All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

The Mayor of Detroit Turned Down Thousands of J&J Vaccines. Public Health Experts Say That’s a Bad Idea.

Dr. Anthony Fauci explained at a White House press briefing earlier this week that despite their different mechanisms, the mRNA and the J&J vaccines share the same “ultimate end game.” “Both the vaccines ultimately result in a spike protein in the right conformation that gives the body the opportunity to feel that this is the actual virus that it’s seeing when it’s not—it’s the protein,” he said.

So, now is not the time to base public health decisions on which vaccine politicians think is “best.”

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Local governments are doing what public health officials had feared: turning down the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under the false assumption that the single-dose, relatively shelf-stable shot isn’t the “best.”

Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit declined 6,200 J&J shots that would have added to the city’s arsenal of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to the Detroit Free Press and Crain’s Detroit. “Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine,” Duggan said at a Thursday briefing. “Moderna and Pfizer are the best. And I am going to do everything I can to make sure the residents of the city of Detroit get the best.”

This isn’t a good way of thinking about the coronavirus vaccines. Public health officials are purposely shying away from describing one vaccine as any better or worse than another, because they are all highly effective at preventing severe illness and death. As former FDA chief scientists Dr. Jesse Goodman told me earlier this week, all the vaccines work.

“All three vaccines that are currently available under emergency use in the US are very effective in preventing against severe disease, and that’s the main thing individuals need to worry about,” Goodman told me. “What we really want to do is prevent people from getting really sick, and getting hospitalized or dying, and the J&J vaccine appears to do a perfectly fine job with that.”

Plus, the vaccines can’t be compared head to head because each was tested in its own clinical trial. And, as public health officials have pointed out, the J&J vaccine was tested in countries where more contagious variants of the virus were spreading—variants against which the mRNA vaccines may also be somewhat less effective.

Re: J&J 72% vs Pfizer/Moderna 95% – it’s sorta like comparing scores of golfers who teed off during a calm morning to those who teed off at 1pm when winds were howling. While it’s hard to make precise adjustment, it’s clear that equally good play will result in different scores.

— Bob Wachter (@Bob_Wachter) March 5, 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci explained at a White House press briefing earlier this week that despite their different mechanisms, the mRNA and the J&J vaccines share the same “ultimate end game.” “Both the vaccines ultimately result in a spike protein in the right conformation that gives the body the opportunity to feel that this is the actual virus that it’s seeing when it’s not—it’s the protein,” he said.

So, now is not the time to base public health decisions on which vaccine politicians think is “best.”

Bill That Would Make It a Crime to Insult and Taunt Police Officers Advances Through Kentucky State Senate

Just toss that 1st Amendment – hell no! A new bill advanced out of a Kentucky state Senate committee Thursday, and if it passes into law, it would serve as the state’s (and possibly the nation’s) first blue fragility bill. What’s “blue fragility,” you ask? Well, it’s like white fragility, only you add a gun, badge and a massive ego that can’t take an insult…” j2zgjd0acx1m2rhjidil.jpg

A new bill advanced out of a Kentucky state Senate committee Thursday, and if it passes into law, it would serve as the state’s (and possibly the nation’s) first blue fragility bill. What’s “blue fragility,” you ask? Well, it’s like white fragility, only you add a gun, badge and a massive ego that can’t take an insult…

Read more…

DeVos’s student aid chief resigns from Education Department | TheHill

“I accepted the resignation of Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Gen. Mark Brown and thanked him for his service to the U.S. Department of Education. As the nation continues grappling with economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to deliver relief and fortify pathways to the middle class is more urgent than ever,” Cardona said in a statement. Robin Minor, the deputy chief operating officer, was named as the acting head of Federal Student Aid as the administration searches for a permanent replacement for Brown.

Source: DeVos’s student aid chief resigns from Education Department | TheHill

Protesters risk being killed in demonstrations against Myanmar’s military coup. But an entire generation is still showing up to fight – ABC News

A woman with black hair and wearing a mask and jumper holds her fist in the air surrounded by a crowd of protesters.

