Medical Organizations Urge End To Transgender Surgeries For Kids
A new declaration urges all U.S. medical personnel to stop experimentation and abuse of children under the guise of transgender treatment.A new declaration urges all U.S. medical personnel to stop experimentation and abuse of children under the guise of transgender treatment.From heroes to zeroes: Mayo Clinic cans 700 unvaccinated workers
Remember the good ol' days when the people on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in our nation's hospitals were hailed as heroes for their selflessness?
We saw signs regularly hailing the efforts and self-sacrifice of nurses, doctors, first responders, essentially anyone even tangentially associated with health care.
Hospitals even had "Heroes Work Here" signs posted outside their front doors for the adoring public to see and offer prayers of thanks for the greatness and selflessness of these people who were willing to take a risk to care for those of us who might have caught the COVID bug.
Good times.
Those days are apparently long gone at the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The medical center said Tuesday that it had fired 700 of its employees for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 by the Jan. 3 deadline, WCCO-TV reported.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, workers had until Monday to get their first shots or get a medical or religious exemption approved. Mayo officials claimed that they had granted the majority of exemption requests.
Those fired workers make up about 1% of the company's workforce, the outlet said. That's 1% of the workforce at the state's largest employer.
The Star Tribune said that Mayo Clinic officials asserted that the vaccine requirements were "necessary to provide the safest possible environment" at the facility that treats people from around the world for a host of complex and unique concerns.
"Based on science and data, it's clear that vaccination keeps people out of the hospital and saves lives," Mayo claimed in a statement, WCCO reported. "That's true for everyone in our communities — and it's especially true for the many patients with serious or complex diseases who seek care at Mayo Clinic each day."
No word from the clinic about vaccinated but infected workers spreading COVID to patients, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has admitted can happen, saying on its website, "CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms."
But there's good news for those onetime front-line heroes: They can return to Mayo to fill future openings to care for the sick if they get vaccinated, despite having cared for the same sick patients while unvaccinated for nearly two years.
So there's that.
Biden's vaccine mandate for health care works suffers loss in federal court; judge slams 'federalism-altering' policy
President Joe Biden's campaign to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine suffered yet another setback in federal court on Monday.
What is the background?
In early November, the Biden administration enacted a vaccine mandate for health care workers at medical facilities that receive federal funds via Medicare or Medicaid. The mandate was issued via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In response, 10 states — Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming — sued the Biden administration over the mandate.
What did the judge say?
In a 32-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp explained he issued a temporary injunction stopping the mandate because the claim of the states — that CMS lacks authority to enact and enforce such a broad mandate — carries significant legal merit.
One of the driving reasons why the court sided with the states was because, as Schelp explained, the federal government "significantly understate[d] the burden that its mandate would impose on the ability of healthcare facilities to provide proper care, and thus, save lives."
The judge explained:
If the mandate goes into effect, it will irreparably harmpatients by impeding access to care for the elderly and for persons who cannot afford it—directlycontrary to Medicare and Medicaid’s core objective of providing proper care.
In sum, Plaintiffs’evidence shows that facilities—rural facilities in particular—likely would face crisis standards ofcare or will have no choice but to close to new patients or close altogether, both of which wouldcause significant, and irreparable, harm to Plaintiffs’ citizens.
Schelp also tore into the Biden administration for seeking to enact such a broad mandate without approval from Congress.
"Even if Congress has the power to mandate the vaccine and the authority to delegate such a mandate to CMS—topics on which the Court does not opine today—the lack of congressional intent for this monumental policy decision speaks volumes," Schelp wrote.
"Congress did not clearly authorize CMS to enact the this politically and economically vast, federalism-altering, and boundary-pushing mandate, which Supreme Court precedent requires," he declared.
What was the reaction?
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), who led the lawsuit, celebrated the ruling.
"Our system of checks & balances, federalism, separation of powers was meant to protect individual liberty. The belief in individual rights is one of America’s great legacies," he said. "Our win today vs. the Biden healthcare worker vaccine mandate is a win for workers & a win for liberty."
CMS has not yet issued a statement. The agency, however, told Reuters it is reviewing the ruling and continued to claim that unvaccinated health care workers pose a threat to safety.
California mandates state employees and health care workers get vaccinated
State employees and health care workers in California will be required to show proof of vaccination at work or be forced to get tested for COVID-19 regularly to keep their jobs under a new plan introduced by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
On Monday, Newsom announced what he calls a "first-in-the-nation standard" for mandatory vaccines or coronavirus testing to incentivize unvaccinated employees to take their COVID shots, a policy he hopes local communities and private sector businesses will adopt.
