Sep 15 (Reuters) – American army officers who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus could be suspended from their duties and possibly discharged, the U.S. Army said on Tuesday.
The Army said it had begun implementing this order in late August, adding that soldiers could request an exemption on legitimate medical, religious or administrative grounds. However, commanders, command sergeants major, first sergeants and officers in Command Select List positions who refuse to be vaccinated and are not pending an exemption request would face suspension and relief if they refuse to comply, the Army said in a statement. “While soldiers who refuse the vaccine will first be counseled by their chain of command and medical providers, continued failure to comply could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment – to include relief of duties or discharge,” it said. “This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live,” U.S. Army Surgeon General Raymond Scott Dingle said, citing concern over the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. As of last week, the U.S. Department of Defense had reported https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/Coronavirus-DOD-Response over 353,000 COVID-19 cases across its personnel and more than 450 deaths. The Army now expects its active duty units to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, and its Reserve and National Guard units by June 30 of next year. Nick Note: Its about time. Do you really think the US military is infecting ALL its troops with NanoBots. Surely they have the technology to detect the little monsters if they are in the vaccine……. This argument get dumber by the day. You know what i say. Natural selection the stupid in my experience do indeed die young..
Pfizer and BioNTech are planning to seek approval of their COVID-19 vaccine in kids between ages five and ‘in the coming weeks’
Dr Özlem Türeci, chief physician for BioNTech, said the vaccine is the same approved for adolescents and adults, but a smaller dose
The FDA says clinical trial data must include a monitoring period of at least two months after the final dose
Currently, the shot is only approved for use in those aged 12 and older in the U.S. and in Europe
Parents are split 50/50 over whether or not to vaccinate their kids because children make up 0.1% of all Covid deaths in the U.S.
Pfizer and BioNTech are soon planning to seek approval for their COVID-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11. Dr Özlem Türeci, chief physician for BioNTech, told German news site Der Spiegel that the companies are set to shortly release results from their study in kids under age 12 and will ask for the shot to be approved for emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. ‘In the coming weeks, we will present the results of our study on the five-to-11-year- olds worldwide to the authorities and apply for approval of the vaccine for this age group,’ Türeci said.
She added that the vaccine formula is the same as that approved for adolescents and adults, but that the dose size is smaller.
Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is only approved for children aged 12 and older in both the U.S. and the European Union. Parents and doctors have been debating about whether or not to inoculate children because they make up 0.1 percent of all Covid deaths in the U.S.
Dr Özlem Türeci, chief physician for BioNTech, said the vaccine is the same as that approved for adolescents and adults, but a smaller dose. Pictured: Marisol Gerardo, 9, is held by her mother as she gets the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine during a clinical trial at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina, April 2021
A few hours after the new from Pfizer and BioNTech, the FDA said that clinical trial data submitted by vaccine manufacturers must include a monitoring period of at least two months after the final dose to ensure safety. ‘Children are not small adults – and issues that may be addressed in pediatric vaccine trials can include whether there is a need for different doses or different strength formulations of vaccines already used for adults,’ FDA Acting Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock said in a joint statement with Dr Peter Marks, director of Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Around 4,500 younger kids have been enrolled at nearly 100 clinical trial sites in 26 U.S. states, Finland, Poland and Spain. According to clinicaltrials.gov, the study will work similarly to the way it did in older children and adults. About half of the ages five-to-11 group will receive two doses 21 days apart and the other half will be given placebo shots. The team will test the safety, tolerability immune response generated by the vaccine, by drawing blood prior to dose 1 and six months after dose 2. If the vaccine is proven to be safe and effective, the trial will be unblinded at the six-month follow-up, meaning those who received the placebo will be allowed to get the inoculation. Children are often the last group to be tested during clinical trials because they are not merely little adults. Their bodies and immune systems behave differently, meaning they might have different treatment needs. What’s more, children may need different doses or needle sizes depending on their height, weight and age – which is why most children are only vaccinated after safety has been well-documented in the adult population. In fact, Pfizer announced that it selected lower doses for COVID-19 vaccine trials in children than are given to teenagers and adults. Those aged 12 and older receive two 30 microgram (μg) doses of the vaccine, However, children between ages five and 11 will be given 10 μg doses and kids from six months to four years old will receive three μg doses. The vaccines have been proven to be highly effective in adults and teenagers, but many parents are not enthusiastic about vaccinating their children. In April 2021 poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would get their child immunized once a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for their child’s age group. Three in 10 parents – 29 percent – of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated ‘right away’ while 15 percent said they only plan to vaccinate their children if the school requires it and 19 percent said their child will definitely not be getting vaccinated. A July 2021 survey, conducted by CS Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at Michigan Medicine last month, found that 39 percent of parents said their children already gotten a coronavirus shot. However, 40 percent of parents also said it was ‘unlikely’ that their children would be getting vaccinated.’ According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than five million children have been infected by COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Nick Note: You are damn right the kiddies need to be vaccinated for two reasons. The plague is real and everyone young and old needs to be vaccinated. And two suppose their really are mind controlling nanobots in the vaccine. I could see an AP where you push the button and they go to bed on time……. I can’t wait till they have a AP for that!
