Washington Post Bashes Women For Disliking Birth Control Side Effects
The Washington Post’s pair of birth control propaganda articles weren’t just out of touch. They were out of line.
Those skeptical of the assertion that COVID-19 vaccines were altogether safe and effective — a claim long advanced by once-trusted government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and the media amidst a historic censorship campaign targeting dissenters and critics — appear to have had their doubts once again validated.
A damning new peer-reviewed multinational study examining data from nearly 100 million people has not only affirmed the well-documented link between the COVID-19 vaccines and increased risk of heart conditions but has also highlighted troubling links between the AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer vaccines and medical conditions such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, brain and spinal cord inflammation, Bell's palsy, and convulsions.
The study was conducted by the Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project — a Global Vaccine Data Network initiative supported by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services — and published last week in the esteemed journal Vaccine, the official journal of the Japanese Society for Vaccinology.
Lead author Kristýna Faksová of the Department of Epidemiology Research at the Danish State's Serum Institute was joined by researchers from various other countries including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Scotland in assessing whether there was a greater risk of 13 neurological, blood, and heart-related medical conditions occurring following the receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the observed versus expected rates study, which included data on 99 million people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 across eight countries, "the risk up to 42 days after vaccination was generally similar to the background risk for the majority of outcomes; however, a few potential safety signals were identified."
"Bell's palsy had an increased OE ratio after a first dose of [Pfizer's] BNT162b2 and [Moderna's] mRNA-1273," said the study. "There were also increased OE ratios for febrile seizures following a first and second dose of mRNA-1273 ... and for generalized seizures following first mRNA-1273 dose and fourth BNT162b2 dose."
The researchers observed a trend of Guillain-Barré syndrome and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis — a type of blood clot in the brain — cases after viral vector vaccines such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which Canada and European nations ditched in spring 2021 over reports of dangerous blood clots.
The researchers specifically found a "statistically significant increase in GBS cases within 42 days after a first ChAdOx1 dose." Whereas they expected to find 76 GBS "events," they found well over twice as many.
The University of Auckland, which hosts the Global Vaccine Data Network, noted that the researchers found possible "safety signals for transverse myelitis (inflammation of part of the spinal cord) after viral vector vaccines and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (inflammation and swelling in the brain and spinal cord) after viral vector and mRNA vaccines."
However, the paper cautioned that "although some case reports have suggested a possible association between COVID-19 vaccination and ADEM, there was no consistent pattern in terms of vaccine or timing following vaccination, and larger epidemiological studies have not confirmed any potential association."
The study did however confirm previously established safety signals for myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA vaccination, highlighting "significantly higher risks of myocarditis following the first, second and third doses of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 as well as pericarditis after the first and fourth dose of mRNA-1273, and third dose of ChAdOx1, in the 0–42 days risk period."
According to the study, "Potential underreporting across countries may have led to an underestimation of the significance of potential safety signals" for viral vector and mRNA vaccines alike.
"The size of the population in this study increased the possibility of identifying rare potential vaccine safety signals," Faksová said in a statement. "Single sites or regions are unlikely to have a large enough population to detect very rare signals."
The researchers claimed that the "safety signals identified in this study should be evaluated in the context of their rarity, severity, and clinical relevance."
Additionally, they noted the "overall risk–benefit evaluations of vaccination should take the risk associated with infection into account, as multiple studies demonstrated higher risk of developing the events under study, such as GBS, myocarditis, or ADEM, following SARS-CoV-2 infection than vaccination."
Blaze News reported earlier this month that a peer-reviewed study published Jan. 24 in the Springer Nature Group journal Cureus suggested the COVID-19 vaccines were a rushed product with an "unacceptable harm-to-reward ratio."
The study noted that the kinds of serious adverse events that would be factored into a risk-benefit comparison "have often been wrongly ascribed to COVID-19 rather than to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations."
"Misattributions of SAEs to COVID-19 often may be due to the amplification of adverse effects when mRNA injections are followed by SARS-CoV-2 subvariant infection," said the study. "Injuries from the mRNA products overlap with both [post-acute COVID-19 syndrome] and severe acute COVID-19 illness, often obscuring the vaccines' etiologic contributions."
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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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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 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.
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."
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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Elon Musk admitted Friday evening to suffering "major side effects" after he received his second COVID booster shot — a shot he indicated was obligatory on account of business travel.
This admission came after Rasmussen Reports published recent survey results revealing both the apparent prevalence of vaccine side effects and the majority desire for a congressional investigation into how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) handled vaccine safety.