"We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it's going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant," the governor said in a press statement. "As the state's largest employer, we are leading by example and requiring all state and health care workers to show proof of vaccination or be tested regularly, and we are encouraging local governments and businesses to do the same. Vaccines are safe – they protect our family, those who truly can't get vaccinated, our children and our economy. Vaccines are the way we end this pandemic."
Hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, homeless shelters, jails, and other health care settings will be required to verify that their employees are fully vaccinated or being tested regularly. Those who decline to get vaccinated will be required to wear face masks and other appropriate PPE.
The new policy will take effect for state workers on Aug. 2 and will be phased in for health care settings afterward. Health care workers and congregate facilities will need to require vaccination or regular testing by Aug. 9 and health care facilities will have until Aug. 23 to become compliant with the new policy.
NEW: CA will have the strongest state vaccine verification system in the US and will require state employees & heal… https://t.co/eTWyVJRaXA
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) 1627321419.0
The governor's office said the requirements are necessary because of rising COVID-19 cases attributed to the Delta variant, which is more contagious than other variants of the virus. Last week, California's statewide case rate more than quadrupled from a low in May of 1.9 cases per 100,000 per day to at least 9.5 cases per 100,000. After reaching a low of under 900 hospitalizations in June, COVID-19 hospitalizations are back up to nearly 3,000.
"The vast majority of new cases are among the unvaccinated, with 600 percent higher case rates among the unvaccinated than for those who are vaccinated," the governor's office stated.
"California has administered more vaccines than any other state, with 75 percent of those eligible having gotten at least one dose, and we were weeks ahead of meeting President Biden's 70 percent goal. But we must do more to fight disinformation and encourage vaccine-hesitant communities and individuals," state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
As COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surge because of the Delta variant, public health officials have become more and more insistent that private businesses and governments adopt vaccine mandates to force the remaining unvaccinated population to get their shots.
According to CNN, the Department of Veterans Affairs and New York City announced similar COVID-19 mandates for employees on Monday, demonstrating that such policies are gaining traction.
The vast majority of Americans, however, are opposed to forcing people to get vaccinated against their will.
Vaccine mandates: Health care workers must get forced jabs, say medical groups
A coalition of leading medical groups is calling for all health care and long-term care workers to be forced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in response to the recent surge of coronavirus cases.
Though more than 160 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all rising as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads among unvaccinated communities.
On July 16, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said 99.5% of recent U.S. coronavirus deaths were of unvaccinated people.
"Due to the recent COVID-19 surge and the availability of safe and effective vaccines, our health care organizations and societies advocate that all health care and long-term care employers require their workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine," the coalition of 56 health care associations said in a joint statement released Monday.
The coalition includes the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nursing Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons and the American Public Health Association.
Requiring vaccination for employment is "the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being," the groups said.
Vaccine mandates are highly controversial and unpopular. A recent poll found that 71% of Americans oppose forcing people to take a COVID vaccine against their will while public health officials continue to suggest such mandates are necessary to overcome vaccine hesitancy.
Many health care workers remain unvaccinated despite having priority access to vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. According to one estimate by WebMD and Medscape Medical News, 1 in 4 hospital workers who have direct contact with patients had not received a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of May. The Washington Post reported that more than 38% of nursing home workers were not fully vaccinated as of July 11, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data.
Unvaccinated health care workers risk spreading COVID to vulnerable patients, even patients who are vaccinated. While the vast majority of vaccinated people will suffer only mild symptoms if they contract the Delta variant, experts say some older Americans with weaker immune systems may not fully respond to the vaccines, putting them at risk of illness or death. A recent CDC investigation linked unvaccinated nursing home staff to a national increase in COVID infections and deaths at senior facilities.
Reasons given for vaccine hesitancy among health care workers are varied, but studies indicate there are concerns the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, which were developed in record time under the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed and granted emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.
While more than 338 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the U.S. and coronavirus cases have plummeted as a result, the FDA has yet to approve the vaccines. Physicians are calling on the FDA to hurry up and grant full approval to the vaccines, arguing the volume of vaccines safely administered with very rare instances of side effects have established enough data to show the vaccines are safe and effective. They hope that full FDA approval can convince some vaccine skeptics to get their shots and mitigate the risk of spreading COVID.
Even so, majorities of unvaccinated Americans say there is nothing that could convince them to get their shots. With celebrity endorsements, cash incentives, and other methods of persuasion appearing to have failed, calls for the private sector to enact vaccine mandates will only grow louder as communities begin to reintroduce coronavirus restrictions, citing too many unvaccinated people and too many COVID infections.
