And for BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, the latter of which is more like BA.5 but not as bad, two doses against hospitalization dropped to 24 percent.
This only holds for people age> 80 years that never had an infection...and of course ignores that many people in a hospital just got tested for CoV-19 and are not admitted because of. The real rate (6::1 more vaxx) can be seen in CH...
For sure. The average number of athlete sudden deaths per year was about 70.
Indeed! Live reports of this have been shown on SportsCenter. Or I should say, dead reports.
Display MoreThe sample here was approx 1741 children.
MIS-C rates from COVID are 316 per 1,000,000 infections https://www.acc.org/Latest-in-…hings-to-Know-About-MIS-C
That is 0.0316% - so you would not expect any MIS-C cases from this small sample (and indeed none was diagnosed).
Nevertheless MIS-C affects 1 in 3000 children with COVID and if you are a parent of a child so affected you will be very very sorry you did not vaccinate your child and reduce the risk.
THH
More crap from the huxster! MIS C affects 1 out of 50,000 Literature review current through: Jun 2022. |
COVID-19: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) clinical features, evaluation, and diagnosis
EPIDEMIOLOGY
While the incidence of MIS-C is uncertain, it appears to be a relatively rare complication of COVID-19 in children, occurring in <1 percent of children with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In one report from New York State, the estimated incidence of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in individuals <21 years old was 322 per 100,000 and the incidence of MIS-C was 2 per 100,000 [14].
What all causes heart attacks today: Cold showers, Solar Storms, Heat Wave, Heartbreak, Skipping Breakfast, Loneliness, Alcohol, Aspirin, High Electric Bill (indeed), Smoking Weed, Anger according to PopSci media. What causes heart attacks according to actual scientists:
Not sure if this older study has been mentioned here before, from April 2022.
Bottom line: Previous infection with Delta conferred much greater protection against subsequent infection and symptomatic disease than vaccination alone.
SARS-CoV-2-naive vaccinees had a 13.06-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.08–21.11) increased risk for breakthrough infection with the Delta variant compared to unvaccinated-previously-infected individuals, when the first event (infection or vaccination) occurred during January and February of 2021. The increased risk was significant for symptomatic disease as well. When allowing the infection to occur at any time between March 2020 and February 2021, evidence of waning naturally acquired immunity was demonstrated, although SARS-CoV-2 naive vaccinees still had a 5.96-fold (95% CI: 4.85–7.33) increased risk for breakthrough infection and a 7.13-fold (95% CI: 5.51–9.21) increased risk for symptomatic disease.
Naturally acquired immunity confers stronger protection against infection and symptomatic disease caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 2-dose vaccine-indued immunity.
And yet, natural immunity from prior infection, applying to probably well over 90 percent of children now, continues to be largely ignored in the US. Why?
For instance this fall in Washington DC, all schools - public, independent and private religious schools - are required to have children 12 and older vaccinated against Covid, or else children can't attend school.
It's like a vaccination cult, and the act of injection is the unholy sacrament.
I love this woman. Nina Maleika, a fairly well known German singer, had visited Italy for some weeks and arrives back in her home in Germany, to find it has been searched by German police for a suspected fake vaccination card. She was not pleased.
"Dear Germany, dearest fascist Germany, dear oppressive structure, dear courts, The time will come when we will catch you fascists ... "
Video of her speaking included :
oh boy another one of those many many coincidence
Impaired ketogenesis ties metabolism to T cell dysfunction in COVID-19
Impaired ketogenesis ties metabolism to T cell dysfunction in COVID-19 - Nature
Anorexia and fasting are host adaptations to acute infection, inducing a metabolic switch towards ketogenesis and the production of ketone bodies, including β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) 1-6. However, whether ketogenesis metabolically influences the immune response in pulmonary infections remains unclear. Here we report impaired production of BHB in humans with SARS-CoV-2-induced but not influenza-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). CD4+ T cell function is impaired in COVID-19 and BHB promotes both survival and production of Interferon-γ from CD4+ T cells. Using metabolic tracing analysis, we uncovered that BHB provides an alternative carbon source to fuel oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and the production of bioenergetic amino acids and glutathione, which is important for maintaining the redox balance. T cells from patients with SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS were exhausted and skewed towards glycolysis, but can be metabolically reprogrammed by BHB to perform OXPHOS, thereby increasing their functionality. Finally, we demonstrate that ketogenic diet (KD) and delivery of BHB as ketone ester drink restores CD4+ T cell metabolism and function in respiratory infections, ultimately reducing the mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infected mice. Altogether, our data reveal BHB as alternative carbon source promoting T cell responses in pulmonary viral infections, highlighting impaired ketogenesis as a potential confounder of severe COVID-19.
