Biden admin's latest vaccine push falls on deaf ears, with majority indicating they will not get the COVID-19 shot



The Biden administration has implored Americans in recent weeks to get yet another COVID-19 booster. A new poll has revealed that the majority of Americans have no interest in complying. This is especially true of Republicans.

Moderna, whose profits in recent years have been driven by COVID-19 vaccine sales, claimed in August that an early study showed its latest vaccine to be effective against the so-called "Eris" and "Fornax" subvariants. Pfizer similarly alleged that the shot it developed with BioNTech has demonstrated neutralizing activity against the Eris subvariant, at least in mice, reported Reuters.

On Sept. 12, eight days after the double-vaccinated and twice-boosted first lady Jill Biden came down with COVID-19 yet again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone 6 months and older take the updated COVID-19 vaccines.

The CDC further claimed that the "benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks" and that "serious reactions after COVID-19 vaccination are rare."

Eighty-year-old President Joe Biden, who last caught COVID-19 in July 2022, got an updated booster on Sept. 22 and encouraged all Americans to do likewise.

The latest Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll revealed last week that 52% of U.S. adults don't feel much like following the president's lead.

According to the poll, 33% of respondents said they would "definitely not get" the vaccine and another 19% indicated they would "probably not get" the vaccine.

Conversely, 23% of adults indicated they "definitely" plan to get the vaccine and another 23% suggested they will "probably" get it.

And 94% of respondents who never received a vaccine indicated they'd likely hold fast. Only 1% indicated with any certainty they'd cave now, years after America achieved herd immunity.

When it comes to children, it appears most parents won't roll the dice.

According to the KFF, "Most parents say they will not get their child the new COVID-19 vaccine including six in ten parents of teenagers (those between the ages of 12 and 17), and two-thirds of parents of children ages 5 to 11 (64%) and ages 6 months to 4 years old (66%)."

Over half of parents of children aged five and younger gladly admitted to neither giving their child the COVID-19 vaccine nor intending to do so in the future.

A key predictor of vaccine uptake appears to be political affiliation.

Whereas 69% of Democrats indicated they would probably or definitely get the latest shot, the same was true of only 25% of Republican respondents. On the flip side, 29% of Democrats expressed resistance, whereas 76% of Republicans indicated they would not get the booster.

It appears that Democrats continue to let COVID-19 concerns dictate their lives; 58% of Democratic respondents indicated they changed their behavior to "be more COVID-conscious." Only 19% of Republicans did likewise.

There may be a link between uptake and confidence in vaccine safety and medical authorities. After all, 84% of Democrats believe the vaccines are safe. Only 36% of Republicans think likewise.

And 88% of Democratic respondents indicated they trust the CDC, and 86% said they trust the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For Republicans, the corresponding trust levels were 40% and 42%, respectively.

As has been true throughout the pandemic, a much smaller share of Republicans (24%) than Democrats (70%) expect to get the new COVID-19 vaccine \u2013 a 46 percentage point gap, according to our latest COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll. https://t.co/u1INw3bC6o
— KFF (@KFF) 1696169707

According to the CDC's COVID-19 tracker, only 1.8% of emergency department visits between Sept. 17 and Sept. 23 were diagnosed as having the virus.

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'There's something going on': Scientists acknowledge the severity of 'long vax' as well as their reluctance to pursue research that might furnish skeptics with a 'sensational headline'



Science, the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has just published damning admissions substantiating fears about COVID-19 vaccines that would have up until recently been verboten to express online.

Just as there is allegedly "long COVID," in which persons who contracted the virus suffer various symptoms long after they should have recovered, the American medical establishment now appears comfortable admitting there is similarly "long vax."

After the obligatory claim that COVID-19 vaccines have saved lives, Science correspondents Gretchen Vogel and Jennifer Couzin-Frankel noted that COVID-19 vaccines aren't just causing side effects, such as "abnormal blood clotting and heart inflammation," but have been linked to "a debilitating suite of symptoms that resembles Long Covid."

"You see one or two patients and you wonder if it’s a coincidence," Dr. Anne Louis Oaklander, neurologist and researcher at Harvard Medical School, told the journal. "But by the time you’ve seen 10, 20. .... Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Vogel and Couzin-Frankel suggested that symptoms of vaccine fallout "can include persistent headaches, severe fatigue, and abnormal heart rate and blood pressure. They appear hours, days, or weeks after vaccination and are difficult to study. But researchers and clinicians are increasingly finding some alignment with known medical conditions."

