At the end of October 2020, Purdue Pharma, owned and operated by members of the Sackler family, pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges and reached a settlement totaling $8.3 billion.1 The U.S. Department of Justice probe found Purdue had intentionally fueled the deadly opioid epidemic using unethical, untruthful and illegal marketing practices. At the time, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, commented:2
Sackler Family Let Off Scot-FreeWell, that simply wasn’t to be. August 11, 2021, a federal judge granted the Sackler family legal immunity against future litigation over their role in the opioid epidemic.3 The obvious question is why? The Sacklers knew their drug was highly addictive and responsible for nearly half a million U.S. overdose deaths in the decade between 1999 and 2019,4 yet they chose to hide that fact and encouraged doctors to overprescribe. Purdue’s sales representatives were extensively coached on how to downplay the drug’s addictive potential, claiming addiction occurred in less than 1% of patients being treated for pain. Meanwhile, research5 shows addiction affects as many as 26% of those using opioids for chronic noncancer pain. The results were predictable. Patients became addicted at record rates, and when they couldn’t obtain more OxyContin, they turned to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,6 841,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between 1999 and 2019, and opioids were involved in 70.6% of the overdose deaths that occurred in 2019. It’s quite remarkable that our legal system is letting the Sacklers get off scot-free, seeing how they were clearly in charge of the company’s deadly decisions.7,8,9 Adding insult to injury, the Sacklers decided to cash in on the problem they created by developing and selling addiction treatment.10,11 As reported by Nation of Change:12
Hold the Sacklers Accountable in the Public SphereIn 2018, Paul Hanly, a leading attorney in the case against Purdue, referred to the Sacklers as “a crime family … drug dealers in nice suits and dresses.”13 Indeed, yet the Sacklers had carefully built a public image of themselves as a family of “philanthropists,” donating a fraction of their ill-gotten wealth to prestigious medical schools and fancy museums through the years. As noted by Nation of Change, “In return for the donation, honorees are imbued with moral approval.” Well, it’s time to retract that moral approval, and the only ones who can do that is us. We need to demand that those who took Sacklers’ donations recognize the harm the family has done, and strip the Sacklers of their honors.
In the video below, Patrick Bet-David interviews Dr. Chris Johnson, an emergency medicine physician, about the opioid epidemic and the role of unethical drug companies. As noted by Johnson, drug companies appear to view fines for illegal activities as a routine business expense. It’s a great business model. They can easily afford the fines if caught so shareholders are protected, and no one goes to jail. The only people who get hurt are the patients. Other Opioid Makers Get Sweetheart DealsPurdue isn’t the only opioid maker whose executives have been spared accountability for their deadly decisions. In July 2021, Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — agreed to pay a combined settlement of $26 billion in a multistate settlement over their roles in the opioid epidemic.15 They too got a sweetheart of a deal, as the $26 billion settlement amounts to just 4% of the four companies annual revenue. In an article for CounterPunch, Richard Eskow writes:16
Great Reset Promoter Sued for Deceptive MarketingWhile Purdue’s owners, the Sackler family, got off without so much as a slap on the wrist, states struggling with the exorbitant cost of opioid addiction aren’t ready to bury the hatchet just yet. Instead, some are going after the PR firm that created and ran Purdue’s deceptive marketing campaigns. As it turns out, that PR firm is none other than the Publicis Groupe, a partner of the World Economic Forum, which is leading the call for a Great Reset in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Publicis is part of an enormous network that includes international drug companies, fact checkers, Big Tech companies, the banking industry, the U.S. government, the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum, just to name a few, Publicis appears to be a key player when it comes to coordinating the global effort to censor COVID-related information. Publicis Health admitted its involvement in this censorship agenda as recently as April 27, 2021. In a tweet,17 the agency announced its partnership with NewsGuard, “to fight the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines.” In short, Publicis Health is dedicated to suppressing any information that hurts its Big Pharma clients. Publicis is more than a partner with NewsGuard, however. NewsGuard actually received a large chunk of its startup capital from Publicis. NewsGuard, a self-proclaimed arbiter of truth, rates websites on criteria of “credibility” and “transparency,” ostensibly to guide viewers to the most reliable sources of news and information. In reality, however, NewsGuard ends up acting as a gate keeper with a mission to barricade unpopular truth and differences of opinion behind closed gates. Its clearly biased ranking system easily dissuades people from perusing information from low-rated sites. PR Has Replaced the Free PressTo understand the power that PR companies such as Publicis wield, you also need to realize that PR has, by and large, replaced the free press. In decades’ past, pro-industry advertising stood in stark contrast to the free press, which would frequently expose problems with products and industries, thereby serving as a counterbalance to industry propaganda. When a free press with honest reporting based on verifiable facts actually does its job, ineffective or toxic products are driven off the market. All of this changed in the late 20th century, when media outlets started relying on advertisers for the bulk of their revenues. Journalists came under the control of advertisers, who now had the power to kill stories they didn’t like. Today, news organizations simply won’t run reports that might harm the bottom line of its advertisers and, not surprisingly, the drug industry is among the top-paying advertisers. By further partnering with the “big guns” of media — such as the Paley Center for Media, which is composed of every major media in the world18 — Publicis and its industry clients have been able to influence and control the press to virtually eliminate the public’s ability to get the truth on many important issues, including COVID-19. Seeing how Publicis represents most of the major pharmaceutical companies in the world and funded the creation of NewsGuard, it’s not far-fetched to assume Publicis might influence NewsGuard’s ratings of drug industry competitors, such as alternative health sites. Being a Google partner,19,20 Publicis also has the ability to bury undesirable views that might hurt its clientele. NewsGuard’s health-related service, HealthGuard,21 is also partnered with the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) — a progressive cancel-culture leader22 with extensive ties to government and global think tanks that has labeled people questioning the COVID-19 vaccine as “threats to national security.” Publicis Knowingly Promoted Over-PrescriptionGetting back to the issue of opioids, at the beginning of May 2021, the Massachusetts attorney general filed a lawsuit23 against Publicis Health, accusing the Publicis subsidiary of helping Purdue create the deceptive marketing materials used to mislead doctors into prescribing OxyContin.24,25,26,27 As reported by Yahoo! News:28
The complaint further notes that:29
Publicis Health’s Damaging PR Is Just ‘Business as Usual’Publicis Health argues that its work for Purdue was lawful and limited to “implementing Purdue’s advertising plan and buying media space.” But according to the lawsuit, Publicis’ work included:
The lawsuit also alleges that Publicis instructed Purdue to target doctors who were already writing out dangerously high numbers of prescriptions, even in the midst of a raging opioid epidemic,33 all while agency executives gleefully discussed the record fees they’d collect from the Purdue account. A March 2016 email exchange reveals the Publicis subsidiary was expecting to make up to $12.28 million from Purdue that year alone. Time to Reevaluate Marketing EthicsWhile Publicis is trying to downplay its role in what has been described as the crime of the century, the lawsuit against it will hopefully result in a reevaluation of marketing ethics. The agency, knowing full well there was an epidemic of opioid abuse underway, took on the job of increasing Purdue’s profits by making that lethal trend worse. Publicis claims they were just doing what advertising agencies do — they created promotional materials that boost client revenue. However, this argument circumvents any notion of ethics and concern about public health. They’re basically admitting that it’s all about making money, regardless of the cost. Even if their actions were within legal limits (which the Massachusetts case will eventually establish), their actions were immoral and clearly undermined public health. Seeing how Publicis represents most of the biggest drug companies in the world, this raises the question of ethics in drug advertising in general. Publicis’ view that public health is of no concern when creating drug PR also tells us something about the COVID shot PR push we’re currently experiencing. Censorship Works Against Public Health as WellPublicis wants you to believe they are protecting public health by supporting COVID-19 censorship, but this is actually having the opposite effect. How can you possibly make an educated decision about COVID “vaccination” if you’re not allowed to learn anything about the risks? What Publicis calls “misinformation” is simply information that contradicts the propaganda dictated by the hands that feed it, i.e., the drug industry. History tells us companies driven by profit interest make poor truth tellers, as negative information will clearly have a detrimental impact on their bottom line. So, they lie and obfuscate. It’s that simple. Public relations firms like Publicis are mere arms of these notoriously untruthful industries. They do their bidding because that’s what they’re paid to do. To think that Big Pharma and paid propagandists are looking out for anyone but themselves is naïve in the extreme. It is actually ironic doublespeak that Publicis claims to defend against misinformation that puts the public at risk, while having played a crucial role in a lethal health care scheme that was built on lies and deceit. Struggling With Opioid Addiction? Seek Help!In closing, remember that opioids — regardless of the brand — are extremely addictive drugs that are not meant for long-term use for nonfatal conditions. Chemically, opioids are very similar to heroin, and if you wouldn’t consider shooting up heroin for that toothache or backache, you really should reconsider taking an opioid to relieve your pain. If you’ve been on an opioid for more than two months, if you find yourself taking higher dosages or taking the drug more often, you may be addicted and are advised to seek help from someone other than your prescribing doctor. Resources where you can find help include:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/29/big-pharma-and-the-opioid-epidemic.aspx