Correlation Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Ketogenic Diet-Induced Weight Loss is Associated with an Increase in Vitamin D Levels in Obese Adults
The effect of Ketogenic diet on vitamin D3 and testosterone hormone in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2
It sounds to me ,it's you that's broken, continuing to push crap and putting people's lives at risk!
Display MoreMore crap from the huxster! MIS C affects 1 out of 50,000 Literature review current through: Jun 2022. |
COVID-19: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) clinical features, evaluation, and diagnosis
https://www.uptodate.com/conte…-evaluation-and-diagnosis
EPIDEMIOLOGY
While the incidence of MIS-C is uncertain, it appears to be a relatively rare complication of COVID-19 in children, occurring in <1 percent of children with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In one report from New York State, the estimated incidence of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in individuals <21 years old was 322 per 100,000 and the incidence of MIS-C was 2 per 100,000 [14].
Read the numbers you posted, which validate what I posted?
My statement: 1 in 3000 cases of COVID leads to MIS-C
Your link
(a) < 1% Tick this - 1 in 3000 is < 1%
(b) When covid is 322 per 100,000 MIS-C is 2 per 100,000 also tick (ratio is1 in 150 but this is difficult to compare)
FM1: please apologise for calling names on basis of a mistake. And for misleading readers of this thread.
Maybe it is just that you are so politically invested that anyone who seems a political opponent (me) must be wrong?
THH
Display Moreoh boy another one of those many many coincidence
Impaired ketogenesis ties metabolism to T cell dysfunction in COVID-19
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05128-8
Anorexia and fasting are host adaptations to acute infection, inducing a metabolic switch towards ketogenesis and the production of ketone bodies, including β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) 1-6. However, whether ketogenesis metabolically influences the immune response in pulmonary infections remains unclear. Here we report impaired production of BHB in humans with SARS-CoV-2-induced but not influenza-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). CD4+ T cell function is impaired in COVID-19 and BHB promotes both survival and production of Interferon-γ from CD4+ T cells. Using metabolic tracing analysis, we uncovered that BHB provides an alternative carbon source to fuel oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and the production of bioenergetic amino acids and glutathione, which is important for maintaining the redox balance. T cells from patients with SARS-CoV-2-induced ARDS were exhausted and skewed towards glycolysis, but can be metabolically reprogrammed by BHB to perform OXPHOS, thereby increasing their functionality. Finally, we demonstrate that ketogenic diet (KD) and delivery of BHB as ketone ester drink restores CD4+ T cell metabolism and function in respiratory infections, ultimately reducing the mortality of SARS-CoV-2 infected mice. Altogether, our data reveal BHB as alternative carbon source promoting T cell responses in pulmonary viral infections, highlighting impaired ketogenesis as a potential confounder of severe COVID-19.
Correlation Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Diabetic Ketoacidosis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6581328/
Ketogenic Diet-Induced Weight Loss is Associated with an Increase in Vitamin D Levels in Obese Adults
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31323907/
The effect of Ketogenic diet on vitamin D3 and testosterone hormone in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2
(1) I make sure I am not Vit D deficient - it is obviously sensible
(2) This is yet another example of how Vit D deficiency has many complex associations with poor health. This is not coincidence. But, equally, it is more likely to be poor health -> vit D deficient causal or even some other factor -> poor health and vit D deficient than the way we would all like, so that we can be made healthy just be taking vit D supplements.
The apparent torrent of evidence that vit D makes you healthy is weak. There is strong evidence that health and Vitamin D are associated.
As for higher than typical levels of Vitamin D in blood that is worth watching.
25(OH)D3 is converted to active forms in the kidneys. Presumably, any biological effects come from levels of active forms. If kidney production is impaired (could be for many reasons) higher than usual levels of Vit D in blood could be helpful to avoid Vit D deficiency.
Since, with COVID, most people are just fine, arguably we should be testing active metabolite levels and doing massive supplementation when they are low.
THH
Display MoreIt sounds to me ,it's you that's broken, continuing to push crap and putting people's lives at risk!
Read the numbers you posted, which validate what I posted?
My statement: 1 in 3000 cases of COVID leads to MIS-C
Your link
(a) < 1% Tick this - 1 in 3000 is < 1%
(b) When covid is 322 per 100,000 MIS-C is 2 per 100,000 also tick (ratio is1 in 150 but this is difficult to compare)
FM1: please apologise for calling names on basis of a mistake. And for misleading readers of this thread.