Covid booster jabs will begin to be offered across the UK from next week.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he had accepted advice from the JCVI that around 30m people should be offered a third dose – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have followed suit.
The booster should be given at least six months after a second dose – with the Pfizer jab recommended.
Those eligible include over-50s, younger adults with health conditions and frontline health and care workers. Mr Javid made the announcement in the Commons as part of an autumn and winter plan for managing Covid in England. Scotland will begin offering booster jabs for the broader group from Monday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. She said the programme “was intended to prolong the protection” of vaccines and will run alongside the flu vaccination programme.
Covid deaths rare among fully vaccinated – ONS
No plans for October lockdown, says government
Pfizer and AZ approved as Covid booster vaccines
The recommendation from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) comes amid concern about waning immunity. There are some signs protection offered by the vaccine may start dropping off several months after the second dose – with the most vulnerable groups most at risk of this. In his statement, Mr Javid told MPs: “There is evidence that the protection offered by Covid-19 vaccines reduces over time, particularly older people who are at greater risk, so booster doses are an important way of keeping the virus under control for the long term.” The JCVI said it was still unclear exactly how much protection does slip, but it wanted to take a precautionary approach and ensure the most vulnerable people maintain high levels of protection. The advice is separate to the recent recommendation of third doses for people with severely weakened immune systems – something that is already being rolled out.
Those eligible for a booster jab include:
Those living in residential care homes for older adults
All adults aged 50 years or over
Frontline health and social care workers
All those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19
Adult household contacts of immuno suppressed individuals
Nick Note: It makes you wonder what the US is waiting for. The FDA and the CDC will be responsible for millions of infections and tens of thousand deaths…. For no good reason…
Annual inflation at 5.3% in August amid overheating fears
Consumer prices increased 5.3% in the year ending in July, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Department of Labor. The numbers from the consumer price index came in line with forecast expectations and raise concerns that inflation is coming in too hot as the country continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The August report on inflation was highly anticipated because it comes after a jobs report that was far worse than expected. The economy added just 235,000 new jobs last month, far fewer than the 750,000 that were expected. Despite the meager gains, the overall unemployment rate dropped slightly from 5.4% to 5.2%. Bankrate’s chief financial analyst Greg McBride said that the inflation numbers were underscored by “easing price pressures” in some of the industries that saw the hottest inflation just months ago, which he said speaks to the potentially transitory nature of the increases. “The debate over whether inflation will be short-lived or more sustained has not been resolved. The jury will remain out for many more months, particularly with persistent supply chain constraints,” McBride said. Inflation has been higher in recent months than the Federal Reserve and many economists anticipated earlier this year. The consumer price index registered its highest year-over-year gains since 2008 in June and July when it clocked in at a whopping 5.4%. The Federal Reserve has not tightened its monetary policy to dampen inflation but has rather kept with the easy-money policies it has maintained since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fed officials have said that they don’t intend to raise interest rates until inflation is running at 2% and the economy is at full employment. There are still millions of fewer people employed now than in February of last year, when the unemployment rate was at 3.5%. The delta variant, which resulted in an enormous surge in virus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in recent weeks, is adding to the anxiety surrounding the economy. While there is some hope that a peak is in sight, the new cases have resulted in some economic strain. Last week, Goldman Sachs revised down its GDP forecast for 2021 from 6.2% to 5.7%. It was the banking giant’s second revision in the past month after it chopped its growth expectations for the third quarter. Wells Fargo also revised down its third-quarter GDP estimate by 2.25 percentage points to 4.6% and cut its fourth-quarter projections slightly to 5.7%. Despite the revisions, both firms believe that economic ills brought on by the delta variant will be transient and predict further growth and recovery in the coming year. Nick Note: Only on Wall Street can they spin a 5.3% CPI inflation rate as a good thing. In 1971 Nixon panicked and the FED at a 4% inflation rate. This stared the Whip Inflation Now campaign. And draconian price controls put most product. Geraled Ford who followed Nixon actually issued WIN buttons. It ended in disaster. The parells to the end of the Viet Nam war and the end of the 20 year Afganistan boon doogle canot be ingnored. This inflation report is a unmitigated disaster and soon enoung those chickens will come home to roost.
NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company’s founders) is an Israeli technology firm whose spyware called Pegasus enables the remote surveillance of smartphones.[2] It was founded in 2010 by Niv Carmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio.[3][4][5] It employed almost 500 people as of 2017, and is based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel.[1][6][7]
NSO Group is a subsidiary of the Q Cyber Technologies group of companies.[8] Q Cyber Technologies is the name the NSO Group uses in Israel, OSY Technologies in Luxembourg, and in North American it has a subsidiary named Westbridge. It has operated through other companies around the world.[9]
According to several reports, software created by NSO Group was used in targeted attacks against human rights activists and journalists in various countries,[10][11][12] was used in state espionage against Pakistan,[13] and played a role in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Kashoggi by agents of the Saudi government.[14] In October 2019, instant messaging company WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook sued NSO and Q Cyber Technologies under the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). NSO claims that it provides authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime.[15][8]
The Pegasus spyware is classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government.[16]
Nick Bit: Only to governments is the technology controlled. And that is out of Israel. They have offices all over the world! Sales to individuals and companies is easy its all a matter of money
Annual revenues were around US$40 million in 2013 and $150 million in 2015.[3][17] In June 2017, the company was put up for sale for $1 billion by Francisco Partners.[6] Founders Lavie and Hulio, partnering with European private equity fund Novalpina Capital, purchased a majority stake in NSO in February 2019.[18]
In 2012, the government of Mexico announced the signing of a $20 million contract with NSO.[3] It was later revealed by a New York Times investigation that NSO’s product was used to target journalists and human right activists in the country.[20] In 2015, the company sold surveillance technology to the government of Panama. The contract became the subject of a Panamanian anti-corruption investigation following its disclosure in a leak of confidential information from Italian firm Hacking Team.[21]
In 2014, the American private equity firmFrancisco Partners bought the company for $130 million.[22] In 2015 Francisco was seeking to sell the company for up to $1 billion.[17] The company was officially put up for sale for more than $1 billion in June 2017, roughly ten times what Francisco originally paid in 2014.[6] At that time, NSO had almost 500 employees, up from around 50 in 2014.[6]
On August 1, 2018, the Human Rights Group Amnesty International accused NSO Group of helping Saudi Arabia spy on a member of the organization’s staff.[23]
Citizen Lab researchers reported in October 2018 that they were being targeted by undercover operatives connected to NSO. In response to an Associated Press report, NSO denied any involvement.[24][25]
Nick Note: I was not at liberity (because of a ten year NDA i signed with Asher that just expired) to tell you about this. But if you recalled I provided you with PGP, silent circle, a black phone and two part authorization. And i will soon have a update to our phone system you will love
It was the first time a so-called ‘zero-click’ exploit had been caught and analyzed
Researchers identified exploit and quickly notified Apple, which released a patch on Monday to fix the flaw
The flaw is a new exploit from the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, which was used to directly infect the iPhone of a Saudi activist
Experts say the average person should not worry about the exploit
Apple released an emergency software patch on Monday to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action. The exploit was captured by spyware researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab who said the flaw is a new exploit from the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, which was used to directly infect the iPhone of a Saudi activist. The flaw affected all Apple´s operating systems, the researchers said. It was the first time a so-called ‘zero-click’ exploit had been caught and analyzed, said the researchers, who found the malicious code on September 7 and immediately alerted Apple.
Citizen Lab called the iMessage exploit FORCEDENTRY and said it was effective against Apple iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices.
That process name was used in an attack with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware on an Al Jazeera journalist in July 2020. Apple released an emergency software patch on Monday to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action They said they had high confidence the Israeli company NSO Group was behind the attack, adding that the targeted activist asked to remain anonymous. ‘We’re not necessarily attributing this attack to the Saudi government,’ said researcher Bill Marczak. In a software update, Apple issued a patch aimed at the Pegasus exploit but did not mention NSO Group. Apple instead described the exploit as ‘Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.’ The exploit was captured by spyware researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab who said the flaw is a new exploit from the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, which was used to directly infect the iPhone of a Saudi activist Although Citizen Lab previously found evidence of zero-click exploits being used to hack into the phones of al-Jazeera journalists and other targets, ‘this is the first one where the exploit has been captured so we can find out how it works,’ said Marczak. Security experts have previously stated that the average iPhone, iPad and Mac user should not worry about this attack, as they tend to be highly targeted, the discovery is still alarming to security professionals. Malicious image files were transmitted to the activist’s phone via the iMessage instant-messaging app before it was hacked with NSO´s Pegasus spyware, which opens a phone to eavesdropping and remote data theft, Marczak said. It was discovered during a second examination of the phone, which forensics showed had been infected in March. He said the malicious file causes devices to crash. NSO Group did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In a blog post, Apple said it was issuing a security update for iPhones and iPads because a ‘maliciously crafted’ PDF file could lead to them being hacked. The tech giant said it was aware that the issue may have been exploited and cited Citizen Lab. Apple didn´t immediately respond to questions regarding whether this was the first time it had patched a zero-click. Researcher John Scott-Railton said the news highlights the importance of securing popular messaging apps against such attacks. ‘Chat apps are increasingly becoming a major way that nation-states and mercenary hackers are gaining access to phones,’ he said. ‘And it´s why it´s so important that companies focus on making sure that they are as locked down as possible.’ The researchers said it also exposes – again – that NSO´s business model involves selling spyware to governments that will abuse it, not just to law enforcement officials chasing cyber criminals and terrorists, as NSO claims.
