Did the US CDC just quietly recall the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, because it caused too many deaths and injuries?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : CDC Just Quietly Recalled Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine!
People are claiming that the US CDC just quietly recalled the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, because it caused too many deaths and injuries!
Died Suddenly : The checks have been cashed and the mission has been accomplished. They think they can begin to quietly roll back and that we will just forget.
Millions are injured, and millions are dead or dying slowly. Never forget what they have done.
Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis : COVID Vaccine pulled from US – No CDC comment.
Andrew Bridgen : Just like the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Johnson and Johnsonvaccine has been quietly withdrawn and stocks destroyed. Both of these products were actually a strand of DNA and used an Adenovirus vector to enter the cells. Where are the national media headlines?…
TaraBull : Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has been pulled from the U.S. amid health concerns. Should Pfizer be next?
Truth : CDC Did Not Recall Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created by anti-vaccination activists, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Use Limited In May 2022
The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson received an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) from the FDA on February 27, 2021.
However, the FDA later limited its use on 5 May 2022, because it was shown to introduce a small risk of developing thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) – the same problem affecting the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Fact #2 : Pfizer + Moderna Introduced Bivalent Vaccines In 2022
Thanks to evolutionary pressures, these variants and subvariants have evolved to evade the protections offered by both vaccines and natural immunity from a prior infection.
To combat these new variants, Pfizer and Moderna developed bivalent mRNA vaccines, which target both the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as the newer and much more infectious Omicron variant.
Pfizer and Moderna announced, on 25 June and 8 June respectively, that they successfully tested their bivalent COVID-19 vaccines. With the introduction of bivalent vaccines, there really isn’t any use for older monovalent vaccines like the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.
Fact #3 : US CDC Did Not Recall Janssen COVID-19 Vaccines
Just to be clear – the US CDC did not recall the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
The US CDC only updated its Janssen COVID-19 vaccine information page on May 10, 2023 to inform the public that the vaccine is no longer available in the United States.
Claims that the CDC did not mention any reason for this decision are also false. The CDC specifically said that the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is no longer available in the US, because all remaining stock expired on May 7, 2023!
Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine is no longer available in the U.S. All remaining U.S. government stock of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine expired May 7, 2023. Dispose of any remaining Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations.
Fact #4 : US CDC Recommends Boosting With Bivalent Vaccines
The CDC recommended that those who received one or two doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine should receive one dose of the new bivalent mRNA vaccine from Moderna or Pfizer.
People ages 18 years and older who received 1 or 2 Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine dose are recommended to receive 1 bivalent mRNA dose (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) at least 2 months after completion of the previous dose.
Fact #5 : This Is Just COVID-19 Vaccine Fake News!
This is yet another example of fake news created to scare people about the COVID-19 vaccines. Here are other examples you may see circulating on WhatsApp and social media platforms:
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the CDC say that COVID-19 vaccines increased AIDS related diseases and cancer by 338X in 2021?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : CDC Says COVID-19 Vaccines Increased AIDS + Cancer!
People are sharing an article by The Expose (formerly Daily Expose), which claims that the CDC just said that the COVID-19 vaccines increased AIDS-associated diseases and cancers by 338X in 2021!
Here is an excerpt from the really long article, so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
COVID Vaccine roll-out caused 338x increase in AIDS-associated Diseases & Cancers in 2021 says CDC
Official data made available by the U.S. Government and Centers for Disease Control strongly suggests that fully vaccinated Americans may be developing Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or a similar disease that is decimating the innate immune system.
But they are not alone, because further data made available by the UK Government and the Government of Canada suggests the vaccinated population in both of these respective countries are also developing the debilitating condition.
It’s a common misconception that Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is only caused by the HIV virus. This simply isn’t true.
Acquired (or secondary) immunodeficiency is one of the major causes of infections in adults. These immunodeficiency disorders affect your immune system partially or as a whole, making your body an easy target for several diseases and infections. (Source)
When immunodeficiency disorders affect your immune system, your body can no longer fight bacteria and diseases.
Several factors in the environment can cause secondary immunodeficiency disorders. Some common ones are:
Radiation or chemotherapy, which can lead to a secondary immunodeficiency disorder known as neutropenia
Infections due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can result in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Leukaemia, a cancer that begins in the cells of the bone marrow that can lead to hypogammaglobulinemia—a type of secondary immunodeficiency
Malnutrition, which affects up to 50% of populations in underdeveloped countries and leaves people vulnerable to respiratory infections and diarrhoea
But some of the less common causes include Drugs or medications.
So it’s perfectly possible for a medication or drug to cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and data published by the U.S Government and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) strongly suggests the Covid-19 injections should be added to the list.
For months on end, official data coming out of both the UK and Canada has strongly insinuated that the vaccinated population are developing a new form of AIDS. This is because the Covid-19 injections are proving to have a real-world negative effectiveness, implying that they are causing damage to the natural immune system.
Truth : CDC Did Not Say COVID-19 Vaccines Increase AIDS + Cancer
This is just another example of FAKE NEWS from the notorious fake news website, The Expose, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : The Expose Is A Notorious Fake News Website
Like Real Raw News and NewsPunch, Daily Expose is a FAKE NEWS website that capitalises on making shocking but fake stories to generate page views and money. It was later rebranded as The Expose.
Founded in November 2020 by Jonathan Allen-Walker – a mechanic from Lincolnshire, The Expose / Daily Expose is infamous for publishing COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should NEVER share anything from Daily Expose / The Expose. Here are some of its fake stories that I personally debunked earlier:
Everything posted by The Expose / Daily Exposemust be considered fake news, until proven otherwise.
Fact #2 : Adverse Events Are Not Side Effects
Anti-vaccination activists and websites often mention “adverse events” instead of “side effects”, and that’s intentional.
Adverse events are simply “unfavourable” or “unintended” events that happen after vaccination, even if they are unrelated to the vaccine itself. Adverse events can include vaccine-related events like an anaphylactic reaction, or something completely unrelated like getting into a car accident right after vaccination.
Just because they were reported to monitoring systems like VAERS in the US, or Yellow Card in the UK, it does not mean that they are vaccine side effects. Reported adverse events have to be investigated to find out if they are related (anaphylactic reaction) or not (getting into a car accident) to the vaccine or drug that was taken.
Even if an adverse event was “possibly caused” by the vaccine, it must still be confirmed that the vaccine directly caused it, because an anaphylactic reaction (for example) can also occur from a bee sting, or an existing peanut allergy.
Only once an adverse event is confirmed to be caused by the vaccine, is it then a vaccine side effect. Otherwise, it is merely an adverse event, not a side effect.
That is why it is not only wrong, but grossly irresponsible, to use adverse events to scare people into thinking that they are vaccine side effects.
Fact #3 : Adverse Event Monitoring Systems Are Open To Abuse
Adverse event monitoring systems like VAERS and Yellow Card were intentionally designed to be open to anyone to report anything. This lets scientists catch as many adverse events as possible, to hopefully pick out very rare side effects that even large trials may not catch.
Unfortunately, this open design also makes them notoriously susceptible to abuse, and false reporting. Not just doctors and their patients, but literally any Tom, Dick, or Harry with nothing better to do, can create and file nonsensical adverse event reports.
This is why VAERS, for example, is a favourite tool for anti-vaccination activists. Not only can they create fake reports to inflate the numbers of adverse events, and/or to generate fake news, they often use its unverified adverse events statistics to drive the perception that COVID-19 vaccines cause a lot of death and injuries.
The CDC is well-aware of this problem, which is why they explicitly pointed out to everyone that :
Reports may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information.
The number of reports alone cannot be interpreted or used to reach conclusions about the existence, severity, frequency, or rates of problems associated with vaccines.
For certain, CDC did not say that the VAERS reports show that COVID-19 vaccines increased AIDS and cancer by 338X in 2021!
So next time you see any report that mentions VAERS, take it with a big pinch of salt. Better still, ignore it completely.
Fact #4 : AIDS Is Caused By HIV Infection
The Expose / Daily Expose falsely claims that AIDS have multiple causes, including “drugs or medications”. That’s nonsense. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is only caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
HIV infections go through different stages – from an acute infection, to clinical latency, before it progresses to the AIDS stage, which is defined as a HIV infection with either :
a CD4+ T cell count below 200 cells per µL, or
the occurrence of specific diseases associated with HIV infection
The Expose / Daily Expose (intentionally?) confused AIDS with Secondary Immunodeficiency Disorders (SID).
Since AIDS can only be caused by a HIV infection, the entire premise of its article falls into pieces. It’s complete and utter nonsense – COVID-19 vaccines do not cause AIDS!
Just to be clear, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a completely different virus from SARS-CoV-2 – the COVID-19 virus.
HIV viruses are double-stranded retroviruses from the Lentivirus genus, and are transmitted through sexual contact, or transfer of blood and bodily fluids.
SARS-CoV-2 is a single-stranded coronavirus from the Betacoronavirus genus, and is airborne, mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosols.
There is no conceivable way for COVID-19 vaccines, or even COVID-19 infections, to cause AIDS…. or to “create a new form of AIDS”. That’s nonsense.
Fact #6 : COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Damage Immune System
COVID-19 vaccines do not damage your immune system, because they are really just training camps for your immune system.
All they do is teach your immune system how to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Your own immune system will then develop its own antibodies to protect against the real coronavirus when you get infected.
Like special forces training for soldiers in an army, vaccines boost your immune system’s ability to fight back against a new enemy.
COVID-19 vaccines certainly cannot cause AIDS by damaging your immune system Again, AIDS can only be caused by a HIV infection!
Everything posted by The Expose must be regarded as FAKE NEWS, until proven otherwise.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the WHO just recommend the PERMANENT use of face mask to combat COVID-19?!
Claim : WHO Recommends Permanent Use Of Face Mask!
People are sharing a Substack article called “WHO Unbelievably Recommends Permanent Masking, While New Study Confirms Vaccine Mandates Were Useless” with comments like these:
Steve Kirsch : In a remarkable feat of anti-science commitment, the WHO recently reaffirmed that it will join the CDC in reaffirming its absolute dedication to universal mask wearing to stop the spread of COVID. You can’t make this stuff up… you really can’t.
The WHO and the CDC now joining forces to mandate mask wearing. 🤡🌎
Despite Years of Failure, WHO Unbelievably Recommends Permanent Masking, While New Study Confirms Vaccine Mandates Were Useless
The W.H.O. & C.D.C move on mask mandates, regardless of science, days before the Biden Administration plans to hand over our nation’s sovereignty to the W.H.O. on the 27th?
Truth : WHO Did Not Recommend Permanent Use Of Face Mask!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and propagated by anti-vaccination activists, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Article Offered No Evidence Of WHO Face Mask Mandate
The claim that the WHO has recommended the permanent use of face mask is based on a single Substack article by Ian Miller, specifically these parts.
Experts got vaccine mandates horribly wrong, while the WHO demands permanent masking in defiance of scientific evidence.
In a remarkable feat of anti-science commitment the World Health Organization recently reaffirmed that it will join the CDC in reaffirming its absolute dedication to universal mask wearing to stop the spread of COVID.
It would be remarkable if it’s true, but the writer did not actually offer any evidence to back up that claim.
Fact #2 : WHO Only Recommends Using Face Mask In Specific Situations
The article likely refers to a 13 January 2023 update by the WHO on its face mask wearing guidelines.
WHO has not changed its recommendation that the public should still continue to use a face mask in specific situations:
a recent exposure to COVID-19
when you have COVID-19
when you suspect you may have COVID-19
when you are at high-risk of severe COVID-19
if you are in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly-ventilated space
So the claim that the WHO is demanding / recommending the permanent use of face mask, or a face mask all the time, is nonsense.
Fact #3 : WHO Only Changed Previous Advice On Epidemiological Situation
The only change WHO made was to recommend the use of a face mask in the situations above, regardless of the epidemiological situation – whether there is significant COVID-19 spread at the time and place, or not.
The WHO made the slight change in its face mask recommendation due to the “current spread of COVID-19 globally”. As COVID-19 is now widespread globally, it no longer makes sense to make those face mask recommendations based on the epidemiological situation.
WHO continues to recommend the use of masks by the public in specific situations, and this update recommends their use irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the COVID-19 globally.
Masks are recommended following a recent exposure to COVID-19, when someone has or suspects they have COVID-19, when someone is at high-risk of severe COVID-19, and for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space. Previously, WHO recommendations were based on the epidemiological situation.
Fact #4 : WHO Guidelines Are Not Mandatory
The claims that the WHO is “demanding” the use of a face mask is nonsense.
These WHO guidelines and recommendations are not mandatory for any person or country to adopt.
Fact #5 : WHO Cannot Supersede National Sovereignty
The claims that countries are handing over their sovereignty to the WHO to implement such face mask / vaccine mandates is nonsense.
The Charter of the United Nations guarantees the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health. This was specifically pointed out in the zero draft of a proposed WHO agreement on preparing for future pandemics:
3. Sovereignty – States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health, notably pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems, pursuant to their own policies and legislation, provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries. Sovereignty also covers the rights of States over their biological resources.
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Don’t forget to protect yourself, and your family, by vaccinating against COVID-19!
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the CDC and FDA warn that the new Pfizer bivalent vaccine can cause a brain stroke?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : CDC + FDA Just Warned Of Stroke From Pfizer Vaccine!
People are sharing various articles about a new CDC and FDA notification on the new Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, together with alarming comments, like:
CDC/FDA lied to the American public & Big Pharma lied , withheld information…Now because of the fear of the Republican House the Truth starts to come out … CDC, FDA see possible link between Pfizer’s bivalent shot and strokes
BREAKING: The CDC is now investigating a possible link between Pfizer Covid Vaccines and strokes
Time to sue everyone who pushed a vaccine. Your employer. The government. Retail stores. Everyone needs to be held accountable
‼️BREAKING‼️
US says Pfizer’s bivalent 💉 may be LINKED to a type of brain stroke in older adults
SCARY
You know there’s a real & dangerous problem when BOTH the CDC & FDA raise a safety issue
They’re covering themselves BUT you’ve been WARNED
Truth : CDC + FDA Did Not Warn Of Stroke From Pfizer Vaccine!
It is true that the CDC and FDA released a notification about the new Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. However, it has been twisted to falsely claim that the CDC and FDA are warning people about the risk of stroke from the COVID-19 vaccine.
Fact #1 : CDC + FDA Notification Is Available Online
On Friday, January 13, 2023, the CDC and FDA published a notification on a “preliminary safety signal” involving the new Pfizer COVID-19 bivalent vaccine, which is available online.
I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself, but for your easier understanding, here is a quick summary:
the CDC and FDA use multiple, complementary safety monitoring systems to look for potential “safety signals” in vaccines and other medicine.
the CDC Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) surveillance system detected one safety signal, which met the statistical criteria to trigger further investigation.
the safety signal involved only the new Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, and people who were 65 years and older.
the preliminary signal “appeared” to show that people who were 65 years and older were “more likely” to have an ischaemic stroke in the 21 days after receiving the Pfizer bivalent vaccine, compared to days 22-42 after vaccination.
only VSD surveillance has detected this safety signal – no other safety system has shown a similar signal.
multiple, subsequent analyses failed to validate this safety signal
the CDC continues to recommend that people get the bivalent vaccine.
Fact #2 : Multiple Analyses + Studies Fail To Validate This Signal
While the CDC and FDA will continue to evaluate the data, they pointed out that multiple analyses and studies failed to validate this safety signal.
A large study of bivalent vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database show no increased risk of ischemic stroke
A preliminary study using the Veterans Affairs database do not show an increased risk of ischemic stroke after receiving the bivalent vaccine
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has not seen an increase in reporting of ischemic strokes following the use of the bivalent vaccine
Pfizer-BioNTech’s global safety database has not indicated a signal for ischemic stroke with the bivalent vaccine
Other countries have not observed an increased risk for ischemic stroke with bivalent vaccines
Again, the VSD surveillance system was the only one producing this safety signal. No other surveillance system or study has been able to confirm or validate this safety signal.
In fact, the CDC made a point in their notification to say that “it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD represents a true clinical risk“.
Fact #3 : Safety Signals Are Not Evidence Of Causation
Safety signals function like tripwires, alerting health authorities into taking a close look at potential issues with vaccines or medicines.
Just because a safety signal was detected, it does not mean there is an actual problem. Like actual tripwires can be accidentally triggered by animals or falling branches, safety signals may be the result of random chance or other factors (see next fact).
The detection of any safety signal merely means that the CDC and FDA should take a closer look.
Fact #4 : Elderly Population At Higher Risk Of Stroke
I should point out that the safety signal was identified only in elderly people who were 65 years and older.
The VSD system, in this case, found that 130 people who were 65 years and older had a stroke within 21 days of receiving the new bivalent vaccine, out of about 550,000 senior citizens. It should be noted that no deaths were reported.
That may sound alarming, but this population segment is itself at significantly higher risk of developing blood clots, which can cause ischaemic stroke:
High Risk
hospital stay
major surgery – abdominal / pelvic surgery, or knee / hip replacement surgery
major trauma : automobile accident or fall
nursing home living
Moderate Risk
65 years or older
trips over 4 years by plane, car, train or bus
co-morbidities like heart failure, obesity, cancer
That is why such safety signals have to be investigated, as it is still not certain if the 130 senior citizens who suffered a stroke had higher risk factors like surgery or immobility.
Fact #5 : CDC Still Recommends Getting Bivalent Vaccines
The CDC issued that notification as a matter of transparency, and not because there was a genuine reason for concern.
If the CDC and FDA had any reason to believe that the Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine can cause stroke in senior citizens who receive it, they would have at least amended their vaccine recommendations.
Yet, the CDC continues to recommend that people who are eligible to receive the updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine should continue to get them.
The CDC also stressed that multiple studies have shown that “staying up-to-date with vaccines is the most effective tool we have for reducing death, hospitalisation, and severe disease from COVID-19“.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is Chris Hemsworth taking a break from acting, after discovering he has a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Chris Hemsworth Is Taking Break Over Alzheimer’s Gene News!