Maybe it is just that you are so politically invested that anyone who seems a political opponent (me) must be wrong?
THH
Ah yes now I'm political. You just don't like having to continually eat your words Thomas
Display More(1) I make sure I am not Vit D deficient - it is obviously sensible
(2) This is yet another example of how Vit D deficiency has many complex associations with poor health. This is not coincidence. But, equally, it is more likely to be poor health -> vit D deficient causal or even some other factor -> poor health and vit D deficient than the way we would all like, so that we can be made healthy just be taking vit D supplements.
The apparent torrent of evidence that vit D makes you healthy is weak. There is strong evidence that health and Vitamin D are associated.
As for higher than typical levels of Vitamin D in blood that is worth watching.
25(OH)D3 is converted to active forms in the kidneys. Presumably, any biological effects come from levels of active forms. If kidney production is impaired (could be for many reasons) higher than usual levels of Vit D in blood could be helpful to avoid Vit D deficiency.
Since, with COVID, most people are just fine, arguably we should be testing active metabolite levels and doing massive supplementation when they are low.
THH
Talk about misleading, your little mea culpa here not withstanding, you have denied every positive vitamin d study done since the start of the pandemic and you yourself admitted that you don't put much stock in early vit d studies. You are on a losing side on this issue. Covid severity as well as long COVID is the result of vitamin deficency, starting with vitamin d which after infection leads to a B1, B3, B12 and iron deficency. I have posted studies all pointing to this yet you continue to mislead by saying I have no evidence for my statement. You enjoy conflict otherwise why are you here Thomas?
Ivermectin again:: Hospitalization rate was reduced by 100% in regular users compared to both irregular users and non-users (p<0.0001 for both), and by 29% among irregular users compared to non-users (RR, 0.781; 95%CI, 0.49–1.05; p=0.099).
This explains why India had this big success!
Or popular version : https://www.thedesertreview.co…ed-aabd-bfef8d5926d4.html
Display MoreIvermectin again:: Hospitalization rate was reduced by 100% in regular users compared to both irregular users and non-users (p<0.0001 for both), and by 29% among irregular users compared to non-users (RR, 0.781; 95%CI, 0.49–1.05; p=0.099).
This explains why India had this big success!
https://www.researchgate.net/p…of_a_strictly_controlled_
Or popular version : https://www.thedesertreview.co…ed-aabd-bfef8d5926d4.html
Ivermectin is still on the table
MedinCell Pursues Ivermectin as Prophylaxis for COVID-19 in 400 Participant SAIVE Clinical Trial
Most of the 88 various studies around the world conducted using ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 have demonstrated positive results. However, a few high-profile studies such as TOGETHER and COVID-OUT led to findings of no efficacy. Critics of those studies counter that among other things, the drug regimen dosage was too low, which this media has verified (that the dosage was lower than what doctors that work with ivermectin recommend off label). As a result of the high-profile trials, organized medicine bolstered by mainstream media have generally written ivermectin off as a safe and effective off label, generic regimen for COVID-19. This is an urgent topic, given the current situation with COVID-19 pandemic. While the latest Omicron BA.5 variant rages, the death toll among not only unvaccinated but also vaccinated grows. In fact, the former Coronavirus Response Coordinator under President Donald Trump from 2020-2021, Dr. Deborah Leah Birx, recently went on the record on Fox declaring they “overplayed” the vaccine. She acknowledged that the elderly, even if fully vaccinated and boosted, are in danger, and that testing and early treatment with Paxlovid are instrumental for saving lives. Since the onset of the pandemic, physicians such as Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Pierre Kory have declared the absolute criticality of early treatment with repurposed combination therapies. Ivermectin represented the top choice for many until it fell out of favor due to a combination of study findings, media coverage, and subtle as well as not so subtle pressures from the federal government. Another study sponsored by a French biotech could change this situation. A few months ago, MedinCell launched the Phase 2 SAIVE clinical trial evaluating oral ivermectin tablets as a COVID-19 prophylaxis.
The study is led by Dr. Anna Kostova at Medical Center Medic Ltd in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Referred to as mdc—TTG, the ivermectin based regimen was deployed in a clinical trial in March 2022, to demonstrate the prophylactic efficacy of ivermectin in regular, daily, oral form in a way that simulates the continuous release of the active ingredient by a long-acting injectable (another investigational product).