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Where did SARS-CoV-2 come from? It’s one of the most relevant and hotly debated questions of our time, yet investigations that may reveal its answer appear to have been doomed from the start. In February 2020, a group of virologists published a letter in The Lancet, stating they “overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,” and calling the lab leak theory a conspiracy, adding, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”1 The Lancet paper was instrumental in stymying open debate about whether SAR-Cov-2 leaked from a lab and resulted in those who challenged the natural origin theory being labeled as conspiracy theorists. “All debate into whether Covid-19 had man-made origins or leaked from the lab in Wuhan — the Chinese city that was ground-zero for the virus — was effectively shut down by the letter,” the Daily Mail reported.2 The letter, however, was not the result of independent investigation but, rather, a heavily conflicted PR attempt. 26 of 27 Authors of Lancet Paper Had Ties to Chinese LabTwenty-seven scientists are listed as authors of The Lancet paper, “Statement in Support of the Scientists, Public Health Professionals, and Medical Professionals of China Combatting COVID-19.”3 Twenty-six of them had ties to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which is at the heart of the controversy over its gain-of-function (GOF) research using bat coronaviruses. The heavy conflicts were revealed by an investigation by The Daily Telegraph newspaper and confirm the questions many experts have raised over the paper’s credibility and motives. If you look at The Lancet letter, Dr. Richard Muller, Professor Emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, stated during his testimony at the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Select Coronavirus Crisis hearing, held June 29, 2021,4 they say you can dismiss a lab origin because China identified the host animal and even went so far as to praise China for its openness. “This paper, The Lancet, does not read well when we look at it 16 months later,” Muller said, noting that a host animal hasn’t been found. Investigation Details Lancet Paper’s 26 Conflicted ScientistsRonald Corley, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at Boston University, is the only scientist that was not found to have ties to WIV. A sampling of the more than two dozen other scientists that do have links — uncovered by The Telegraph investigation — are revealed below:5
Several Signatories Have Reversed Their PositionsAfter publicly suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 came from a natural origin — and any talk to the contrary a conspiracy theory — several of The Lancet paper’s original signatories have reversed their positions and are now calling for a full investigation into COVID-19’s origins. This includes Peter Palese of the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, who told MailOnline in June 2021, “'I believe a thorough investigation about the origin of the Covid-19 virus is needed. A lot of disturbing information has surfaced since the Lancet letter I signed, so I want to see answers covering all questions.”23 Signatory Stanley Perlman from the University of Iowa similarly said, 'It is difficult to eliminate a possible lab leak as part of the process, so this still needs to be considered.'24 Bernard Roizman, a microbiology expert at the University of Chicago, who also signed the paper has since stated he believes SARS-CoV-2 was “released by ‘sloppy’ scientists.”25 Yet, the signatories have not come clean about their own conflicts of interest. When The Lancet published its June addendum disclosing Daszak’s conflicts, it invited the other signatories to also update their competing interests. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist with Rutgers University, told The Telegraph:26
An Orchestrated Campaign to Control the NarrativeThe Lancet paper was just one piece of the campaign to control the narrative around COVID-19’s origins. Another one of the major pieces of propaganda is "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,"27 a paper published in Nature Medicine in March 2020 that became the preeminent "proof" that SARS-CoV-2 had a natural origin and couldn't possibly have come from a lab. It was later revealed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIAID director, Farrar and Dr. Francis Collins, NIH director, had a hand in the paper, as one of its authors wrote a March 6, 2020, email to the trio and colleagues, thanking them for their "advice and leadership."28 According to Charles Rixey, a COVID-19 analyst who combed through 100,000 pages of FOIA documents and reviewed more than 1,000 research articles, however, the five editors of the Nature Medicine paper, who he refers to as “the Proximals,” were aware of the existence of a furin cleavage site (FCS) on the virus as early as February 1, 2020, the day a conference call was organized by Farrar and Fauci “to address several aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 genome that pointed towards an artificial origin, by means of generating adaptive changes through passaging and/or direct manipulation of the genome.”29 After the February 1, 2020, conference call, a February 3 meeting was held by Fauci, presidential science adviser Kelvin Droegemeier, Chris Hassell, senior science adviser for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Academies’ policy director Alexander Pope, during which the “group slapped the table on what the narrative was going to be — not what the science indicated.” Rixey wrote:30
Many have stated that we’ll never truly know the origin of SARS-CoV-2, short of China confessing or a whistleblower coming forward, but as Muller stated during his testimony, “We have a whistleblower, the virus itself.”31 Even as scientists who have worked closely on GOF research with WIV have tried to shut down investigations into the lab leak theory, the virus may ultimately reveal the truth. SARS-CoV-2 has a unique trigger on the surface called a furin cleavage site and a unique code in the genes for that site called a CGG-CGG dimer; these markers do not exist in natural coronaviruses but are known to have been used in GOF research.32 Dr. Steven Quay, who holds 87 patents across 22 different fields of medicine and invented seven FDA-approved medicines, believes that SARS-CoV-2 came from a laboratory in China. His Bayesian analysis of SARS-CoV-2 origins revealed that finding a CGG-CGG codon pair in the furin site of SARS-CoV-2 is “a highly improbable event,” and this can be used to adjust the likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 is of zoonotic origin to only 0.5%, while the likelihood of laboratory origin is 99.5%.33 from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/29/corruption-found-in-covid-origins-investigation.aspx This article was previously published March 3, 2021, and has been updated with new information. "Bill Gates — What You Were Not Told," a segment of the Plandemic documentary,1 reviews the personal and professional background of the Microsoft mogul, Bill Gates. Contrary to popular myth, many see Gates as more of an opportunist than a genius inventor, and the video touches on several of the less honorable moments of his career. After years of building a reputation as a "ruthless tech monopolizer," Bill Gates 2.0 was launched with the creation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With this foundation, he reinvented and rebranded himself as one of the world's most generous philanthropists. Gates' Charity Is Not What It SeemsAlas, as noted by AGRA Watch,2 Shiva Vandana, Ph.D., and others, Gates' brand of philanthropy creates several new problems for each one it solves and can best be described as "philanthrocapitalism." As noted in the AGRA Watch article, "Philanthrocapitalism: The Gates Foundation's African Programs Are Not Charity," published in December 2017, advocates of philanthrocapitalism:3
Indeed, over the years, Gates has ended up in a position where he monopolizes or wields disproportional influence over not only the tech industry, but also global health and vaccines, agriculture and food policy (including biopiracy and fake food), weather modification and other climate technologies,4 surveillance, education and media. Not surprisingly, he's tied to online fact checker organizations that strangle free speech, and recently told "60 Minutes" that to combat mistrust in science, we need to find ways to "slow down the crazy stuff."5 What's "crazy" and what's not, however, is rarely as clear-cut as the mainstream media would like you to believe. And, like a true philanthrocapitalist, Gates' generosity ends up benefiting himself most of all. In reality, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donates billions to the very same companies and industries that the foundation owns stocks and bonds in. As Gates himself reveals in the featured video, he figured out that vaccines are phenomenal profit makers, saying they're the best investment he's ever made, with more than a 20-to-1 return. The one thing that allows for this is the liability shield vaccine makers have been given by the U.S. government through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).6,7 Under this law no vaccine maker can be sued directly by a consumer; if vaccine injury is suspected, the victim(s) must sue under the NVICP, which is run by special “masters” who determine the cases. Gates, Global Climate CzarAs mentioned in the featured video, Gates is financing an effort to divert solar rays from the Earth's surface in an attempt to combat global warming — an irrational approach at best, considering the potential this has to devastate global agriculture. His latest book also details his climate change recommendations, which just so happen to include urging governments to support the very companies he's invested in and similar sleight-of-hand gestures. Meanwhile, as noted by The Nation, Gates himself is a serious polluter, with a 66,000 square-foot mansion, a private jet, 242,000 acres of farmland (which makes him the largest farmland owner in the U.S.) and investments in fossil fuel-dependent industries such as airlines, heavy machinery and cars.
Gates Leads the Technocratic TakeoverGates’ focus on climate change makes perfect sense once you realize that he’s part of the technocratic elite that, for decades, have been working to gobble up the world’s resources in anticipation for the Great Reset,10 previously known as the One World Order. Over the past year, the need for the Great Reset has been announced by government leaders around the world, the clarion call being that we need to "reset" the global economy and the way we live, work, travel and socialize in order to make the world more fair and sustainable. Addressing climate change under the banner of a global emergency is part and parcel of that PR campaign. If you've paid attention, you've probably seen the hints. During the initial lockdowns in the early part of 2020, there were a slew of articles talking about how nature and wildlife were thriving in the absence of human socialization and travel. At other times, the COVID-19 pandemic has been presented as a warning to us all as to what happens when you get out of sync with nature. No Real Food for YouGates clearly feels pressure to do his part to realize the technocratic dream. He told "60 Minutes"11 he is eager to see his various visions come to fruition within his lifetime, and he guesses he might have 20 or 30 years left. As reported by ZeroHedge:12
Indeed, Gates would like wealthy Western nations to switch entirely to synthetic lab-grown beef, and he rails against legislative attempts to make sure fake meats are properly labeled as such, since that slows down public acceptance.13 Gates Again Proves Feudalism Is a Failed SystemWith his land ownership, Gates clearly is in a monopoly position (yet again!) to drive agriculture and food production in whatever direction he desires, and he wants us all to eat as much fake food as possible. As noted in a long and detailed article on Gates' philanthrocapitalist endeavors by The Defender:14
The article goes on to detail Gates' "long-term strategy of mastery over agriculture and food production globally," starting with his support of GMOs in 1994. Ever since then, Gates' "philanthropic" approaches to hunger and food production have been built around his technology, chemical, pharmaceutical and oil industry partners, thereby ensuring that for every failed rescue venture, he gets richer nonetheless.