The entertainment industry is abuzz over a Vanity Fair article about Chris Hemsworth, after he revealed that he has a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease!
Many reported that Chris Hemsworth has decided to take a break from acting after receiving the news he has not one, but two APOE4 genes, which predisposes to Alzheimer’s disease.
The Star : Chris Hemsworth to take acting break after Alzheimer’s predisposition discovery
MARCA : Chris Hemsworth is taking a break from acting after discovering hishigh Alzheimer’s risk
GameSpot : Chris Hemsworth Taking A Break From Acting After Discovering He IsAt Risk For Alzheimer’s
Variety : Chris Hemsworth ‘Taking Time Off,’ Discovered Genetic Predispositionfor Alzheimer’s Disease: ‘I’m Going to Just Simplify’
Truth : Chris Hemsworth NOT Taking Break Over Alzheimer’s Gene News!
Unfortunately, this is yet another case of FAKE NEWS created by writers who did not read the Vanity Fair article, or just wanted to inject more drama into the story…
Fact #1 : Chris Hemsworth Was Tested While Filming Limitless
First, let’s start with some basic facts about how Chris Hemsworth came to discover he had a genetic predisposition for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Earlier this year, Chris Hemsworth worked on the National Geographic documentary series, Limitless, which looks at how we might be able to push back on the natural aging process.
To prepare for the fifth episode on the topic of Memory, he underwent tests, which eventually revealed that he had a very strong predisposition to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Specifically, the tests show that he has two copies of the APOE4 gene – one from his mother, and one from his father.
According to a 2021 National Institutes of Health study, one in four people will carry a single copy of the gene, but only 2 to 3% of the population will have both copies of the APOE4 gene.
Okay, now that you have the context, let’s take a look at why Chris Hemsworth is NOT taking a break from acting over this shocking discovery.
Fact #2 : Chris Hemsworth Does NOT Have Alzheimer’s Disease
Let me start by clearing up another claim – that Chris Hemsworth already has Alzheimer’s disease.
No, Chris Hemsworth does NOT have Alzheimer’s disease. He was only joking when he suggested that his “memory’s getting worse“.
CH : Since you told me that, I feel like my memory’s getting worse. It’s a placebo effect—or it’s taking place! [Laughs]
VF : Anytime you forget something it’s like, “Oh no, is this it?”
Fact #3 : Chris Hemsworth May Not Develop Alzheimer’s Disease
Having two copies of the APOE4 gene does NOT necessarily mean Chris Hemsworth will develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
APOE4 (also known as apolipoprotein E) is not a pre-deterministic gene, although it strongly predisposes towards the development of Alzheimer’s disease. It also doesn’t help that Chris Hemworth’s grandfather has Alzheimer’s disease.
That said – neither of his parents have developed Alzheimer’s disease, and it is possible that Chris may not develop it either.
That’s why genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease is not recommended for most people – a positive result does not necessarily mean you will develop it, but could result in undue stress and anxiety.
Fact #4 : Risk Of Alzheimer’s Can Be Reduced
Regardless of any genetic predisposition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced by these ways:
regular exercise
managing your blood sugar level
maintaining a healthy weight
stop smoking
avoid excessive drinking
getting enough sleep
Chris took the test results in stride, and saw them as a way to be prepared and work to prevent it from happening:
Like everything in the show I went, “Okay, great. I now have to work on this more.” If you look at Alzheimer’s prevention, the benefit of preventative steps is that it affects the rest of your life. ]
When you have preposition to cardiovascular heart disease, cancer, anything—it’s all about sleep management, stress management, nutrition, movement, fitness. It’s all kind of the same tools that need to be applied in a consistent way.
Fact #5 : Chris Hemsworth Has Been Working Less
Chris Hemsworth then told Vanity Fair that he has become more selective in who he works with, because he has a wife and three young kids.
Now, if something’s going to pull me away from my family and my kids, it’s got to be a positive, constructive, collaborative experience. I shot with George Miller on the new prequel to Fury Road, part of the Mad Max saga, and I said to my agent said, “That’s where I want to spend my work hours; with someone who is kind and collaborative and interesting.”
Fact #6 : Chris Hemsworth Is Just Taking Some Time Off
When Chris Hemsworth talked about a differentLimitless episode he did on death, he realised that he didn’t want to miss watching his kids grow up:
“Oh my God, they’re getting older, they’re growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie.” Before you know it, they’re 18 and they’ve moved out of house, and I missed the window.
That was the trigger for him to decide on “taking some time off“. It’s no different from how we all need a break, and go on a holiday, or spend more time with the family.
Now when I finish this tour this week, I’m going home and I’m going to have a good chunk of time off and just simplify. Be with the kids, be with my wife.
To be clear – Chris Hemsworth is just taking a holiday, and that had NOTHING to do with the discovery he has a predisposition to develop Alzheimer’s disease in the future.
Just in case it was not clear enough that he’s not going to quit acting, Chris Hemsworth told Vanity Fair that he is still excited about acting, but is just “going to recharge” and “not be so focused on … what’s next”.
I can talk to you for hours about what I want to do, but it doesn’t fill my head 24/7 like it used to. That’s not out of having lost any of the passion for it, it’s just a sense of contentment, and with being very proud of what I’ve done and the experiences I’ve had. I welcome whatever comes next.
As if sensing that some writer out there is going to misunderstand what he told Vanity Fair, Chris Hemsworth repeated that he was not talking about retiring.
I’m not talking about retiring by any means, but like you said: it’s a more curated approach to things.
So let’s not make up stories about how poor Chris Hemsworth is so distraught that he has to take a break from acting to sob over the possibility of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the distant future.
Anyone who actually bothered to read the Vanity Fair interview would have seen him as a man on a mission to enjoy some time with his young family, while working to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future, because he knows what matters most to him, more than his fans or the films he makes – his family.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Was Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel just arrested by US Special Forces, and charged with multiple counts of vaccine-related murder?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!
Claim : Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel Arrested For Murder!
On 7 November 2022, Michael Baxter (real name : Michael Tuffin) wrote an article claiming that the CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, was just arrested by US Special Forces and charged with multiple counts of murder related to its COVID-19 vaccine.
It is long and rambling, so please feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
U.S. Special Forces on October 30 arrested Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel on charges of murder as the pharmaceutical mogul and eugenicist exited a posh restaurant on the outskirts of D.C., where he had planned a business dinner with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky—but she never showed up. Sources in General David H. Berger’s office told Real Raw News that White Hats had been monitoring the detestable duo’s phone calls for months; Bancel and Walensky had spoken often, at least weekly, with Bancel asking her to board a flight to Paris, his home city, to discuss in person the “many lucrative benefits” of merging Covid-19 and Influenza vaccinations into a single inoculation.
But a fearful Walensky, who spoke in tremulous whispers, expressed trepidations about leaving the Beltway. She told Bancel on an Oct 17 call that she “felt safe” in D.C. and that “Covid deniers” were plotting her downfall. She admitted to him that she hadn’t even visited the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters in months, for fear of being “illegally apprehended” or killed. She agreed, though, that further discussion on the hybrid vaccine ought to be in person to mitigate risk of someone eavesdropping on phone calls or digital transmissions. Donald J. Trump, she said, had spies everywhere.
After much back and forth, Bancel on October 25 agreed to fly from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Dulles International Airport in Virginia. He would arrive in the U.S. aboard Air France flight AFR26 at approximately 7:00 pm, on October 29, he said to Walensky, adding that he would spend the night at a hotel before meeting her at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mclean, Virginia, the following evening. His last message to Walensky before boarding the flight: “I know, Rochelle, you are also talking to [Pfizer CEO] Bourla. It would be in both our interests to reach a deal of exclusivity.”
Unbeknownst to Bancel, U.S. Special Forces had eyes on him the moment he deplaned. According to sources, Marine Corps General David H. Berger and 5th Special Forces Group Commander Col. Brent Linemen considered grabbing Bancel at the hotel and picking up Walensky at the restaurant the next evening. They ultimately rejected that idea, believing that Walensky might get tipped off to Bancel’s sudden disappearance. “It’s better to kill two birds with one stone,” Gen. Berger reportedly said.
Special Forces dressed in civvies and driving civilian vehicles tailed Bancel and his chauffer from the airport to the Watermark Hotel in Tysons, Virginia, where he used fake credentials to check in under an assumed name–Émile Blaise. His chauffer, later identified as Ralph Adleman, an employee of Virginia Limousine Service of Richmond, stayed at the same hotel in a different suite, paid for by Bancel.
Neither Bancel nor Adleman left their rooms until 6:30 pm the next day. They then drove a stretch limousine from the hotel to the restaurant, a 15-minute drive. Adleman stayed with the limo in the parking lot as Bancel entered the restaurant and was seated at a corner table—but his guest of honor, Rochelle Walensky, was not present. Meanwhile, Special Forces across the street watched Bancel with binoculars and listened to him with parabolic microphones as he ate a plate of Hors D’oeuvres and imbibed a few cocktails. Bancel mumbled under his breath, “Where are you? Why aren’t you here?” and tried to reach someone, ostensibly Walensky, on his cellphone.
Thirty minutes later Bancel paid his tab and left the restaurant, hustling across the parking lot to the limo. Special Forces shadowed the limousine as it peeled out of the parking lot and began speeding toward an unknown location. It got less than a mile when Special Forces cut it off, blockading it between their own SUVs. It took less than two minutes for Special Forces to pull Bancel from the limo and place him under arrest, while the chauffer was set free with a dire warning to not discuss under any circumstances what had just happened. Special Forces took Bancel to a processing center for interrogation, sources told RRN.
“We don’t know why Walensky didn’t show. We wanted both. But for now, we’ll take Bancel. We can’t charge him with treason because he’s not a U.S. citizen. But we can charge him on many counts of murder based on the number of people his vaccine has killed. Maybe Walensky caught wind of our operation—we don’t know. We’ll get her eventually, just like we got Fauci. They can run but they can’t hide forever. Bancel is now detained as an enemy combatant, and he will face a military tribunal,” our source said.
Truth : Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel Was NOT Arrested!
The truth is – this is just another FAKE STORY created by Real Raw News, just to generate page views and money.
Everything that Real Raw News posts must be regarded as FAKE NEWS, until proven otherwise.
Fact #1 : Real Raw News Is A Fake News Website
Real Raw News is a FAKE NEWS website that capitalises on making shocking but fake stories to generate page views and money.
To protect himself from legal repercussions, the owner and writer, Michael Baxter (real name – Michael Tuffin), claims that his articles are “humour, parody, and satire“.
This disclaimer, which is not clearly mentioned in his articles, lets him keep creating fake news that will go viral, and generate him money.
His articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should NEVER share anything from his website. Here are some of his fake stories that I personally debunked earlier:
A March 2018 screenshot of Michael Tuffin, who goes by the pseudonym Michael Baxter
Fact #3 : Moderna Is A Public-Listed Company
Moderna is a public-listed company, and is traded on the Nasdaq as MRNA. Its shareholders would have to be informed if their company CEO was really arrested.
It is NOT POSSIBLE to keep quiet and pretend it didn’t happen. It’s not even legal to cover up such an event from the shareholders.
Fact #4 : Stéphane Bancel + Moderna Issued A Press Statement
On Tuesday, November 1, 2022, Moderna issued an updated 2022 COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast. In that statement, its CEO Stéphane Bancel said:.
Along with production delays, Moderna’s third quarter was marred with manufacturing complexities due to shifting from 10-dose vials to 5-dose vials and the roll out of new bivalent vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and Omicron variants. We are working through a lot of those issues as we speak.
That would not be possible if Stéphane Bancel was really arrested by US Special Forces less than 2 days earlier!
Fact #5 : US Military Cannot Arrest Civilians Within The United States
It is ludicrous for Real Raw News to claim that US special forces arrested Stephane Bancel.
The Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385) prohibits “the wilful use of any part of the Army or Air Force to execute the law unless expressly authorised by the Constitution or an act of Congress“.
If the US government wanted to arrest Stephane Bancel, they would have sent the police with a warrant… not US special forces.
Fact #6 : France Has Extradition Treaty With The United States
That means that the United States can order the arrest of Stephane Bancel even if he is residing in Paris. There is no need to wait for him to return to the United States.
Fact #7 : Stéphane Bancel Lives In Boston, Not Paris
It is also ludicrous for Real Raw News to claim that US Special Forces had to wait for Stephane Bancel to fly from Paris into US territory to arrest him, because he actually lives in the city of Boston, Massachusetts!
If the US government wanted to arrest Stephane Bancel, they can do it at any time. It’s not like no one knows where he lives in Boston.
On 30 September 2021, a group of scientists, doctors and public health advocates actually protested in front of his home on Chestnut Street in Beacon Hill.
They brought a 12-foot-tall structure of artificial human bones, and called for Moderna to share its vaccine knowledge with the US government and other countries.
Fact #8 : US Military Tribunals Are Only For Foreign Combatants
It is also stupid for Real Raw News to claim that Bancel would be charged as an enemy combatant in a military tribunal, when he is a French civilian.
Military tribunals in the United States can only be conducted for members of enemy forces during wartime. The United States is not at war with France.
Needless to say – Stephane Bancel is also not in the French military, so even if he was arrested, there is no way he would be tried in a military tribunal.
Fact #9 : Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Under FDA Regulatory Oversight
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was confirmed to be safe and effective, after it successfully concluded its clinical trials with an efficacy of 94.5% against symptomatic COVID-19 infection, in a large study involving over 30,000 participants.
The VRBPAC committee vetted and discussed the study findings on 17 December 2020, and recommended that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine receive its Emergency Use Authorisation, which the FDA granted on 18 December 2020.
Like ALL other vaccines, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was under FDA regulatory oversight. If Moderna lied about their results, the FDA would not have continued to re-issue or amend its EUA and full approval time and time again.
Everything that Real Raw News posts should be regarded as FAKE NEWS.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Have COVID-19 vaccines been recalled after over 40,000 deaths were reported in major safety databases?!
Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : COVID-19 Vaccines Were Recalled After 40K Deaths!
People are sharing a video of Dr. Peter McCullough testifying to a Senate Committee on Health & Human Services, as evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have been recalled after 40,000 deaths!
It is often shared with comments like this :
50 deaths is the threshold for a vaccine recall.
40,000 #COVID19 #VaccineDeaths and no recall.
Ask yourself, why is this the first in history?
The video shows Dr. Peter McCullough making a number of claims. Here is my transcript.
It’s long so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts…
This month, the World Council for Health, which represents 70 bodies worldwide, has called for a global recall of all vaccines, because worldwide 40,000 deaths that these safety databases across the world… 40,000 in the big ones – VAERS, the Yellow Card System, the VigiSafe [sic] and Eudrys [sic] system. 40,000 deaths with the vaccines.
Unacceptably high. Technical standard for any biologic product is 50 deaths – pull it off the market. Something’s gone wrong. 50, not 40 thousand.
So when there is a global recall by an international organisation, this committee ought to be having emergency meetings. What are we going to do? A worldwide body has called for these to pull off the market.
They are still giving it. You just heard from the pharmacy director ahead of me. He is still giving them out.
When there is a worldwide recall, there should be some committee meeting so you have it down, I mean you can tell something is going on here, that we are in trouble in terms of vaccine safety.
Doctor Malone’s covered vaccine efficacy, which has honestly waned. I will just tell you that the CDC told us, as of December 10th, 2021, with the Omicron strain, 79% of people with Omicron were fully-vaccinated. That is prima facie evidence that the vaccines have completely failed against Omicron.
Truth : COVID-19 Vaccines Are Safe + Were Not Recalled!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created by anti-vaccination activists, including Dr. Peter McCullough himself, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : It Was A Texas Senate Hearing
First, let us understand the context behind the viral video.
It was a partial clip from a 10.5 hour long interim hearing on public health data and the COVID-19 pandemic response held by the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee on June 27, 2022.
The Texas Senate hearing was just political theatre, in which the Republicans brought in fringe doctors or scientists like Peter McCullough and Robert Malone to, well, tell their lies.
I will now go through the McCullough clip (which starts at about 8:05:00), and show you why he has not changed his lying ways…
Fact #2 : No COVID-19 Vaccines Were Recalled
Just to be clear – no COVID-19 vaccines were recalled, either by health authorities or the manufacturers themselves.
Fact #3 : WCH Called For Vaccine Recall Since Sept. 2021
Despite its name – the World Council for Health (WCH) is really just another anti-vaccination organisation, filled with the usual suspects.
Just to be clear – it has no authority whatsoever. The WCH is nothing more than an antivaxxer club.
The WCH was launched on September 23, 2021 with the expressed purpose of calling for “an Immediate Stop to the Covid-19 Experimental Vaccines“.
They also issued a Cease and Desist declaration, claiming that “Covid-19 vaccinations are dangerous and unsafe for human use“.
So Peter McCullough falsely claimed that WCH called for a vaccine recall “this month”. It has been calling for a vaccine recall from the very first day it was established. That is really its sole purpose – to stop COVID-19 vaccinations.
Fact #4 : VigiSafe + Eudrys Do Not Exist
Peter McCullough referred to the VigiSafe and Eudrys vaccine safety databases, but they do not exist.
Perhaps he meant the WHO VigiBase / VigiAccess database, and the EudraVigilance system run by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
It is hilarious that Peter McCullough still insists on using pharmacovigilance data from VAERS, the Yellow Card system, etc. as evidence.
Anyone who even bothers to read the highlighted WARNINGS on those websites would have understood that their data and reports cannot be considered evidence of any kind, because:
they may contain duplicated information and/or reports
the reported event may be caused by an illness, like a COVID-19 infection for example,
the reported event may be caused by a different drug taken by the patient at the same time
they have not been assessed by health authorities to ascertain if it’s even “biologically plausible”
In addition, open systems like VAERS, or the UK Yellow Card system, are very susceptible to abuse because they allow anyone from anywhere to post anything they want, without evidence or verification.
Anti-vaccination activists can, for example, key in unlimited numbers of adverse reaction reports, even if they never received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine!