Hundreds of vaccinated doctors, medical workers catch COVID-19 in Indonesia; some have been hospitalized
Despite the fact that they've been vaccinated, more than 350 doctors and medical workers in Indonesia have caught COVID-19 and dozens of them have been hospitalized, Reuters reported, which cited officials concerned about the effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine, which was developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical company.
What are the details?
The outlet said most of the infected health care workers were asymptomatic and self-isolating at home, but those who've been hospitalized had high fevers and declining oxygen-saturation levels.
Indonesian health care workers were designated a priority group for vaccinations and were among the first to receive them in January, Reuters noted. Almost all of them received the vaccine from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac, the outlet added, citing the Indonesian Medical Association.
Reuters reported that the number of Indonesian health care workers dying from COVID-19 has dropped from 158 in January to 13 in May, but public health experts said hospitalizations are concerning them.
The district of Kudus in central Java has about 5,000 health care workers and is in the middle of a COVID-19 outbreak apparently driven by the more transmissible Delta variant, the outlet reported, adding that hospital bed occupancy rates have risen above 90%.
"The data shows they have the Delta variant [in Kudus], so it is no surprise that the breakthrough infection is higher than before, because, as we know, the majority of health care workers in Indonesia got Sinovac, and we still don't know yet how effective it is in the real world against the Delta variant," Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Australia's Griffith University, told Reuters.
The outlet said spokespersons from Sinovac and Indonesia's ministry of health were not immediately available for comment.
What's the background?
Reuters said the World Health Organization approved emergency use of Sinovac's vaccine this month, noting results that showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of recipients and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospital stays in all of those studied.
But experts also told the outlet that after being vaccinated, many people — even doctors and health care workers — are being less vigilant about COVID-19 protocols because they believe they won't get infected.
More from Reuters:
Across Indonesia, at least five doctors and one nurse have died from COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, according to the data initiative group, although one had only received a first shot.
In Kudus, one senior doctor has died, said IDI, although it is understood he had a co-morbidity.
In Jakarta, the capital, radiologist Dr Prijo Sidipratomo told Reuters he knew of at least half a dozen doctors who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the past month, despite being vaccinated, with one now being treated in an ICU.
Far-left NY Gov. Cuomo blasted for 'sickening' decision to use Memorial Day weekend to remember 'essential workers' who died from COVID-19
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has received an earful of anger for using Memorial Day weekend to remember "essential workers" who died of COVID-19.
What are the details?
Cuomo's order issued last week directed flags on state government buildings to fly at half-staff and state landmarks to be lit red, white, and blue on Sunday "to honor the essential workers who lost their lives due to COVID-19. Flags will remain at half-staff until noon and landmarks will remain lit on Monday, May 31, for Memorial Day in honor of the service members who lost their lives fighting to defend our country."
The governor noted during a press conference that "we remember those who gave their lives on Memorial Day. Gave their lives for this country. Fought for freedom because freedom isn't free. I also think we should remember this past year, on Memorial Day, remember the 42,000 New Yorkers who died. 42,000. Remember the 1,000 essential workers who died giving their life. Giving their life."
'Sickening'
Rockland County Executive Ed Day — a former first responder — told News 12 The Bronx that the county wouldn't take part in the Sunday directive, calling the decision a "sickening effort to co-opt the true meaning of Memorial Day."
Others had similar reactions.
Gold Star wife Michelle Garcia — who lost her husband Justin in Iraq in 2006 when she was six months pregnant with their son — told the station she was outraged by Cuomo's directive and wrote him a letter asking him to reconsider.
"We have Memorial Day to honor our fallen, and we have Veteran's Day to honor our veterans," Garcia told News 12. "Our essential workers do deserve that, but our fallen heroes deserve this weekend and Memorial Day to be about them."
WGRZ-TV said it asked Dan Frontera — an Iraq war veteran and organizer of the Afghanistan-Iraq Memorial at the Buffalo Naval Park — and David Whipple, who lost his son Blake in Afghanistan, about Cuomo's decision.
"There are a number of days that recognize the military, but Memorial Day is the only day that recognizes the fallen soldiers, Navy, and it's all about them," Whipple told WGRZ.
Whipple added to the station: "And to take another group, a deserving group, and co-mingle that with these folks, for over 200 years, who have fought for our freedom, lost their lives? No, I disagree with the decision to co-mingle, even if it's Saturday, Sunday versus Monday. That weekend is Memorial Day weekend. That's for a special group and we ought to keep it that way."