Gates Foundation Seeded Catastrophic COVID-19 PoliciesGates, of course, has also played a leading role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to investigative journalist Jordan Schachtel, who has a channel on Substack,16 Gates had a hand in the "criminally negligent coronavirus response policies" that killed an inordinate number of senior citizens in nursing homes in New York, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Schachtel points out that a common thread in these instances is that they listened to the frightfully inaccurate modeling forecasts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which is funded and controlled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He writes:17
White House Coronavirus Task Force members Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, both of whom have substantial ties to Gates, also relied on the IHME forecast models. As noted by Schachtel:
Delete That Which No Longer ServesThe Gates Foundation also co-sponsored Event 201, a scripted tabletop exercise held mere months before the COVID-19 outbreak that ended up being remarkably prophetic. Strangely enough, in an April 2020 BBC interview, Gates denied the simulation had occurred, saying that "We didn't simulate this, we didn't practice, so both the health policies and economic policies, we find ourselves in uncharted territory."18 In an article for National Herald India, Norbert Häring highlights Gates' apparent forgetfulness, stating:19
Gates has also erased other evidence where the truth is coming back to haunt him. Case in point: Gates-funded fact checkers have vehemently denied claims that Gates ever said we'll need digital vaccine passports, passing it off as yet another crazy conspiracy theory. But Gates did say that in a June 2020 TED Talk. Someone just edited that specific statement out of his speech after the quote started making the rounds on social media. In a December 11, 2020, article, The Defender presented the proof.20 Fact checkers also dismiss claims that subdermal microchips or digital tattoos will eventually be used to track and trace us, yet as noted by The Defender, Gates did commission MIT to develop an injectable quantum dot dye system to "tattoo" medical data on your body, and has patented technology that uses implanted biosensors that monitor body and brain activity and is tied to a crypto currency system. He's also invested tens of millions into microchip devices with remote-controlled drug-delivery systems and military contractors that track and trace pandemic infections and vaccine compliance. He also has a greater than $1 billion investment in 5G video surveillance satellites and 5G antennas. When you put all of these things together, Gates' plans start to take on a rather ominous feel. Gates Is the Most Visible Figurehead of Modern TechnocracyWhether preplanned or not, the COVID-19 pandemic is clearly being used to usher in highly controversial changes that are unmistakably totalitarian-building, including the private take-over of government through public-private partnerships. Surveillance has become the biggest for-profit industry on the planet, and your entire existence is now being targeted for profit. Among those who stand to profit the most is Gates himself. Time is running out. To have any chance of stopping it, we must understand our trajectory, and unite to change the course Gates and others like him have set for us. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/29/bill-gates-harrowing-vision-for-the-world.aspx The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief. Prior research studies have suggested that the hunger hormone ghrelin, which your body produces when it's hungry, might act in your brain to trigger this behavior. New studies suggest that ghrelin might also work in your brain to make you keep eating "pleasurable" foods when you're already full. Scientists previously have linked increased levels of ghrelin to intensifying the rewarding or pleasurable feelings that can be obtained from cocaine or alcohol. Researchers observed how long mice would continue to poke their noses into a hole in order to receive a pellet of high-fat food. Animals that didn't receive ghrelin gave up much sooner than the ones that did receive ghrelin. Humans and mice share the same type of brain-cell connections and hormones, as well as similar architectures in the "pleasure centers" of the brain. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/16/why-do-people-continue-to-eat-when-they-are-full.aspx This article was previously published February 27, 2021, and has been updated with new information. A late 2020 and early 2021 retrospective study shows that children have experienced great psychological, behavioral and physical harm from the mandates and lockdowns handed down during the COVID-19 pandemic. This harm affects the next generation of leaders and has dampened the spirits of people around the world. Yet, there is one place that appears to have side-stepped this damage. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, there have been events that have changed the world. They include the two World Wars, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 9/11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic.1 The current pandemic has undoubtedly been the most traumatic period for many people. The devastation that has been wrought on the world is incalculable, including things that aren't easily measured like mental health, food insecurity and physical abuse. The harsh reality is that virtually none of it was necessary and the real damage has been the result of decisions made by global health and government officials who appear to have been acting in concert, according to some predetermined plan. The fallout from this event will be experienced by many for the remainder of their lives. Suicide rates,2 child abuse3 and drug deaths4 have risen dramatically. Prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs had risen 31% and for antidepressants by up to 22% by mid-2020.5 But children, whose voices are not often heard, may be suffering the most. Children Show Physical, Behavioral and Psychological HarmA retrospective study,6 published online in late 2020 and updated periodically through early 2021, uses data from Germany's first registry showing the experience children are having wearing masks. Parents, doctors and others were allowed to enter their observations; the registry had recorded use by 20,353 people as of October 26, 2020. Editors have since added disclaimers to the text claiming "this study cannot demonstrate a causal relationship between mask wearing and the reported adverse effects in children," as you can see, the data gathered on 25,930 children were specific and intriguing. The average time children were wearing a mask was 270 minutes each day. There were 24 health issues reported that were associated with wearing masks that fell into the categories of physical, psychological and behavioral issues.7 Of the problems that children were having wearing masks, 68% of them were reported to the registry by parents. The researchers concluded the frequency of registry use and the variety of symptoms being reported indicated the importance of the subject. They recorded symptoms that:8
Added to these concerning symptoms, they also found 29.7% reported feeling short of breath, 26.4% being dizzy and 17.9% were unwilling to move or play.9 Hundreds more experienced "accelerated respiration, tightness in chest, weakness and short-term impairment of consciousness." Measurements of anxiety or depressive disorder jumped dramatically for adults between January 2019 through June 2019 and January 2021. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,10 the percentage of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety disorder and/or depressive disorder was 11% in the first quarter of 2019, but jumped dramatically to 41.1% across the nation by January 2021.11 Evidence has shown that there is a positive relationship between a child's behavioral problems and mental health with maternal mental health12 and parental mental health.13 This means that independent of their own stress and physiological harm from mask-wearing and lockdowns, children will also respond negatively to the rising rate of anxiety and depression exhibited by adults. More Families Seeking Drugs to Manage Remote LearningIn spring 2020 began an unprecedented remote learning experiment for schools around the world. Suddenly, tens of millions of students were at home, plugged into their computer for their education. In one survey, Educators for Excellence14 reported 67% of teachers said their students' homework or assignments were completed "somewhat worse" or "much worse" than before remote learning was mandatory. In another survey,15 teachers reported their sense of success dropped from 96.3% when teaching in the classroom to 73.1% teaching remotely. On average, the same teachers reported that only 60% of their students were engaged in learning activities. Remote learning has been especially challenging for young children and for the 20% of students living in the U.S. who do not have access to the necessary technology.16 According to Education Week, 80% of teachers believed their students were having trouble focusing during the shutdown.17 Each of these factors may contribute to the growing number of parents who are seeking treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for their children. NBC News reported18 specialists are flooded with questions and requests for diagnosis and prescriptions for ADHD. Dr. Melvin Oatis from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes that the pandemic has "been a tipping point that has pushed some families to get help."19 However, Dr. Arthur Lavin, who is a pediatrician with service on several national committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics, warns, "Our concern is that pediatricians and families be very careful to not simply list the symptoms of ADHD, but to look at the child's history and use differential diagnosis to make sure we have the best possible explanation for the symptoms."20 The fuzziness surrounding a diagnosis of ADHD has also led to some over-identification of these issues. University of Minnesota psychologist Stephanie Carlson finds that students are often misidentified as having deficits in executive functioning skills when the behavior is within normal limits.21 For example, younger students are more likely to be labeled with ADHD than their older peers. Boys are labeled more often than girls, and black and Latino students have a lower probability of being diagnosed or taking medicine. Schools Are Not Super SpreadersEarly data are now available from a study22 performed by the University of Warwick in the U.K. looking at information on school absences between September 2020 and December 2020. The researchers were interested in students who stayed home from school sick because of COVID-19 infections and how the number who became ill varied across time. The study evaluated pupils and teachers and how those absences changed during November lockdown and in December when the lockdown was lifted. What they found was that the infection rate in the schools matched the wider community, indicating there was no evidence that schools were a driver in producing more cases of COVID-19. As in the U.S., students in the U.K. have been offered remote learning options. Dr. Mike Tildesley is one of the researchers and a scientific adviser to the U.K. government. He suggests using a staggered approach as plans for reopening the schools are underway.23 While the rates of infection between the schools and community were the same, the researchers could not comment if the students and teachers who did have COVID-19 caught it in the school or the community.24 As would be expected with what is known about the virus, the rate of infection was lower in primary schools than secondary schools. When speaking to a BBC reporter, Tildesley had a telling comment about how decisions to reopen schools should be made: "You could potentially think about doing early years first. But this is a political decision."25 Face Masks Do Not Effectively Reduce COVID-19 InfectionsThe first randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of surgical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 was published in November 2020 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.26 During the trial, researchers evaluated more than 6,000 individuals and found that masks did not statistically significantly reduce the incidence of infection of COVID-19. Among the people who wore masks, 1.8% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, compared to 2.1% among the control group. When the researchers removed those who did not adhere to proper mask-wearing, the results remained the same — 1.8%. This suggests that in this group of 6,000 individuals, wearing a mask made no significant difference as to whether they would acquire COVID-19. In the group that reportedly wore their masks "exactly as instructed," 2% tested positive for the virus as compared to 2.1% of the controls. Despite a lack of evidence that mask-wearing in the general public was effective, widespread mask mandates were rolled out. At the end of December 2020, researchers from Rational Ground revealed results of data analysis evaluating the use of masks from all 50 U.S. states.27 It was completed by data analysts, computer scientists and actuaries, who divided the information into states that had mask mandates and those that did not. They evaluated data from May 1, 2020, through December 15, 2020, and calculated how many cases per day occurred by population with and without mask mandates. Among states without a mask mandate, 5,781,716 cases were counted over 5,772 days, which worked out to:28