Participants will take ivermectin tablets for 28 days—200 mcg/kg on Day 1 of the study and then 100 mcg/kg daily from Day 2 to Day 28.
Targeting 400 participants, the ongoing multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study also includes an independent monitoring and data analysis committee. In a recent investor status press release the company shared that this ivermectin-based prophylactic regimen’s future development of the long acting injectable will be determined by A) the results of the study, B) the overall context of the pandemic, and C) search for partners.
The study’s primary endpoint involves the proportion of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections between baseline and Day 28, while a series of secondary outcomes include time to change from baseline in negative RT-PCR to positive RT-PCR, change from baseline in the WHO-COVID-19, NEWS-2 scores, as well as several other measures including any safety events.
According to the company’s disclosure on Clinicaltrials.gov, it will wrap up the study by August 2022. This means at one trial site location in Sofia the study team will have had to recruit about 76 patients per month.
MedinCell Background
Headquartered in France, MedinCell focuses on developing drugs to help all markets, including those with little socioeconomic advantage. The company has developed what they consider a versatile drug delivery technology with the ability to control the release of therapies.
Targeting several therapeutic areas with long-acting medicines that the company hopes will allow for better compliance, increased patient safety, and optimized treatment efficacy, the company hopes to make medications more affordable and ultimately sustainable. Founded in 2003, the company seeks to develop treatments for tropical diseases such as Malaria to an investigational regimen for Schizophrenia. See their pipeline.
This is how US newspapers spread lies about outdated boosters Latimes... :: https://www.latimes.com/scienc…say-you-should-get-it-now
These motherXXXXX explain that the T-Cells still work when we exactly know that these only promote the wrong antibodies...
Pleas do not booster at all. Take enough V-D3! And have nasal Iodine Lotion ready!
This is how US newspapers spread lies about outdated boosters Latimes... :: https://www.latimes.com/scienc…say-you-should-get-it-now
These motherfuckers explain that the T-Cells still work when we exactly know that these only promote the wrong antibodies...
Pleas do not booster at all. Take enough V-D3! And have nasal Iodine Lotion ready!
Boosters Now PROMOTE Covid Deaths in Europe
This article will show that since June 1, 2022, when Ba.5 variant took over the entire Europe, boosters are PROMOTING Covid deaths. Unlike before, boosters do not “prevent severe outcomes”. In fact, starting this summer, boosters make severe outcomes MORE likely. This is shown by using linear regression-based analysis, looking at death rates versus booster rates by country, for various periods of time, but for the same countries.
COVID-19 & Disaster Capitalism – Part
Abstract
Beyond impacting countless lives across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic unmasked critical flaws in the US healthcare system regarding issues such as access to effective treatment, quality of care, inequities in distribution of care, supply shortages, spiraling costs, and broad failure of public health policies. All these factors coupled with lack of preparedness and the economic downturn during the pandemic hampered the ability of the system to respond effectively leading to devastating consequences for the US public. A simple comparison of outcomes in other countries illustrates this point.
With about 4% of the global population, the US has accounted for 15.8% of the overall COVID-19 mortality despite having the highest global healthcare expenditures which, in 2020, amounted to $11,945 per capita [1,2]. By contrast, India, with 17.7% of the world's population — over four times that of the US — has had about half the number of deaths despite annual healthcare expenditures of only about $64 per capita [3]. A comparison between the US and Canada, with similar demographic and socioeconomic patterns, further highlights the disparities: Canada, with about 11.4% of the US population, has had only about 4% of COVID-19 deaths despite healthcare expenditures less than half of the US or about $5,736 per capita. Such incongruities point an incriminating finger at the US healthcare model.
From its origins, in the late 19th century the US healthcare system was based on the reigning industrial model and much of the seed capital and early philanthropic support came from wealthy industrialists [4]. Not coincidentally, we observe a parallel rise in the pharmaceutical industry throughout Europe and the US. From the onset, the healthcare system was destined to become a sovereign industry despite numerous concerns that swirled around the nascent social project: Who would control it? How would it be financed? Would government or private insurance companies fund healthcare services? How would hospitals be incorporated into this novel social experiment? What influence would the medical profession wield in its affairs?
Over the decades what evolved was a vast medical-industrial complex, a health empire driven by power, politics and profit in which hospitals became autonomous centers of power with physicians and nurses as points of service. Alongside this rose a contorted pay-as-you go system of financing under the control of large for-profit insurance companies. Eventually, due to lack of accessibility by large segments of the population into this market-based network, a side-by-side government-funded payment system, Medicare and Medicaid, was established for the elderly and low-income groups. Despite such supplemental assistance up to 30 million Americans remain uninsured and about 87 million underinsured.