One of these conditions is reportedly small fiber neuropathy, whereby "nerve damage can cause tingling or electric shock-like sensations, burning pain, and blood circulation problems."

Another is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which can manifest as "muscle weakness, swings in heart rate and blood pressure, fatigue, and brain fog."

The National Institutes of Health noted in December 2022 that researchers examining linkages between COVID-19 vaccines and "uncommon side effects" had found "a slight increase in the number of people who have experienced postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) following vaccination."

Some patients are reportedly unfortunate enough to suffer "features of one or both conditions."

Peter Marks, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees vaccines, told the journal, "We can't rule out rare cases" where vaccines have triggered small fiber neuropathy or POTS and further stressed the importance of health care providers taking "seriously the concept [of] a vaccine side effect."

However, Marks appears to be worried that admitting vaccines are hurting people in the long term could give rise to a "sensational headline" that would, as Vogel and Couzin-Frankel phrased it, "mislead the public."

The article alludes to the German health minister's recent acknowledgement that COVID-19 vaccines, which were similarly de facto mandatory in his country, have been shown to result in long-term consequences.

Karl Lauterbach, the minister in question, reportedly told Christian Sievers of the ZDF Heute Journal that what has happened to people affected by vaccine injuries "is absolutely dismaying and every single case is one too many. I honestly feel very sorry for these people. There are severe disabilities, and some of them will be permanent," adding "1 in 10,000 is the frequency of serious side effects."

DW reported that the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the German Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedical Drugs, "has registered 333,492 cases of suspected harmful vaccination side effects and 50,833 suspected cases of serious side effects since the start of the vaccination campaign: a reporting rate of 1.78 per 1,000 vaccine doses."

Vogel and Couzin-Frankel stressed that researchers studying the long-term fallout of the vaccines, such as Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale University, are worried about "undermining trust."

Krumholz reportedly indicated he was initially reluctant to "dive in" for fear of bringing to light truths that might be seized upon by vaccine critics.

Notwithstanding his reservations, Krumholz said, "I’m persuaded that there’s something going on” with these side effects. "It’s my obligation, if I truly am a scientist, to have an open mind and learn if there’s something that can be done."

Krumholz and Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki have started a post-vaccination study called LISTEN, for Listen to Immune, Symptom and Treatment Experiences Now, reported the New York Post.

They are attempting to "understand long COVID, post-vaccine adverse events and the corresponding immune responses by collecting information about symptoms and medical history from participants."

Theirs is not the only show in town, however.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center analyzed a health database of nearly 300,000 people in Los Angeles, all of whom had received at least one COVID-19 shot.

"They found that within 90 days after a shot, the rate of POTS-related symptoms was about 33% higher than in the 3 months before; 2581 people were diagnosed with POTS-related symptoms after vaccination, compared with 1945 beforehand," Vogel and Couzin-Frankel indicated.

Some researchers suspect that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, delivered by the vaccines, may be responsible for "long vax," as it may instigate an immune overreaction and destabilize ACE2 signaling.

Although the specifics of how precisely the vaccines are upending some patients' lives are presently being worked out, Lawrence Purpura, an infectious disease specialist at Columbia University, is certain about the consequences.

Postvaccination illness is "a long, relentless disease," said Purpura.

In recent years, amid a broader effort to censor down vaccine skepticism, the Biden White House has pressured social media companies to silence those who raised concerns about the short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines, including Tucker Carlson.

While curbing dissenting views and squelching expressions of concern, the Biden administration imposed vaccine mandates, knowing full well there were "breakthrough" infections despite COVID-19 vaccination, contrary to how they were sold to the public.

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CBS News' medical contributor claims young people suffered unprecedented spike in heart attacks because of a lack of masking and vaccinations



CBS News' medical contributor Celine Gounder insinuated Monday that the young people who suffered an unprecedented spike in lethal heart attacks during the first two years of the pandemic might only have themselves to blame.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is among the agencies and experts that have acknowledged a link between the COVID-19 vaccines and heart issues, Gounder suggested that the spike in heart attacks was instead likely resultant of young people with generally stronger immune systems not getting vaccinated and failing to wear masks.

What are the details?