In other words, the evidence does not support the use of masks and school lockdowns. And, there is powerful evidence that masks and school lockdowns are causing significant damage to the physical and psychological health of children. Yet, these mandates and lockdowns have garnered support from schools and parents, likely driven by fear. Sweden Bucks Countrywide Mandates Driven by FearIn fact, fear seems to have been the force used to drive mandates the public would not have otherwise accepted — except, that is, in Sweden. In a 45-minute documentary, Claudia Nye shows how Sweden has approached COVID-19. Under the guidance of chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, Sweden did not institute a universal lockdown, close small businesses or schools, or enact mandatory mask mandates. Instead, they chose to use enough reasonable strategies to protect their citizens. According to Tegnell, "We don't want to hurt anyone unnecessarily, but we want to have as good effect as possible."29 Using this as the basis for their decision-making, only some schools were closed during certain periods of time and only office workers were asked to work from home to minimize crowding on public transportation. Retail shops, gyms and restaurants remained open, a vast difference from what happened in other countries around the world. Businesses recommended social distancing and masks, but it wasn't a strict rule. Around the globe, people were told to stay home or face jail time. Yet, in Sweden people were asked to take commonsense precautions based on their individual circumstances. It was recommended seniors and other high-risk individuals stay home, use social distancing and wear masks. All others were free to live as they normally would. Tegnell noted that in Sweden, "We have chosen a voluntary way and it's proven to be sustainable and it's proven also to be effective."30 According to the Imperial College of London model, Sweden should have experienced a death toll of 80,000 by the end of June 2020 without a lockdown.31 However, the true number September 30, 2020, after no lockdowns, stood at 5,893,32 a vast majority of whom were elderly with comorbidities. In fact, of those, only 872 were a direct result of COVID-19. The rest had one or more conditions that contributed to the death.33 Nye tells more of this story in her engaging documentary that won the Outstanding Achievement Award in the Los Angeles International Indie Short Fest film festival in January 2021. Fast-forward to September 2021 and evidence shows that Sweden ranks 40th in deaths per capita,34 behind dozens of other countries that instituted strict lockdowns and mask mandates. Compare that to Los Angeles, which has had only 37 days where people were allowed to go maskless in the 530 days since the pandemic was declared. Their COVID death rates rank in the top 10 worldwide. Then compare fully-vaccinated Israel to Sweden: in September 2021 Sweden was averaging about 90 cases per million. Israel was averaging 1,218. More specifically, the comparison is even more stark when you look at it this way, ZeroHedge points out: Between July 10 and September 7, 2021, Sweden reported 56 total deaths. Israel reported 56 just on September 8, 2021. I believe without being aware of how your behavior is being influenced, the world will continue to become decidedly different and more difficult. It may seem like science fiction, but just a year and a half ago you probably could not have imagined the world as it is today. Unless and until more people understand the direction that leadership is sending the world, it will only continue down the same path. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/28/effects-of-mask-mandates-and-school-closures.aspx This video from the Front Line doctors White Coat Summit was published in mid-August. In it, pathologist Dr. Ryan Cole succinctly outlines many of the health challenges associated with the experimental genetic therapy injection program. He asks, after thousands of people have died from the injection, where are the autopsies to investigate this investigational program? In July 2021, the U.S. military published a study in JAMA Cardiology1 in which they asked the question if myocarditis was a possible adverse event following a jab with mRNA COVID-19 injection. They identified 23 men who were diagnosed with myocarditis within 4 days of getting the shot. They determined that there was a diagnosis of myocarditis after “vaccination in the absence of other identified causes.”2 And yet, despite finding myocarditis in previously healthy individuals following the shot, the writers only recommended vigilance. The heart problems in 23 military men who had signed up to protect the citizens of the U.S., “should not diminish overall confidence in vaccinations during the current pandemic.”3 As of September 3, 2021, the vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS)4 had received 675,591 reports of adverse events following vaccination. Of these, there were 14,506 deaths, 6,422 heart attacks and 5,371 cases of pericarditis or myocarditis. It is important to note that the VAERS has tracked adverse events since 1990. In 2019, there were 605 reports of deaths from all vaccines given. In 2021, there were 14,594 deaths reported in nine months. Although these numbers are significant, a 2010 Harvard study commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services revealed data demonstrating the VAERS likely only represents approximately 1% of those who are injured.5 In light of these statistics and knowing the new shot program was experimental, December 18, 2020, the Children's Health Defense chairman and chief legal counsel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, requested the Biden Administration consider establishing a “comprehensive, high integrity system to monitor adverse outcomes following vaccination.”6 In early 2020, many clinicians, scientists and other health experts warned that millions of people may experience potentially permanent or long-term injury or death after the shot. Interestingly, it is the call for greater surveillance of vaccine injury that has, in part, generated censorship from social media platforms through AI surveillance of your posts. Spike Protein Damages Endothelial Cells and Hurts HeartDr. J. Patrick Whelan is a pediatric rheumatologist who warned the FDA of the microvascular injury the vaccine may cause to the kidneys, brain, liver and heart before it was released to the public. Whelan specializes in treating children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), which is associated with coronavirus infections.7 He did not dispute the potential benefit the vaccine might have to arrest the spread of the virus, but instead cautioned that recipients may experience permanent damage to their microvasculature. At the time, his concern was based on data scientists and doctors were reporting after an infection with COVID-19 affected multiple organs beyond the lungs. In March 2021, a research study was published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.8 However, it is important to note that the study was preprinted online in December 2020,9 before the first vaccine was administered in the U.S.10 This is important, since the study demonstrated that the spike protein associated with SARS-CoV-2 damages endothelial function.11 In other words, before the emergency use authorization jab that injected instructions to create the spike protein was first administered, the CDC, FDA and NIAID were well aware the spike protein was likely causing damage to the endothelial cells lining the circulatory system. This information was not discussed in the media and not considered by the FDA, and it continues to be buried as government agencies push for 100% vaccination in the U.S. In the study, the researchers created a pseudo-virus12 that contained the spike protein but did not contain the virus. Using an animal model, they showed that the virus was not necessary to create damage and inflammation.13 When the S protein attached to the ACE2 receptor it disrupted signaling to the mitochondria and caused damage and fragmentation. The alterations in mitochondrial function were confirmed as part of the inhibition of ACE2 signaling in the lab. The results also revealed that the virus could induce endothelial cell inflammation and endotheliitis. The protein reportedly decreased ACE2 levels and impaired nitric oxide bioavailability.14 Co-senior scientist of the study, Uri Manor, explained in a press release from Salk Institute:15
Further Study Demonstrates the Effect of the Spike ProteinThen, a second paper16 was published online March 8, 2021, investigated the potential that the spike protein is an inflammagen, or an irritant that can trigger inflammation at the cellular level. The researchers sought to determine if the spike protein was the underlying cause of the hypercoagulation found with a COVID-19 infection. Mass spectrometry showed the spike protein damaged fibrinogen, prothrombin and complement 3, all compounds used in coagulation. They suggested that the presence of the protein was contributing to hypercoagulation and may result in large microclots that have been observed in plasma samples from patients infected with COVID-19. Again, science demonstrated that it wasn't the virus causing endothelial damage that led to organ damage, such as was found in the heart, liver and kidney of COVID-19 patients. Rather, it was the spike protein that was also being injected in a genetic therapy shot program. A third study published April 27, 2021, again demonstrated in an animal model that exposure to the spike protein alone was enough to induce severe lung damage.17 And yet, there was no move by governmental agencies to slow the distribution of this genetic experiment. Researchers have continued to study how the spike protein affects the endothelial cells, and ultimately damages the heart muscle. A study published June 2021 in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine18 demonstrated that the spike protein down regulates the expression of junctional proteins found in the arteries. They concluded:
Even as researchers identify the pathway the spike protein takes to damage the endothelial cells, it is patently ignored by the mainstream media, governmental agencies and many health experts who continue to push the public into vaccinating with a genetic therapy injection that does not effectively keep you from getting the disease or stop you from spreading the disease. Infection Starts and May Stay in the LungsInterestingly, another study19 published in March 2021 questioned if the prevalence of inflammatory heart disease after COVID-19 infection in professional athletes would affect their ability to return to play. The researchers evaluated 789 professional athletes who had COVID-19 and found no adverse cardiac events in those who underwent cardiac screening. In this group of healthy individuals, it appeared very rare for there to be systemic involvement of the spike protein. However, in the VAERS reports September 3, 2021, there were a total of 11,793 individuals who suffered heart attack, myocarditis or pericarditis in the nine months that the vaccine had been administered.20 The effect of COVID-19 on the heart is well documented.21 In my interview with Dr. Vladimir Zelenko22 in February 2021, we discussed the treatment of COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. At that point, Zelenko had treated 3,000 patients with symptoms of COVID-19 and only three of his high-risk patients had subsequently succumbed to the disease. While the focus of the interview was on treatment protocols and the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, Zelenko shared an interesting statistic about his protocol. In the early months of COVID-19, Zelenko decided to treat his high-risk patients as early as possible, without waiting for severe symptoms. This turned out to be one key to his significant success. His understanding of the mechanism behind hydroxychloroquine and zinc led to using the combination alongside azithromycin, to prevent bacterial pneumonia and other bacterial infections common with COVID. What is interesting are the statistics for Zelenko’s patients with long haul symptoms. Data from the University of Washington in 2021 found 32.7% of outpatients with COVID-19 go on to experience persistent symptoms.23,24 However, Zelenko had treated 3,000 patients and none who received treatment within the first five days went on to develop long-haul symptoms. His data was from the same period as that of the University of Washington. While he has had patients with persistent symptoms from COVID-19, they sought medical care after the first five days of symptoms, which meant the inflammatory process had advanced. From his experience, and the experience of the patients he treated, early intervention with the protocol nearly eliminated the risk of persistent symptoms. Long Haul Symptoms May Be Related to Spike DamageThe symptoms that may last for weeks or months after a COVID-19 infection are referred to as long-haul symptoms. For some, this may be the result of vascular damage caused by the spike protein. The CDC25 reports that a combination of the following symptoms without an active COVID infection can appear weeks after the infection and last for months.