Over the past four decades there has been a dramatic uptick in the extent of privatization in the healthcare industry not only among hospitals but with services such as hospice, psychiatric care, outpatient surgery, dialysis centers and clinical laboratories [5]. Privatization, in turn, has led to higher costs, more bureaucracy, redundancy of services, lower consumer satisfaction, and widespread profiteering compared with not-for-profit publicly funded programs. Even Medicare is now administered by for-profit entities [6]. And yet during the pandemic such for-profit entities had few qualms about accepting governmental subsidies and public funding to keep their doors open.
The 20th century rise of the medical-industrial complex and its unfettered embrace of corporatism, its increasingly deep connections with high finance and the backrooms of Wall Street, primary loyalty to its financial stakeholders, its unapologetic emphasis on wealth creation, and the relentless dismantling and privatization of what had been self-sustaining public programs, has led to an unprecedented ethical crisis in American healthcare. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, the medicalindustrial complex now undermines the principles upon which the healthcare system was ostensibly established.
In March 2020, Congress passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide economic assistance for American workers, small businesses, and families to counter disruptions caused by the pandemic [7]. As part of this package, Congress established the Provider Relief Fund which earmarked $178 billion for hospitals and healthcare providers 'to compensate for financial losses and unanticipated costs during the pandemic'. Included in this package was $14.8 billion in support of COVID-19 vaccine development. Medicare payments to hospitals for COVID-19 admissions were increased by 20% during the pandemic along with payment for the administration of the vaccines. But in many cases the assistance package was not used as intended [8]. Due to governmental failures in maintaining national stockpiles of critical supplies such as masks, gowns, gloves, and ventilators, supply shortages in hospitals began to crop up by early April, 2020. Private contractors were solicited by the federal government without adequate vetting or bidding resulting in rampant fraud, price-gouging, and profiteering [9-13]. COVID-19 test manufacturers like Abbott Laboratories received billions of federal dollars despite the widely recognized flaws of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests or that such testing had virtually no impact on viral transmission or COVID-19 outcomes [14-17]. Pfizer and Moderna raked in over $50 billion during 2021 largely on vaccine revenues even though research and development was publicly funded [18, 19]. In each of these instances the net result was massive transfer of public assets into private coffers with arguable benefits. A similar phenomenon occurred in hospital systems.
Throughout 2020, after lockdowns were initiated, there was a drastic decline in outpatient activity across the entire healthcare system and economists projected this would result in billions in lost revenue for hospitals and physicians. The Provider Relief Fund was intended to mitigate financial hemorrhaging but proved superfluous for some. Despite accepting hefty bailout packages large systems like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Tenet Healthcare and for-profit entities like HCA, those that cater to the privileged, reported billions in net income [20-22]. By the same token health insurance companies reaped sky-high profits [23-24]. But the grass wasn't so green on the other side of the tracks.
Medium-sized and small hospitals struggled as the pandemic widened the gap between the haves and have-nots. Urban and rural hospitals serving the poor were particularly hard hit and sustained a record number of bankruptcies and closures [25-27]. Cushioned by federal bailout money multiple large health systems went on spending sprees to buy out weakened competitors while hospitals serving the poor barely kept their doors open [28, 29]. It was survival of the fittest: in the end hospitals at the top of the food chain with the fattest checkbooks came out winners.
For caregivers inside the system, the picture wasn't so rosy either. Faced with chronic supply shortages, inundated by an endless stream of gravely ill COVID-19 patients, and working long, stressful hours, many threw in the towel: during the pandemic, about 18% of the workforce quit their jobs [30-32]. Commonly cited reasons included burnout, emotional trauma, and moral distress. And as healthcare systems faced mounting nurse shortages, for-profit contracting agencies rushed in to fill the gap. Predictably, they too reaped large profits leading to accusations by hospitals they were exploiting the pandemic [33]. Meanwhile, hospitals and private corporations continued to buy out physicians' practices and now employ about 70% of US physicians [34]. The food chain is more than metaphor: such endocannibalism produces a dynamic in which the healthcare system literally eats its own.
The tragic irony of the COVID-19 pandemic and the American-inspired doctrine of disaster capitalism is writ large at the social level: as tens of millions of US citizens struggled with the economic fallout—record levels of unemployment, small business closures, inability to make mortgage payments or provide adequate food for their families, surging levels of mental illness and drug abuse, and breakdowns in local social networks—five hundred new American billionaires rose out of the ashes [35].