Fact #6 : 40,000 Deaths Not Proven To Be Caused By Vaccines
Using pharmacovigilance data to claim that the COVID-19 vaccines caused 40,000 deaths is disinformation – false information deliberately created to deceive you.
Peter McCullough has no evidence that the 40,000 deaths reported in pharmacovigilance data were actually caused by COVID-19 vaccines.
Making an adverse reaction report is no different from making a police report. If you make a police report, it is registered in the system. However, that doesn’t mean a crime was actually committed. The police will have to investigate and determine if you were lying / mistaken, or there was indeed a crime.
Similarly, these adverse reaction reports are just reports. They must first be investigated, in order to determine if they are really side effects of the vaccine, or completely unrelated.
Fact #7 : There Is No 50 Death Threshold For Vaccine Withdrawal
There is no such thing as a 50 death threshold for a vaccine withdrawal.
Vaccines are often recalled for non-lethal reasons. In fact, they are most often recalled in batches by their manufacturers after quality control tests showed some irregularities in certain batches.
Health authorities like the US FDA also monitor vaccines continuously and determine if there is a safety concern that warrants a withdrawal. They do not have to wait for 50 people to die first. That’s just absurd!
Sometimes vaccines are also recalled due to “low vaccine potency or strength”. In such cases, people who received them would need to get an extra dose!
Fact #8 : There Were Only 43 Omicron Cases On Dec. 10, 2021
It is interesting that Peter McCullough would talk about Omicron cases six months in the past.
But if you dig a little deeper, you will realise that he chose to talk about Omicron cases on December 10, 2021 because it was the first CDC report on Omicron cases in the United States.
At that time, there were only 43 known Omicron cases in the United States. Even though it showed that 79% were fully-vaccinated, that is misleading due to the low number of cases.
Fact #9 : Vaccinated People Have Mild Symptoms, Fewer Deaths
What he does not tell you is that most fully-vaccinated people experience mild symptoms even if they were infected with the Omicron variant.
He also does not tell you that COVID-19 deaths for fully-vaccinated people remain low, even as surges increased deaths for unvaccinated people, regardless of variant.
Fact #10 : Vaccines Were Meant To Prevent Hospitalisation + Death
Peter McCullough falsely claimed that the 79% result was “prima facie evidence” that the COVID-19 vaccines failed to work against the Omicron variant.
The COVID-19 vaccines are not force fields – they cannot block infections. They were designed to prevent symptomatic infections, severe disease and death by training your own immune system to defend itself against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The Omicron variant causes more breakthrough infections, but the COVID-19 vaccines continue to protect against severe disease leading to hospitalisations, and death from the Omicron variant.
The truth is – the COVID-19 vaccines still work well against the Omicron variants. They may not prevent infections, but they will ensure you have milder symptoms, and greatly reduce your risk of severe disease and death.
Fact #11 : Booster Doses Increase Protection Against Omicron
What Peter McCullough does not mention is the fact that you can improve your protection against the Omicron variant by getting a booster dose (or two).
A January 2022 study by the CDC showed that getting a third dose of any mRNA vaccine increases protection against both the Delta and Omicron variants.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
And please protect yourself, and your family, by vaccinating against COVID-19!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The US FDA just approved both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old!
Here is what you need to know!
FDA Approves Pfizer + Moderna Vaccine For Children Under 5!
On 17 June 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old!
Specifically, the FDA authorised the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months to 4 years old; and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months to 17 years old.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was already authorised for use in children in 5 years and above, but Moderna’s vaccine was only authorised for use in adults 18 years and above.
With this FDA authorisation, both Pfizer-BioNTech COMIRNATY and Moderna Spikevax vaccines are now approved for use in all individuals who are at least 6 months old.
Many parents, caregivers and clinicians have been waiting for a vaccine for younger children and this action will help protect those down to 6 months of age. As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Those trusted with the care of children can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these COVID-19 vaccines and can be assured that the agency was thorough in its evaluation of the data.
Vaccinations in the United States are expected to begin as early as next week, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes its own recommendations on the vaccines.
Pfizer + Moderna Vaccine For Children Under 5 : A Quick Primer
The Pfizer vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years of age consists of three 3 µg doses – which is 1/10th of the adult dose.
The first two doses are administered 21 days apart, followed by the third dose at least 8 weeks after the second dose.
According to Pfizer, their clinical trial involving 4,526 children showed that the adverse reactions were fewer, and mostly mild to moderate, and short lived. They also said that the lower-dose vaccine produced comparable protection to 16-25 year old people who received two adult 30 µg doses.
The Moderna vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years of age consists of two 25 µg doses – which is 1/4th of the adult dose.
The Moderna vaccine is also authorised for a third dose, administered at least one month after the second dose, for people who have certain kinds of immunocompromise.
According to Moderna, their clinical trial involving 6,700 children showed that the majority of adverse events were mild or moderate, with no deaths, myocarditis, pericarditis or MIS-C reported.
They also stated that the protection offered by this lower paediatric dose was comparable to the much higher adult dose of 100 µg.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Was Dr. Anthony Fauci found dead in his home, after catching COVID-19?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Dr. Fauci Was Found Dead After Catching COVID-19!
Vancouver Times just posted a story claiming that Dr. Anthony Fauci was found dead in his home, after catching COVID-19!
Dr. Fauci has been found dead in his home after he caught Covid-19. The head of the government’s Covid response had four doses of the vaccine, making his death suspicious. Doctors haven’t ruled out that the vaccines may have contributed to his death.
Fauci was isolating and recovering at home from a case of Covid-19, at first reporting “mild” symptoms. His symptoms suddenly took a turn for the worst, and Fauci was found dead by his wife, who promptly called for paramedics. However, the paramedics arrived too late to save Fauci.
Fauci’s response to the Covid pandemic was seen as “heavy handed.” Many people had called for his resignation, even murder. Steve Bannon suggested on his podcast that Fauci should be decapitated. He was subsequently banned from Twitter and YouTube.
The mainstream media and big tech want to hide the truth. Beat them at their own game by sharing this article!
Truth : Dr. Fauci Was NOT Found Dead After Catching COVID-19!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created to generate page views and money from gullible people.
Fact #1 : Vancouver Times Is A Fake News Website
Vancouver Times is a “content aggregator” (copy and paste) website that is known for creating fake news to generate more page views and money.
To look legitimate, they copy and paste news from legitimate news organisations. To drive traffic, they create fake news, sometimes masked as “satire”.
To give themselves a veneer of deniability, they label themselves as a “satire website” in their About Us section.
Vancouver Times is the most trusted source for satire on the West Coast. We write satirical stories about issues that affect conservatives.
Here are some of their fake news that we debunked :
Fact #2 : Dr. Anthony Fauci Only Has Mild COVID-19 Symptoms
Dr. Anthony Fauci tested positive for COVID-19 using a rapid antigen test on June 15, 2022.
After his diagnosis, he isolated himself, and started working from his home, following CDC guidelines for COVID-19. He is currently experiencing only mild symptoms.
Fact #3 : Dr. Anthony Fauci Just Testified At Senate Hearing
Dr. Anthony Fauci was healthy and well, when he sparred with Senator Rand Paul at the Senate HELP hearing on the US federal pandemic response on June 16, 2022.
Together with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, he answered questions from other Senators at the hearing which lasted over 2.5 hours.
Fact #4 : Dr. Anthony Fauci Received Four COVID-19 Vaccine Doses
Dr. Fauci was fully-vaccinated, with two booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. He is also taking the Pfizer antiviral drug, Paxlovid, as a precaution.
If the COVID-19 vaccine can kill people, as Vancouver Times suggested, Dr. Fauci would have been struck dead by any of the four doses he received.
Fact #5 : COVID-19 Vaccines Are Safe + Effective
Even though Dr. Fauci is 81 years old, the odds of him dying from COVID-19 is extremely remote, because he is not only fully-vaccinated, he was boosted twice.
Because his body’s own immune system has been trained to tackle COVID-19, he will most likely experience mild symptoms that will not become worsen, much less kill him.
Despite what anti-vaccination activists may claim, COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective in preventing severe infections and deaths.
The RECoVaM study, for example, showed that the vast majority of people who died from COVID-19 were either unvaccinated, or partially vaccinated.
Fact #6 : There Is No Such Thing As A Publication Ban
If Dr. Anthony Fauci was found dead in his home, it would have been worldwide news, even if he didn’t recently test positive for COVID-19.
Vancouver Times likes to use the “media blackout” claim, to explain why you can’t find any reputable media outlet reporting on Dr. Fauci’s purported death from COVID-19 or the vaccine.
That’s utter and complete bullshit. No one – not a judge, not even the FBI – can control the worldwide media, or prevent anyone from writing about such a momentous arrest.
You can also be sure that even if the mainstream media refused to run the story, it would have been gleefully published by bloggers and anti-vaccination websites.
Yet, not a single press / gonzo outlet published their account of this incredible story? That’s because IT NEVER HAPPENED…
Fact #7 : Mainstream Media + Big Tech Would Have Loved The Hype
Vancouver Times is gaslighting you about how mainstream media and Big Tech want to hide the “truth” about Dr. Fauci’s death.
They would all loved it if Dr. Fauci was really found dead in his home. The news would have driven tons of traffic and engagement to their websites / platforms.
In fact, that was precisely why Vancouver Times created the fake story – to drive traffic, for the ad money.
Everything that Vancouver Times publishes should be regarded as FAKE NEWS, until proven otherwise.
Please help us fight fake news websites like Vancouver Times – SHARE this fact check out, and SUPPORT our work!
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
You can now fly to the United States without taking any COVID-19 test!
Here is what you need to know!
You Can Now Fly To United States Without COVID-19 Test!
17 months ago, the US CDC issued an order requiring all travellers to present a negative COVID-19 test before they can fly to the United States, or present documentation of recovery from COVID-19.
US CDC Director Rochelle Walensky just rescinded that order for all aircraft departing their point of origin on or after Sunday, June 12, 2022, at 12:01 AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).
I have concluded that continuation of the Order is not currently necessary. There being no operation need to delay implementation of this rescission for more than a short period of time, it shall take effect for all aircraft departing from their point of origin on or after Sunday, June 12, 2022, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
That said, the US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, said that this decision is based on “science and available data”, and warned that it may be reinstated if things change :
The CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 testing prior to air travel of any kind and will not hesitate to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement, if needed later. Ensuring the safety and well-being of Americans is a top priority.
Current Requirements Before You Fly To United States
This order restores travel requirements to what it was before the pandemic – you will no longer be required to undergo a COVID-19 test, or show proof of COVID-19 recovery, before you fly to the United States.
However, the CDC still recommends that travellers get tested before and after travel, or after known exposure to someone with COVID-19.
They also recommend that travellers “remain up to date with vaccination against COVID-19“, and “wear masks in indoor public transportation settings“.
However, airlines may impose their own requirements, so please make sure you check with your airlines too!
American Citizens / Permanent Residents
The CDC recommendation to be up to date with your COVID-19 vaccination is no longer mandatory for American citizens.
Foreigners
For foreign travellers, you can fly to the United States without a negative COVID-19 test.
However, the CDC still requires foreigners to be fully-vaccinated before they can fly to the United States. A booster dose is not required.
Only selected foreigners may receive an exemption to this CDC requirement :
Persons on diplomatic or official foreign government travel
Children under 18 years of age
Persons with documented medical contraindications to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine
Participants in certain COVID-19 vaccine trials
Persons issued a humanitarian or emergency exception
Persons with valid visas [excluding B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas] who are citizens of a foreign country with limited COVID-19 vaccine availability (See list for updates that will be effective June 28, 2022)
Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or their spouses or children (under 18 years of age)
Sea crew members traveling with to a C-1 and D nonimmigrant visa
Persons whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, Secretary of Transportation, or Secretary of Homeland Security (or their designees)
But note that if you qualify for the exemption, you may be required to :
get tested for COVID-19 within 3-5 days of arrival in the United States, and
self-quarantine for 5 days, even if you test negative in the post-arrival test (unless you have documentation of recovering from COVID-19 in the past 90 days), and
self-isolate if you test positive in the post-arrival test, or develop COVID-19 symptoms
get vaccinated against COVID-19 if you intend to stay in the United States for longer than 60 days
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is the current monkeypox outbreak from a lab strain made in Ukraine?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Monkeypox Outbreak Is From Lab Strain Made In Ukraine!
People are sharing tweets by a Dr. Benjamin Braddock who claimed that the 2022 monkeypox outbreak is from a “third lab strain” made by the US in Ukraine!
ECDC source tells me that the preliminary analysis of monkeypox indicates that it is “a third lab strain with unknown characteristics” and that there is chatter about this being somehow related to Moscow’s charges against U.S. biological activities in Ukraine.
A Russian-Chinese joint task force has been tasked with establishing: where it originated, whether it is detectable in research conducted by the US in Ukraine, Georgia; whether there is a link to biological research conducted by the US on smallpox in Ukraine.
Main ECDC focus right now is on buying up as much of BN’s vaccine as possible. “They’re buying before they know whether it is even effective against this strain of monkeypox. I wouldn’t be surprised if they skipped testing it’s efficacy altogether.”
Truth : Monkeypox Outbreak Is Not From Lab Strain Made In Ukraine!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS being created and shared by people on social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : There Is No Third Lab Strain
The monkeypox virus has two clades, based on where they were commonly found – Congo Basin (Central Africa), and West Africa.
There is no such thing as a third lab strain or species or clade of the monkeypox virus.
Fact #2 : Strain Is A Subset Of Species
While it is impossible to prove what does not exist (Bertrand Russell’s teapot analogy), the claim that there is “a third lab strain” shows that the person creating the fake news does not know the difference between strain, species and clade.
In virology, a clade is technically a group of species that arose from a common ancestor, of which each species may give rise to different strains (sub-species).
Credit : Galaxy Advanced Microbial Diagnostics
If there is a new strain, it would not have been called “a third lab strain”. It would have just been called a new strain.
The introduction of the word “third” implies that the fake news creator believes that clade = strain, which is completely false.
Obviously, the fake news creator does not know much about virology, and is very unlikely to be working at the ECDC.
Fact #3 : 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak From West African Clade
Neither the European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) or other health authorities like the US CDC has announced the discovery of a new strain or clade of the monkeypox virus.
In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated on 21 May 2022, that all cases in the 2022 monkeypox outbreaks have been confirmed to involve the “West African clade“.
Fact #4 : No Evidence Current Virus Was Lab Made
Again, it is impossible to prove what does not exist – that the current monkeypox virus was not made in the lab. However, all the evidence points to a natural source of this virus.
Not only is the 2022 monkeypox virus is from an existing clade, genomic sequencing also indicated that this current virus was a close match of the monkeypox virus that were “exported” from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019.
In other words – all of the evidence so far point us to a natural variant of an existing monkeypox virus that had already caused several outbreaks in the past.
Fact #5 : US Does Not Have Biological Labs In Ukraine
Braddock is repeating the oft-debunked false claim that the US has biological labs in Ukraine.
The truth is – they are Ukrainian biological laboratories, some of which receive financial and other support from the US, the European Union and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This is not unique to Ukraine – biological labs in many countries receive similar support from the US, EU and the WHO.
Fact #6 : US Sponsored Biological Threat Reduction In Ukraine
US sponsorship of biological labs in former Soviet Union countries like Ukraine go back decades, and is centred around the Biological Threat Reduction Program.
As the name implies, the program aims to train and equip the partner nation to detect and prevent the threat of infectious diseases, whether they are deliberate, accidental or natural.
The program aims to counter biological threats in a partner country, at the source, before the threat can reach the homeland of impact U.S. Armed Forces or allies.
The program also prevents proliferation by cooperating with partner countries to eliminate their biological weapons, associated materials, and production facilities.
Fact #7 : Biological Labs Are Essential To All Countries
Biological labs do not conduct biological warfare research, because that is banned in 183 countries under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
Instead, they are on the forefront of a country’s biosecurity defences, and are absolutely essential in developing tests and cures (including vaccines) for new and emerging diseases, like the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
In fact, both Russia and China have a number of biological labs, including the famous Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is located right at the epicentre of the first COVID-19 outbreak.
It is therefore misleading for anyone to demonise biological labs. After all, they are ESSENTIAL to every country’s national security, including their own.
Braddock claimed that a Russian-Chinese task force was formed to find out where the monkeypox outbreaks originated, or whether it is “detectable in research conducted by the US in Ukraine / Georgia”.
Again, it is impossible to prove what does not exist, but we know that this is a false claim because :
Braddock offered no evidence for the formation of such a Russian-Chinese task force.
The 2022 monkeypox outbreak did not affect either Russia or China, so they have no access to any samples.
The US did not conduct any biological research in Ukraine or Georgia.
Smallpox is closely related to monkeypox, but is a completely different virus.
A Russian-Chinese joint task force has been tasked with establishing: where it originated, whether it is detectable in research conducted by the US in Ukraine, Georgia; whether there is a link to biological research conducted by the US on smallpox in Ukraine.
Fact #9 : JYNNEOS Was Tested Against Monkeypox
The monkeypox and smallpox viruses are so closely related that the smallpox vaccine has been used for years to protect against monkeypox and other orthopoxviruses.
The earlier ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine has been largely replaced by the JYNNEOS vaccine (also called Imvamune / Imvanex), which was proven to be at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.
In fact, it was licensed in 2019 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the prevention of both smallpox and monkeypox.
And again, the monkeypox virus causing the 2022 outbreak is a close match of the Western Africa clade monkeypox virus that caused the 2018 and 2019 outbreaks.
Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please support our work!
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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Here is what you need to know about the Pfizer COVID-19 booster dose for 5-11 year old kids!
Pfizer Booster Dose For 5-11 Yo Kids : What You Need To Know!
On 17 May 2022, the US FDA officially approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for 5-11 year-old kids.
This Pfizer COVID-19 booster dose for kids is different from the COVID-19 booster dose for older children and adults in many ways, so let me summarise the key differences…
Lower Paediatric Dose
The dose of the Pfizer booster dose for 5-11 year old kids is only 10 micrograms (mcg). This is 1/3 of the dose used for adults and adolescents.