Scientists now know that the predominant pathophysiology of COVID-19 includes endothelial damage and microvascular injury, stimulation of hyperinflammation and hypercoagulability.26 A review in Physiological Reports27 examined how the capillary damage and inflammation from endotheliitis triggered by COVID-19 could contribute to the persistent symptoms by interfering with tissue oxygenation. The combined effects of capillary damage in multiple key organs may accelerate hypoxia-related inflammation and lead to long-haul symptoms. Unlike Zelenko’s patients who did not have long-haul symptoms, participants in an online survey published in EClinical Medicine did not fare so well.28 The study revealed data from 3,762 participants with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in 56 countries. For the majority, it took greater than 35 weeks to recover from all their symptoms. The data showed that people experienced an average of 55.9 symptoms across 9.1 organ systems. The most frequent symptoms six months after infection were cognitive dysfunction, fatigue and post-exertional malaise. List of Vaccine Side Effects Is GrowingAs the list of people reporting adverse events after the vaccine continues to grow, social media platforms are working just as hard to suppress any information about the list of side effects people are experiencing. In order to tell their stories, people are posting videos, still photos and evidence of their vaccine injury at No More Silence29 and 1000 COVID Stories.30 One example is Sarah Green, a 16-year-old student who is experiencing debilitating symptoms. This is her story as told by her mother:31
It is crucial to report a vaccine injury or side effect to VAERS, as the data are essential in helping individuals, doctors and researchers make informed decisions. You can make your own report online or using a PDF by going to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.32 You’ll find more information about adverse events and how vaccines affect your health at the National Vaccine Information Center.33 from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/28/how-the-spike-protein-hurts-the-heart.aspx With the exception of Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001, Americans have not been attacked by an enemy on our own soil. Unlike countries in Europe during World War II, America has never been occupied by a military force or locked down under martial law. We have never seen soldiers in armored vehicles patrolling the streets, warning us to stay in our homes or face arrest — or worse. Beginning in 1776, when our freedom-seeking founders wrote the Declaration of Independence1 and stood their ground from Lexington and Concord to Saratoga and Valley Forge,2 and then came together to create a constitutional Republic dedicated to protecting individual and minority rights,3 the United States of America has defined and served as a beacon for liberty for people around the world.4 This summer, we watched soldiers patrolling the streets of Sydney, Australia, with helicopters overhead blaring warnings to a stunned, locked-down people to stay in their homes in the name of the public health.5,6,7 We have watched hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, gather together again and again in the streets of Paris, London, Rome, Athens and Berlin.8,9,10,11,12 They are marching against authoritarianism, the kind of Orwellian authoritarianism embodied in government issued vaccine passports that punish citizens for simply defending the right to make a voluntary medical decision for themselves and their minor children,13 a decision about whether to be injected with a biological pharmaceutical product that can cause serious reactions,14,15,16,17 injure,18,19,20,21 kill22,23,24 or fail to work.25,26,27,28 The signs they carry say: “No forced testing, no forced vaccines” “Stop the dictatorship” “Hands off our children” “My body is mine” “Big Pharma shackles freedom” “No to the Pass of shame” “Better to die free than live as a slave” In what has become a prophetic primal scream for liberty, governments are ordering the police to break up the largely peaceful demonstrators29,30 flooding the big cities and small villages of western Europe, the first populations to organize massive public protests against old fashioned tyranny dressed up in 21st century clothes. The people of Europe were the first to stand up for freedom during this government-declared public health emergency because they know how tyranny begins. They know what it looks like and they remember what it feels like. They remember and are declaring, “Never again.” In America, We Have Taken Our Freedom for GrantedMost Americans living today do not remember World War II or, if they do, it is through what their parents or grandparents told them about it. World War II was not fought on American soil. Americans went to war in Europe to stop the slaughter of millions at the hands of an authoritarian fascist government commanding the Army of the Third Reich that killed in the name of the public health and safety,31,32 even an authoritarian communist government slaughtered many more millions during a “Reign of Terror” in the Soviet Union.33 Most American children today are not taught what happened in China after World War II, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) implemented the Great Leap Forward and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Those militant ideological cleansing campaigns imprisoned and killed tens of millions of citizens because they criticized or opposed authoritarian government policies.34,35 In America, we have taken our freedom for granted because, while we have been willing to fight to defend the freedom of others, we have never been called upon to defend it in our own backyard. Most Americans have never imagined we would experience a serious threat to autonomy and freedom of thought,36,37 speech,38,39 conscience40,41 and assembly.42 So deep has been our trust in the laws and cultural values which have, for the most part, ensured fundamental freedoms in our country, that we never believed it could happen here.43,44 But the last 20 months have changed everything. Many Americans have begun to understand that tyranny can be disguised to look like safety, even as many others still cannot bring themselves to believe it. America’s Move Toward AuthoritarianismStriking fear into the hearts and minds of the people, the move toward authoritarianism in America began with government officials suddenly telling us — even children as young as 2 years old — that we could not breathe fresh air or enter public spaces without a mask covering our face.45,46,47,48,49 Millions of American workers judged to be “nonessential” lost the ability to earn a living so they could eat and pay rent during “flatten the curve” lockdowns we were told would only last a few weeks but, instead, went on for months.50,51,52 Anyone who criticized government narratives about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus53,54 or questioned social distancing restrictions was immediately publicly shamed and censored.55,56,57 Any doctors who tried to provide early treatment to COVID-19 patients by repurposing safe and effective licensed drugs and nutritional supplements to help their patients survive the infection58 were also publicly shamed and censored.59,60 After the FDA granted Pfizer and Moderna an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)61 in December 2020 to distribute their liability-free experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.,62,63,64,65 public health officials enlisted big corporations to launch a hard-sell national vaccine advertising campaign targeting all Americans over the age of 12.66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73 Anyone who asked questions or challenged the hard sell was immediately censored on social media.74,75,76,77 State governments and employers were encouraged to threaten workers,78 especially health care workers and emergency responders, with loss of their jobs for refusing the vaccine.79,80,81,82 Private businesses were encouraged to deny unvaccinated citizens entry to restaurants, stores and other public venues.83 By the end of July 2021, the Department of Veteran Affairs directed all VA health care workers to be fully vaccinated or lose their jobs.84 In early August, the Department of Defense announced that all military service members must be fully vaccinated when the FDA officially licenses a COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs.85 Suddenly, on August 23, 2021, the Pfizer mRNA vaccine was licensed without a public meeting of the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRPBAC) and full disclosure of the scientific data supporting licensure.86 By the end of August, about 176 million Americans had been “fully” vaccinated, representing 53.6 percent of our population of 333 million people,87 which is the third largest in the world. And studies had confirmed that the SARS-CoV-2 infection mortality ratio (IFR) in the U.S. remains at less than 1%.88 Federal Government Declares War on Unvaccinated AmericansBut the executive branch of the US government was not happy. Federal health officials had publicly set the goal of persuading 90 percent of Americans to get the COVID vaccine,89 although it is clear now that the real goal all along was a 100 percent vaccination rate: no exceptions and no questions asked. At the beginning of September 2021, the politics of persuasion gave way to an iron-fisted approach using the heel of the boot of the state to try to club 100 million unvaccinated Americans into submission. On September 9, 2021, the president of the United States followed the advice of top public health officials and, in effect, declared war on unvaccinated Americans.90,91 He scapegoated and placed all the blame for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the unvaccinated, even though federal health officials admit that fully vaccinated people can still get infected and transmit the virus to others;92,93,94,95 and even though breakthrough COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths in fully vaccinated people are on the rise;96,97 and even though evidence shows individuals who have recovered from the infection have stronger natural immunity than those who have been vaccinated;98 and even though officials at the World Health Organization now say that the SARS-COV-2 virus is mutating like influenza and is likely to become prevalent in every county — no matter how high the vaccination rate.99,100 The president told 100 million unvaccinated Americans that “our patience is running thin” and issued an Executive Order that every person working for the executive branch of the federal government — more than 2 million people — must get fully vaccinated or lose their jobs.101 That order also applied to about 17 million health care professionals working in medical facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid.102 There is no option for executive branch employees to get tested — the rule is get vaccinated or be fired. It is interesting that the order does not apply to workers in the judicial branch or legislative branch, which includes members of and staffers in Congress. The president also ordered the Department of Labor to issue a rule that carries penalties of $14,000 per violation to force private companies with more than 100 employees to get their workers fully vaccinated or be tested weekly. He also called for all teachers and school staff in all schools to be fully vaccinated.103,104 The next day, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, criticized the president for not going far enough.105 Fauci said the government should give Americans no option but to get injected with the biological product that some describe as a vaccine, others characterize as a genetic therapy or cell disrupter biological, and others allege is a bioweapon made in a lab in China with U.S. funding.106,107,108 Then Fauci said all children must be vaccinated or denied a school education109 and all unvaccinated people must be banned from getting on an airplane.110 At the same time, a Virginia congressman introduced the Safety Travel Act that would require travelers getting on a plane or Amtrak train in the U.S. to show proof of COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of boarding.111 Destroying the Lives of Those Who DissentToday, people in some cities are being denied entrance to restaurants and stores if they can’t prove they have been “fully” vaccinated.112 Doctors are refusing to provide medical care to the unvaccinated.113 Hollywood entertainers are celebrating the deaths of unvaccinated people, saying they deserved to die, and are calling for the unvaccinated who get COVID to be denied admission to hospitals for treatment.114,115 Judges are separating children from mothers who have not gotten a COVID shot.116 Influential scientists are insisting lawmakers make it a hate crime for anyone to publicly criticize scientists and government health officials.117 Dissenters are told they are “selfish”118 and characterized as an enemy of the state119 for simply defending the human right to informed consent to medical risk taking.120 The normalizing of the ritualistic persecution of Americans who are refusing to give up the right to autonomy — which is the first and most fundamental human right — is underway. The Orwellian message is: The life of any person who dissents from government policy must be systematically destroyed. Demanding obedience, government