The rise of corporatism and the for-profit movement in healthcare over the 20th century has bred disaster after disaster of which the COVID-19 pandemic is only the most recent example. Proponents of the market-based healthcare system claim that competition and free markets produce better care and more choices for the public. The COVID-19 pandemic lays these myths to rest. In reality, despite having the most expensive healthcare system in the world, the US ranks near the bottom on a wide range public health measures among developed nations [36].
In this three-part series, we examine the extent to which disaster capitalism and the medical-industrial complex turned the pandemic into a 'golden' opportunity to enhance corporate profits which took place, in large part, at the taxpayer's expense through corporate appropriation of public resources. In the first part, we examine the rise of this predatory social ideology and the strategies its adherents have employed to assure its success. In the second part, we examine the social and economic consequences of disaster capitalism during the COVID-19 pandemic which, in the end, led to the preventable loss of hundreds of thousands of American lives. In the final article, we point to the necessity of broad reform not only of the healthcare system but of American democracy and raise challenging questions as to how this should be accomplished and, significantly, whether the American public is up to the task.
Call to Action: For those interested, you can read the full manuscript here or access the PDF below.
References
World Health Organization Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int
How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries? Emma Wager, Jared Ortaliza and Cynthia Cox. KFF Health System Tracker. January 21, 2022 https://www.healthsystemtracke…0capita%20and%20health%20
India - Health expenditure per capita – 1960-2021. Knoema World Data Atlas. https://knoema.com/atlas/%20In…th-expenditure-per-capita
The Social Transformation of American Medicine. Paul Starr. Basic Books, Inc. publ, 1982
The case against privatization of U.S. Health Care Physicians for a National Health Plan. https://pnhp.org/2018/12/03/th…ation-of-u-s-health-care/
Privatization of Medicare: toward disentitlement and betrayal of a social contract. GeymanJP. Int J Health Serv2004;34(4):573-94
About the CARES Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act. U.S. Department of Treasury. https://home.treasury.gov/poli…virus/about-the-cares-act
Tracking Federal Purchases to Fight the Coronavirus. Moiz Syed and Derek Willis. Propublica. May 27, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/
Pandemic, Inc.J. David McSwane. One Signal Publishers. 2022
A Closer Look at Federal COVID Contractors Reveals Inexperience, Fraud Accusations and a Weapons Dealer Operating Out of Someone’s House. Ryan Gabrielson, Lydia DePillis, J. David McSwane and Derek Willis. ProPublica. May 27, 2020 https://www.propublica.org/art…ing-out-of-someones-house
HHS clarifies US has about 1% of face masks needed for ‘full-blown’ coronavirus pandemic. Berkeley Lovelace, Jr.CNBC. March 4, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/0…-full-blown-pandemic.html
Critical supply shortages—the need for ventilators and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ranney ML, Griffeth V, Jha AK. NEJM. 2020;382(18):e41
US nearly runs out of emergency stockpiles of medical supplies: Reports. The Economic Times. April 02, 2020. https://economictimes.indiatim…how/74946028.cms?from=mdr
COVID-19 test providers reap profits as consumers pay through the nose. Megan Cerullo. CBS News. January 12, 2022 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-tests-provider-profit/
Abbott Profits Triple As Over-The-Counter Covid Tests Hit Drugstore Shelves. Bruce Japsen. Forbes. April 20, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/b…-shelves/?sh=5ba243076e2b
COVID-19 testing has turned into a financial windfall for hospitals and other providers. JayHancock, Hannah NormanKaiser. Health News. Fierce Healthcare. May 10, 2021 https://www.fiercehealthcare.c…itals-and-other-providers
COVID test makers set to make $4 billion in U.S. government work. Kristen V. Brown, Paul Murphy, and Bloomberg. Fortune. January 21, 2022. https://fortune.com/2022/01/21…ent-work-free-covid-kits/
What’s next for Pfizer, Moderna beyond their projected $51 billion in combined Covid vaccine sales this year. Spencer Kimball. CNBC. March 3, 2022 https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/0…cine-sales-this-year.html
Pfizer accused of pandemic profiteering as profits double. Julia Kollewe. The Guardian. February 8, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/bu…accine-pill-profits-sales