5-Month Dose Interval
The Pfizer paediatric COVID-19 booster dose for 5-11 year old kids is meant to be administered at least 5 months after the primary series is administered.
It does not mean your child must receive the booster dose exactly five months after completing the primary series. It just means the earliest your child should receive the booster dose is five months after receiving the primary series vaccine doses.
4th Dose For Some
For most children – the primary series consists of two doses, so the booster dose will be their third dose.
However, certain children are given three doses as their primary series vaccination :
who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or
who have been diagnosed with conditions that have an equivalent level of immunocompromise.
For these children, the booster dose will be their fourth dose of the vaccine.
10-Dose Vial
The booster dose for 5-11 years old kids uses the same Pfizer paediatric vaccine used in their primary series vaccination.
It is supplied in a 10-dose vial, with an orange cap and a label with an orange border, to differentiate from the higher-dose vaccine used for adults and adolescents.
Must Be Diluted Before Use
The content of the vial must be diluted with 1.3 ml of sterile 0.9% sodium chloride, to derive 10 doses of 0.2 ml in volume.
Healthcare workers must be aware of this dilution requirement, as the newer Pfizer vaccine with a gray cap (for individuals 12 years and older) no longer requires dilution.
Smaller Intramuscular Injection
The Pfizer booster dose for 5-11 year old kids is given as a 0.2 ml intramuscular injection. This is a smaller volume than the adult booster dose – 0.3 ml.
So parents should be aware that the paediatric booster dose has a lower volume, when observing their children’s vaccinations.
More Stable Formulation
The Pfizer’s paediatric vaccine, which is used for the booster dose, has an improved formulation that is more stable. For those who want to know what changed, Pfizer :
replaced the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with a Tris buffer
removed sodium chloride and potassium chloride from the buffer formulation
This improved formulation allows the vaccine to be kept in a normal refrigerator at 2°C to 8°C (35°F to 46°F) for up to 10 weeks, instead of just 4 weeks.
In addition, it will last longer – 12 hours, instead of just 2 hours – at room temperature (up to 25°C / 77°F), after being thawed.
The Pfizer paediatric COVID-19 vaccine has a 9-month expiry date, from the printed manufacturing date.
Printed
Manufacturing
Date
9-Month
Expiry Date
09/2021
31 May 2022
10/2021
30 June 2022
11/2021
31 July 2022
12/2021
31 August 2022
01/2022
30 September 2022
02/2022
31 October 2022
03/2022
30 November 2022
04/2022
31 December 2022
05/2022
31 January 2023
Mild Side Effects
The US FDA authorised the booster dose based on safety data from approximately 400 children who received the booster dose 5-9 months after completing their two-dose primary series.
They noted that the commonly reported side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain and chills and fever.
This should be no different from the original safety data, which showed that the lower dose produced fewer side effects, with no severe side effects noted. They were mostly :
pain at injection site : 71-74%
headache : 54-61%
fatigue : 60-66%
muscle pain : 27-41%
chills : 25-40%
joint pain : 13-22%
fever : 7-17%
Side note : It is interesting to note that even the placebo causes common symptoms like fatigue, headache and muscle pain. This shows just how important it is to conduct a randomised controlled trial.
Safer Than Adult Dose
The much lower dose appears to ameliorate, if not eliminate, the risk of myocarditis / pericarditis that was highest in adolescents and young adults.
There were no cases of pericarditis or myocarditis in the initial Pfizer study that involved over 2,260 children, through approximately 3 months of follow-up after Dose 2.
After 8.7 million doses were administered in the US (up to 19 December 2021), the US CDC noted that :
VAERS received 4,249 adverse event reports (0.049% of doses)
Of the remaining 100 serious adverse events, 29 were fever, 21 were vomiting, and 15 were increased troponin.
Only 11 verified cases of myocarditis were identified – 7 recovered completely, and 4 were recovering at the time of the report.
Based on those results, the risk of myocarditis was 1 in 791,000 doses – much lower than the risk of myocarditis in young adults (1 in 50,000).
For a better perspective of the risk of developing myocarditis, I created this comparison table for you :
Myocarditis Risk
Per Million People
Difference
COVID-19 Patient
450
+2208%
Pfizer Vaccine
(Adult Dose)
20
+2.6%
Pfizer Vaccine
(Paediatric Dose)
2.5
-87%
Normal Population
19.5
Baseline
As you can see, the risk of developing myocarditis is MUCH higher if your child gets infected with COVID-19, compared with getting the Pfizer vaccine.
Pfizer Booster Dose : Should Your 5-11 Yo Kids Get It?
While the US FDA did not reveal how much of a boost in antibody the Pfizer booster dose will give your 5-11 year old children, there is a definite boost in antibody level.
That said, antibody levels are not an accurate assessment of an individual’s immunity against COVID-19.
Studies have shown that additional vaccine doses induces the memory B cell and T cell responses to an actual COVID-19 infection.
While that may not prevent infection, especially by the highly-infectious Omicron variants, the improved B cell and T cell responses will greatly reduce the severity of any COVID-19 infection.
Therefore, I would definitely recommend giving your kids the Pfizer booster dose, if it is made available to them.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is the US conducting biological warfare experiments at their secret labs in South Korea?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : US Has Biological Warfare Labs In South Korea!
Official Chinese state media outlets like Xinhua, People’s Daily, China Daily, and their 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛) are claiming that the US is conducting biological warfare experiments at their secret labs in South Korea.
Note : It’s a long post, so please feel free to skip to the next section for the facts…
China Daily Fri, Apr 15, 2022
US biolabs create fear in South Korea XINHUA
SEOUL — South Koreans are gripped with fear over the prospect that US biological weapons laboratories operated by the US Forces Korea, or USFK, will transform the country into Washington’s “overseas hub” for biological warfare experiments.
The United States has flouted international conventions by steadily advancing its germ warfare program in the country. It sees South Korea as a country “friendly” enough to let the US military test lethal toxins without institutional hurdles.
Enraged at the opaqueness of the US biological labs, civic groups and residents have taken to the streets to demand that the US military takes away its hazardous weapons.
The US military has secretly run its biological weapons program in South Korea since at least 2009. It became public in 2015 when live anthrax samples were sent from a US military lab through postal service FedEx to the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 70 kilometers south of the capital Seoul.
The USFK initially said it was the first time it experimented with deadly biological agents. But a joint panel investigation showed that the USFK brought in and tested dead anthrax samples 15 times at the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul between 2009 and 2014.
Article 9 of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, stipulates that a customs examination “shall not be made” in case of “military cargo consigned to the US armed forces”, according to a document posted by the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
Lee Jang-hie, an emeritus professor at the law school of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the delivery of anthrax samples violated the Biological Weapons Convention, signed by over 180 nations, including South Korea and the US, to ban the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition or retention of biological agents or toxins.
Any violation of the 1975 convention requires an official investigation by the United Nations Security Council at the request of the country concerned.
“Lax regulations and the (South) Korean government’s reluctance to protest against it created an easy, favorable environment (for the US military) to carry out experiments with germs here,” Lee noted.
The US biological weapons program in South Korea has evolved over the past decade under the projects of the Joint USFK Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition, or Jupitr, and the Capabilities to Enable NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) Threat Awareness, Understanding and Response, or Centaur.
“Figuratively speaking, Jupitr installed in the central headquarters serves as the brain. The Centaur, which operates in each regional military unit, constitutes the hands and feet of Jupitr to detect and send biochemical samples to it,” said Woo Hee-jong, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University. Woo said the UN Security Council should launch an investigation into the biolabs.
Jeon Wi-bong, director of the Association to Push for Shutdown of US Biochemical Experiments in Busan Port Pier 8, told Xinhua News Agency that, despite the attention surrounding the 2015 live anthrax samples delivery, the USFK expanded biological labs into Busan Port’s Pier 8 in 2016.
A group of civic activists and citizens toured the country for a week through Sunday to spread awareness on the US biological weapons labs.
“A person in charge of US military biological labs said Korea is friendly to operate such labs. I got infuriated when I heard that because it belittles my country severely,” said Choi Won-seok, who joined the tour near Busan Port’s Pier 8.
Truth : US Does NOT Have Biological Warfare Labs In South Korea!
Now, I must first point out that it is impossible to prove a negative – that something that doesn’t exists, doesn’t actually exist.
But based on a complete lack of evidence, this is yet another example of Chinese propaganda warfare, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : This Story Has Been Repeated Since 2020
A quick check shows that the Chinese state media have been promoting the story of the US biological warfare labs in South Korea since April 2020, if not earlier.
So this story isn’t new. It was repeated in July 2020, and then in August 2021, before the current slew of coverage in March and April 2022.
Fact #2 : No Evidence Of US Biological Warfare Lab In South Korea
Despite waxing lyrical about the US military conducting biological warfare experiments in their South Korea labs, the Chinese state media offered ZERO evidence.
There is no evidence of biological warfare experiments being conducted in South Korea, and there is no evidence of US setting up laboratories for the research and development of such weapons.
Fact #3 : Anthrax Was Sent To 9 US States, Australia + Canada Too
Chinese state media claimed that US biological warfare experimentation was “exposed” when live anthrax samples were sent to the Osan Air Base in South Korea.
The truth is – the same anthrax samples were sent to 51 laboratories in nine US states, as well as Australia, Canada and South Korea.
So the claim that US sent anthrax to South Korea because they let the US military “test lethal toxins without institutional hurdles” is nonsense.
This incident was covered widely by the global press, so it is peculiar that Chinese state media would (intentionally?) misinform their readers.
Fact #4 : Anthrax Samples Were Used For Tests
These anthrax samples were mailed to those laboratories as part of ongoing efforts to develop field tests for anthrax.
These tests are usually conducted using dead samples of anthrax, because live anthrax would obviously be a biosecurity risk.
Fact #5 : Anthrax Samples Were Supposed To Be Dead
What the Chinese state media won’t tell you is that those anthrax samples were supposed to be dead.
In March 2014, the Dugway Proving Grounds – a US Department of Defense laboratory which conducts biosecurity research – irradiated a batch of anthrax samples with gamma rays to kill them.
In April 2015, they mailed the “dead” anthrax samples to 51 labs in the US, Canada, Australia and South Korea, by commercial postal services because the samples were supposed to be completely “dead”.
This incident was covered widely by the global press, so it is peculiar that Chinese state media would (intentionally?) misinform their readers.
Fact #6 : US Military Was Unaware Anthrax Samples Were Active
What the Chinese state media will also “forget” to tell you is that the US military was unaware that the anthrax samples were still active.
It was a commercial laboratory in Maryland that alerted the Pentagon on 22 May 2015, after they discovered that their sample had some active spores.
As CDC spokesperson Jason McDonald explained, the samples were quickly transferred to the CDC :
The samples are being carefully transferred to the CDC in Atlanta. They are starting to arrive, but cautioned that the samples need five more days to grow before officials can determine if they contain live anthrax.
While this was a deeply concerning accident that could have been disastrous, it was most definitely not an attempt to conduct biological warfare experiments in South Korea.
This incident was covered widely by the global press, so it is peculiar that Chinese state media would (intentionally?) misinform their readers.
Officials from the South Korea-U.S. joint working group conduct an on-site inspection of a laboratory at Osan Air Base, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, about 70 days after the Pentagon admitted that live anthrax samples were accidently delivered there. / Joint Press Corps
Fact #7 : Anthrax Sample In South Korea Was Destroyed
The anthrax sample in South Korea was quickly destroyed, even though there was no evidence it was still active – the batch was simply assumed to have not been sufficiently irradiated.
The military destroyed the anthrax on Wednesday after the sample, which was thought to be inactive, was suspected of being live. None of the personnel in contact showed signs of exposure. But they were given exams, antibiotics, and in some cases, vaccinations.
The military stresses there was no risk to the public. The exposure happened in a contained lab environment on the Osan Air Base, which is 65 miles south of Seoul. It’s one of a number of bases that houses the estimated 28,000 American military personnel based in South Korea.
Fact #8 : No One Got Sick
Four lab employees in the states of Texas, Delaware and Wisconsin, as well as 22 military and civilian personnel at the Osan Air Base, were given antibiotics as a precaution.
However, no one got sick from the potential exposure to the anthrax spore samples. I have to stress – there was no actual evidence that anyone got infected by those anthrax samples.
Fact #9 : Anthrax Is Naturally Found In Soil
Despite its fearsome reputation, anthrax is a disease caused by bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis, that is naturally found in soil, and commonly affects domestic and wild animals.
While people can get infected by breathing in its spores, it usually does not spread from human to human.
As long as the anthrax samples were not being weaponised, the US did not contravene the Biological Weapons Convention.
The use of dead anthrax samples to develop or improve or certify tests for anthrax most certainly do not contravene the Biological Weapons Convention.
Fact #10 : USFK Must Report To Korea CDC When Importing Biological Agents
The South Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was revised in 2015 to mandate that the USFK must file a report with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when importing any biological agents, including inactivated biological agents.
So the claim that the US military can bring in biological materials without informing the South Korean government is no longer true since 2015.
It is interesting that Chinese state media are still (intentionally?) not aware of that development…
Fact #10 : JUPITR Was Designed To Detect Biological Threats
Chinese state media claim that US biological warfare experiments are being conducted under the JUPITR program.
That’s nonsense, because JUPITR (Joint United States Forces Korea Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition) is a bio-surveillance program.
JUPITR was set up to monitor for biological threats posed by North Korea, using new bio-surveillance analysis equipment like :
BioFire Film Array, which can process Dry Filter Unit samples in 5-6 hours, instead of several days
IQuum Liat, which is a sample-to-result molecular diagnostic system
3M Focus
To be clear – JUPITR does not involve biological warfare experiments.
JUPITR Biosurveillance Station
Fact #11 : JUPITR Ended Development In 2018
Interestingly, Chinese state media (intentionally?) forgot to mention that the development of the JUPITR program ended in 2018.
While its passive early warning capability remains in place, there has been no further work done on the JUPITR program since 2018.
So I have to wonder why they are still harping on JUPITR in 2022… Do they really have nothing new to report on?
Fact #11 : CENTAUR Was Designed To Detect Biological Threats
The Chinese state media also claim that US biological warfare experiments are being conducted under the CENTAUR program, which is also nonsense.
CENTAUR, which is short for “Capabilities to Enhance NBC Threat Awareness, Understanding & Response“, is an early warning system that looks for biological threats in South Korea.
To ensure that such a system works, the USFK (US Forces Korea) uses samples of dead pathogens (like the anthrax samples mentioned earlier) to test its detection capabilities.
The USFK has publicly announced that they do not use live samples for testing, after a few dozen people protested against the CENTAUR program.
We hold the health and safety of our service members, civilian employees, family members and Korean neighbors in the highest regard. The CENTAUR system is safe. USFK does not and has never used live agents for testing.
Photo credit : Yonhap
Fact #12 : Biological Warfare Banned In 183 Countries
Biological warfare has long been banned by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) that was signed on 10 April 1972, and came into effect on 26 March 1975.
As of January 2022 – 183 countries have become party to this treaty, which means they agreed to stop development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons.
Fact #13 : Biological Labs Are Essential To All Countries
What the Chinese state media (intentionally?) don’t mention is that biological labs are a necessity in ALL countries.
Biological labs do not conduct biological warfare research, because that is banned in 183 countries under the BWC (see Fact #12).
Instead, they are on the forefront of a country’s biosecurity defences, and are absolutely essential in developing tests and cures (including vaccines) for new and emerging diseases, like the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
In fact, China itself has a number of biological labs, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is located right at the epicentre of the first COVID-19 outbreak.
It would be hypocritical and (intentionally?) misleading for Chinese state media to demonise biological labs. After all, they are ESSENTIAL to every country’s national security, including China’s.
This fake news appears to be part of the disinformation campaign conducted by the Chinese state media and their 50 Cent Army (wumao, 五毛).
Please help us fight such malicious fake news – SHARE this fact check far and wide!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Your doctor may have told you that the COVID-19 vaccine cannot be given with other vaccinations, but that’s NO LONGER TRUE!
Find out why it is safe to take your COVID-19 vaccine with other vaccines at the same time!
Earlier : Avoid COVID-19 Vaccine Within 2 Weeks Of Other Vaccines
The US FDA approved the Pfizer mRNA vaccine for 12- to 15-year old children (with 100% efficacy!) on 10 May 2021.
At that time, the US CDC recommended avoiding taking the COVID-19 vaccine within two weeks of other vaccinations.
WHO also recommended an interval of 14 days between the administration of COVID-19 vaccines, and any other vaccines.
So parents were urged to catch up on their children’s missed vaccinations, in order to receive their COVID-19 vaccination at the earliest opportunity.
Now : It Is Safe To Get COVID-19 Vaccine With Other Vaccines!
On 12 May 2021, Dr. Kate Woodworth of the CDC’s birth defects division, said that the CDC is changing their earlier advice, and that the COVID-19 vaccine can be administered with other vaccines, even on the same day!
At a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), she said,
“Extensive experience with non-Covid-19 vaccines has demonstrated that immunogenicity,” or the ability of a vaccine to provoke an immune response, “and adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone,”
On 14 May 2021, the US CDC updated their clinical considerations to say that COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines can be administered “without regard to timing“, including on the same day.
The American Academic of Paediatrics also said on the same day that it supports giving childhood vaccines together with the COVID-19 vaccines.
COVID-19 Vaccine + Other Vaccines On The Same Day?
On 2 July 2021, the US CDC updated their clinical considerations to recommend that if a patient is receiving multiple vaccines on the same day, each shot should be administered “in a different injection site“.
They also pointed out that the deltoid muscle in adolescents and adults “can be used for more than one intramuscular injection“.
Their best practice for multiple vaccinations in a day include :
Label each syringe with the name and the dosage (amount) of the vaccine, lot number, the initials of the preparer, and the exact beyond-use time, if applicable.
Separate injection sites by 1 inch or more, if possible.