health officials characterize public health policies that segregate, discriminate and turn people against each other as “the good.” Yet, a lot of Americans instinctively know segregation and discrimination are not good. They know that persuading a majority of citizens to scapegoat a minority of citizens to cover up the failures of government is allowing evil to triumph. Dissenting Americans, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, fill the ranks of every socioeconomic class, every political party and every faith-based community. They understand the meaning of the warning that, “The only thing necessary for triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” and they are not going to stand by and do nothing. When government threatens to take away an individual’s right to employment, education, health care and the ability to enter a store to buy food, enter a hospital or travel on public transportation, there is no other word for it but tyranny. Weaponizing a Virus and a Vaccine Against the PeopleThis virus, which has a 99% survival rate, and this leaky vaccine, which fails to reliably prevent infection and transmission in the fully vaccinated, has racked up a record-breaking more than half a million vaccine adverse event reports in the U.S. alone.121 It will not be the last virus and vaccine to be weaponized against the people in the name of the greater good. That is because forced vaccination is the tip of the spear in a culture war that has been going on for much longer than the 40 years that I have been a vaccine safety and human rights activist publicly warning that this day would come.122,123,124 It is a war that will cause more suffering until enough of us refuse to be siloed and, instead, join together to change dangerous laws that abuse the trust and good will of the people. Every single American, whether you have been vaccinated or not, should stop to reflect upon what is happening in our country. Think about what liberty means. Imagine What Life Will Be Like in the FutureImagine what life will be like in the future if you cannot leave your home without being harnessed to a government-issued digital ID, which contains personal information about your body and your life, and is hooked up to an electronic surveillance system that records and controls every move you make. Imagine if you are a health care worker and your medical license is taken from you for refusing to get a government-mandated vaccine, which is a public health policy being implemented in Washington, D.C.,125 a city where doctors can now vaccinate children as young as 11 years old without the knowledge or consent of their parents.126 Imagine if you cannot hold any type of job or enter a grocery store to buy food to feed your family, or enter a drug store, cafe, gym, school,127 cinema, museum, park or beach without showing proof you’ve been vaccinated. Imagine if you are denied entrance to a doctor’s office or lose your Medicare and Social Security benefits because you don’t have the vaccine passport, a suggestion made recently on national television.128 Imagine if you cannot get on a plane or bus to visit your children or elderly parents because federal government officials have exercised authority over inter-state commerce and banned the unvaccinated from crossing state borders, an action that some proponents of forced vaccination are urging the current administration to invoke.129,130 Imagine if you cannot get a driver’s license, file your taxes, open or access your bank account or use a credit card to make a purchase if you fail to produce the required vaccine paperwork stamped by the government. Imagine if you or your child have already suffered a previous serious vaccine reaction or have an underlying inflammatory immune disorder that increases your risk for being harmed by vaccination,131,132,133 but doctors refuse to see you because you are unvaccinated — which is already happening in America — and you are denied admission to a hospital for a life-saving operation. Forced Vaccination Was Always the End GameIf you think that the vaccine passport is only about this virus and this vaccine, think again. Forced vaccination was always the end game both before and during this pandemic and the proof of that lies in the decades of federal legislation and federal agency rule making paving the way for what we are experiencing today.134,135,136,137,138 Right now, forced vaccination is the quickest means to what the World Economic Forum transparently describes on its website as “The Great Reset.”139 You, your children and grandchildren are the commodity, and in the name of the greater good, you are expected to obediently allow others to “reset” your lives in all kinds of ways without making a sound. The government-issued passport allowing you to function in society is just the first step on the slippery slope to what will be many more requirements and restrictions on your freedom in the days, months and years to come. The question is: Will you allow yourself to be used and abused by those currently holding the power to do what they want to do to you, or will you defend your God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? This pandemic of deception and incompetence has stolen from our daily lives the peace and joy we deserve to have, leaving too many of us confused and paralyzed by fear, divided from our family and friends, crippled with anxiety and despair, allowing hopelessness to rule our days. We Can Refuse to Live in Fear and Push BackIt doesn’t have to be like this. We can refuse to be psychologically manipulated so we are unable to engage in rational thinking and are crippled by fear. We can push back against the authoritarians taking away our freedom and trying to divide us. We can do it the way that all successful social reform movements before us have done it: through actively participating in local, state and federal government and by engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience,140 if that becomes necessary. Instead of allowing ourselves to be separated from one another, we can stay connected and meet together in small groups in our homes and neighborhoods. We can develop personal relationships with our elected officials at every level of government — from our local sheriff and elected members of local school boards and city and county councils, to our elected state and federal legislators. If we don’t like the way the people we have elected are governing, we can vote them out, or run for office ourselves and help change the laws. We can talk to the young men and women serving in our community police departments and the U.S. military to remind them of how important it is to value and protect human rights and civil liberties, so that if they are ever called upon to implement authoritarian rule, they will make the right choice. Above all, we can be self-disciplined and make rational decisions that do not lead to violent confrontations, because that kind of behavior only plays into the hands of those, whose ultimate goal is to take away autonomy and more individual freedoms in the United States. During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, the most profound statements were made by those who sat down in the front of the bus, or in a chair at a segregated restaurant or other public place, and simply refused to move.141 Heroes Standing Their Ground and Helping Us Through ThisThere are restaurant owners in New York City who are refusing to follow orders directing them to discriminate against and deny service to the unvaccinated.142,143 There are veteran health care workers on the front lines caring for patients during the pandemic, who are being fired for supporting informed consent rights,144,145 and giving up their careers to stand on principle. Many of them suspect that the next cruel order they will be told to obey is to deny life-saving medical treatment to unvaccinated patients. There are corporate CEO’s and union leaders who are refusing to bow to political pressure to require rank and file workers to get the vaccine or risk losing their jobs.146,147 There are courageous doctors and scientists, who have never spoken out publicly before who are risking their careers by demanding that mass vaccination policies be backed up by good science;148,149 who are challenging the government’s narrative that natural immunity is not as good as vaccine-acquired immunity;150 who are criticizing the long-term safety of mRNA vaccines,151 and who are providing convincing evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus did not spontaneously jump out of a bat but was genetically engineered by scientists in biohazard labs.152 There are state lawmakers, who are listening to the people and refusing to vote for the passage of forced vaccination laws that perpetuate the illusion that vaccine passports are the only solution to ending the pandemic.153,154 These Americans are rejecting authoritarianism. They are heroes, and they are on the right side of history. They and many other brave Americans are helping us make our way through this time of fear, oppression and suffering when the cultural values and beliefs that have guaranteed freedom in this great country of ours are being tested. Restoring the Spirit of Freedom to the Center of Our CultureI believe we will come together and pass this test. We will act responsibly to protect our liberty. We will restore the spirit of freedom to its rightful place at the center of our culture. We will do it because we know that if the state can tag, track down and force individuals against their will to be injected with biologicals of known and unknown toxicity today, then there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the state can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow. You can choose to be a hero wherever you live. You can choose to reject the ugly call to shame and punish your friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues and fellow citizens for defending the human right to autonomy and protection of bodily integrity, which is the essence of the informed consent ethic. You can choose freedom over fear. Be the one who never has to say you did not do today what you could have done to change tomorrow. Do it for yourself, your children and grandchildren, and for all the generations to come. It’s your health, your family, your choice. And our mission continues: No forced vaccination. Not in America. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/28/forced-vaccination-was-always-the-end-game.aspx This article was previously published March 1, 2021, and has been updated with new information. Vitamin D regulates the expression of hundreds of genes and is integral to biological functions that affect every bodily system. As you'll see in this short video, vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency can trigger several generalized symptoms that you may have associated with other health conditions. It is also called the sunshine vitamin since your skin makes vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light from the sun.1 Vitamin D performs many functions within the body, including maintaining adequate levels of calcium and phosphate, essential for normal bone mineralization.2 It helps reduce inflammation, which is necessary for the modulation of cell growth and immune function. Vitamin D also affects genes that help regulate cell differentiation and apoptosis. The main indicator of your vitamin D level is 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD). Data collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2005-2006 showed a deficiency prevalence of 41.6% in the U.S. population.3 However, as I discuss later in this article, today as many as 80% of people may be deficient in vitamin D. It's important to note that how the measurement of insufficiency and deficiency is defined depends on the serum concentrations used. Some researchers use a level of 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) or 50 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L); the ng/mL is used most frequently in the U.S. and nmol/L is the standard in Europe. However, GrassrootsHealth Nutrient Research Institute recommends vitamin D serum concentration levels from 40 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL or 100 nmol/L to 150 nmol/L.4 At this level, the number of people who are likely deficient in vitamin D would be significantly higher. 14 Signs You Might Have a Vitamin D DeficiencyDuring cold and flu season when respiratory illnesses are prevalent, or if you're immune-compromised and want to build up your natural defenses against other infections, it is essential to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D to help reduce your risk of viral and bacterial illness.5,6 A blood test is the best way to determine your vitamin D levels, but here are some symptoms that may indicate your levels are low: 1. Aching muscles -- Nearly half of all adults are affected by muscle pain.7 Researchers believe most of those are deficient in vitamin D. Some studies have suggested that nerves have vitamin D receptors that affect the perception of pain. In one animal model, research demonstrated a vitamin D-deficient diet can induce deep muscle hypersensitivity that was not connected to low levels of calcium.8 2. Painful bones -- Vitamin D regulates the level of calcium in your body, necessary to protect bone health.9 Vitamin D deficiency can cause your bones to soften, called osteomalacia. This may be a precursor to osteoporosis. 3. Fatigue -- This is a common symptom of a variety of different health conditions, including sleep deprivation. Researchers have found that supplementing cancer patients suffering from fatigue can improve their symptoms.10 In one study11 using 174 adults with fatigue and stable medical conditions, the researchers found 77.2% were deficient in vitamin D. After normalizing their level, the fatigue symptoms improved significantly. 4. Reduced muscle performance -- Vitamin D deficiency is as common in athletes as in others. Vitamin D is crucial for muscle development, strength and performance. Older adults taking a vitamin D supplement have a reduced risk of falls and improved muscle performance.12 Correction through oral supplementation or sensible sun exposure may reduce symptoms of stress fractures, musculoskeletal pain and frequent illness. Vitamin D also has a direct effect on muscle performance. In one paper from the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the author wrote:13
