Tag Archives: Covid Testing

Good News

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Yesterday The Epoch Times reported that New York City Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Lynch stated in an email that if New York City puts a vaccine mandate in place for police officers, the organization will take legal action.

The article reports:

City workers in New York must either get a COVID-19 shot or submit to weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, announced last month. More recently, de Blasio announced that teachers and other school staffers must get a vaccine or face termination.

While New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on NY1 last last year that officers wouldn’t be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine, that has changed.

Asked this week if he would support a mandate, Shea said he would.

“One hundred percent. I think we’re well past that time. We lost three members last week, two of them to COVID, and I think it’s all unnecessary to some degree,” he said. “Everyone, I think, all across this country really should be embracing these vaccines.”

Shea noted that the Pfizer vaccine was fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration before adding, “I think everyone should be lining up to get it that hasn’t gotten it yet.”

Notice that no one demanding universal vaccines is allowing for people who have natural immunity because they have previously had and recovered from Covid. Recent studies show that natural immunity is not only longer lasting than the shot but is better protection against the Delta variant of the disease. Why is natural immunity being ignored?

Following The Science

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There are still a lot of things we don’t know about Covid-19 or the Covid-19 vaccine. However, as time goes on, the medical community is collecting statistics that will at least give us a partial picture of the disease and immunity to it.

On August 6th, Sharyl Attkisson posted an article on her website summarizing some of the research on natural immunity and vaccine immunity to Covid-19. Please follow the link to read the entire article. It is detailed and complex, but I will post a few highlights.

The article notes:

Updated Aug. 6 with CDC analysis of Kentucky (unvaccinated Kentuckians had “2.34 times the odds of reinfection“ compared with fully vaccinated) and national analysis in Israel (vaccinated Israelis were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection). More below.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) became one of the latest high-profile figures to get sick with Covid-19, even though he’s fully vaccinated. In a statement Monday, Graham said it feels like he has “the flu,” but is “certain” he would be worse if he hadn’t been vaccinated.

While it’s impossible to know whether that’s the case, public health officials are grappling with the reality of an increasing number of fully-vaccinated Americans coming down with Covid-19 infections, getting hospitalized, and even dying of Covid. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) insists vaccination is still the best course for every eligible American. But many are asking if they have better immunity after they’re infected with the virus and recover, than if they’re vaccinated.

Increasingly, the answer within the data appears to be ”yes.”

The article included the following:

The article notes:

Unfortunately, virologists say no commonly-used test can detect with certainty whether a person is immune. A common misconception is that antibody tests can make that determination. But experts say immunity after infection or exposure often comes without a person producing or maintaining measurable antibodies.

Because of that reality, people who have had asymptomatic infections — infections where they suffered no symptoms — have no easy way to know that they’re immune. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that the millions who know they got Covid can be assured they’re unlikely to suffer reinfection, for at least as long of a time period that scientists have been able to measure. Possibly far beyond.

This is an experimental vaccine. Remember that when you make your decision as to whether or not you are going to receive the vaccine. Meanwhile, there is nothing wrong with washing your hands frequently.

 

One Way To Limit The White House Press Corps

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President Biden has not spent a lot of time talking to the press. Jen Psaki meets with the White House press frequently and often has a problem communicating the policies of the Biden administration. Transparency is not the first item on the agenda of the Biden administration.

Yesterday The U.K. Mail reported the following:

The White House will start charging members of the press $170 to have a COVID-19 test before they can enter the grounds, according to a report, in a move that could financially cripple news organizations and limit coverage of the Biden administration altogether. 

The White House press office will from Monday bill journalists for their own coronavirus tests, which are mandatory for anyone entering the White House complex. 

Under the Trump administration, COVID-19 testing for the media was only available to members of the press pool who were coming into close contact with Donald Trump or to people exposed to a positive case via a White House event.

These tests were paid for by the White House however testing was not available to journalists attending press conferences in the briefing room or entering the grounds for other White House events.   

Several members of the media were exposed to the virus during Trump’s tenure, including at least three journalists who tested positive in the wake of the Rose Garden ‘superspreader’ event after which then-president Trump was admitted to hospital with the virus. 

As soon as Joe Biden took office in January, his administration introduced mandatory COVID-19 rapid testing for all journalists each morning before they can enter the White House campus, as well as a requirement to wear surgical face masks and practice social distancing.  

The White House has been footing the bill for the testing since it was made mandatory in January but it now plans to charge the media $170 per test starting March 1, according to the Washington Post.

It has also agreed to accept proof of a negative test taken outside the grounds following backlash over the initial plan to only permit on-site testing. 

However it is not clear what outside tests will be permitted with some private tests also costing up to around $200 a go. 

The article notes that no other federal agency is charging journalists for testing. I wonder if even the liberal journalists are wishing for a return to the Trump administration where at least they generally had access to the Press Briefing Room without paying $170.