Administer the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines that may be more likely to cause a local reaction (e.g., tetanus-toxoid-containing and adjuvanted vaccines) in different limbs, if possible.
US CDC On Administering COVID-19 Vaccine With Other Vaccines
In their updated clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines, this was what the US CDC posted on administering it with other vaccines :
Coadministration with other vaccines
COVID-19 vaccines were previously recommended to be administered alone, with a minimum interval of 14 days before or after administration of any other vaccines. This was out of an abundance of caution and not due to any known safety or immunogenicity concerns. However, substantial data have now been collected regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized by FDA for use under EUA. Although data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines, extensive experience with non-COVID-19 vaccines has demonstrated that immunogenicity and adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone.
COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines may now be administered without regard to timing. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines on the same day, as well as coadministration within 14 days. It is unknown whether reactogenicity of COVID-19 vaccine is increased with coadministration, including with other vaccines known to be more reactogenic, such as adjuvanted vaccines or live vaccines. When deciding whether to coadminister another vaccine(s) with COVID-19 vaccines, providers should consider whether the patient is behind or at risk of becoming behind on recommended vaccines, their risk of vaccine-preventable disease (e.g., during an outbreak or occupational exposures), and the reactogenicity profile of the vaccines.
If multiple vaccines are administered at a single visit, administer each injection in a different injection site. For adolescents and adults, the deltoid muscle can be used for more than one intramuscular injection.
WHO On Administering COVID-19 Vaccine With Other Vaccines
On 21 October 2021, the WHO updated its advice on co-administration of COVID-19 vaccines with other vaccines :
WHO considers that coadministration of an inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine and any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is acceptable, given that the known risk of serious illness for adults infected with influenza virus or SARS-CoV-2 is substantial.
While there is no theoretical concern, WHO recommends using the contralateral limb for injection, when the two vaccines are administered during the same visit, to minimize any perceived risk. Continued pharmacovigilance monitoring of coadministration of the two vaccines is recommended.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the CDC just withdraw the PCR test for COVID-19, because it could not differentiate between COVID-19 and the flu virus?
Take a look at this new “viral” claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!
Did CDC Admit PCR Test Can’t Tell Apart COVID + Flu Virus?
People are now sharing news that the CDC just “quietly” withdrew the PCR test for COVID-19, after they “quietly” admitted that it could not differentiate between COVID-19 and the flu virus.
It’s a long post, so just skip to the next section for the facts…
HUGE. CDC Withdraws Use of PCR Test for COVID and Finally Admits the Test Can Not Differentiate Between the Flu and COVID Virus
This is BIG NEWS.
On December 31, 2021, the CDC will withdraw the use of the PCR test for COVID testing. The CDC finally admitted the test does not differentiate between the flu and COVID virus.
Via the CDC website.
In preparation for this change, CDC recommends clinical laboratories and testing sites that have been using the CDC 2019-nCoV RT-PCR assay select and begin their transition to another FDA-authorized COVID-19 test. CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Such assays can facilitate continued testing for both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 and can save both time and resources as we head into influenza season.
This explains the disappearance of Flu cases in the US in 2020. It also inflated the COVID cases as Dr. Fauci and the DC elites knew would happen.
Quietly without media attention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has withdrawn the PCR process as a valid test for detecting and identifying SARS-CoV-2.
“After December 31, 2021, CDC will withdraw the request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel, the assay first introduced in February 2020 for detection of SARS-CoV-2 only.”
The CDC admits that the PCR test cannot differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
I reported several months ago that the “health authorities” had reached this decision but were withholding its implementation until the end of 2021. They needed the fake test to keep the fear going in order to achieve as much vaccination, and therefore as much profit, as possible.
It is extraordinary that the CDC’s withdrawal of the test received no attention from the media or politicians.
Dr. Kary Mullis, Nobel Laureate and inventor of the PCR process said several years ago that “the PCR is a process. It does not tell you that you are sick.” It was never meant to be a Covid test.
Truth : CDC Did Not Admit PCR Test Can’t Tell Apart COVID + Flu Virus
This is actually a reboot of old fake news from July 2021, after CDC announced that they were withdrawing their EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation) for the COVID-19 RT-PCR test.
The truth is – the CDC did not withdraw the PCR test because it couldn’t differentiate the COVID-19 virus from the flu virus.
It was fake news back then, and it’s still fake news today… and here are the reasons why.
Fact #1 : COVID-19 Only PCR Test Wastes Time + Resources
A patient’s sample is usually tested against a panel of multiple respiratory illnesses, allowing a single PCR test to detect and differentiate for multiple viruses.
Using PCR to test for a single pathogen like the SARS-CoV-2 virus is incredibly wasteful, because another PCR test would have to be performed to test for other pathogens, wasting time and laboratory resources.
However, to speed things up in the COVID-19 pandemic, the US CDC released a PCR test panel in February 2020, that only tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Fact #2 : CDC Only Withdrew EUA For COVID-19 Specific PCR Test
When the US CDC released their COVID-19 specific PCR test, they had to apply to the US FDA for an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA).
This EUA was necessary to allow patients to be tested for a single infectious agent (the SARS-CoV-2 virus) in a given emergency (the COVID-19 pandemic), because a single pathogen PCR assay wastes time and laboratory resources.
On 21 July 2021, the CDC announced that they would be withdrawing their UEA request for their old COVID-19 only PCR test after 31 December 2021.
To be clear – the CDC was not withdrawing other COVID-19 PCR tests, only their old test.
Fact #3 : Old CDC PCR Test Only Detects COVID-19
The old CDC PCR test for COVID-19 only looks for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It therefore cannot detect any influenza virus.
But that does not mean it can mistakenly identify the influenza (flu) virus as COVID-19, as COVID-19 deniers and antivaxxers are claiming.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a coronavirus – a completely different virus than the flu (influenza) virus. It is not possible for any PCR test to mix them up.
Fact #4 : Labs Asked To Switch To Multi-Analyte Panels
In their 21 July 2021 laboratory alert, the CDC asked laboratories to switch to the many FDA-approved multi-analyte PCR tests for COVID-19 and other viruses.
In other words, they are asking laboratories to switch from a single pathogen PCR test, to a PCR test that can detect and differentiate multiple viruses.
This saves time and laboratory resources, as a single patient sample can be used to test for multiple viruses in a single test.
Fact #5 : PCR Tests Can Differentiate COVID-19 From Flu Viruses
Let me be clear – PCR tests, then and now, can detect and differentiate the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) from the influenza (flu) viruses.
The only difference is whether they do it in a single PCR test, or two PCR tests.
If the old CDC panel is used, then the laboratory will have to run two PCR tests to do that. The newer multi-analyte panels allow laboratories to accomplish that in a single test.
Fact #6 : Multi-Analyte Panels Save Time + Resources
The CDC withdrew their EUA for the COVID-19 only test, because the newer multi-analyte panels save time and resources, by testing the patient’s sample for multiple pathogens
This is especially important during the flu season – doctors can quickly determine if the patient has COVID-19, or just influenza, or in rare cases – both of them at the same time!
Fact #7 : CDC Withdrawal Of Old PCR Test Was Covered Extensively
The claim that CDC quietly withdrew their old PCR test is false. The CDC issued a laboratory alert that is publicly available to everyone on the Internet.
The claim that this test withdrawal “received no attention from the media” is also false. The media covered the news back in July 2021, and I even wrote a fact check back then.
Fact #8 : Flu Cases Dropped Because Of COVID-19 Precautions
Flu cases did not drop because the PCR tests no longer detected the influenza virus. They were always detectable through PCR tests.
Influenza is a respiratory virus that spreads through droplets, just like SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the same COVID-19 precautions – wearing a face mask, social distancing and maintaining good hand hygiene – protect us against the flu as well.
When many people started taking COVID-19 precautions, they were also protected from other respiratory viruses like the flu. Flu cases naturally dropped.
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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Since then, many people have been asking if they can get a booster dose of the Sinovac vaccine instead.
The updated answer is SOON, but not yet.
On 17 November 2021, the Malaysia Drug Control Authority (DCA) approved the Sinovac and AstraZeneca booster doses for homologous vaccination.
That means Sinovac and AstraZeneca booster doses will be given to those who earlier received Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines respectively.
However, this does NOT mean the Sinovac booster dose is immediately available.
The COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force – Booster (CITF-B) will be targeting specific groups to receive these booster doses, which will be detailed later.
If you had earlier received the Sinovac vaccine, and are open to receive the Pfizer booster dose, I highly recommend you get yourself on the standby list ASAP.
If CITF-B eventually decides to give only homologous vaccinations for Sinovac, you will lose your chance to get the Pfizer booster dose.
My advice remains the same – don’t wait for the Sinovac booster dose. Get the Pfizer booster dose if it is offered to you.
It is FAR MORE EFFECTIVE, and gives you a big boost in protection, especially if you received the Sinovac vaccine earlier.
The Malaysia Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, mentioned earlier that people with severe allergies, or who have suffered an allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine earlier, may be offered a booster shot of the Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccine instead.
Now that the Sinovac vaccine has been approved as a booster dose, should you WAIT to get it?
That very much depends on a number of factors.
Are You Allergic To The Pfizer Vaccine?
If you are allergic to the Pfizer vaccine, then you definitely cannot receive a booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
You will have to get a booster dose of other vaccine types – viral vector vaccines like AstraZeneca or Sputnik V, or inactivated virus vaccines like Sinovac or Sinopharm.
But with so many better vaccine options available out there, Sinovac CoronaVac should be your last choice, not your first.
If you are given the option to switch to Pfizer or AstraZeneca, you should definitely opt for either one over the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine.
Of all the WHO approved vaccines, Sinovac CoronaVac is the least efficacious COVID-19 vaccine, offering just over 50% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.
And that was before it was tested against the highly-infectious Delta variant.
In June 2021, Chinese CDC deputy director Dr. Feng Zijian admitted that their inactivated virus vaccines are “less effective” against the Delta variant.
While Sinovac has tried to push their booster dose as a way to shore up the CoronaVac’s efficacy against the Delta variant, it would be foolish to assume that it offers anything more than a temporary boost in relatively ineffective antibodies.
Even China is moving to use mRNA booster doses for those who received Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines, with their own mRNA vaccine called ARCoVAX entering mass production soon.
Sinovac / Sinopharm Should Require Three Doses Minimum
On 12 October 2021, WHO experts recommended that those over 60 who received the Sinovac or Sinopharm’s vaccines should be given a third shot.
They notably refrained from calling it a booster dose, suggesting instead that they should be administered as three doses, instead of the recommended two doses, for a primary series vaccine.
This was precisely the same policy adopted by Singapore on 23 October 2021, when their Ministry of Health declared that three doses of the Sinovac vaccine will be REQUIRED for a person to be considered fully-vaccinated.
In other words – two doses isn’t enough to be considered fully-vaccinated for these inactivated virus vaccines. They have to be taken as three doses MINIMUM.
Even Malaysia’s RECoVaM data show that the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine is comparatively weak, allowing significantly more breakthrough infections that result in ICU care and deaths.
If you still feel that you prefer to get three Sinovac vaccine doses, instead of using a different vaccine – that’s fine. It is better than not getting a booster shot at all.
The key thing is to GET PROTECTED against COVID-19, by getting fully-vaccinated. If that means three doses of Sinovac, so be it.
My advice remains the same as it did earlier this year. Don’t wait – get the first vaccine (or booster dose) you are offered!
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Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The United States just lifted its international travel ban, and here is WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW before travelling to the US for work or leisure!
US International Travel Ban Lifted On 8 November 2021!
Almost 20 months after shutting out international travellers, the United States reopened its borders on 8 November 2021.
This not only allows families to reunite, it has also reopened the doors to business travellers and tourists. Flights to the US were reportedly full.
Many Delta flights to the US were 100% full over the next few weeks, with a 450% surge in international bookings. Lufthansa also reported that their flights to the US were fully-booked, while Virgin Atlantic and British Airways said that their passenger volumes to the US was almost full.
Latest US International Travel Rules: What You Need To Know!
Before you book your tickets, please go through this summary of the latest US international travel rules (as of 10 November 2021)!
Who Must Be Fully-Vaccinated
All foreigners (18 years or older) travelling to the US must be fully-vaccinated, according to these requirements :
2 weeks (14 days) after your dose of an accepted single-dose vaccine
2 weeks (14 days) after your second dose of an accepted 2-dose series
2 weeks (14 days) after you received the full series of an accepted COVID-19 vaccine (not placebo) in a clinical trial
2 weeks (14 days) after you received the full series of a Novavax (or Covavax) COVID-19 vaccine (not placebo) in a phase 3 clinical trial
2 weeks (14 days) after you received 2 doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart
Only these groups are exempted from the requirement to be fully-vaccinated :
US citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents
US immigrants
Air crew members
Persons on diplomatic or official foreign government travel
Children under 18 years of age
Persons with documented medical contraindications to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine
Participants in certain COVID-19 vaccine trials
Persons issued a humanitarian or emergency exception
Persons with valid visas [excluding B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas] who are citizens of a foreign country with limited COVID-19 vaccine availability
Members of the U.S. Armed Forces or their spouses or children (under 18 years of age)
Sea crew members traveling with to a C-1 and D nonimmigrant visa
Persons whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, Secretary of Transportation, or Secretary of Homeland Security (or their designees)
Accepted COVID-19 Vaccines
The United States will accept all vaccines that received US FDA or WHO approval or EUL. As of 10 November 2021, t this includes :
Single Dose Vaccine
Johnson & Johnson Janssen
2-Dose Vaccines
Pfizer-BioNTech
Moderna
AstraZeneca
Covaxin
Covishield
Sinopharm
Sinovac
Proof Of Vaccination
Travellers will be required to produce proof of COVID-19 vaccination that must include these information :
Personal identifiers : full name plus at least one other identifier such as date of birth or passport number) that match the personal identifiers on the passenger’s passport or other travel documents
Name of official source issuing the record : public health agency, government agency, or other authorized vaccine provider)
Vaccine manufacturer and date(s) of vaccination
These types of COVID-19 vaccination records will be accepted, as long as they have the information listed above :
Verifiable Records (Digital / Paper)
Vaccination certificate with QR code
Digital pass via smartphone application with QR code (e.g., United Kingdom National Health Service COVID Pass, European Union Digital COVID Certificate, Malaysia’s MySejahtera)
Non-Verifiable Paper Records
Printout of COVID-19 vaccination record
COVID-19 vaccination certificate issued at national or subnational level, or by an authorised vaccine provider (e.g. CDC vaccination card)
Non-Verifiable Digital Records
Digital photos of vaccination card or record,
Downloaded vaccine record or vaccination certificate from official source (e.g., public health agency, government agency, or other authorised vaccine provider), or
A mobile phone application without QR code
Proof Of Negative COVID-19 Test
Regardless of citizenship, ALL TRAVELLERS who are 2 years or older, must obtain a negative COVID-19 viral test, or produce documentation of recovery from COVID-19.
This proof of a negative COVID-19 test or recovery from COVID-19 must be presented to the airlines before you are allowed to board the plane.
Fully-Vaccinated Travellers
The viral test must be conducted on a sample taken no more than 3 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country if you show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Travellers Who Are NOT Fully-Vaccinated
The viral test must be conducted on a sample taken no more than 1 day before the flight’s departure from a foreign country if you do not show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Travellers Who Recently Recovered From COVID-19
If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).
I hope this guide helps you safely and conveniently travel to the United States.
Here are the two key sources you can check for more details on US travel requirements :
Have a safe flight, and a great holiday in the United States!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is it safe to take the flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time? Or should you wait between each shot?
Find out what the LATEST health advisory is on getting the flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
Why Take Flu + COVID-19 Vaccines At The Same Time?
Flu viruses mutate very quickly, so an annual flu vaccine is necessary to protect against the latest variants.
As it so happens, the 2021-2022 seasonal flu vaccine is being administered at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine.
There are some advantages in getting both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time (co-administration) :
Convenience : It’s more convenient to get both shots in the same visit, saving you a trip to the hospital / clinic and waiting for your shot.
Saves Money : If you have to pay for the flu and/or COVID-19 vaccines, getting them together may save you money since the doctor can administer them in the same visit. Even if they are both free, you save the expense of another trip to the hospital / clinic.
Shorter Downtime : You will usually experience some side effects like fever, headache and muscle ache for a day or two with each vaccination. It would be better to undergo that once, instead of twice.
But people are naturally worried that the flu and COVID-19 vaccines should not be mixed, and taking them at the same time could be dangerous, or at least cause more severe side effects.
Let’s find out if that’s true…
Should You Take Flu + COVID-19 Vaccines At The Same Time?
At least two studies have shown that taking the flu and COVID-19 vaccines together is both safe and effective.
The ComFluCOV study, for example, showed that there was no significant difference in side effects or efficacy of both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
The Novavax study showed that there was no difference in side effects when both vaccines were taken at the same time, but there was a slight reduction in efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine (from 89.8% to 87.5%).
What those studies tell us is that it is safe to take both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time, and they remain effective.
But either choice is really fine. If you are more comfortable taking them separately, then take them separately. But if you prefer to take them together, go on right ahead.
The key thing is to protect yourself and your family by getting vaccinated against both seasonal flu (influenza) and COVID-19.
What Experts Say About Taking Flu + COVID-19 Vaccines Together?
When the COVID-19 vaccines first came out, health authorities recommended taking them on their own, and taking the flu vaccine at least two weeks later.
This recommendation was out of abundance of caution, and not due to any known risks of taking them both at the same time.
After millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, health authorities now know more about their safety profiles and have updated their guidance accordingly.
US CDC
On 14 May 2021, the US CDC updated their guidance on the co-administration of COVID-19 vaccines with other vaccines, which includes the flu vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccines may be administered without regard to timing of other vaccines. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines on the same day.
If multiple vaccines are administered at a single visit, administer each injection in a different injection site.