Mothers have taken to writing their phone numbers on their children’s arms in case they are caught up in the fray.

Some even include their child’s blood group, knowing there is a very real possibility they will end up in hospital.

“It’s … a really sad thing to see that the mothers are giving them blessing to go out [to protest] knowing they might never come back home or they might be arrested,” Myanmar analyst Dr Khin Mar Mar Kyi said.

“And yet they feel they do not have other options.”

Mya Thwaite Thwaite Khiang was the first person to be killed in the unrest in Myanmar.

While at a peaceful protest in Yangon demonstrating against the military coup, Ms Khiang was shot in the head by security forces and died later in hospital.

She was only 19 years old.

But her death hasn’t deterred protesters from joining the anti-coup movement.

“No, she actually gives me strength to fight for the freedom, the democracy that we deserve,” 21-year-old protester Khon Cho Thawdar told the ABC.

Source: Protesters risk being killed in demonstrations against Myanmar’s military coup. But an entire generation is still showing up to fight – ABC News

Several Texas college campuses to keep mask mandates after governor’s order

Austin Community College, Baylor University, Paris Junior College, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, the Texas A&M University System, Trinity University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso are keeping their current COVID-19 guidelines — which include mask mandates — in place. Other universities have not yet released updated guidance in response to Abbott’s announcement, but several schools, including the University of Houston, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech University and Lamar University have said they are reviewing the order to determine the next steps.
Graduates at a Texas A&M University commencement ceremony at Reed Arena in College Station on Dec. 17, 2020.

Graduates at a Texas A&M University’s commencement ceremony at Reed Arena in College Station in December. The A&M System is among higher education institutions that will still require people to wear face masks.

Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

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Several Texas colleges and universities will still require people to wear face masks after Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he will lift the statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions starting Wednesday.

Those institutions’ decisions come as COVID-19 continues to spread across the state and Houston became the first city to record cases of all major COVID-19 strains. As of March 3, only 7.5% of Texans have been fully vaccinated- far below the recommended threshold for rolling back safety restrictions. Local leaders criticized Abbott’s decision, saying the move came too early and will cost peoples’ lives.

Austin Community College, Baylor University, Paris Junior College, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, the Texas A&M University System, Trinity University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso are keeping their current COVID-19 guidelines — which include mask mandates — in place. Other universities have not yet released updated guidance in response to Abbott’s announcement, but several schools, including the University of Houston, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech University and Lamar University have said they are reviewing the order to determine the next steps.

UT President Jay Hartzell said in a message to the UT community that keeping the mask mandate in place for the university is in accordance with guidance from the Texas Education Agency.

“We have been safely delivering on our teaching and research missions so far this year, and our protocols have been working,” Hartzell said in the message.

John Sharp, Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, said in a statement that the system anticipates guidance will be lifted at the end of the spring semester, but system members should continue to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines that are already in place, including masking and physical distancing.

Disclosure: Baylor University, Lamar University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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India Threatens Jail for Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter Employees – WSJ

India’s government has threatened to jail employees of Facebook Inc., its WhatsApp unit and Twitter Inc. as it seeks to quash political protests and gain far-reaching powers over discourse on foreign-owned tech platforms, people familiar with the warnings say.

The warnings are in direct response to the tech companies’ reluctance to comply with data and takedown requests from the government related to protests by Indian farmers that have made international headlines, the people say. At least some of the written warnings cite specific, India-based employees at risk of arrest if the companies don’t comply, according to some of the people.

Source: India Threatens Jail for Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter Employees – WSJ

7-Year-old Liza Scott Sells Lemonade to Fund Her Own Brain Surgery

So often, a story like this will make the rounds on social media: a vulnerable American (bonus points if they are very old or very young, two groups easy to sympathize with) who is down on their luck, does something extraordinary to change their situation. Rarely mentioned is the reason they find themselves in hardship: the lack of any social safety net, the dissolution of the welfare state, and the cruel calculations of our healthcare system. Source: 7-Year-old Liza Scott Sells Lemonade to Fund Her Own Brain Surgery