Gounder, editor at large for public health at Kaiser Health News, spoke to CBS News about a recent national study conducted by doctors at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, which showed a spike in heart attacks during the pandemic across all age groups, but in the 25- to 44-year-old age group in particular — a demographic previously not regarded to be at high risk of cardiac arrest.

The study, based on data analysis from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and published in the Journal of Medical Virology, found that heart attack death rates "took a sharp turn" and spiked during the pandemic, including during the Omicron phase of the pandemic when mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were ubiquitous.

Dr. Yee Hui Yeo, the first author on the study, said, "The dramatic rise in heart attacks during the pandemic has reversed what was a prior decadelong steady improvement in cardiac deaths."

The researchers recognized that "infections such as the flu can increase risk for heart disease and heart attack," but noted that "the sharp rise in heart attack deaths is like nothing seen before."

The study ultimately showed that there were 143,787 heart attack deaths in the year prior to the onset of the pandemic. However, in 2020, this number increased by 14% to 164,096.

According to Cedars-Sinai, the "excess in acute myocardial infarction-associated mortality has persisted throughout the pandemic, even during the most recent period marked by a surge of the presumed less-virulent Omicron variant."

The relative rise in heart attack deaths was most pronounced in the youngest group. By 2021, "the 'observed' compared to 'predicted' rates of heart attack death had increased by 29.9% for adults ages 25-44, by 19.6% for adults ages 45-64, and by 13.7% for adults age 65 and older."

Cedars-Sinai appeared keen to attribute the spike in heart attacks to multiple factors, including trends that long predated the pandemic, but failed to mention the vaccines. Among the possible reasons given were that COVID-19 may have accelerated preexisting coronary artery disease or that chronic stress resultant of job loss and other financial pressures set them off.

Yeo noted, "There are several potential explanations for the rapid rise in cardiac deaths in patients with COVID-19, yet still many unanswered questions."

Blame game

Gounder joined CBS News' Tony Dokoupil and Lilia Luciano on Monday to discuss the study's findings.

"So the 25- to 44-year-olds — you saw this 30% increase in the risk of death from heart attack. And that really is quite striking," said Gounder. "That's not a group, an age group, in which you normally see heart attacks, much less dying from a heart attack."

Dokoupil said, "You look at the years prior to the pandemic and the typical rate of heart attack death in that age group, and then you see it increase and you wonder, what’s the new variable? And so the pandemic is that the new variable?"

"That's right," answered Gounder, reiterating the researchers' point that in the years leading up to the pandemic, heart attacks were actually on the decline.

When answering why younger people in particular suffered a spike in fatal heart attacks, Gounder admitted that there was no confirmation that many of the deceased had COVID-19 to begin with: "We don't know for sure. And in fact, these death certificates are probably not even capturing the fact that [the victims] had COVID. They're really just saying that you died from a heart attack or not."

"What we do know, however, is that younger people were less likely to protect themselves against COVID than older people, less likely to mask, less likely to take other mitigation measures, and they were also further back in line to get vaccinated. ... Those might have been a factor here," claimed Gounder.

\u201cHeart attack deaths in young adults rose during first two years of COVID-19 pandemic\nSource: CBS News (YouTube)\u201d
— Wittgenstein (@Wittgenstein) 1676409990

Gounder took to Twitter to double down on her speculations, concluding that people should get vaccinated and wear masks to minimize their risk of heart attacks.

\u201c7/ How can you reduce your risk of heart\ud83e\udec0attack from COVID?\n\ud83d\udc89getting vaccinated\n\ud83d\ude37wearing a mask, especially in indoor public spaces during COVID surges\ud83d\udcc8\n\ud83e\ude9fventilation & air filtration\u201d
— C\u00e9line\u00a0Gounder,\u00a0MD, ScM, FIDSA \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@C\u00e9line\u00a0Gounder,\u00a0MD, ScM, FIDSA \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1676414796

A recent study cast doubt on the benefits of one of Gounder's recommendations.

"Interestingly, 12 trials in the review, ten in the community and two among healthcare workers, found that wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to influenza-like or COVID-19-like illness transmission," British epidemiologist Tom Jefferson, co-author of the Cochrane Library's report on masking trials, noted in the Spectator. "Equally, the review found that masks had no effect on laboratory-confirmed influenza or SARS-CoV-2 outcomes. Five other trials showed no difference between one type of mask over another."

The Telegraph reported on another study that found young men were "six times more likely to suffer from heart problems after being jabbed than be hospitalised from coronavirus."