On 14 May 2021, the American Academic of Paediatrics said that it supports giving childhood vaccines (including the seasonal flu vaccine) together with the COVID-19 vaccine.
UK JCVI
On 14 September 2021, the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) announced that :
[C]o-administration of the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines is generally well tolerated with no reduction in immune response to either vaccine. Therefore, the two vaccines may be co-administered where operationally practical.
WHO
On 21 October 2021, the WHO issued interim guidance on this issue, stating that :
WHO considers that coadministration of an inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine and any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is acceptable, given that the known risk of serious illness for adults infected with influenza virus or SARS-CoV-2 is substantial.
Australian Department of Health
On 9 June 2021, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation issued updated advice on administering the flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
Instead of a 14-day gap between the two doses, they are recommending a shorter 7-day gap. But they also stated that an even shorter gap, or administering them at the same time is also acceptable.
The preferred minimum interval between a dose of influenza vaccine and a dose of either Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is now 7 days (previously 14 days).
In some situations a shorter interval (including co-administration) is acceptable.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The US FDA has officially authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in 5-11 year-old children!
Here is what you need to know…
FDA Authorised Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine For 5-11 Yo Children!
On 29 October 2021, the US FDA officially authorised the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in 5-11 year-old children.
This was based on their expert panel’s earlier approval, and their own evaluation of the data from Pfizer’s paediatric clinical trial.
Here is a short summary of the US FDA’s findings on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 5-11 year-old children :
Effectiveness : Immune responses of children 5 through 11 years of age were comparable to those of individuals 16 through 25 years of age. In addition, the vaccine was found to be 90.7% effective in preventing COVID-19 in children 5 through 11.
Safety : The vaccine’s safety was studied in approximately 3,100 children age 5 through 11 who received the vaccine and no serious side effects have been detected in the ongoing study.
Now that the FDA has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in 5-11 year-old children, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will look into clinical recommendations for the vaccine.
I should point out that while the Pfizer paediatric vaccine is a lower-dose, improved version of the vaccine used in adults and adolescents.
FDA Excerpts On Pfizer Vaccine Authorisation For 5-11 Yo Children
Here is a selection of excerpts from the full FDA press release on their authorisation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in 5-11 year-old children.
Dose
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for children 5 through 11 years of age is administered as a two-dose primary series, 3 weeks apart, but is a lower dose (10 micrograms) than that used for individuals 12 years of age and older (30 micrograms).
Effectiveness
The immune responses of the younger age participants were comparable to the older participants. The vaccine was 90.7% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Safety
Commonly reported side effects in the clinical trial included injection site pain (sore arm), redness and swelling, fatigue, headache, muscle and/or joint pain, chills, fever, swollen lymph nodes, nausea and decreased appetite. More children reported side effects after the second dose than after the first dose. Side effects were generally mild to moderate in severity and occurred within two days after vaccination, and most went away within one to two days.
Stability + Storage
The FDA also authorized a manufacturing change for the vaccine to include a formulation that uses a different buffer; buffers help maintain a vaccine’s pH (a measure of how acidic or alkaline a solution is) and stability. This new formulation is more stable at refrigerated temperatures for longer periods of time, permitting greater flexibility for vaccination providers.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did Dr Vincent Wang die from a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine?
Take a look at the viral story, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Dr Vincent Wang Died From Pfizer Booster Dose!
The Taiwanese medical community is in shock over the death of Dr Vincent Wang Weisheng, who was the former Director of the Infectious Disease Department of the Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei.
His story went viral recently when it was shared on an anti-vaccination blog called NoMoreSilence, whose article was also shared in WhatsApp.
It’s rather long, so you can skip to the next section for the facts…
Dr Vincent Wang – Pfizer Booster 2nd Sep 2021
Died 16th September 2021 Aged 54
Erica speaking about the loss of her Husband to the Pfizer Booster Vaccine:
My Husband was a retried [sic] Infection Disease Doctor. After he got his third Pfizer Shot (Booster), he felt dizzy, low pressure and fainted on the stairs during Sep 5th. My husband passed away in the middle of last month because of the Covid-19 Vaccine.
His doctor didn’t give him time to go to hospital. He felt better on Sep 15th, but he passed away in the early morning on Sep 16th during deep sleep.
We have been busy contacting the complex medical system in the United States to obtain his medical records, and we have also completed our own pathological anatomy (non-suicide and crime must be at our own expense), but the report will take six to seven weeks to get the results. It’s been almost a month, and we haven’t received a death certificate, so he can’t be cremated yet.
We also required a private autopsy and reported this to the CDC and Pfizer. So far, we didn’t get any compensation .
He was given NO treatment by the medical community….. his MD told him to drink more water!
We have lost my two kids’ father, our financial support, and I have lost my dearest love. So, his departure has hit us very hard and we’re still weeping.
We came to the United States two and a half years ago during the summer, from Taiwan. We did not have any relatives and it took great courage to come to America at the age of fifty.
Before I start, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the Wang family.
The truth is – NO ONE can be certain, because an autopsy was not conducted. Therefore, it is wrong for anyone to claim that he died from the Pfizer booster dose.
Based on what we know about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it is highly unlikely that Dr Vincent Wang’s death was due to the booster dose. But we cannot definitively confirm that without an autopsy either.
So this case ultimately boils down to a single issue – paying for the autopsy, which costs about $8,000. Fortunately, many donors chipped in almost $80,000, exceeding their goal of $30,000.
Now that the Wang family is able to afford the autopsy, everyone should WAIT for the autopsy results, and NOT jump to any conclusion.
That said, I will now share some of the facts that can already be ascertained, and why I believe that Dr Wang’s death will likely be determined to be unrelated to the Pfizer booster dose.
Fact #1 : Dr Vincent Wang Retired + Migrated In 2019
According to his daughter, Dr Vincent Wang retired and their family migrated to the United States in the middle of 2019.
From what I understand, they are currently living in the state of Washington. This will be important in the next point.
Fact #2 : Autopsy Not Mandatory For Sudden Death
Healthcare law is not uniform in the United States, and varies from state to state. According to the CDC, an autopsy is only mandatory in some states (not all!) for certain kinds of deaths :
Accident : 41 states
Suicide : 41 states
Violence : 38 states
Homicide : 28 states
Suspicious / unusual / unnatural : 44 states
Sudden death in apparent good health : 35 states
Found dead / at home : 8 states
In the state of Washington, sudden death even in apparent good health does NOT warrant an autopsy or medical investigation. This is why the Wang family has to pay for a private autopsy.
Those of us from countries with national / universal healthcare will find this extremely odd, but this is the nature of the American healthcare system.
Fact #3 : Pfizer Booster Dose Was Only Approved On 22 September
The story claims that Dr Wang received his booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine on 2 September 2021.
That seems improbable since the US FDA only approved the Pfizer booster dose on 22 September 2021 – 20 days later.
In fact, the VRBPAC (Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee) only convened a public meeting to decide on the booster dose’s approval on 17 September 2021.
It is also unlikely that he was part of the Phase 3 trial for the Pfizer booster dose, because that concluded in March or April 2021, with a data cutoff date of 17 June 2021.
Fact #4 : Pfizer Booster Dose Only For 65+ / Adults With Medical Conditions
As of 7 October 2021, the CDC restricts the Pfizer booster dose shots to a select group of people who completed their first two doses at least 6 months earlier :
adults who are 65 years and older
18-64 year old adults with medical conditions
18+ adults who live in long-term care settings
18+ adults who work in high-risk settings
18+ adults who live in high-risk settings
Dr Vincent Wang was only 54 years old, and was not working as a doctor (he retired before migrating to the United States). He was also living in his own home.
Therefore, he would only qualify for a Pfizer booster dose if he had an underlying medical condition like cancer, chronic kidney or lung disease, diabetes, immunodeficiencies, obesity, etc.
Now, we do NOT know if he actually had an underlying medical condition. But unless he was working in a high risk job, or living in a high-risk setting, that would the most likely reason for him to qualify for a Pfizer booster dose.
On 17 September 2021, Pfizer publicly released the clinical trial data for their COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.
It showed that the participants did NOT suffer any serious side effect from the booster dose :
No anaphylactic reaction were reported within 30 minutes of getting the booster dose
No deaths, serious or life-threatening adverse events, were reported
Older adults reported side effects like fatigue, headache, chills, muscle pain and joint pain that lasted only 1-2 days.
There were no cases of anaphylaxis, hypersensitivity, Bell’s palsy, myocarditis / pericarditis in the 2-3 months of follow-up.
This is pretty much what we would expect for a third dose. Those who had no issues with the first two doses, should have no issue with the booster dose.
It’s the same vaccine, after all. If you are allergic to the vaccine, you would have experienced an anaphylactic reaction with the first dose.
Fact #6 : Booster Dose Is Just A Refresher Class
Vaccines are really just self-defence classes that teach our immune system how to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so it can produce antibodies to fight off an actual infection.
A booster dose is like a refresher class in college that you take just before a big exam. It reminds your immune system that COVID-19 should be taken seriously, and kickstarts the production of fresh antibodies.
If you have no trouble with the first two self-defence classes, why should a refresher class be a problem?
Fact #7 : Dr Wang Died Two Weeks After Booster Dose
The story allegedly written by Dr Wang’s wife said that he felt dizzy and fell down the stairs three days after receiving his Pfizer booster dose.
But oddly enough, he did not go to the hospital and was apparently fine 10 days later before dying in his sleep the next day – 2 weeks after his booster dose.
In her GoFundMe post, his daughter confirmed that he felt dizzy for several days and fell off the stairs after getting the booster dose, but said that he passed away at home “without any symptoms“.
So unless the autopsy turns up evidence that his death was in any way related to the booster dose, it is certainly more likely (for now) that they are unrelated.
In any case, I hope the autopsy will help the Wang family find out what really happened to their father and husband, and settle all ambiguities for good.
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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is the EU planning to cancel COVID-19 vaccination in October, after approving FIVE therapies for the coronavirus?
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!
Is EU Cancelling COVID-19 Vaccination In October 2021?
This article has gone viral on WhatsApp, claiming that the EU (European Union) is going to cancel COVID-19 vaccination in October, after approving FIVE therapies for the coronavirus!
It also claims that ivermectin has been scientifically recognised as an effective treatment and prophylaxis of COVID-19 by the Pasteur Institute.
It’s a long article, so just skip to the next section for the facts!
DISTRIBUTE TO EVERYONE who does not want to be “vaccinated”. All vaccines will no longer be justified from 20.10.2021: verified information. The European Union has approved (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/ip_21_3299) 5 therapies that will be available in all hospitals in the Member States for the treatment of Covid.
These therapies have been approved by a decree of the European Council (European Parliament) and will be in force from 1/10, so they will be distributed little by little around 20/10. Vaccines were approved on a “temporary experimental basis”. But since the decree will oblige to prescribe these 5 new drugs, the use of the vaccine will cease.
So we understand why all the states said “between September it is necessary that …”. They already knew everything. You have to have patience. Do not accept any blackmail. Be patient. Now that ivermectin has been re-approved, there is no need for a vaccine. Great news. The Pasteur Institute recognizes the effectiveness of Ivermectin. One intake could eradicate all SARS covid-19 genetic material in some people. Read and share well.
The good news: Ivermectin is now scientifically recognized as an effective drug, in the prophylaxis and treatment of Covid-19 by researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France. The results of their studies were published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine on July 12, 2021, so that’s recently. Analysis of the results of other research published in the American Journal of Therapeutics strongly calls, with supporting evidence, to bridge the guidelines of health agencies and include Ivermectin as a standard of care. Macron’s government knew about it …
Be good and don’t hesitate to cheer up people who don’t want to get vaccinated
About the vaccine. I don’t know if you read French, but as of October 20, the Covid pass and vaccination will be abolished throughout the EU. A European Commission decree makes five effective drugs available, and the vaccines are said to have been “experimental and provisional.”
Truth : EU Is NOT Cancelling COVID-19 Vaccination At All!
This is yet another FAKE STORY written by anti-vaxxers in their bid to discourage people from protecting themselves with the COVID-19 vaccines.
Here are the FACTS…
Fact #1 : The EU Press Release Is Available In English
It is instructive to note that the fake article offers a link to the EU press release in French, even though there is an English version.
Whoever wrote the fake article intentionally gave you the French press release, so you won’t be able to read it and discover that it’s just fake news.
Fact #2 : They Are Potential Treatments For COVID-19
If you read the EU press release in English, you will realise that what the viral article claimed is COMPLETELY FALSE.
Published on 29 June 2021, the press release only announced that the EU had identified the first five therapeutics that have “a high potential” to be approved later.
Nowhere in the press release was it stated that ANY of the five therapeutics was even approved.
Fact #3 : The EU Has Not Approved Them
The EU press release stated that these five therapeutics had a high potential to be among the three new COVID-19 therapeutics to receive authorisation by October 2021
the immunosuppressant, baricitinib
the monoclonal antibody combination of bamlanivimab and etesevimab
the monoclonal antibody combination of casirivimab and imdevimab
the monoclonal antibody, regdanvimab
the monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab
However, the EU has NOT approved any of those five therapeutics for use against COVID-19, of 24 September 2021.
There was no “decree of the European Council” that approved any of these therapeutics, and that’s not how treatments are approved in Europe.
So the five therapeutics above are unlikely to be in use in October 2021, contrary to what the fake article claimed.
Even if any of those five therapeutics are eventually approved by the EU for use against COVID-19, there is NO OBLIGATION to administer them.
It is left to the treating doctor to decide whether to prescribe it to the patient, or not. The patient can, of course, choose to accept or refuse the treatment.
Fact #5 : COVID-19 Vaccines Will Remain In Use
Even if new treatments can be found for COVID-19, vaccines will remain in use as the first line of defence.
That’s because they PREVENT people from getting COVID-19, thereby negating the need for hospitalisation and treatment.
Therapeutics are also MORE expensive than vaccines, even without accounting for the manpower (doctors and nurses) and hospitalisation costs!
COVID-19 vaccines will remain in use in the European Union, irrespective of how many COVID-19 treatments are eventually approved.
Fact #6 : COVID-19 Vaccines Are NOT Experimental
Once the COVID-19 vaccines successfully completed their clinical trials and received their EUA, they were NO LONGER EXPERIMENTAL.
The conditions to receive the EUA is similar to that of a full approval. The only real difference is the post-study follow-up :
EUA : At least half of the participants in the studies must be followed for at least two months after vaccination.
Full FDA Approval : All of the participants in the studies must be followed for at least six months.
The EU has never called the COVID-19 vaccines “experimental and provisional”. That’s yet another lie in the fake story.
Fact #7 : Ivermectin Was NEVER Approved For Use Against COVID-19
The fake story claimed that ivermectin was just “re-approved”. That’s completely FALSE.
Ivermectin was NEVER approved by any major health authority, including the WHO, CDC, FDA, EMA or the TGA, for use against COVID-19. Never mind getting “re-approved”…
Fact #8 : Pasteur Institute Study Was Conducted On Hamsters!
However, the fake story creator shared a link to the French biography of a French antivaxxer – Dominique Rueff instead, to mislead you.
That’s because the Pasteur Institute study DID NOT actually recognise ivermectin as an effective drug against COVID-19 in humans…
The study was conducted on hamsters, not humans
Ivermectin reduced inflammation in the respiratory tract of hamsters, with reduced symptoms.
Ivermectin reduced risk of loss of smell in hamsters.
Ivermectin did NOT have any impact on the viral replication of SARS-CoV-2.
The chief author of the study, Guilherme Dias de Melo said, “Surprisingly, we observed that treatment with ivermectin did not reduce viral replication; the models that received treatment had similar quantities of viral load in the nasal cavity and the lungs as those that did not receive treatment. Our results reveal that ivermectin has an immunomodulatory effect rather than an antiviral effect.”
Therefore, the Guilherme said that, “these data provide crucial evidence to support clinical trials in humans“.
In other words, the Pasteur Institute is only advocating for clinical trials in humans, not the use of ivermectin against COVID-19 in humans.
Antivaxxers are not interested in the truth, or even your lives. These human viruses are only interested in spreading lies and misinformation about vaccines.
Please SHARE this fact check with your family and friends, and protect yourself and your family – get vaccinated against COVID-19!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The US CDC just warned of a 5X increase in ivermectin poisoning cases from a 24X surge in ivermectin prescriptions!
Here is what you need to know about why ivermectin is causing so many poisoning cases!
CDC : 24X Increase In Ivermectin Prescriptions!
On 26 August 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a critical warning.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic started, there was only an average of 3,600 ivermectin prescriptions per week.
It has now reached 88,000 ivermectin prescriptions in the week ending 13 August 2021 – 24X higher than the pre-pandemic baseline.
This does NOT even include the use of ivermectin-based veterinary products.
CDC : 5X Increase In Ivermectin Poisoning Cases!
Coupled with the massive increase in ivermectin use from prescriptions and veterinary products, is a huge 5X increase in ivermectin poisoning cases.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), there was :
a 3X increase in the number of ivermectin poisoning cases in January 2021, and
a 5X increase in the number of ivermectin poisoning cases in July 2021.
These reports of ivermectin poisoning were associated with adverse effects and visits to emergency departments or hospitals. The CDC shared two examples :
An adult drank an injectable ivermectin formulation intended for use in cattle in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infection. This patient presented to a hospital with confusion, drowsiness, visual hallucinations, tachypnea, and tremors. The patient recovered after being hospitalized for nine days.
An adult patient presented with altered mental status after taking ivermectin tablets of unknown strength purchased on the internet. The patient reportedly took five tablets a day for five days to treat COVID-19. The patient was disoriented and had difficulty answering questions and following commands. Symptoms improved with discontinuation of ivermectin after hospital admission.
CDC : DO NOT Take Ivermectin For COVID-19!
The CDC wants everyone to understand that ivermectin currently has NOT been proven to prevent to treat COVID-19.
They stress that ivermectin that is formulated for skin or veterinary use, must not be consumed.