It was the first time a so-called ‘zero-click’ exploit had been caught and analyzed, said the researchers, who found the malicious code on September 7 and immediately alerted Apple ‘If Pegasus was only being used against criminals and terrorists, we never would have found this stuff,’ said Marczak. Facebook´s WhatsApp was also allegedly targeted by an NSO zero-click exploit In October 2019, Facebook sued NSO in U.S. federal court for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of the encrypted messaging service with spyware. In July, a global media consortium published a damning report on how clients of NSO Group have been spying for years on journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents – and people close to them, with the hacker-for-hire group directly involved in the targeting.
Amnesty International said it confirmed 37 successful Pegasus infections based on a leaked targeting list whose origin was not disclosed. One involved the fiancée of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, just four days after he was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA attributed the murder to the Saudi government.
The recent revelations also prompted calls for an investigation into whether Hungary’s right-wing government used Pegasus to secretly monitor critical journalists, lawyers and business figures. India’s parliament also erupted in protests as opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s government of using NSO Groups´ product to spy on political opponents and others. France is also trying to get to the bottom of allegations that President Emmanuel Macron and members of his government may have been targeted in 2019 by an unidentified Moroccan security service using Pegasus. Morocco, a key French ally, denied those reports and is taking legal action to counter allegations implicating the North African kingdom in the spyware scandal. Pegasus is a powerful piece of ‘malware’ – malicious computer software – developed by private Israeli security firm NSO Group. This particular form of malware is known as ‘spyware’, meaning it is designed to gather data from an infected device without the owner’s knowledge and forward it on to a third party. While most spyware is limited in scope – harvesting data only from specific parts of an infected system – Pegasus appears much more powerful, allowing its controller near-unlimited access to and control over an infected device. This includes accessing contact lists, emails, and text messages, along with stored photos, videos and audio files. Pegasus can also be used to take control of the phone’s camera or microphone to record video and audio, and can access GPS data to check where the phone’s owner has been. And it can also be used to record any new incoming or outgoing phone calls. Early versions of the virus infected phones using crude ‘phishing’ attacks in which users are conned into downloading the virus on to their own phones by clicking on a malicious link sent via text or email. But researchers say the software has become much more sophisticated, exploiting vulnerabilities in common phone apps to launch so-called ‘zero-click’ attacks which can infect devices without the user doing anything. For example, in 2019 WhatsApp revealed that 1,400 people had been infected by NSO Group software using a so-called ‘zero day’ fault – a previously unknown error – in the call function of the app. Users were infected when a call was placed via WhatsApp to their phones, whether they answered the call or not. More recently NSO has begun exploiting vulnerabilities in Apple’s iMessage software, giving it backdoor access to hundreds of millions of iPhones. Apple says it is continually updating its software to prevent such attacks, though human rights group Amnesty says it has uncovered successful attacks on even the most up-to-date iOS systems – carried out this month. NSO Group says that Pegasus can also be installed on devices using wireless transceivers located near the target, or can be booted directly on to the device if it is stolen first. Nick Note: A number of years ago a big time investor friend of mine asked me to meet with him In Antwerp Belgium at a Susi Restaurant. He then told me he needed for me to go with him for a meeting in Israel of a company called Pegasuses. I was picked up by his private jet and whisked off to Herzliya Israel to meet with a startup looking for money. As I meet with the principals i got a message on my iPhone.. It was strange because the message was empty. As we went into the meeting their was a big flat screen TV in the conference room. And it was displaying the camera and microphone on the speakers ON MY IPHONE. they had hacked into the phone and took control of my camera and microphone. SHIT! they were able to display my location, messages and emails. They explained to me they could target any IOS device anywhere in the world if they had a phone number. The way they hack in is by SMS message, email or simply being in the proximity of the phone. My associate Asher was interested in their proposition and told them he would get back to them. I never wanted to know what he did but i was having no part of it. I was visible shaken on the flight back to Spain where my yacht was birthed. Asher asked me about the technology and I told them is was a pretty easy to exploit any of a dozen holes in the Apple operating system. And then he asked me it was a viable proposition. And i told him their was a fortune to be made until you got killed, Taken over by a government or got exposed and faced jail time. I told him walk away unless you want to become a cold blooded murderer. I can tell you for a FACT people have been Killed, tortured and kidnapped. Enemies of the state, especially of nasty regimes have suffered. Many innocent men have been imprisoned and tortured to death. I don’t deal in drugs, arms, assassinations and the other evils of our time no matter how much money is involved….. This was in 2010. Ever since i have used a black phone and my cameras and microphone on my phone is mechanically blocked. I do not use emails and SMS messages. I have no social media accounts and can tell you i only use our highly encrypted systems. Including firewalls double VPN tunnels. Documents are PGP encrypted and i use the strongest two part authorization. I always new this day would come!