5. Brain health -- Vitamin D is also essential for your brain health. Symptoms of deficiency can include dementia caused by an increase of soluble and insoluble beta-amyloid, a factor in Alzheimer's disease.14 Research has also found an association with depression15 that may be associated with the function of vitamin D buffering higher levels of calcium in the brain.16 Vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women can increase the risk of autism and schizophrenic-like disorders in the baby.17 One study of people with fibromyalgia found a vitamin D deficiency was more common in those who had anxiety and depression.18 Another looked at vitamin D deficiency in obese subjects and found a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and depression.19 6. Poor sleep -- The mechanism linking vitamin D and poor sleep quality has not been identified. But research has found people with low levels of vitamin D have poor quality sleep and a higher risk of sleep disorders.20 7. Sweaty head -- Excessive sweating, especially on your head, or a change in your pattern of sweating, can indicate a vitamin D deficiency.21 8. Hair loss -- Vitamin D is crucial to the proliferation of keratinocytes and plays an important role in your hair cycle. The vitamin D receptor appears to play a role in the anagen phase of hair growth, leading researchers to conclude, "Treatments that upregulate the vitamin D receptor may be successful in treating hair disorders and are a potential area of further study."22 9. Slow-healing wounds -- Chronic wounds are a major public health challenge.23 In the U.S. 2% of the population is affected by chronic wounds and it is estimated to account for 5.5% of the cost of health care in the U.K. NHS. Vitamin D promotes wound healing and the creation of cathelicidin, a peptide that fights wound infections.24 10. Dizziness -- Evidence from animal models suggests that vitamin D is critical in the development of the inner ear,25 which affects balance and coordination. Analysis of people with vestibular neuritis, characterized by vertigo, showed lower serum vitamin D levels than in people without vestibular neuritis.26 11. Heart problems -- Clinical studies have shown that vitamin D3 improves circulation and can help improve high blood pressure.27 In one study28 researchers discovered that vitamin D3 also has a significant effect on the endothelial cells that line your cardiovascular system. They found that it helped balance concentrations of nitric oxide and peroxynitrite, which improved endothelial function. 12. Excess weight -- How vitamin D affects obesity has not been identified. However, data do show there is a high probability of deficiency in people who are obese.29 13. Recurring infections -- There have been multiple epidemiological studies that show vitamin D deficiency can increase the risk of infection and raise the severity, particularly in respiratory tract infections.30 Multiple studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency increases the potential risk for severe disease and mortality, especially in those who are critically ill.31 14. Reduced cognitive function -- Data show that vitamin D deficiency increases your risk of dementia twofold32 and raises your risk of impaired cognitive function.33 80% of People With COVID-19 Are Deficient in Vitamin DVitamin D plays an important role in the development and severity of many diseases. This is why, from the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I suspected that optimizing vitamin D levels would significantly lower the incidence of infection and death in the general population. Since then, mounting evidence has revealed that higher levels of vitamin D may reduce the rate of positive tests, hospitalizations and mortality related to this infection. One study,34 released in late 2020, assessed the serum 25OHD levels of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 to evaluate the influence it might have on the severity of the disease. The researchers found 82.2% of those with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient (levels lower than 20 ng/mL). Interestingly, they also found those who were deficient had a greater prevalence of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high iron levels and longer hospital stays. A second study35 found similar results for people who only tested positive for COVID-19. In another study published in August 2021 in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, data showed that the vitamin’s metabolites can inhibit replication and expansion of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.36,37 It's important to remember the data showing people who are deficient in vitamin D have a higher risk of severe disease were available long before the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, information that may suggest the other side of the same coin — namely supplementing with vitamin D — may have a positive effect on disease severity, can come under attack. So, it isn't a big leap to understand that if simple and inexpensive solutions, such as supplementation with vitamin D, were to emerge, that, billions of dollars the pharmaceutical companies stand to make by vaccinating the world would be lost. Unlike the painful reports of vaccine adverse events received by the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS),38 supplementing with vitamin D, magnesium and vitamin K2 have been studied for years and found to be "well tolerated."39,40 Added to which, the studies on vitamin D have demonstrated insufficiency and deficiency are associated with a number of health conditions. Magnesium and Vitamin K2 Optimize Your Vitamin D3 SupplementIn the past, I've written about the importance of taking vitamin K2 MK-7 and magnesium with your vitamin D3 supplement. Both play an important role in your overall health and in the bioavailability and application of vitamin D in your body. If you're not using magnesium and vitamin K2, you could need nearly 2.5 times more vitamin D, which GrassrootsHealth discovered in its D*action project.41 Over 10,000 individuals provided information about supplement use and overall health status to GrassrootsHealth since they began conducting large-scale population-based nutrient research in 2007.42 That information has led to the recommendation that vitamin D blood levels between 40 ng/ml and 60 ng/ml (100 nmol/L to 150 nmol/L) are safe, effective and lower overall disease incidence and health care costs. As reported by GrassrootsHealth from their data:43
In practical terms, this means when you take vitamin K2 and magnesium with vitamin D, you need far less vitamin D to achieve a healthy level. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/27/14-signs-of-vitamin-d-deficiency.aspx In a now-deleted Linkedin post, Jonathan Neman, CEO and co-founder of salad chain restaurant Sweetgreen, highlighted data showing that most people hospitalized with COVID-19 are overweight or obese.1 “Is there an underlying problem that perhaps we have not given enough attention to? Is there another way to think about how we tackle ‘healthcare’ by addressing the root cause?” Neman wrote.2 Backlash quickly ensued, with media accusing Neman of fat-shaming and being “fat-phobic,”3 prompting him to apologize days later. While stating that he regretted his choice of words, he added, “I stand behind the intent of the post.”4 As Kim Iversen states in The Hill video above,5 the message that obesity worsens COVID outcomes is one that needs to be heard, and health officials should be sharing it widely, along with effective methods to help people lose weight and maintain it. Overweight and Obesity Involved 79% of COVID HospitalizationsNeman was “canceled” for daring to speak out against pandemic protocol, including suggesting that “no vaccine nor mask will save us” and adding:6
Neman’s message was lost in the backlash, but the fact is that obesity increases the risk for severe COVID-19 illness — significantly. A CDC study involving 148,494 U.S. adults found a nonlinear relationship between body mass index (BMI) and COVID-19 severity, with the lowest risk found among those with BMIs in the healthy weight category and nearing the threshold to overweight.7 Risk then increased as BMI rose. Among the adults who were hospitalized with COVID-19 from March to December 2020, 28.3% were overweight and 50.8% were obese — over 79%.8 Both overweight and obesity were risk factors for mechanical ventilation, while obesity was a risk factor for hospitalization and death, particularly among those aged 65 years and under. Even the CDC noted that these findings highlighted the need for “policies to support healthy behaviors.”9 Neman is far from the first or only person to call for efforts to focus on healthier living during the pandemic. In July 2021, Joel Hirschhorn, member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and America’s Frontline Doctors, also stated that governments have missed a public health opportunity by not issuing recommendations for effective and sustainable weight loss to lower your risk for severe COVID-19 infection and death:10
Even Mild Obesity Doubles Risk of COVID ComplicationsResearchers from the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Italy also looked into BMI and COVID-19 outcomes.11 Although BMI can be misleading in determining whether or not you’re at a healthy weight for your body — in part because it does not take muscle mass into account — it’s the most commonly used measurement for defining obesity. If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you are considered overweight and anything over 30 is considered obese. However, obesity is often divided into categories, with class 1 defined as a BMI of 30 to < 35, class 2 as a BMI of 35 to < 40 and class 3 defined as a BMI of 40 or higher, and considered “extreme” or “severe” obesity.12 Patients with mild obesity had a 2.5 times greater risk of respiratory failure and a five times greater risk of being admitted to an ICU compared to nonobese patients. Those with a BMI of 35 and over were also 12 times more likely to die from COVID-19.13 “Whereas a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 identifies a population of patients at high risk for severe illness, a BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2 dramatically increases the risk of death,” the researchers explained.14 Why Obesity Raises COVID RisksAs for how obesity raises risks, the chronic, low-grade inflammation it causes is a likely factor. Inflammation triggered by obesity may be responsible for a threefold greater risk of pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs) in COVID-19 patients who are obese,15,16 according to separate research. Dysregulated lipid synthesis triggered by obesity may also aggravate inflammation in the lungs, contributing to increased disease severity during respiratory viral infections.17 Leptin receptors are also expressed throughout your immune system, and leptin, typically associated with hunger signals, helps regulate both your innate and adaptive immune responses.18 Obesity is also frequently associated with insulin resistance, and higher blood glucose levels play a role in viral replication and the development of cytokine storms.19,20 Pandemic Led to Weight Gain, Drove Up Obesity in ChildrenIt’s no secret that Americans are facing an obesity crisis. The latest figures from the CDC state that 42.4% of Americans were obese in 2017 to 2018, an increase from 30.5% in 1999 to 2000.21 It’s possible that the pandemic has made these numbers even worse, as 42% of U.S. adults who responded to the American Psychological Association’s 2021 Stress in America poll said they had gained more weight than they intended since the pandemic started.22 The average weight gain among this group was 29 pounds, with 10% stating they gained more than 50 pounds during the pandemic.23 Children have been similarly affected, with significant increases in the rate of BMI change noted during the pandemic among 2- to 19-year-olds, according to the CDC, which translates to weight gain. The CDC noted:24
