underlying conditions, including with additional boosters,” stated SAGE Chair Dr Hanna Nohynek. “Countries should consider their specific context in deciding whether to continue vaccinating low risk groups, like healthy children and adolescents, while not compromising the routine vaccines that are so crucial for the health and well-being of this age group.”

The revised roadmap outlines three priority-use groups for COVID-19 vaccination: high, medium, and low. These priority groups are principally based on risk of severe disease and death, and consider vaccine performance, cost-effectiveness, programmatic factors and community acceptance.

The high priority group includes older adults; younger adults with significant comorbidities (e.g. diabetes and heart disease); people with immunocompromising conditions (e.g. people living with HIV and transplant recipients), including children aged 6 months and older; pregnant persons; and frontline health workers.

For the high priority group, SAGE recommends an additional booster of either 6 or 12 months after the last dose, with the timeframe depending on factors such as age and immunocompromising conditions. All the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are time-limited, applying for the current epidemiological scenario only, and so the additional booster recommendations should not be seen as for continued annual COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The aim is to serve countries planning for the near- to mid-term.

The medium priority group includes healthy adults – usually under the age of 50-60 – without comorbidities and children and adolescents with comorbidities. SAGE recommends primary series and first booster doses for the medium priority group. Although additional boosters are safe for this group, SAGE does not routinely recommend them, given the comparatively low public health returns.

The low priority group includes healthy children and adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years. Primary and booster doses are safe and effective in children and adolescents. However, considering the low burden of disease, SAGE urges countries considering vaccination of this age group to base their decisions on contextual factors, such as the disease burden, cost effectiveness, and other health or programmatic priorities and opportunity costs. 

The public health impact of vaccinating healthy children and adolescents is comparatively much lower than the established benefits of traditional essential vaccines for children – such as the rotavirus, measles, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines – and of COVID-19 vaccines for high and medium priority groups. Children with immunocompromising conditions and comorbidities do face a higher risk of severe COVID-19, so are included in the high and medium priority groups respectively.

Though low overall, the burden of severe COVID-19 in infants under 6 months is still higher than in children aged 6 months to 5 years. Vaccinating pregnant persons – including with an additional dose if more than 6 months have passed since the last dose – protects both them and the fetus, while helping to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization of infants for COVID-19.

 

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