Top Biden Covid-19 officials are increasingly clashing with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the administration pushes to begin distributing booster shots widely by Sept. 20. In meetings and conversations over the past month, senior officials from the White House Covid-19 task force and the Food and Drug Administration have repeatedly accused CDC of withholding critical data needed to develop the booster shot plan — delaying work on the next step of President Joe Biden’s vaccination campaign and making it more difficult to set clear expectations for the public. One particularly frustrating episode occurred last month, two officials said, when the agency appeared to publicly reject the administration’s plan to offer boosters to all adults. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky had joined other top Biden health officials in signing a high-profile statement on Aug. 18 endorsing the approach. But less than two weeks later, when it came time for CDC to make the case for boosters to an influential advisory panel, senior agency officials argued that priority should be given to nursing-home residents and frontline health workers before expanding access to other groups based on their vulnerability. The new approach blindsided senior health officials across the federal government, further straining the tenuous relationship between the White House and the CDC. Seven senior administration officials working on the federal pandemic response, and three other people familiar with the matter, described the growing tension in interviews with POLITICO. All spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter more openly. The infighting comes as the administration seeks new approaches to quash the Delta variant and win back Americans’ trust after two months of setbacks and missteps. And it raises questions about the administration’s ability to make clear policy recommendations to safeguard Americans as the pandemic rolls on. Doing so will require close collaboration between health agencies and the White House to distill fast-moving and unpredictable discoveries about the virus’ behavior and vaccines’ performance into practical guidance. “We’ve made so much progress during the past seven months of this pandemic,” Biden said during a speech on Thursday laying out sweeping new policies to fight the virus. “Now we just have to finish the job with truth, with science, with confidence, and together as one nation.” Neither the White House nor the CDC responded to a request for comment. At the agency, which is still recovering from the crushing workloads and political pressure it experienced during the last year of the Trump administration, the booster back-and-forth has further lowered morale. Walensky has fiercely defended the CDC throughout the last several weeks, telling White House officials who have pledged for months to follow the science that the late September booster target was likely too ambitious, and that her agency had not yet completed studies that would help provide the rationale for the shots. The CDC and FDA also were still waiting for booster data from vaccine-makers Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Other CDC officials working on the pandemic response are equally exasperated by the situation and what they see as unrealistic expectations from the White House as it tries to shore up public opinion. “Science takes time,” a CDC official said. “I don’t know how many times we have to say this.” One senior administration official said the Biden administration’s public pledge to let science lead was faltering behind the scenes. “The CDC is getting out what it can when it can,” the official said. But a second senior administration health official pushed back against the idea that the Sept. 20 booster target was foisted on Walensky. The person said that the federal government’s top health leaders agreed to the language and September date before the White House announced the plan in August. The time frame was established based on the FDA’s projections of when it could review specific company data as well as data from manufacturers, that official said. Some at CDC say the agency needs to change its approach, by working quickly with the White House Covid team to develop policy recommendations during what they describe as one of the most chaotic and critical periods of the pandemic. In addition to the planned booster rollout, the CDC and FDA are poised to consider the use of Covid-19 vaccines for children under 12, a group that has seen more infection and death as the nation has returned to in-person schooling. But it is the nascent booster plan that has generated the most friction of late. Three senior officials said they were surprised by the White House’s September deadline, arguing that it set the CDC and FDA on a tight timeline to crunch data, publish vaccine efficacy studies and approve or authorize the shots. White House officials and Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, were eager to begin doling out boosters later this month, citing data from Israel and other countries that suggested vaccines’ efficacy was waning and that breakthrough infections were on the rise. These officials pushed the CDC to share publicly the data from its ongoing studies of vaccine performance and breakthrough cases.Walensky and other senior CDC officials, who agreed