September 15, 2021, the CDC also announced that the number of states with high obesity prevalence — defined as at least 35% of residents with obesity — has nearly doubled since 2018.25 There are now 16 states where at least 35% of the residents are obese, up from nine states in 2018 and 12 in 2019. Obesity Isn’t Simply a Matter of OvereatingEfforts geared toward “cutting calories” to lose weight are misguided, as obesity often stems not from overeating but rather, primarily, from eating the wrong foods. The U.S. diet is focused on ultraprocessed with a high glycemic load, which causes fundamental changes in metabolism leading to fat storage, weight gain and obesity.26 Instead of the “energy balance model,” which states that people gain weight because they consume more energy than they use, researchers writing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recommended the “carbohydrate-insulin model,” which focuses on what you eat instead of how much.27 Lead study author Dr. David Ludwig, endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School, explained that "reducing consumption of the rapidly digestible carbohydrates that flooded the food supply during the low-fat diet era lessens the underlying drive to store body fat. As a result, people may lose weight with less hunger and struggle."28 If you need to lose weight and/or want to reach optimal health, I recommend adopting a cyclical ketogenic diet, which involves radically limiting net carbs (replacing them with healthy fats and moderate amounts of protein) until you’re close to or at your ideal weight, ultimately allowing your body to burn fat — not carbohydrates — as its primary fuel. This includes avoiding all ultraprocessed foods and also limiting added sugars to a maximum of 25 grams per day (15 grams a day if you're insulin resistant or diabetic). KetoFasting, the program I developed and detail in my book, "KetoFast: A Step-By-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals," combines a cyclical ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting with cyclical partial fasting to optimize weight, health and longevity. Experts Recommend ‘Quarantine’ From Ultraprocessed FoodsDr. Matteo Rottoli, lead author of the University of Bologna study, explained, "In the mid- and long-term, weight loss is the definitive answer to reduce the [COVID-19] risks in people with obesity."29 Toward that end, eliminating ultraprocessed foods is essential and a step that will help bolster your health not only against COVID-19 but also against other forms of chronic and infectious illness. While the CDC and other health officials aren’t sounding the alarm about the risks posed by ultraprocessed foods and other toxic exposures, the scientific community is taking note. As noted by a team of researchers in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, the role of toxic substance exposures, which includes ultraprocessed foods and poor diet, is under-reported in the COVID-19 pandemic.30 “In short, it is the pervasive, constant exposure to toxic stressors in our environment, in combination with genetic factors, that cause us to develop diseases that impair our immune systems and make us susceptible to serious COVID-19 infection,” reported the Alliance for Natural Health. As the researchers noted, this includes lifestyle factors such as inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet including ultraprocessed foods and refined grains and chronic sleep deprivation — all factors that also affect your weight.31 In order to protect the public, a “quarantine” from toxins like ultraprocessed foods, environmental chemicals and more would be far more effective than quarantining from one virus,32 and for long-term pandemic prevention, the researchers believe, and I would strongly agree, that toxicology-based approaches should be given priority over virology-based approaches.33 The time to start protecting yourself from the toxic exposure of ultraprocessed food is now; the more you focus on healthy, whole foods instead, the faster you’ll lose weight, the better your immune system will function and the healthier you’ll be in the event of any viral exposure that may come your way. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/27/impact-of-obesity-on-covid-19.aspx In the video above, Russel Brand discusses the conflicts of interest that arise when a regulatory agency is funded by the industry it is charged with regulating. Take the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example. In years past, the FDA was funded entirely by U.S. taxpayers. Today, nearly 45% of its annual budget comes from user fees paid by the drug companies that seek approval for a given product, Brand says. This transition from public to corporate funding has had a significant impact on how the agency operates, and it’s clearly not in the public’s best interest. Brand cites data showing the FDA has gone from a drug approval rate of 38% in 2005 to 61% in 2018. In situations where a drug is aimed at a disease where few medication options already exist, 89% of new drug applications are approved on the first try. Has drug development simply gotten that much better? Probably not. The fact is that drug companies view the FDA’s user fees as payment for service rendered, and that service includes approval. They’re not paying for the FDA to turn them down. Why FDA and Big Pharma Have a Trust ProblemIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA issued emergency use authorizations for completely novel types of “vaccine” in a matter of weeks. While some applaud this speediness, it’s worth remembering that as speedy approvals have increased with other drugs, so have the number found to be harmful after the fact. Data cited by Brand show that 21% of FDA approved medications ultimately had to be removed from the market or be given a black box warning. Essentially, if you’re taking a newly approved drug, the chances that this drug will be found to be extremely dangerous is 1 in 5, which is hardly encouraging! A 2017 Yale study1 found the situation is even more dire than that, showing nearly 1 in 3 FDA approved drugs ends up having new safety issues detected in the years following approval. The FDA is also allowing drug makers to profit at the expense of public health by allowing them to “claim success in trials based on proxy measurements instead of clinical outcomes like survival rates or cures, which take more time to evaluate,” Caroline Chen notes in a June 2018 ProPublica article.2 FDA Advisers Receive Payouts to Approve DrugsIn addition to that, “pay-later conflicts of interest” are widespread, according to an investigation by the journal Science.3 This is when doctors who advise the FDA or sit on drug panels that are in charge of drug approval are paid by drug makers AFTER the approval is a done deal. Science examined 107 physician FDA advisers who voted on drug approvals. Of those, 40 ended up receiving more than $10,000 in post hoc earnings from the drug company whose drug they voted to approve; 26 of them got more than $100,000 and six were paid more than $1 million. FDA advisers who help drug makers gain approval also reap rewards in other ways. As noted by Science:4
FDA Has Already Lost Most of Its CredibilityAs argued by Brand, the data is rather unequivocal. It tells us corruption is rampant and the FDA has completely abandoned its charter to ensure public health and safety. It’s really just there to give the appearance that someone is looking out for public health, while in actuality it’s a venue through which drug makers are enabled to profit from unsafe and unproven drugs. The sad reality is that while FDA approval used to mean something, today it has basically lost all meaning. Just because a drug is FDA-approved doesn’t mean it’s been proven safe and effective. Again and again, drugs are found to have serious safety issues in the years after their approval. As a result, drug companies are allowed to benefit while public health is sacrificed, which is precisely the situation that the FDA was created to prevent. FDA Approves COVID Boosters for SeniorsSeptember 17, 2021, the FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID shot Comirnaty as a third-dose booster for people over the age of 65 and other high-risk individuals. As reported by The Vaccine Reaction September 19, 2021:5
At the end of the day, 16 of the 18 VRBPAC members voted “no” on approving a Comirnaty booster dose for people over the age of 16. A second vote was then hastily thrown together, after members indicated they’d be comfortable recommending a booster for seniors and “people at high risk of severe COVID-19,” which the FDA is defining as health care workers and those at increased risk of exposure due to their occupation. This unscheduled second vote passed unanimously. However, as reported by The Vaccine Reaction:6
What’s more, the FDA suddenly shifted from “individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19” infection, to having it apply to “health care workers or others at high risk of occupational exposure.”
In a September 19, 2021, appearance on CBS News,8 director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins stated he fully expects the FDA to extend boosters beyond seniors aged 65 and older, health care workers and others at high risk of occupational exposure. 1 in 1,000 mRNA Shots Results in Heart InflammationSo, the FDA claims the Pfizer shot is safe and effective enough to warrant a third booster for certain groups. But is it? According to a retrospective study9,10 by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 1 in 1,000 mRNA injections (Pfizer and Moderna) have resulted in myopericarditis, i.e., inflammation of the heart or heart sack, within one month of the shot, although symptom onset typically occurred within days. The study was posted on the preprint server medRxiv September 16, 2021, the day before the FDA voted “yes” on boosters for the elderly and certain high-risk groups. As explained by the authors:11
COVID Shots May Be Killing Two for Every Life SavedAccording to expert testimony given during the September 17, 2021, FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting (see video above),12 the shots may in fact be killing far more people than they’re saving. According to Dr. Joseph Fraiman, an emergency medicine physician in New Orleans, there’s no clinical evidence to prove the COVID shots are saving more people than they harm. He told the committee they ought to:
Steve Kirsch, executive director of the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, then went on to show what Fraiman feared the most, namely that the Pfizer shot kills two people for every person it saves.
Here’s a screenshot from Kirsch’s slide show, showing the number of people killed by the COVID shots, compared to the number of lives saved by them. Kirsch went on to state that while the VAERS data is the only data that are statistically significant, the other two data sources are still “troubling”:
Kirsch also showed data suggesting 1 in 317 boys aged 16 to 17 will get myocarditis from the shots, and after a third booster, that number may reach as high as 1 in 25. He also points out that Pfizer’s Phase 3 trials must clearly be “gamed,” as “it is statistically impossible for protocol violations to be five times higher in the treatment group.” “Why has this not been investigated?” he asked. What Do the VAERS Data Tell Us?In a September 18, 2021, interview with The Covexit podcast, Jessica Rose, Ph.D., who holds degrees in applied mathematics, immunology, computational biology, molecular biology and biochemistry, discussed what the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) data tell us about the safety of the COVID shots. Rose covers issues such as the magnitude of the side effects compared to other vaccination programs, the problem of under-reporting, and how causality can be assessed using the Bradford Hill Criteria. You can find a PDF of the slide show that Rose presents here.13 Here’s a summary of some of the key points made in this interview:
Children Are Now the Next TargetWhile the FDA voted against recommending a third booster to young adults aged 16 and over, there’s little doubt that the recommendation will soon be expanded to people under the age of 65, and eventually even young children.14 I say that because there seems to be no ceiling above which the death and disability toll is deemed too great. Why? We have not been given a straight answer, leaving us to speculate about the FDA’s intentions. Why aren’t they concerned about safety when more than half a million side effect reports have been filed? How come nearly 15,000 reported deaths15 haven’t set off emergency alarms and in-depth investigations? As noted by Rose, 50 deaths have historically been the cutoff point at which a vaccine is pulled. We’re so far beyond that now, it seems there’s no threshold anymore. At present, one wonders whether the FDA’s reluctance to approve a booster for younger individuals is mere show. Perhaps they’re trying to reclaim some measure of scientific authority, which was undermined by the U.S. government and Pfizer announcing the release of boosters before the FDA had even made its determination. Whatever the case may be, I urge you to review as much data as you can before you jump on the booster bandwagon. Based on everything I’ve seen, I believe the risk of side effects is likely going to exponentially increase with each dose. If you need a refresher on the potential mechanisms of harm, download and read Stephanie Seneff’s excellent paper,16 “Worse Than The Disease: Reviewing Some Possible Unintended Consequences of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19,” published in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research in collaboration with Dr. Greg Nigh. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/27/covid-jabs-killing-two-people-for-every-person-saved.aspx |
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