7 health systems reported profits over $1B in 2021. Alia Paavola. Hospital CFO Report March 4, 2022. https://www.beckershospitalrev…fits-over-1b-in-2021.html
Despite COVID, many wealthy hospitals had a banner year with federal bailout. Kaiser. Health News. April 5, 2021. https://www.healthleadersmedia…nner-year-federal-bailout
HCA posts $2.2B profit after ‘most intense surge’ of COVID-19 in Q3, higher labor costs. Robert King. Fierce Healthcare. October 22, 2021 https://www.fiercehealthcare.c…-19-q3-higher-labor-costs
Pandemic profits: top US health insurers make billions in second quarter. Amanda Holpuch. The Guardian. August 6, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/us…ance-covid-19-coronavirus
UnitedHealth was 2021’s most profitable payer. Here’s a look at what it’s competitors earned.Paige Minemeyer. Fierce Healthcare. February 11, 2022 https://www.fiercehealthcare.c…at-its-competitors-earned
How the CARES Act Forgot America’s Most Vulnerable Hospitals. Brianna Bailey. ProPublica. January 26, 2021. https://www.propublica.org/article/oklahoma-hospitals-cares
Nearly half of rural hospitals face negative operating margins as COVID-19 hits outpatient revenue. Robert King. Fierce Healthcare. February 10, 2021. https://www.fiercehealthcare.c…-margins-as-covid-19-hits
How the pandemic killed a record number of rural hospitals. Jen Christiansen. CNN. July 31, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31…osures-pandemic/index.htm
Buoyed by Federal Covid Aid, Big Hospital Chains Buy Up Competitors. Reed Abelson. New York Times. May 21,2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0…lout-hospital-merger.html
What we know about provider consolidation. Karyn Schwartz, Eric Lopez, Matthew Rae and Tricia Neuman. KFF. September 2, 2020. https://www.kff.org/health-cos…t-provider-consolidation/
Why healthcare workers are quitting in droves. Ed Yong. The Atlantic. November 16, 2021 https://www.theatlantic.com/he…alth-care-workers/620713/
Almost 1 in 5 health care workers quit their jobs during COVID-19: poll. Monique Beals. TheHill. October 4, 2021 https://thehill.com/policy/hea…obs-during-pandemic-poll/
New Survey Shows That Up To 47% Of U.S. Health care Workers Plan to Leave Their Positions By 2025. Jack Kelly. Forbes. April 19, 2022 https://www.forbes.com/sites/j…-by-2025/?sh=3e524ce1395b
Contract Nurse Agencies Are Making Big Money in the Age of COVID-19. Are They ‘Exploiting’ the Pandemic? Abby Vesoulis and Abigail Adams. Time. February 23, 2022. https://time.com/6149467/congress-travel-nurse-pay/
Nearly 70% of U.S. physicians now employed by hospitals or corporations, report finds. TaraBannow.Modern Healthcare. June 29, 2021 https://www.modernhealthcare.c…corporations-report-finds
Nearly 500 People Became Billionaires During the Pandemic Year Chase Peterson-Withorn. Forbes. April 6, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/c…mic-year/?sh=655efbcb25c0
COVID-19 has revealed America’s broken health care system: What can we learn? Geyman J. Int J Health Services. 2021;51(2):188-94
Overburdening hospitals is a false narrative now that 2/3 of our medical force is involved whereas in the beginning they were told to stay home. Even the US is putting boosters on hold till the next generation of vaccines are ready!
New Zealand's latest COVID wave is levelling off, with fewer people in hospital than feared
New Zealand's latest COVID wave is levelling off, with fewer people in hospital than feared
New Zealand has likely passed the peak of the most recent COVID-19 wave, thanks to strong hybrid immunity in the community and with the number of hospitalisations at the lower end of what was originally expected.
The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases has fallen steadily from a peak of around 10,000 on July 15 to just under 7,800 yesterday.
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Paxlovid Rebound Appears to Be Higher Than Reported
Paxlovid, the antiviral treatment for Covid-19, has been touted by Pfizer as a cure for the virus. Yet the treatment has become known for its “rebound effect,” where the patient suffers Covid symptoms again after finishing the course of the drug. This, notably, happened to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), after he was treated for Covid with the antiviral. According to Fauci, he took the drug for five days and tested negative for the virus for three days but tested positive four days after finishing the course of treatment. Fauci went on to say his symptoms were worse after he tested positive again. This follows a report in mid-June by the Mayo Clinic saying the rebound for Paxlovid usually occurs nine days after finishing the treatment and only affects one percent of the patients who took the drug. Now, it appears the Paxlovid rebound is more common than Pfizer would like to admit.