vaccine efficacy was declining and that Americans would eventually need booster shots, noted in their conversations with the broader Biden Covid team that the CDC did not yet have enough data from its studies on the matter. Its analyses, which looked at infection rates among frontline health workers and residents of specific cities such as New York and Los Angeles, would take weeks to complete. The White House, and FDA and CDC leaders, are “trying to align” the two agencies more, one official said, particularly amid the departure of two top FDA vaccine regulators, Marion Gruber and Philip Krause. The pair announced their retirements this month, in a move that one former official attributed to frustrations with CDC’s role in the booster plan. FDA’s frustrations with CDC are longstanding and predate the pandemic. The agencies have clashed on data around perennial problems like foodborne illnesses and issues related to other disease outbreaks and emerging conditions, such as the lung injury called EVALI that has been linked to e-cigarette use. FDA has long argued that CDC moves too slowly, two former officials said. That the Biden White House “is starting to exert a little more pressure [on CDC] is long overdue,” said a former Trump health official. “[President Donald] Trump’s mistake was not understanding that the way to fix it wasn’t to publicly berate them … but to actually lead and reform.” The FDA said in a statement that its “longstanding collaboration with CDC continues to have a positive impact on our nation’s public health.” It added: “Particularly for vaccines, our agencies have always had, and continue to have, shared responsibilities where FDA makes regulatory decisions and CDC’s immunization advisory committee provides clinical recommendations.” No matter the motivation, the CDC advisory committee episode in late August only reinforced perceptions in the White House that the agency represents the weakest link in a Covid-19 response predicated on close collaboration and extreme competence. In the aftermath, some officials outside the CDC working on the Covid-19 response have placed blame for turmoil around boosters squarely on Walensky, who they argue has struggled to instill a sense of urgency in the agency’s top scientists. Others have taken a more sympathetic view, chalking the issues up to institutional problems within the CDC that Walensky is trying to iron out. In a sign that even the CDC director herself recognizes the agency has repeatedly fallen short on messaging, multiple people with knowledge of the matter said Walensky has recently weighed bringing on new communications staff. The agency’s main spokespeople are career employees who predate Walensky’s arrival in January. She has also has tried to streamline CDC’s pandemic response team, tapping respected agency veteran Henry Walke to lead the way. Three former health officials applauded Walensky’s restructuring earlier this year, arguing that it could break down some of these issues even though many felt the move sidelined CDC veteran Nancy Messonnier, who resigned earlier this year after decades at the agency working on respiratory illnesses. The reorganization started in the spring, before the Delta variant became the dominant Covid strain in the United States, causing massive upticks in cases and hospitalizations. With Delta’s rise, officials on the CDC pandemic team told POLITICO, they have grown increasingly overwhelmed. Within the last two weeks, Walensky has moved to yet again build back up that team. Since the Biden administration began in January, the CDC chief has worked to address inefficiencies within the agency, streamlining its Covid-19 response and ensuring her office coordinates more closely with the White House, two senior CDC officials said. One of her main goals, those officials said, has been to put the agency back on the map after the Trump administration sidelined its scientists throughout 2020. Biden, too, promised to let science, and science agencies, lead the policy conversations around Covid. Senior administration officials working on the pandemic response have grown frustrated with the CDC’s messaging on Covid policies, including masks, over the last several months — and what they see as a sluggish response to crises such as the emergence of the Delta variant. Much of the criticism pointed at the CDC focuses on its data collection and analysis, officials said. The agency has for years struggled with obtaining accurate disease data from state health departments, and the pandemic strained the country’s public health infrastructure, causing massive delaysin reporting and case investigation. That has made it difficult for CDC to gather information on breakthrough infections to inform the administration’s policies around boosters. The CDC also often publishes its studies in medical journals, but that approach can delay the release of critical information to the public. Walensky has recently taken steps to address the issue, telling CNN this month that the CDC worked with the New England Journal of Medicine to release data about pregnant women and vaccines on its website before it published the findings in the journal. Nick Note: Some sick shit. The bureaucrats got their felling hurt so people are dying. Their is solid scientific evidence that a 3rd booster show is needed NOW! And we need to vaccinate the kiddies……..