Frontera told WGRZ, "Yes, recognize the people who were there to support COVID. Recognize the first responders, the nurses, the doctors who gave everything they had."
However, Frontera added to the station, "But this holiday, this weekend, when you raise your glass, when you have your barbecue, it's not about them. It's about the young men and young women who gave their lives, who will be forever young, in the service of this nation. It's not about what Governor Cuomo wants, not at all."
Did anyone like Cuomo's move? Why, yes — a union president
News 12 said 32BJ Union President Kyle Bragg noted that "some workers made the ultimate sacrifice, including over 150 of our union's members. We thank Governor Andrew Cuomo for honoring their lives and sacrifices by including them in New York State's Memorial Day tribute."
Did Cuomo's office have anything to add?
WGRZ reached out to Cuomo's office about his decision, and the station said Rich Azzopardi — the governor's senior adviser — offered the following response: "Memorial Day, which honors soldiers who paid the ultimate price to defend this nation, is Monday and we are honoring those who stayed on the front lines and paid for it with their lives to help us fight this pandemic the day before. This isn't either/or and surely there is enough space in our hearts to honor all these heroes in one weekend."
Large numbers of health care and frontline workers are refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine
Despite having been prioritized as the first recipients of the coronavirus vaccine, a large number of health care and frontline workers are passing on the vaccine. Early reports from across the country show that health care and frontline workers are refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In Ohio, 60% of nursing home employees decided not to take the coronavirus vaccine. Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) reacted to the low participation numbers by saying, "We aren't going to make them but we wish they had a higher compliance." He added that he was "troubled" by how many nursing home workers rejected the vaccine.
DeWine warned frontline workers that they soon would no longer be in front of the line, "Our message today is: The train may not be coming back for awhile. We're going to make it available to everyone eventually, but this is the opportunity for you, and you should really think about getting it."
Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, is frustrated that over half of the nurses in his unit will refuse to get the vaccine.
"Yesterday I had a — not a fight, but I had a friendly argument with more than 50% of my nurses in my unit telling me that they would not get the vaccine," he told NPR's "Morning Edition."
"Some of those nurses have had family members admitted to the hospital, gravely ill with COVID-19," NPR reported. "But he said some nurses and hospital staff members — many of whom are Latinx or Black — are skeptical it will work and are worried about unfounded side effects."
In California, an estimated 50% of frontline workers in Riverside County turned down the COVID-19 vaccine, Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari told the Los Angeles Times.
"At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half of the 700 hospital workers eligible for the vaccine were willing to take the shot when it was first offered. At Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one in five frontline nurses and doctors have declined the shot," the LA Times reported. "Roughly 20% to 40% of L.A. County's frontline workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health officials."
Dr. Nikhila Juvvadi, the chief clinical officer at Chicago's Loretto Hospital, surveyed the hospital staff right before the coronavirus vaccine came out, and 40% of the employees said they would not get vaccinated, according to NPR.
In an early December survey of New York Fire Department members, approximately 55% of uniformed firefighters said they would opt to not get the shot, according to WNBC-TV.
A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation published on Dec. 15 found that 29% of those who work in a health care delivery setting probably would not or definitely would not get the shot. The poll also found that 33% of essential workers would pass. Overall, 27% of Americans are "vaccine-hesitant."
There is a stark divide among Americans who are willing to get vaccinated depending on their political affiliation. According to the survey, 86% of Democrats say that they will definitely or probably get the coronavirus vaccine, compared to 56% of Republicans who said the same.
According to the KFF, the top concerns about being reluctant to get the coronavirus vaccine are:
- Possible side effects (59%)
- Lack of trust in the government to ensure the vaccines' safety and effectiveness (55%)
- Concerns that the vaccine is too new (53%)
- Concerns over the role of politics in the development process (51%)
Sheena Bumpas, a certified nursing assistant at a home in Oklahoma, told the New York Times that she was reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine because "I don't want to be a guinea pig."
April Lu, a 31-year-old nurse at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in California, refused to take the vaccine because she is concerned that it is might not be safe for pregnant women, and she is six months pregnant.
"I'm choosing the risk — the risk of having COVID, or the risk of the unknown of the vaccine," Lu told the Los Angeles Times. "I think I'm choosing the risk of COVID. I can control that and prevent it a little by wearing masks, although not 100% for sure."
Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci noted that coronavirus vaccines could become mandatory in order to attend school or travel internationally.
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