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Liberal Incompetence Reaches Canada's Vaccine Reserves
Advocates say more transparency needed around Canada's excess doses
and international pledges
Stephanie Dubois · CBC News ·
Posted: Dec 17, 2021 4:00 AM ET
Vaccine equity advocates say the federal government should be more transparent about its plansaround donating excess doses. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
The federal government's central COVID-19 vaccine inventory has far exceeded its target of four million doses in recent months — at times holding more than triple that amount, according to a CBC analysis.
Global vaccine equity advocates say the figures show that Canada was keeping extra doses in reserve at a time when the demand for booster shots wasn't yet there and while several lower-income countries struggled to get vaccines.
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As Canada's vaccination drive kicked into gear over the summer, the federal government said it would maintain a reserve of about four million shots for Canadians to access, and any inventory flagged as excess would be donated to other countries.
But an analysis of the federal government's online archives using the Wayback Machine shows that central vaccine inventory data hasn't dipped toward the four-million-dose mark since that pledge was made by then Procurement Minister Anita Anand on Aug. 12.
How Omicron spreads so fast is the question of the moment. New research is pointing to the answer
At its lowest, the reserve was at 6.5 million doses around mid-November. At its highest, it was at more than 13 million doses, according to federal data.
As of Thursday, the federal reserve sat at around 6.5 million doses.
The federal reserve figures do not include any excess vaccines in provincial or territorial reserves. There are currently 16 million doses in the federal and provincial reserves combined, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Wednesday.
COVID-19 vaccine doses in federal central vaccine inventory
The figures highlight that
Canada "absolutely could be doing a lot more" to follow through on its pledge to support the developing world, said Adam Houston, medical policy and advocacy officer for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.
"It's been very troubling at a time of a very serious global vaccine inequity," said Houston. "I think it also underscores the fact that Canada did take more than it needed."
I would never accuse the Liberal government of intentionally hoarding vaccines. Never assume malice when stupidity is just as likely.
Pandemic Could Be Solved Quickly If Politics Thrown Out:
Dr. Ben Carson
BY HARRY LEE AND JAN JEKIELEK
December 16, 2021
Dr. Ben Carson, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in Virginia on Dec. 7, 2021. (York Du/The Epoch Times)
“We’ve been having tunnel vision” dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ben Carson told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.
“Let’s throw the politics out. We could solve this problem pretty quickly,” he stated in an interview that will premiere on Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. New York time.
“Let’s open this thing up to all the different mechanisms,” said Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian award in the nation—in 2008 for his work. He retired in 2013 and ran for the presidency in 2016, before serving as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Trump administration.
“Let’s look around the world at things that work. Let’s look at the fact that on the western coast of Africa, there’s almost no COVID. And let’s ask ourselves, why is that? And then you see, it’s because they take antimalarials, particularly hydroxychloroquine. Let’s study that. Let’s see what’s going on there.
“Let’s listen to these physician groups who’ve had incredible success with ivermectin. Let’s look at the results with monoclonal antibodies. Let’s look at all of these things. Let’s put them all in our armamentarium so that we don’t have a one-size-fits-all system.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at one time had authorized hydroxychloroquine for treating certain COVID-19 patients but quickly revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) in June 2020, claiming no data showed its effectiveness.
The FDA hasn’t approved or issued an EUA for ivermectin to treat COVID-19, citing the same reasons.
Using hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients has been highly controversial. Some studies show, and some doctors claim, that hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin can effectively treat COVID-19 patients. A vaccine confidence insight report (pdf) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labeled such claims as misinformation or disinformation.
So, the point is, if hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin were shown to be effective, then Big Pharma could not get their experimental drugs approved for use. Big Pharma will do anything it takes to make sure that doesn't happen. What we see here is how much control Big Pharma has over the FDA and the CDC.
“COVID is a virus. Viruses mutate. That’s what they do. And they will continue to mutate,” Carson said.
Carson pointed out that fortunately, most of the time, viruses become a little weaker with each mutation.
“We can admit that and deal with it, or we can take every little mutation and every little change and try to make it into a crisis so we can frighten people and control their lives more,” Carson said.
The latest variant has been named Omicron. During a White House COVID-19 Task Force briefing on Dec. 15, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that she expected Omicron cases to increase in the coming weeks, urging people to take preventive measures such as being vaccinated and getting booster doses.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks on Capitol Hill
in Washington on Nov. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Carson said he has some concerns with how COVID-19 is being utilized to “manipulate and frighten people.”
“We should be using every tool available to us to fight the pandemic. There’s no question about that,” Carson said. “But that means, you know, therapeutics, which had been poo-pooed. And I understand why. Because in order to get an EUA—an emergency use authorization—to pursue the vaccines, you can’t have anything that’s effective as an alternative. So, that’s a defect in our system, we need to get rid of that.
“I think a lot of people died unnecessarily because we had that attitude,” Carson added. He shared that when he contracted the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus and was severely ill, monoclonal antibodies saved his life. He said monoclonal antibodies weren’t really utilized the way they should have been early on.
The FDA issued its first EUA for monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 patients in November 2020.
“There are many things that have been very effective that we have not pursued, including natural immunity,” Carson said.
“Well, why wouldn’t you collect that information? Why wouldn’t you want to know that? The only reason you wouldn’t do that is because you didn’t want to know the answer,” he said. “Because it didn’t fit very neatly into what you’re trying to do, which is get everybody to be vaccinated.”
That’s one of the reasons people are losing confidence in federal health agencies, he suggested.
Last month, the CDC said it had no record of naturally immune people transmitting the CCP virus.
“A lot of people who probably should be vaccinated are not doing it because they see these inconsistencies, these things that make absolutely no sense,” Carson said. “This demand that everybody get a vaccination, except if you’re coming across the southern border illegally, then it’s not all that important.”