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Doctor tells Canadian state media that after flu season comes 'stroke season'



A Calgary-based family physician and urgent care doctor appeared on Canadian state media earlier this week to explain the alleged link between influenza, infection, and stroke.

When explaining the linkage, Dr. Raj Bhardwaj of the University of Calgary noted his recent surprise at discovering that there is now reportedly a "stroke season."

What are the details?

Bhardwaj told CBC Calgary News that a stroke is ultimately when "the blood supply to the brain is compromised for some reason. It's basically a plumbing problem in the pipes that supply blood to your brain. And there's two things that could go wrong with pipes, right: they can get blocked or they can burst."

Systemic inflammation resultant of influenza can reportedly help trigger these plumbing issues.

"It can make the inside of the pipes stickier. It can make your blood a little bit thicker, especially if you get dehydrated. And it can even put the heart into a weird rhythm called atrial fibrillation," said Bhardwaj. "All of those things can increase your risk of having a stroke."

While Bhardwaj was cognizant of the potential link between flu and stroke, he was nevertheless caught off guard by the alleged existence of a "stroke season."

"I didn't know about this either until last year, but it turns out that after flu season, about three or four weeks later, there is a stroke season," he said. "Most of Canada is getting down off of a big hump of flu, so now we're starting to see more strokes."

Bhardwaj noted that he was not the only doctor in the dark about so-called "stroke season."

"One of my colleagues actually mentioned that at work the other day and said, 'Have you noticed how many strokes we're seeing? It's a lot more than usual it feels like,'" said Bhardwaj. "Anecdotally, we're starting to see that."

\u201cHoly shiat\u2026 \u201cI never knew there was a stroke season after flu season, until my bosses & big Pharma told me there is a stroke season after flu season\u201d. \n\nSo am I now allowed asking if people collapsing on air is a stroke? It\u2019s the season, after all, right?\u201d
— Viva Frei (@Viva Frei) 1674316228

Bhardwaj claimed the "good news is that getting your flu shot reduces your risk of stroke," citing a study from the University of Calgary where he works as a clinical assistant professor.

The study in question, published in the Lancet in November, noted that influenza "is a common respiratory infection that precedes stroke."

Dr. Michael Hill, one of the authors on the study, told Global News, "There’s a longstanding history between infections and stroke — upper respiratory tract infections are associated with stroke — so it was sort of natural to start to look at this."

The study suggested that after adjusting for demographics and comorbidities, "recent influenza vaccination significantly reduced the hazard of stroke"; an association that "persisted across all stroke types."

Stroke was found to have been reduced across all ages and risk profiles with the exception to those without hypertension.

A spike resultant of lifestyle choices, weather or something else?

CTV News reported in December that one Canadian hospital had, like Bhardwaj's colleague, observed a "15 per cent increase in the number of stroke patients arriving ... in the first six months of this year."

"What we're seeing is that there is this measurable increase in in the risk of strokes, and not only that, but also just poor outcomes for patients that have strokes during the winter time," said physician George Dresser.

Dresser suggested that regular exercise, reduced sodium and alcohol intake, and a potassium-rich diet could help remedy hypertension and, in turn, deter stroke.

Christmastime sloth and treats may not be the only triggers of spikes in stroke, however.

A 2016 study published in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases suggested that "lower average temperature and larger diurnal temperature variations were associated with stroke hospitalizations."

Dr. Roberto Alejandro Cruz, a neurologist with DHR Health, told KRGV in May 2021 that he had noticed a spike in patients 30 years and older who had suffered strokes since the start of that year. The CDC noted that over 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered in the United States by April 21.

While this particular study might help explain a wintertime or early spring "stroke season," researchers behind a 2019 study published in the Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases suggested hot temperatures might otherwise trigger strokes.

They observed "an increase in [ischemic stroke] rates relative to [intracerebral hemorrhage] during the summer months with higher solar radiations that cannot be explained by physiological measures suggestive of dehydration or hem-concentration."

Seasonal weather patterns might account for strokes, but not necessarily an significant uptick in cases.

The New York Times recently reported that data from the "Vaccine Safety Datalink, a federal safety surveillance system, hinted that Americans aged 65 and older might be at increased risk of an ischemic stroke in the 21 days after receiving" the bivalent booster shot.