Rasmussen Reports released the results of a poll on Jan. 20, indicating that 70% of Republicans, 48% of Democrats, and 54% of unaffiliated voters want a congressional investigation into the CDC's handling of vaccine safety during the pandemic.
While the results skewed along party lines, majorities of every racial category (56% of whites, 51% of black voters, and 66% of other minorities) noted a desire to hold the CDC accountable.
The majority of respondents may get their way.
The Republican-controlled Congress has authorized the creation of a new House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which the Washington Examiner noted will have broad jurisdiction.
While this subcommittee will probe the origins of the virus, it will also reportedly investigate vaccine development, COVID-related school closures, and other issues pertaining to the pandemic. It could possibly look into what the CDC knows about side effects of the vaccines.
"There’s a lot of confusion out there, there’s a lot of uncertainty out there, and I believe every American regardless of their political ideology would like to know the truth,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.).
Rasmussen Reports, also interested in a general sense of whether the CDC "provided the public with complete information about the danger of side effects from COVID-19 vaccines," previously posted a video on Jan. 16 detailing the findings of another survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2022.
Mark Mitchell, head pollster at Rasmussen Reports, suggested that "since there are approximately 260 million American adults, that implies that 177 million [roughly 68%] of them are vaccinated. According to our poll, with a 41% side effect rate, that means that 72 million Americans have experienced at least a self-identified minor side effect."
"Using a 7% major side effect rate [on the basis of this polling data], 12 million of those 72 million American experienced a self-identified major side effect," added Mitchell.
When asked whether they "personally know anyone whose death [they] think may have been caused by side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines," 28% of respondents answered "Yes." 61% answered "No," and 10% indicated they were not sure.
\u201cPublic opinion about #CovidVaccine deaths and side effects has far-reaching public health consequences. \n\nAll other pollsters have ignored the issue. WHY?\n\nPlease share this zero-commentary clip of our vaccine polling. \n\nDiscussion at Youtube: \nhttps://t.co/wkrXIrawVn\u201d— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen Reports) 1673893964
In a follow-up Twitter post referencing these takeaways, Rasmussen posed the question, "How many people does CDC estimate had major side effects?"
Elon Musk responded to the post after it had been retweeted by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, providing a brief personal account of the troubles he faced after receiving his second booster shot.
Musk wrote, "I had major side effects from my second booster shot. Felt like I was dying for several days. Hopefully, no permanent damage, but I dunno."
\u201c@ScottAdamsSays I had major side effects from my second booster shot. Felt like I was dying for several days. Hopefully, no permanent damage, but I dunno.\u201d— Scott Adams (@Scott Adams) 1674224054
The tech magnate explained that he had been infected with the original COVID-19 virus "before the vaccines came out and it was basically a mild cold."
He later received the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and indicated that with the exception of a temporarily sore arm, he suffered no "bad effects."
However, things changed for Musk when receiving his next series of shots.
Musk noted that he ultimately received two mRNA booster shots. The first one was "ok, but the second one crushed me."
\u201c@peters8620 @stillgray @ScottAdamsSays I had OG C19 before vaccines came out and it was basically a mild cold.\n\nThen had J&J vaccine with no bad effects, except my arm hurt briefly.\n\nFirst mRNA booster was ok, but the second one crushed me.\u201d— Scott Adams (@Scott Adams) 1674224054
When pilloried over this admission that he got a second booster shot, Musk indicated that it had been "required to visit Tesla Giga Berlin. Not my choice."
Although Musk was allegedly "crushed," his cousin reportedly suffered a worse fate.
The Twitter CEO added, "And my cousin, who is young & in peak health, had a serious case of myocarditis. Had to go to the hospital."
The CDC contends that "COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and severe reactions after vaccination are rare," noting that "The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks."
The agency also claims that myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, anaphylaxis, and reports of death after vaccination are "rare."
As of Jan. 13, the CDC continues to recommend "that everyone ages 6 months of age and older stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccination; this includes individuals who are currently eligible to receive an updated (bivalent) vaccine."
The agency claims that "Staying up-to-date with vaccines is the most effective tool we have for reducing death, hospitalization, and severe disease from COVID-19."
Contrary to these federal implorations to keep vaccinating, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo has recommended against mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for men in the 18-39 age range, after his state's health department found "an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination."
"Studying the safety and efficacy of any medications, including vaccines, is an important component of public health," Ladapo said, according to a press release. "Far less attention has been paid to safety and the concerns of many individuals have been dismissed – these are important findings that should be communicated to Floridians."