In addition, people taking ivermectin should watch out for signs of poisoning, and immediately seek medical attention :
neurological effects : tremors, seizures, hallucinations, confusion, loss of coordination and balance, decreased alertness, and coma
headache, blurred vision, dizziness, fast heart rate, low blood pressure
Instead of taking ivermectin for COVID-19, they are asking that people get vaccinated against COVID-19, because it is a proven and effective way to prevent COVID-19, including the Delta variant.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the US FDA know about the many COVID-19 vaccine side effects MONTHS before they were approved?
Take a look at this new claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!
Claim : FDA Leaked Vaccine Side Effects MONTHS Before Approval!
Antivaxxers are now promoting the claim that the US FDA knew about the many COVID-19 vaccine side effects, and accidentally leaked them during a seminar.
Take a look at this claim, that antivaxxers are now sharing on social media and WhatsApp :
The more you know, the less fear you have. This FDA seminar was done on October 22, 2020… 10 MONTHS AGO… Watch to the 2:33:40 mark.
It goes quick, but if you pause fast enough, you will see the slide of side effects from the vaccines they knew about 10 MONTHS AGO… Let that sink in.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XTiL9rUpkg
Truth : FDA Did Not Leak Vaccine Side Effects MONTHS Before Approval
The truth is this is more FAKE NEWS on the COVID-19 vaccines that antivaxxers have created, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : It Was A Public US FDA Meeting
The post claims that the slide was leaked in a US FDA seminar. That’s not true.
The truth is it was presented in a public meeting of the US FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee that ran for over 8 hours!
It is also publicly available for everyone to watch, which wouldn’t happen if they had something to hide.
Fact #2 : The List Was Shown TWICE
Steven Anderson, the US FDA Director for the Office of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, quickly skipped through this slide in his presentation, because it was presented earlier.
“Tom has this list of possible adverse outcomes of interest. I won’t dwell on them, as he has them at the end of his presentation.
At 2:06:29 of the video, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, MD, MPH, MBA, of the CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Vaccine Safety Team shared the same list.
Fact #3 : Those Were Possible Safety Outcomes Of Interest
Antivaxxers are claiming that the FDA knew about these adverse events / side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The slide was actually a DRAFT working list of possible adverse event outcomes that the FDA was interested to monitor in the COVID-19 vaccines.
In Dr. Shimabukuro’s version above, it was clearly stated that it was a preliminary list of adverse events of special interest that the CDC would be monitoring.
On the other hand, most of the other adverse events in the list above did not turn out to be associated with the COVID-19 vaccines.
Fact #5 : Vaccine Adverse Events Have Been Publicly Reported
The US FDA has to be privy to the adverse events and side effects of COVID-19 vaccine submitted to them for approval, but that does not mean they are hiding them from us.
The adverse events and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines observed during the clinical trials have been publicly released in the VRBPAC documents, which you can download from the US FDA :
Now that you know the truth, please SHARE this fact check with your family and friends, so they won’t get fooled by this fake news.
Please protect yourself and your family – get vaccinated against COVID-19!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Is the Delta variant of COVID-19 now spreading quickly through gas / petrol pumps?
Find out what the FACTS really are, and SHARE this out!
Updated @ 2020-08-05 : Made several small changes and clarifications to the facts. Originally posted @ 2021-07-30
Claim : Delta Variant Is Spreading Through Gas / Petrol Pumps!
A new message is claiming that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading quickly through gas / petrol pumps.
It advises everyone to wear gloves or use paper towels, while refilling their vehicles at the gas / petrol stations.
The hospital sent a message this morning that this Covid -19 / Delta variant virus appears to be spreading so quickly through petrol pumps that it asked to tell everyone to wear gloves or use paper towels while filling and disposing immediately – please share.
Please send to everyone in your contact list.
* Do not keep this information to yourself. Make it available to all your family and friends
Delta Variant Is NOT Spreading Through Gas / Petrol Pumps!
When the COVID-19 pandemic first started, gas / petrol pumps were identified as a potential source of COVID-19 spread.
Hence, gas / petrol stations were advised to constantly wipe clean the buttons and handles of the consoles and pumps.
However, this new viral message is simply another FAKE STORY being circulated on social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Fomite Transmission Is Rare
Early studies show that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 can persist on surfaces for a long time.
However, later quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) studies show that the risk of getting infected through contact with contaminated surfaces / objects (fomites) is low.
How low? Generally, less than 1 in 10,000 contacts with a contaminated surface will result in a COVID-19 infection.
While not impossible, it is much harder to get infected from touching contaminated surfaces or objects, because you have to touch your eyes, nose or mouth with your contaminated hands to get infected.
That is likely why there have been no COVID-19 clusters attributed to transmission from gas / petrol stations.
Fact #2 : Delta Variant More Transmissible Through Air
Currently, Delta variant has been shown to be more transmissible by air – within seconds of a close contact.
However, there is no evidence so far that it is more transmissible by touching a contaminated object.
Fact #3 : It Is Dangerous To Wear Gloves At Gas / Petrol Station!
No matter what social media tells you – you should NEVER wear gloves at a gas / petrol station.
Plastic gloves like what you see in these pictures generate static electricity, and may spark a fire when you refill your car!
Fact #4 : Latex / Nitrile Gloves May Not Protect You
Some automotive experts are recommending that motorists opt for latex or nitrile gloves, because they will not generate static electricity like plastic gloves.
That is bad advice.
Yes, latex and nitrile gloves will protect your hands from touching contaminated surfaces. But many people actually contaminate themselves while removing their gloves.
Unless you are a healthcare worker who is familiar on how to properly wear and remove rubber / nitrile gloves without contaminating yourself, you should not wear them.
Fact #5 : COVID-19 Spreads Through People
The SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads through droplets and aerosols from infected people. It does not spread by touch.
Hence, the best policy for gas / petrol stations is to insist that EVERYONE must wear a face mask.
This prevents direct transmission by droplets, and greatly cuts down on aerosols. And best of all – it prevents the gas / petrol pump surfaces from being contaminated!
If everyone wears a face mask, fomites – contaminated surfaces or objects – will be virtually non-existent.
Fact #6 : You Can’t Get Contaminated If You Sanitise Your Hands!
Instead of worrying so much about getting your hands contaminated with COVID-19, just sanitise them!
If you are super worried, spread alcohol-based hand sanitiser onto the buttons and handle of the gas / petrol pump.
But the key thing is to either wash your hands with soap and water after using the pump, or sanitise them using hand sanitiser (with at least 60% alcohol).
You can’t get COVID-19 from contaminated surfaces if you always keep your hands clean!
This isn’t just my advice, this is what the US CDC recommends too!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the CDC just admit that the PCR test cannot differentiate between COVID-19 and influenza?
Find out what’s going on, and what the FACTS really are!
PCR Test Cannot Differentiate COVID-19 vs. Influenza?
COVID-19 deniers and antivaxxers are claiming that the CDC has admitted that the current PCR test cannot differentiate between COVID-19 and influenza.
Their evidence? A screenshot of a CDC laboratory alert issued on 21 July 2021, stating that the CDC will withdraw the EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation) for the COVID-19 RT-PCR test.
What is fuelling their claim is the part where the CDC asked laboratories to switch to other COVID-19 tests that can “facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses“.
COVID-19 deniers and antivaxxers are calling this a CDC admission that the current RT-PCR test cannot differentiate between the two viruses, and COVID-19 could really just be influenza.
It also doesn’t help that some mainstream media misunderstood what the CDC is saying.
Yahoo! News, for example, claimed “CDC urges labs to use COVID tests that can differentiate from flu“, which unfortunately suggests that the current RT-PCR test cannot differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
Truth : PCR Test Can Differentiate COVID-19 vs. Influenza
The truth is using PCR to test for a single pathogen like the SARS-CoV-2 virus is incredibly wasteful.
In normal times, a patient’s sample would be tested against a panel of multiple respiratory illnesses, allowing a single PCR test to detect and differentiate for multiple viruses.
To speed things up during an emergency, the CDC applied for the Emergency Use Authorisation for their RT-PCR test that only detects SARS-CoV-2, which was introduced in February 2020.
The Emergency Use Authorisation is necessary to allow patients to be tested for a single infectious agent (the SARS-CoV-2 virus) in a given emergency (the COVID-19 pandemic).
To test for other pathogens, another PCR test would have to be performed, which wastes time and laboratory resources.
The FDA has since authorisedmulti-analyte panels for RT-PCR tests, which can test for multiple viruses at the same time. So it only makes sense for laboratories to start using them.
The CDC issued that laboratory alert to encourage laboratories to start using these multi-analyte panels, which would be useful in :
conserving resources and laboratory time : instead of requiring multiple tests, the sample can be tested once for multiple pathogens
helping doctors determine if the patient has COVID-19, or a similar respiratory viral illness, or both.
In particular, this would help doctors during the influenza season to quickly determine if the patient has COVID-19, or just influenza, or in rare cases – both of them at the same time!
COVID-19 deniers and antivaxxers will continue to push this lie, but the truth is – the PCR test can differentiate between COVID-19 and influenza virus.
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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Find out why the CDC is withdrawing their authorisation for the COVID-19 RT-PCR test, and what it means for testing COVID-19!
CDC To Withdraw EUA For COVID-19 Only RT-PCR Test
On 21 July 2021, the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control) announced that they would be withdrawing the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for their COVID-19 only diagnostic panel after 31 December 2021.
From 1 January 2022 onwards, laboratories in the United States will no longer be allowed to use the CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel, which was first introduced in February 2020.
This CDC announcement is meant to spur laboratories and testing sites to transition to “a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses“.
This would allow laboratories to test for both viruses at the same time, saving time and resources, especially when the influenza season begins.
Can Current RT-PCR Test Differentiate Between COVID-19 + Influenza?
At this point, I should take the opportunity to clarify this US CDC move, as it appears that even major news media do not quite understand what they meant.
Yahoo! News, for example, claimed “CDC urges labs to use COVID tests that can differentiate from flu“, which unfortunately suggests that the current RT-PCR test cannot different between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
That’s why some people are claiming that the current PCR test is “fake” and “cannot differentiate” between COVID-19 and influenza, or that they are both the same virus.
The current Emergency Use Authorisation was used to allow patients to be tested for a single infectious agent (the SARS-CoV-2 virus) in a given emergency (the COVID-19 pandemic).
But because the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral illnesses are similar, the FDA has already authorised multi-analyte panels for RT-PCR tests.
These multi-analyte panels allow laboratories to test for, and differentiate, the genetic data of MULTIPLE pathogens, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
As you can tell, these multi-analyte panels will be very useful in :
conserving resources and laboratory time : instead of requiring multiple tests, the sample can be tested once for multiple pathogens
helping doctors determine if the patient has COVID-19, or a similar respiratory viral illness, or both.
Now that there are approved multi-analyte panels, there is simply no reason to stick with a single COVID-19 only panel for the RT-PCR test.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
China is planning to offer an mRNA vaccine as a booster dose for Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines!
Find out WHY China is switching to an mRNA vaccine!
China To Offer mRNA Booster Dose For Sinovac + Sinopharm!
On 15 July 2021, Caixin Global reported that Chinese drug regulators have completed an expert panel review of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that was co-developed by Fosun Pharma with BioNTech from Germany.
The booster dose is currently in the administration review stage, according to Fosun.
Fosun Pharma Chairman Wu Yifang told a shareholder’s meeting on 14 July 2021 that they plan to start domestic trial production by the end of August 2021.
The Chinese authorities plan to use the vaccine – also called COMIRNATY – as a booster dose because inactivated virus vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm “demonstrated lower efficacy“.
This booster dose is likely to be offered for free to those who received vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm.
China administered more than 1.46 billion vaccine doses by 18 July 2021, the vast majority of which were inactivated virus vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm.
It is unknown what role Fosun Pharma played in the development in this booster dose, as they do not appear to have any expertise in developing mRNA vaccines.
It seems likely that their role is mainly to produce the COMIRNATY vaccine doses, with their “co-developed” status offering political cover to the Chinese government, which has long touted the safety and efficacy of their inactivated virus vaccines.
If China approves this mRNA booster dose, I expect the current Chinese propaganda war against Western vaccine technologies, especially the mRNA vaccine, to quickly die down.
They will now have to work hard to convince the Chinese people that mRNA vaccines are actually safe and effective…
On 24 June 2021, Chinese CDC deputy director Dr. Feng Zijian told the China Central Television that antibodies from two Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are “less effective” against the Delta variant, compared to other strains.
In that interview, he declined to name the two Chinese vaccines, but the Caixin Global report appears to confirm that they are the Sinovac CoronaVac and Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV vaccines.
Sinovac itself appears to be cognisant of this limitation, and have conducting clinical research on a booster dose of their own.
But it appears that the Chinese government is not going to wait, but will instead boost protection against the Delta variant using an mRNA vaccine instead.
The BioNTech mRNA vaccine booster dose is also using the Pfizer COMIRNATY brand, so it seems likely that this booster dose is either :
using the existing COMIRNATY vaccine, or
the new vaccine version Pfizer and BioNTech are developing against the Delta variant
It seems more likely that the booster dose uses the existing COMIRNATY vaccine, because Pfizer and BioNTech are only launching clinical trials for the new vaccine version in August 2021.
The Delta variant of COVID-19 has been shown to infect in mere seconds!
Find out what’s happening, and what we can do to prevent that!
Updated @ 2021-07-16 : Added more preventive measures
Originally posted @ 2021-06-29
COVID-19 Delta Variant Can Infect In Seconds!
The Delta variant of COVID-19 is known to be significantly more infectious, but what exactly does that mean?
Details from two recent cases in China and Australia reveal that the Delta variant can infect people in mere seconds!
Guangzhou, China
On 21 May 2021, one lady (Huang) contracted COVID-19 from a friend, Song, when they had a conversation for just 1 minute 40 seconds.
Four days later, Huang entered the bathroom of a restaurant, when another lady (Liu) walked in. They both said they did not have any physical contact inside.
However, just sharing the same bathroom for 14 seconds was sufficient for Huang to infect Liu.
The Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that they were both infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Sydney, Australia
In the middle of June 2021, one person was infected with the Delta variant by a stranger passing by within 10-15 cm at the Bondi Junction Westfield. It was a fleeting close contact that was also captured on CCTV.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant called it a “momentary crossover” :
We actually have CCTV footage of the encounter and it is basically a crossover of individuals. They are clearly facing each other but it is literally someone moving across from each other for a moment, close, but momentary.
Queenlands Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young later said, “If you remember at the start of this pandemic, I spoke about 15 minutes of close contact being a concern. Now it looks like it’s 5 to 10 seconds.”
How COVID-19 Delta Variant Infected In Seconds
The two cases above are very troubling, but most media only reported on the cases without delving deeper.
A closer analysis of the facts of those two cases reveal a common factor not mentioned in most news reports – the lack of face masks.
In the Guangzhou case, Huang was not wearing a face mask in the bathroom. The CCTV video showed her putting it on a few metres after she left the bathroom.
In the Sydney case, neither were wearing face masks as far as I can tell, because there was no requirement to wear one in Sydney at that time.
NSW premierGladys Berejiklian immediately announced that face masks would be mandatory on public transport in the greater Sydney area for 5 days, but it was not a requirement in other public places.
It seems clear that these Delta infections only occurred in seconds because at least one party did not wear a face mask.
Delta Variant Can Infect In Seconds : How To Prevent That?
While the Delta variant is more infectious against COVID-19, it is fundamentally the same virus.
So we can still take the same COVID-19 precautions to prevent infection by the Delta variant :
Get Vaccinated ASAP!
It is very important to quickly VACCINATE against COVID-19, as current vaccines offer robust protection against the Delta variant.
Wear Face Masks
It is critical that we not only wear a face mask while outside at all times, we should try to double-mask if we are not wearing an N95 / KN95 mask.
Wear A Face Shield / Eye Wear
We should also wear a face shield if possible, or some kind of eyewear, as COVID-19 can infect through the eyes as well.
Improve Ventilation
It is now known that COVID-19 can spread through aerosol – think of it wafting around like cigarette smoke.
This is not so much of a problem outdoors, but it is a critical problem indoors.
Public places need to be better ventilated, or have ventilation systems that rapidly refreshes and filters the air inside rooms.
Maintain Physical Distance
Staying 1-2 metres apart is probably okay outdoors, if everyone is wearing a face mask. But it is no longer good enough indoors.
We need to expand our physical distance from other people indoors – keep at least 3-4 metres from other people.
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Did a lab assistant expose how Gilead Sciences covered up the leak of COVID-19 from their Fort Detrick laboratory?
Take a look at the viral farewell note exposing this cover-up, and find out what the FACTS really are!
Claim : COVID-19 Leaked From Gilead Sciences Lab In Fort Detrick!
A document with the filename “Covid -19 Truth_Confession Exposed.pdf” is being shared on WhatsApp, together with this message :
👆The farewell note by an Ex-Gilead Sciences Fort Derrick Lab assistant who confessed COVID-19 leaked from the lab in Maryland. CDC covered up the facts. Her supervisor Prof Frank Plummer and others who know the facts were all killed and she now fears for her life. Virus was transported to Wuhan by seafood. She apologized to the world.
The PDF document contains the screenshot from an August 2020 post by one “Samantha Hill“, together with a diagram.
Sorry, we played an evil part in the outbreak of COVID-19
I am anonymous, I used to be an American, but I am more of an Indian. I learnt in the University of Manitoba and did some trivial work in the Fort Detrick Laboratory after graduation. My supervisor and I know almost everything about COVID-19, and that’s why he was killed. Now I came back to India. I gather myself up and decide to tell the truth, hoping I will still be alive when all of you learn the truth.
The place I worked was quite mysterious and it is where many military biological weapons and chemical weapons are researched and developed, which is the highest level of confidentiality. Inferiors as me could only be qualified to serve the client company, but I still didn’t have the clearance for all the information about any single experiment.
Gilead Sciences was my No.1 enterprise which I served most. They ever spread MERS in the Middle East so as to test the effects of a new medicine but dodge the federal restrictions. It has been an open secret that they had done experiments with GS-5734 on human being with any safety test, however, this is not what I mainly intend to say.