18 leading scientists, including 2 outgoing FDA officials, say COVID-19 booster shots lack evidence and shouldn’t yet be given to the general public
Eighteen top scientists from across the world have warned against giving COVID-19 booster shots to most fully vaccinated people. In an review published in the Lancet on Monday, the experts said that the idea of boosting immunity to reduce COVID-19 cases was “appealing.” But current evidence didn’t support “widespread use of booster vaccination” in the general population, they said, citing 93 references. “Careful and public scrutiny of the evolving data will be needed to assure that decisions about boosting are informed by reliable science more than by politics,” the review authors said. The group included Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, the two Food and Drug Administration officials who resigned over the Biden administration’s booster shot plan earlier in September. The US is expected to start rolling out booster shots from September 20 to shore up immunity against the Delta variant, which has mutations that can help it avoid the immune response. Immunocompromized Americans can already get an extra shot. Insider’s Hilary Brueck has reported on other experts’ concerns about the lack of booster data. The group, which included scientists from the US, UK, Mexico, Jamaica, France, Portugal, South Africa, and Colombia, said that there could be a significant risk of side effects if boosters were “widely introduced too soon, or too frequently.” This was especially the case for vaccines with “immune-mediated side-effects,” such as a type of heart inflammation, called myocarditis, that has been reported in very rare cases after the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines. The researchers warned that if lots of people got side effects with the extra doses, this could reduce vaccine acceptance. Dr. Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, the lead author of the review and a scientist at the World Health Organization, said in a statement that “even if some gain can ultimately be obtained from boosting,” the world should focus on getting shots to unvaccinated people. The WHO has urged countries with good vaccine coverage to hold off boosters until every country has fully vaccinated at least 10% of its population. The group said that current vaccine supplies could “save more lives” if they weren’t used for boosters. “Unvaccinated people are still the major drivers of transmission and are themselves at highest risk of serious disease,” they said. Existing COVID-19 vacccines were holding up against newer variants like Delta, the review authors said. The antibody response for vaccination can decrease over time, but this is just one aspect of the immune response. Other parts of the immune system, such as memory cells and T cells, are often longer-lived, and can also provide protection, they said. The scientists said that an increasing numbers of breakthrough infections were “inevitable” as more people become fully vaccinated and people’s behavior changed. The study authors did not rule out boosters entirely. Boosters tailored to the variants most likely to evolve could “ultimately be needed.” “Now is the opportunity to study, before there is a widespread need,” they said. Nick Note: I am not sure what they are playing at here. We have had a lot of people tested AND we are seeing after 5 to 6 months a drastic drop in antibodies. If you are not sure get tested for antibodies and if they are low your choice is obvious… Talk to your Doctor!
Florida authorities released dash camera footage Thursday of a deputy-involved shooting that ended with a dead suspect — a man who was out on bond for drug trafficking and had multiple convictions for violent offenses, officials said Thursday.
Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman were conducting a traffic stop on Aug. 30 in Melbourne, 70 miles southeast of Orlando, when they were ambushed and fired upon, Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a video detailing the encounter.
“The attack and ambush [were] perpetrated by a violent, career criminal, with a history of 40 charges for crimes including drug trafficking, aggravated assault while discharging a firearm, battery on a law enforcement officer, and attempted first-degree felony murder,” he said. Deputy Thoman is seen talking to a woman outside her vehicle about the 2-month-old baby and dog in the backseat while another vehicle occupant is leaning against the rear of the car. The suspected shooter, whose identity has not been not released, is sitting in the back seat. When Potters asks him to exit the car, the suspect opens fire and takes cover at the front of the vehicle, putting the baby seated inside at risk, Ivey said. Potters is heard saying he was struck by gunfire around the same time the suspect appears to be wounded by return fire. As the deputies move to the side of a police cruiser, the suspect attacks Potters from behind after his rifle jams, striking him in the head with the butt of the weapon before they both fall to the ground, Ivey said. Thoman then fired multiple shots at the suspect, who was killed. Potters was shot in the leg and sustained head lacerations, tissue damage and bone fractures, the sheriff said. Ivey said the two occupants standing outside had nothing to do with the ambush attack. In total, 61 rounds were fired, he said. “Let there be no doubt, this individual got exactly what he deserved,” the sheriff said. “And to those out there that might be foolish enough to ask why we shot him so many times, the answer is simple: evil can never be dead enough.” Ivey ended his breakdown of the incident by lambasting the criminal justice system for allowing the suspect to be free despite his long criminal history. “This case is a perfect example of what is wrong with our criminal justice system, he said. “When a registered career criminal with 23 felony charges, 17 misdemeanor charges, multiple convictions for violent offenses and two active and pending drug trafficking cases is out on our streets where he can attempt to kill our deputies and put other lives at risk, something is wrong with our system.” Nick Note: As you know i rarely report these kind of stories. But will all the law enforcement bashing especially of white officers when stopping blacks i though this incident deserve proper airing. As you can see for yourself the Blacks were being treated with dignity and respect by the police. Until the monster attacked everyone in sight. Their are a lot of unanswered questions that the police chose to ignore. Like do you really believe the male driver and the female seated in the back seat with the animal did not know he was carrying fully Loaded AR15. THE UNTOLD STORY IS THE THUGS ARE WINNING HIDING UNDER ATTACKS ON POLICE PRETENDING THEY ARE THE VICTIMIES. THE COURTS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM RESPONDING TO THE NEGATIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT BIAS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO BLACKS ARE LETTING THE ANIMALS PREY ON SOCIETY…
PRAGUE, Sept 13 (Reuters) – For Czech gun maker CZG-Ceska Zbrojovka Group (CZG.PR), its recent acquisition of the Colt brand carries both the potential to become a major player in the global firearms market and the challenge of reviving the fortunes of a fabled U.S. name. Shares of CZG, which listed on the stock market last October, have surged 60% in Prague this year as investors welcomed solid revenue growth and the company’s $222 million purchase of privately-held Colt Holding Company – a deal finalised in May that will make CZG a competitor for U.S. leaders such as Smith & Wesson (SWBI.O) and Sturm, Ruger & Company (RGR.N). Colt, with plants in the United States and Canada, will give CZG the capacity to expand production beyond its main factory in the Czech Republic and allow it to compete in U.S. military contracts because it will fulfil “Buy America” regulations requiring U.S. production. CZG says it aims to almost double CZG and Colt’s pro-forma combined revenue of around $570 million last year within a few years – putting it on a par with Smith & Wesson’s annual net sales of $1.1 billion in the last fiscal year.