The CDC — which the majority of respondents in a recent Rasmussen Report poll indicated they want investigated by Congress for its handling of vaccine safety — has announced that it is investigating whether the Bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech has increased some recipients' risk of stroke. Despite the investigation, the CDC maintains that the risk posed by the booster is "very unlikely."

Days after the CDC announced its investigation, Kate O’Brien, WHO director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, claimed that "the best evidence is that there is no true association between the booster doses of Pfizer in the older adults and strokes."

A scientific review published June 2022 in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases noted that "Most of the evidence pertaining to stroke following COVID-19 vaccination are case reports, therefore, the incidence of stroke after COVID-19 vaccination is not precisely known."

The review added that "Most patients who suffered from stroke after COVID-19 vaccination were women, under 60 years of age, and after the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine."

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New study claims that 'fear mongering and misinformation' may be responsible for adverse effects attributed to vaccines



A recent study suggests that it is not mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that are "most likely" responsible for adverse effects such as blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks, but concerns widely expressed about the vaccines.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

In September, the Indian journal "Biomedicine" published a so-called study by self-professed "mRNA Alchemist" and biotech engineer Raymond D. Palmer, entitled "Covid 19 vaccines and the misinterpretation of perceived side effects clarity on the safety of vaccines." The study is presently being hosted on the National Library of Medicine site, which is operated by the U.S. federal government.

While various experts, such as internationally esteemed American cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, have issued warnings about potential downsides of the vaccines, Palmer, an astronomy hobbyist and former realtor, claimed that those wary about the COVID-19 vaccines do not just suffer "a profound lack of scientific and medical training" but are at the root of a great deal of vaccine recipients' suffering.

Palmer's paper claimed that various adverse effects that take place "in and around the time of receiving the [COVID-19] vaccine" may result from the "mental stress" generated by concerns about those very vaccines.

While noting that "the likelihood of mental stress causing strokes, heart attacks or blood clots may at first appear unlikely," Palmer nevertheless claimed that "anti-vaccination sentiment could be attributed to the alleged side effects that are perpetuated across social media from anti-vaccination groups."

According to Palmer, blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, dizziness, fainting, blurred vision, and loss of smell and taste are products of mental stress. The mRNA alchemist claimed also that the "science for the vaccines causing blood clots has not been found."

Contrary to Palmer's published suggestion, the University of Utah reported that the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have, for instance, been associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenia, where antibodies lead to "uncontrolled activation of platelets ... and blood clots to form."

In April 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a pause in its recommendations for the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for this very reason.

Discounting previous blood clot links, Palmer said that mental stress "clearly causes vasoconstriction and arterial constriction of the blood vessels."

Persons who are "panicked, concerned, stressed or scared of the vaccination" may therefore see their arteries "constrict and become smaller in and around the time of receiving the vaccine."

Furthermore, stress can induce myocardial ischemia (MSIMI), he said, whereby blood flow to the heart is restricted due to emotional distress.

Although Palmer did not rule "in or out every side effect seen," he suggested that "fear mongering and scare tactics used by various anti-vaccination groups" trigger these mental stressors, vasoconstriction and, subsequently, the very side effects so-called anti-vaxxers claim the vaccines are generating.

Obesity and poor arterial health, in combination with stress, may "heighten the chances of a vaccine side effect," added Palmer.

In the paper, Palmer did not account for adverse effects suffered by people who weren't necessarily panicked, concerned, stressed, or tuned into cautionary tales about the vaccines. Palmer focused on fear allegedly created by the "anti-vaccination movement."

Palmer also did not explore potential links between MSIMI or clotting and statements like President Joe Biden's December 2021 warning that America would experience "a winter of severe illness and death" or former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) suggestion that the unvaccinated may "wind up killing your grandmother."

It is altogether unclear from Palmer's paper whether fear-inspiring rhetoric advanced by the government and other advocates for the mRNA vaccines might have created "adverse effects" in the vaccinated or the unvaccinated or both.

While the Australia-based former realtor underscored that those fearful of suffering adverse side effects "may increase their risk of experiencing adverse side effects," his proposed remedy was not censorship or chemically-induced fearlessness. Instead, Palmer suggested that prospective vaccine recipients should "visit their medical practitioner and discuss the use of therapies or medications" designed to improve healthy blood flow and address heart conditions.

When asked by Rebekah Barnett of the "Dystopian Down Under" Substack about his Ph.D. candidacy, Palmer allegedly said he couldn't provide an answer on account of having signed nondisclosure agreements.