My supervisor was Professor Frank Plummer who used to be the best friend of Professor Ralph S. Baric. Both of them had made great and significant achievements in bioscience which must be the power entitled by Lord Shiva, but unattainable for us. Professor Plummer was more conservative while Professor Baric was a science-maniac who usually did some highly-risky experiments. I did not understand until now that he probably did not do it out of his own will but was required to do so by Gilead Sciences Inc..
Multiple experiments had been carried out after we learnt that the medicine with code of GS-5734, researched and developed by Gilead Sciences Inc., was quite effective against Ebola. This compound was probably a broad-spectrum antiviral medicine and how it worked was quite special and different, thus we did experiments on a number of a single-stranded RNA viruses, including Lassa fever virus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, coronavirus. Something special happened when we did experiments on coronavirus. It was not quite clear whether GS-5734 could effectively fight against MERS and SARS. In order to further the research, Adrian S. Ray and Richard L. Mackman from Gilead Sciences Inc. entrusted United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases,CDC,University of North Carolina to do researches in different fields respectively, which are the places those papers online came from. The leaders of those projects were Sina Bavari（Therapeutic efficacy of the small molecule GS-5734 against Ebola virus in rhesus monkeys）,Christina F. Spiropoulou(GS-5734 and its parent nucleoside analog inhibit Filo-, Pneumo-, and Paramyxoviruses),Ralph S. Baric(Broad-spectrum antiviral GS-5734 inhibits both epidemic and zoonotic coronaviruses).All the samples of SARS used in our experiments so far have come from the team led by Professor Baric since he is an expert of making SARS， publishing the paper Reverse genetics with a full-length infectious cDNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, which means that he could have SARS virus duplicated without limits since then in 2003. He also offered fundings for Chinese Academy of Sciences for researches and made Zhengli-Li Shi the naïve Snow White who helped him locate gene variation fragments for transforming SARS in Southern China.
In fact, Zhengli-Li Shi has completed the task Professor Baric gave her since the gene fragment SHC014 she discovered in China was adopted by Professor Baric to synthesize into a new type of virus in the Fort Detrick Laboratory in 2015 which is the COVID-19 today.
That is a great experiment, and a huge progress we made in virusology and biology considering that the synthesis of RNA is unprecedent. Professor Plummer had been against this experiment, believing that it went against scientific ethics.however, Professor Baric and Gilead Sciences Inc. insisted that the synthesized virus could be taken as the reference for the original SARS in contrast experiment, and the essential subject for experiments on GS-5734.
As far as I recall, artificially breeding new type of SARS should be a research and development project for developing biological weapons entrusted by Department of National Defense (DOD). However, Gilead Sciences Inc. also had their own secret plan that they would sell GS-5734 to all over the world at a very lucrative price once the virus is leaked and spreads.
To clarify, the global widespread of COVID-19 was not an intentional action done by Gilead Sciences Inc. or DOD but the consequence of an experimental leakage. In May, 2019, there was a leak in our experiment but we were not aware of it until villagers near labs in Maryland was infected, which was monitored by CDC in July 2019. It was too late when we found out that there were serious problems with the waste water treatment system in our lab.
Those speculative facts circulating on the Internet are not totally accurate since the rampant influenza then in South America was not totally SARS-II(COVID-19) but two kinds of viruses spreading at the same time. The outpost labs located in various states did not run tests on the coronavirus due to the interference of CDC.
Based on the advice from Professor Baric, neither our lab nor the military and Gilead Sciences Inc. would admit the source of virus but we all tacitly referred to bats in Yunnan province in China as the source of the virus. This is possible based on the experiments and papers with Chinese scientists’ involvement having proved the gene variation in nature, and the stereo type that SARS-I originated from China.
There were some controversial issues during the spread of COVID-19. In order to ensure the virus would not make irreversible damages, CDC initiated the EVENT201 drill with the assistance of CIA. Despite the unsatisfying performance, Professor Baric believed that SARS-II would not do huge damages to Caucasians in America due to the different distribution of ACE2 in different races. This is the reason why CIA finally decided to withhold the pre-warning of the spread of the virus.
Professor Baric, Gilead Sciences Inc., BlackRock (a subcompany of Gilead Sciences for investment) and CDC are all the decision makers of the whole thing. All the members of the meeting were republicans and report to Office of American Innovation and Jared Kushner.
Then, December in 2019 was the turning point when a sailor who continued to work after being infected by SARS-II, and happened to seal the virus into the package of seafood which was transported into seafood market in Wuhan, China through the illicit market. Unexpectedly, Chinese epidemic prevention departments found out the virus, which, could probably be thanks to their prevention experience of SARS. Otherwise, the viral pneumonia could have been treated as bacterial pneumonia and named as a new type influenza without triggering enough attention.
After Chinese government found about SARS-II, my supervisor Professor Plummer was planning to share with Chinese scientific research institutions how GS-5734 could be adopted to fight against SARS-II, but he was assassinated when he was flying from Kenya to China. And I had to come back to India and hide since I got the news.
As far as I know, some colleagues knowing the truth have been killed during the last few months and some others just disappeared. All the other practitioners bowing to Professor Baric do not dare to express their doubts without the permission of him. Once their doubts was proposed, their career will be over since no publications will accept their papere any longer.
I have no idea how long I will live in this world and I feel so guilty deep down in my heart. I could not let so many lives gone even without being aware of the truth, so I make it known to the public and may Lord Shiva bless all of you. They would of course deny all of it, and even deny my identity or the existence of me. They will do whatever within their power to get me killed. So I would say goodbye right here. Farewell to all of you! I am so sorry!
Note : We added the FAKE overlay to prevent the diagram from being further abused.
No, COVID-19 Did Not Leak From Gilead Sciences Lab In Fort Detrick!
This is yet another FAKE STORY that appears to be part of a Chinese propaganda effort to shift the blame for COVID-19 to the United States.
Let me show you why this is completely made up, and is nothing more than Chinese propaganda.
Fact #1 : This Fake Story Was Posted In August 2020
This fake story was originally posted on a new Facebook account with the name “Samantha Hill” on 11 August 2020.
The writer tried to frame himself as an American of Indian descent, even using Hindi hashtags. But her post gained little traction on Facebook. It was only widely shared on Weibo by Chinese netizens.
It appears to have been resurrected after the United States under President Biden started an earnest look at whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have accidentally been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Fact #2 : The Writer Is Not A Scientist Or American
The writer, Samantha Hill, claimed to be an American who worked as Gilead Sciences lab assistant at their Fort Detrick Laboratory.
However, the Facebook post is rife with numerous scientific and linguistic mistakes, like :
virusology : the proper term is virology
breeding : viruses are not living organisms – they do not breed. They replicate, and we manufacture them in host cells.
villagers : a common term in China, but have you seen Americans call anyone a villager?
SARS II : this is a nonsensical name. The official name for the COVID-19 virus was nCoV-2019, before it became SARS-CoV-2 on 11 February 2020.
practitioners : Americans call them scientists…
These linguistics mistakes suggest that the writer is most likely a layperson of Chinese origin, not Indian and certainly not American.
Fact #3 : Screenshot Was Taken By Creator
The Facebook account was deleted, but the screenshot is now being circulated in June 2021 in the form of a PDF document.
Interestingly, this new screenshot can only come from the person who created the Samantha Hill post.
We know this because the screenshot shows the Facebook privacy selector (marked in red below), which only appears for the post creator!
Only the person who created the post would be able to take that screenshot.
Fact #4 : 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye) Could Be The Creator
Samantha Hill claimed to be an American of Indian ethnicity. But I will now show you why “she” is most likely a Chinese man called 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye).
As I noted in Fact #3, the screenshot can only be taken by the post creator, “Samantha Hill”.
If you look at the bottom right corner of the screenshot, you will find a watermark – the Weibo handle of 赵盛烨 (Zhao Shenye), who also goes by the name xodn.
And if you take a look at Zhao Shenye’s Weibo page, the latest post (on 14 February 2021) is about Gain of Function (GOF) virus modification by Professor Baric and Dr. Peter Daszak!
Looks like we hit pay dirt! Zhao Shenye could be the mysterious Samantha Hill…
Fact #5 : Fort Detrick Belongs To US Army
Fort Detrick is a massive 13,000-acre campus that belongs to the United States Army.
It is home to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) laboratory, which China has suggested leaked the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Fort Detrick is completely owned and managed by the US Army Futures Command, and that includes the USAMRIID laboratory.
There are NO PRIVATE laboratories inside Fort Detrick. So Gilead Sciences cannot possibly operate one inside Fort Detrick.
Fact #6 : Gilead Sciences Does Not Have Labs In Maryland
Gilead Sciences Inc. does not own or operate any laboratory in the state of Maryland. Here are the current locations of their US laboratories :
Foster City, California : headquarters and antiviral research facilities
Miami, Florida : respiratory research and clinical development activities
Seattle, Washington : respiratory research and clinical development activities
Fact #7 : Fort Detrick Sterilisation Plant Failed But Posed No Risk
The CDC temporarily shut down the US Army lab at Fort Detrick on 2 August 2019, after finding “biosafety lapses” there.
However, that was not because viruses actually leaked from the facility, but rather :
the lab was no longer able to decontaminate wastewater from its highest security labs.
their steam sterilisation plant was damaged in a flood in May 2018, and they had been using a chemical decontamination method instead.
no disease-causing materials were found outside authorised areas
Fact #8 : Wuhan Was Epicentre Of COVID-19 Outbreak
China’s continuous suggestions that there may have been a leak at the Fort Detrick laboratory is illogical.
If SARS-CoV-2 leaked from Fort Detrick, the city of Frederick in Maryland would have been the epicentre of the initial COVID-19 outbreak, not Wuhan.
Now, this does not mean that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It merely means the Chinese claim about Fort Detrick is nonsensical.
Fact #9 : Remdesivir Is Pretty Much Useless Against COVID-19
GS-5734 is the development code name for Remdesivir, and it is pretty much useless against COVID-19.
There were promising early results which led to the US granting it emergency use authorisation on 1 May 2020 for severe COVID-19.
However, by September 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued guidance NOT to use remdesivir in people with COVID-19, as “there was no good evidence of benefit”.
So the idea that Gilead Sciences created the SARS-CoV-2 virus to sell remdesivir is idiotic.
Fact #10 : Gilead Sciences Does Not Own BlackRock
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company, and is more than 50% larger than Gilead Sciences by market capitalisation.
BlackRock is certainly NOT a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, as Samantha Hill claimed. In fact, BlackRock owns about 8.9% of Gilead Sciences shares (as of 29 January 2021)!
Fact #11 : Dr. Frank Plummer Died Of A Heart Attack
Dr. Frank Plummer was not assassinated while flying from Kenya to China.
He died of a heart attack in Kenya on 5 February 2020, where he was attending the 40th anniversary of the HIV research collaboration between the University of Manitoba and the University of Nairobi.
Fact #12 : SARS-CoV-2 Was Detected By Chinese Doctors
The SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected by Chinese doctors, not by “Chinese epidemic prevention departments”.
It appears that Dr. Ai Fen was the first Chinese doctor who “discovered” SARS-CoV-2 when she treated two patients who presented with symptoms of COVID-19.
The test at that time came back as “SARS coronavirus”, so she reported it to the hospital’s public health department and infectious diseases department.
She took a picture of the report, circled the word “SARS” and sent it to a colleague at another hospital in Wuhan. The picture circulated until it reached Dr. Li Wenliang – the famous whistleblower doctor, who sent it forward as a warning to former classmates on WeChat.
Both Dr. Ai Fen and Dr. Li Wenliang were reprimanded for spreading rumours. So the claim that COVID-19 was caught by Chinese epidemic prevention departments is nonsense.
Fact #13 : No Evidence COVID-19 Spread Through Frozen Food
It is plausible that the SARS-CoV-2 can be contracted through fomites – contaminated items or surfaces. That would include food items, both fresh and frozen.
However, WHO points out there has been NO SPECIFIC REPORTS of anyone getting COVID-19 through fomite transmission.
People can (potentially) be infected with SARS-CoV-2 through contact with surfaces.
Based on available epidemiological data, the risk surface transmission is considered to be low.
Cleaning surfaces using soap or detergent is enough.
Risk of fomite transmission can be reduced by wearing masks, good hand hygiene and cleaning.
In addition, imported frozen seafood are sold all over China. If COVID-19 was intentionally seeded through frozen seafood by the United States, it would have sparked multiple outbreaks, not just in Wuhan.
There is also the inconvenient fact that it was discovered later that the first COVID-19 case in Wuhan had NOTHING to do with the Huanan seafood market!
Why Would China Push Fake Gilead Sciences Claim?
With China’s aggressive foreign policy moves in recent years, it is not uncommon to see fake pro-China, anti-America stories being created and shared.
Many believe it’s part of a concerted attempt to burnish China’s image overseas, and drown out negative coverage of China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative, and their aggressive moves in the South China Sea..
China has also been blamed for not handling the initial COVID-19 epidemic better, and unfairly – for being the origin of this new virus.
Hence, they have been trying their best to deflect blame by casting aspersions unto others, using aggressive Wolf Warrior diplomacy tactics, propaganda outlets like Global Times and CTGN, and their 50 Cent Army.
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Did the CDC issue a comprehensive list of how many viral particles it takes to get infected, and how to avoid COVID-19 infection?
Let’s take a look at the viral message, and find out what the FACTS really are!
CDC Advice On Avoiding COVID-19 Infection?
This is the viral message that is being vigorously shared on WhatsApp, purportedly issued by the US CDC.
FROM : CDC (USA)
The emerging scientific evidence on Coronavirus transmission:
Very low risk of transmission from surfaces.
Very low risk from outdoor activities.
Very HIGH risk from gatherings in enclosed spaces like offices, religious places, cinema halls, gyms or theatres.
These findings that have been emerging for a while need to be applied by people to manage the situation in the best possible manner. T time to reduce panic about surface transmission, and not be too eager to go back to office.
Q – Who is expected to catch CORONAVIRUS?
Q – What does it take to infect?
TO SUCCESSFULLY INFECT A PERSON, THE VIRUS NEEDS A DOSE OF ~1000 VIRAL PARTICLES (vp).
The typical environmental spread of activities:
> Breath : ~20 vp/minute
> Speaking : ~200 vp/minute
> Cough : ~200 million vp (enough of these may remain in air for hours in a poorly ventilated environment
> Sneeze : ~200 million vp
FORMULA SUCCESSFUL INFECTION = (Exposure to Virus x Time)
SENARIOS
Being in the vicinity of someone (with 6 ft distancing) : Low risk if limit to less than 45 minutes
Talking to someone face to face (with mask) : Low risk if limit to less than 4 minutes
Someone passing you by, like walking / jogging / cycling : Low risk
Well-ventilated spaces, with distancing : Low risk (limit duration)
Grocery shopping : Medium risk (can reduce to low by limiting time and following hygiene)
Indoor spaces : HIGH RISK
Public bathrooms / Common areas : HIGH FOMITE / SURFACE TRANSFER RISK
Restaurants : HIGH RISK (can be reduced to medium risk by surface touch awareness)
Workspaces / Schools (even with social distancing) : VERY HIGH RISK, including high fomite transfer risk
Parties / Weddings : VERY HIGH RISK
Business networking / conferences : VERY HIGH RISK
Arenas / Concerts / Cinemas : VERY HIGH RISK
RISK FACTORS
The bottom line factors you can use to calculate your risk are:
– indoors vs outdoors
– narrow spaces vs large, ventilated spaces
– high people density vs low people density
– longer exposure vs brief exposure
Those Are NOT CDC Advice On Avoiding COVID-19 Infection!
While there is a large amount of truth in the viral message, that was NOT advice by CDC on calculating the risks of getting infected, or how to avoid a COVID-19 infection.
Here are the facts…
Fact #1 : It Was Not Written By US CDC
The viral message appears to be a summary mash-up of two articles.
The first part on “emerging scientific evidence on coronavirus transmission” is a more recent article, whose origin cannot be determined.
The second part is actually a summary of an article written by Dr. Erin S. Bromage, Ph.D. – an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
If you carefully read the “advisory”, you will notice that the first part contradicts the second part.
The first part states that there is very low risk of transmission from surfaces, while the second part claims that there is high risk of surface transmission!
Fact #4 : 1000 VP Infectious Dose Was Hypothetical
The claim that only 1000 viral particles of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was enough to successfully infect a person was merely a hypothesis based on what we know about other respiratory viruses.
When Dr. Erin wrote his article in May 2020, NO ONE had any idea what was the actual infectious dose for COVID-19.
Even today – more than a year later, we are still not certain how many SARS-CoV-2 viral particles are required to infect a person.
It could be a few hundred particles, it could be tens of thousands. We simply DO NOT KNOW right now.
Fact #5 : US CDC Never Quantified COVID-19 Infectious Dose Or Risks
Even in the latest official CDC scientific brief on SARS-CoV-2 transmission (updated May 7, 2021), they did not quantify the infectious dose for a “successful COVID-19 infection”.
Neither did the US CDC list what activities are high risks or low risks.
They only state that the “risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection varies according to the amount of virus to which a person is exposed“, and that the risk increases in these circumstances :
Enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation or air handling within which the concentration of exhaled respiratory fluids, especially very fine droplets and aerosol particles, can build-up in the air space.
Increased exhalation of respiratory fluids if the infectious person is engaged in physical exertion or raises their voice (e.g., exercising, shouting, singing).
Prolonged exposure to these conditions, typically more than 15 minutes.
Fact #6 : Fomite Transmission Possible, But Not Proven
Based on the fact that other coronaviruses and respiratory viruses can be transmitted through fomites – contaminated surfaces – fomite transmission for COVID-19 is certainly a possibility.
There is also consistent evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can persist on certain surfaces for days. That led to early recommendations for sanitisation of public spaces where known positive cases were present.
However, WHO points out there has been NO SPECIFIC REPORTS of anyone getting COVID-19 through fomite transmission.
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