In 2020, the United States accounted for 66% of the Czech gunmaker’s annual revenue, mainly sales to individuals and police departments of guns under its CZ (Ceska Zbrojovka), Dan Wesson and Brno Rifles brands.
“Colt is an important step in realising our vision of getting to 1 billion (euros) in revenue by the end of 2025,” CZG’s Chairman Jan Drahota told Reuters in an interview at the company’s Prague headquarters. “We … will be thinking how to make sure the brand is even bigger than it is now and introduce it to wider (markets). “It is a privilege, but it is also pressure on us,” he said. Some of the pressure could come from investors. The revenue target looks ambitious to some analysts and will require investment by CZG, whose roots stretch back to before World War II. “It is definitely an ambitious goal,” said Pavel Ryska, analyst at J&T Banka in Prague. “In my view, it could be met on two conditions. First, the U.S. civilian demand remains robust and keeps rising, and second, CZG adds further production capacity either through its own capex or through additional acquisitions that are well executed.” Founded by Samuel Colt, the U.S. company produced one of the first revolvers and its single-action revolver known as “The Peacemaker” was synonymous with lawmen and outlaws in the Wild West in the 19th century. By 2015, however, the company was filing for bankruptcy protection following a series of missteps and the loss of a key contract with the U.S. Army. Those issues allowed rivals to steal a march on Colt, although it emerged from bankruptcy in 2016 and revenue rose by a quarter last year.
CZG, which used IPO proceeds and issued bonds to help finance the Colt deal, will outline investment plans later this year. They will include possibly introducing new products and investing in upgrades at Colt’s main factory in West Hartford, Connecticut, Drahota said. Upgrades will also mean “essentially an enlargement of capacity because of underinvestment in the past,” he said. CZG is also considering whether to produce some CZG products in the United States, he said, adding there is little overlap with Colt products. “We have to consider from a group level what … the production split will be at each location,” he said. “One plus one is more than two. We believe we can leverage on each other’s success.” About half of Colt’s revenues in 2020 came from the massive U.S. military and law enforcement (M&LE) segment and Drahota said he saw “huge room” to grow the brand in global civilian and M&LE markets. Analysts at Czech-based Fio Banka estimate the military and law enforcement portion of CZG’s North American sales will climb to 50% from 10% with the Colt acquisition, boosting the company’s revenue as M&LE firearms fall into higher price categories. Global demand for small firearms is expected to rise from around 1.09 billion units in 2019 to 1.26 billion units in 2023, CZG said in its annual report, citing the BIS Small Arms Market Report, with the civilian market now accounting for 62% of sales and military and law enforcement 38%. The market’s good growth prospects have helped drive shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. up 21% and 16% respectively this year. The market’s good growth prospects have helped drive shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. up 21% and 16% respectively this year. CZG, whose operating profit rose 12% last year, has until now mainly competed with European groups like FN Herstal of Belgium, Beretta of Italy and Glock Gesellschaft of Austria and struck deals last year with the Czech Army and law enforcement bodies in Brazil and Kenya, as well as contracts to help rearm Hungary’s army. Buying Colt will also give it exposure to the UK and Canadian militaries, among others, and Drahota said the market will continue to shift to more advanced weapons as demanded by military customers. CZG, which last year took a minority stake in Spuhr i Dalby AB, a Swedish maker of optical mounting solutions for weapons, would also look at further acquisitions, especially in areas like optics or optoelectronics. “We want to grow by acquisitions but we will be disciplined,” Drahota said. Nick Note: I was shocked when the US military gave up the Colt 45 for the Glock pea shooter ray gun…….. Now this…… what is the world coming to……..
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