Carson also opposes forcing children to be vaccinated.
“We have a situation where you have the government advocating that children be vaccinated, even though the risk for death for a child with COVID is 0.025 percent, essentially the same as it is for seasonal flu. You don’t see us doing all this every year for seasonal flu,” Carson stated.
“The risk of mortality for a healthy child is approaching zero, and yet we’re saying do this without knowing what the long-term risks are?” he said. “And why would you subject an innocent child to a lifetime of unknown risk? It just makes absolutely no sense.
“We need to have faith in our government. We need to have faith in our health care systems. And by injecting politics into it, I think we have put ourselves behind the eight ball. It’s going to take a while to reestablish that trust,” he said.
“Why not learn how to look at what’s logical and what makes sense? And why not encourage discussion of those things, rather than everybody getting their respective corners and shooting hand grenades at each other?”
Because, Dr. Carson, what makes sense doesn't make money for Big Pharma!
The way out is real leadership, he said.
“The only path is strong leadership. We don’t have that.”
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Heart inflammation cases confirmed in kids after Pfizer jabs
17 Dec, 2021 11:24
FILE PHOTO: A girl receives the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Pennsylvania. December 5, 2021. © Reuters / Hannah Beier
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported eight cases of myocarditis, a potentially deadly type of heart inflammation, in elementary school students who received the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
As of December 10, the CDC said it had received 14 reports of myocarditis among children aged 5-11 years old who received the shot. Of these, it said eight reports – involving four boys and four girls – met the agency’s “working case definition” for the inflammation.
Five of the 14 cases reported are still being followed up on. Of the eight accepted by the agency, six came after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer shot – the only vaccine available for the age group.
The reports were highlighted on Thursday among 3,233 other post-vaccination adverse events reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
While noting that the cases had a “mild clinical course,” the CDC did not confirm if it believes there is a direct link between the myocarditis incidents and the vaccine. It also did not disclose the frequency of myocarditis occurrence among those in the age group that have not been vaccinated.
No, of course it wouldn't. It has to protect Big Pharma against rumours of suffering children.
The agency said there had been over 7 million vaccine doses in the 5-11 age group by December 9. It also reported two deaths of children with “complicated medical histories,” but noted that the majority of adverse events reported were “non-serious.”
Last week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency had not “seen anything yet” about myocarditis cases following vaccination, and said the vaccine was safe for young children. But a recent poll found nearly two-thirds of parents of elementary schoolers were unwilling to take the risk.
When approving Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine for the age-group in October, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had noted concerns over myocarditis and pericarditis – an inflammation of tissue surrounding the heart – among males 12-17 years of age. But the FDA’s benefit-risk assessment model predicted that the vaccine’s benefits for children aged 5-11 years “would outweigh its risks.”
And if it didn't, the kids weren't going to be around to complain about it. It's a win-win for the FDA and Big Pharma.
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Bolsonaro wants to expose health officials who approved
Covid vaccine for kids
17 Dec, 2021 11:00
© Andre Coelho / Getty Images
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has announced his intention to reveal the identities of the officials who authorized vaccinations for children, despite them having received death threats.
In October, the country’s health regulator, Anvisa, said its five directors had received emails threatening them with death if Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five to 11 were approved. Anvisa underlined that “given the seriousness of the fact,” it immediately notified the police and the government, asking them “to adopt the appropriate measures.”
On Thursday, the same day that the regulator approved Pfizer’s shot for young children, Bolsonaro, known for his consistent opposition to anti-Covid measures, said the public should know who made the decision.
They should also know if they received any benefits from Pfizer for doing so.
Noting that Anvisa is not subordinate to him, he claimed, “We want to publicize these people’s names so that everyone knows who these people are and, of course, forms their own judgment.”
“You have the right to know the names of people who have approved the vaccination from five years old for your child,” he said during a live broadcast on social media.
There has been no reaction from Anvisa so far.
More than 617,000 lives in Brazil have been lost to Covid-19.
Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic has been widely criticized both within the country and from abroad. According to a September poll by Datafolha, the approval rating for the president’s administration dropped to 22%, “the worst result since the beginning of his administration.”
South Africa’s hospitalization rate plunges amid Omicron wave
4.5 times as many infections as with the Delta variant,
but less than 1/10th the number of hospitalizations
17 Dec, 2021 10:12
(FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/ Sumaya Hisham/File Photo
The South African health minister has offered some encouraging Covid news, suggesting that the Omicron variant is causing much fewer hospitalizations than previous strains of the virus, while it is far more contagious.
Speaking on Friday, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that the hospitalization rate during the current wave of infections, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, was lower than that seen during the third wave, earlier this year.
Only 1.7% of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the second week of the current fourth wave of the virus resulted in hospitalization. That’s compared with 19% who were hospitalized in the same week of the third wave, which was driven by the Delta variant, Phaahla said in an online press conference. He added that patients admitted in the fourth wave displayed “fairly mild” symptoms.
However, the minister warned that the variant was driving more cases than previous strains of Covid-19. He said there were around 20,000 cases a day, compared with 4,400 in the same week of the third wave.
So, roughly 4.5 times as many cases and less than 1/10th as many hospitalizations. And almost no deaths. Why the panic? Why not just let it run its course?
He also contended that case numbers may have peaked in some areas, including Gauteng, the Highveld-based state that is home to major cities Johannesburg and Pretoria, where South Africa first identified the omicron variant.
Phaahla contended that all nine provinces were already in the grips of the new variant.
Omicron has spread across the globe and is particularly prevalent in the UK, driving a new wave of infections. Scientists say the new strain has the ability to evade immunity induced by existing vaccines and previous infection with another variant, prompting Britain to ramp up its ambitious booster campaign.