More People Are Reporting Paxlovid Rebound
According to White House Covid response coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jah, Paxlovid rebound rates are at about five percent, four points higher than the Mayo Clinic study in June. However, a recent study which was not peer-reviewed put the Paxlovid rebound at between about six and eight percent. These figures were calculated during a 7 day to 30 day rebound period post the course of treatment with Paxlovid. It’s important to note the study tested both Paxlovid and Molnupravir, which is the antiviral marketed by Merck and Ridgeback. An Israeli study found Paxlovid benefits people over 65 but not healthy patients who’ve contracted the Covid-19 virus. Pfizer admitted the drug doesn’t work in healthier patients but is still marketing the antiviral pill. This has not stopped the pharmaceutical company from distributing Paxlovid on the streets of New York City even though the drug’s efficacy for healthy people with Covid is questionable. The recent study also questions the use of both Paxlovid and Molnupravir especially in “vulnerable” patients. The study concludes: “COVID-19 rebound occurred both after Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, especially in patients with underlying medical conditions. This indicates that COVID-19 rebound is not unique to Paxlovid, and the risks were similar for Paxlovid and Molnupiravir. For both drugs, the rates of COVID-19 rebound increased with time after treatments. Our results call for continuous surveillance of COVID-19 rebound after Paxlovid and Molnupiravir treatments. Studies are necessary to determine the mechanisms underlying COVID-19 rebounds and to test dosing and duration regimes that might prevent such rebounds in vulnerable patients.” Dr, Aditya Shah, who led the June study of Paxlovid, admits the number of rebound patients may be higher. Shah says the real number of cases “could be as high as 5 to 10%, but I don't think it is as common as the general community is making it out to be."
Not the First Time Big Pharma Ignored Data
TrialSite News reported in January that an Israeli doctor discovered evidence of myocarditis in young men after the Pfizer vaccine has been administered. For four months, the doctor’s finding were ignored by the pharmaceutical company until the data was statistically proven and the findings were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. However, the findings didn’t stop Pfizer, or Moderna for that matter, from marketing their vaccines. The Marx Brothers were famous for many comic quips. With the Paxlovid and Molnupiravir rebound perhaps the quip most applicable is: “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?
hmmm, I'm guessing, ok Thomas, but hear me out. I think I found the reason behind Paxcrap rebound and it's vitamin d, imagine that!
Drug-Drug Interactions Between Ritonavir-Boosted Nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) and Concomitant Medications
Ritonavir, a strong cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 inhibitor and a P-glycoprotein inhibitor, is coadministered with nirmatrelvir to increase the blood concentration of nirmatrelvir, thereby making it effective against SARS-CoV-2. Ritonavir may also increase blood concentrations of certain concomitant medications. Because ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) is the only highly effective oral antiviral for the treatment of COVID-19, drug interactions that can be safely managed should not preclude the use of this medication.
Clinicians should be aware that many commonly used medications can be safely coadministered with ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir despite its drug-drug interaction potential. Box 1 includes commonly prescribed medications that are not expected to have clinically relevant interactions with ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir.
Interplay between Vitamin D and the Drug Metabolizing Enzyme CYP3A4
Hormonal control of CYP3A4 expression by vitamin D represents the foundation of a potentially important interplay between xenobiotic and vitamin D metabolism. Enterohepatic cycling of vitamin D could be a functionally important pathway for delivery of active hormone to the upper intestine, resulting in preferentially higher levels of expression of VDR target genes, such as TRPV6, calbindin D9K and CYP3A4, in the duodenum and jejunum, in comparison to the ileum and colon. Intra- and inter-individual differences in vitamin D levels may contribute to the
considerable variability in intestinal CYP3A4 content that affects drug disposition and pharmacological response. Interestingly, CYP3A4 catalyzes vitamin D biotransformation down pathways that appear catabolic in nature. Certain drugs, such as anti-epileptic drugs, that can induce CYP3A4 expression in the liver and small intestine, accelerate vitamin D catabolism and may contribute to vitamin D deficiency, although a causal mechanistic link between CYP3A4 induction and vitamin D deficiency requires further evaluation.
Critics of those studies counter that among other things, the drug regimen dosage was too low, which this media has verified (that the dosage was lower than what doctors that work with ivermectin recommend off label). As a result of the high-profile trials, organized medicine bolstered by mainstream media have generally written ivermectin off as a safe and effective off label, generic regimen for COVID-19.
I don't think clinical studies are ideal test bed for Ivermectin, which is prophylaxis drug. This is like the attempts to prove aspirin is good for reducing death rate from ischaemic disease on intensive care unit..
