The United States continues to try to deal with the reality of shutdowns due to coronavirus, while it grapples with dangerous mutating Covid-19 strains that have emerged inside of the country.
A new variant identified in South Africa is similar to a dangerous strain found in the United Kingdom, according to federal health officials. They are concerned that it spreads more easily and reduces effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines.
The South African variant is highly transmissible and characterized by three mutations in the virus’ spike protein, according to authors of a recent study by the National Institutes of Health. The variant (B.1.351/501Y.V2) likely emerged from the first wave of the country’s epidemic in a hard hit metropolitan area of Eastern Cape Province in early October 2020, they stated.
“Viruses always mutate as a natural trajectory, natural legacy of viruses, so the fact that the virus is mutating is not a surprise,” said Dr. Reuben Warren, director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.
›“What we have to do, and I think the science community is doing it, is trying to assure that the mutations, the variants, as they call them, are still affected by the vaccine,” he told The Final Call.
To say automatically that the vaccine will take care of the variants is interesting, to be kind, because it is an evolving science, said Dr. Warren.
“They’re having to do more tests, and I think the important part is to say that to the American public and not to say, without question, that the vaccine can take care of the variants,” stated Dr. Warren.
Chicago-based epidemiologist Yaa Simpson told The Final Call, “Even though they said this is one that’s new (South African variant) what’s not new is how viruses operate. They want to live … adaptation means it becomes a different strain in order to make it more feasible to live.”
“Now what is really at the crux of this? Not so much is the virus mutating. Is the virus going to be more ‘severe?’ And that’s what they need to watch out for,” she continued.
Pfizer and Moderna reported a reduction in the production of protective antibodies for the South African strain, but claim their vaccines work on it and the UK variant.
Scientists in Britain, however, have warned that Covid-19 vaccines “might not” work as well on the South African strain, according to a CBS News report published Jan. 4.
Dr. William Haseltine, PhD., speaking on CNN in January, also warned that the mutations are dangerous and assumptions should not be made about what their impact will be.
One of his initial warnings came late last December in an opinion piece titled, “Here’s what’s worrying about the coronavirus variant.” He was writing about the UK mutation of the Covid-19 virus. The chair and president of the global health think tank, ACCESS Health International, wrote, “While much is still unknown, what we do know about this new variant tells us important things about the virus: it can adapt to become more easily transmissible and may be able to become more difficult to neutralize and may possibly be able to outsmart the vaccine to a small extent.”
“While the sheer number of mutations in one variant is worrying, what is perhaps more worrisome is how the mutations, taken together, could change how the virus operates,” he noted.
He added one particular mutation of the virus, while “not yet” shown to be more dangerous to humans, was worrisome. Much more “research is needed to see how each of these 17 mutations affects how the virus works,” argued Dr. Haseltine.
“We must therefore be prepared for the possibility that the virus will be with us for the long haul. Like a flu vaccine, a Covid-19 vaccine might not be a one and done affair,” Dr. Haseltine said.
And, he said, a small study called “into question whether a vaccine taken today would remain effective 12 months, 18 months, or longer into the future.”
“Second, with the 69-70del mutation we may be facing a medical paradox. In an effort to save the lives of the immunocompromised who were infected with the virus, providers sometimes administered multiple rounds of antibody treatments to their patients. In some cases, patients would recover after one round of treatment only to fall ill again and require another dose. Even in a single patient, immune suppression over a period of weeks and sometimes months gives the virus a multitude of opportunities to learn our best defenses and to mutate to become more effective at evading our immune system. While administering antibody treatments may save one human life, a UK study hypothesized that it could also facilitate the creation of new strains of the virus,” observed Dr. Haseltine.
Epidemiologist Simpson admitted the impact of the new strains and what they mean for the experimental vaccines is confusing.
“There’s one part of me that’s total science. I want to believe it all. Then there’s another part of me that has to deal with the communication of all of this, the human beings behind all of this, and that’s clandestine, because in the end, you also find it’s about money,” Ms. Simpson said.
“It’s about who’s going to get a contract? Who’s going to make sure that they’re able to charge more prices for their other products to make up for what they’re doing for this? So it’s not all simplistic. It’s a very complex issue, and we need to know that that’s the deal,” she continued.
Reports of injuries and deaths
As of Jan. 29, there were 285 deaths following Covid-19 vaccinations, according to reports on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the federal government’s portal for reporting side effects or adverse events.
VAERS contains information on unverified reports of adverse events—illnesses, health problems and, or symptoms—following immunization with U.S.-licensed vaccines, and reports are accepted from anyone and can be submitted electronically.
“My grandmother died a few hours after receiving the Moderna covid vaccine booster 1. While I don’t expect that the events are related, the treating hospital did not acknowledge this and I wanted to be sure a report was made,” reported the grandchild of an 85-year-old in Pennsylvania.
One VERS entry reported that a patient vaccinated with Moderna’s dose on Dec. 20 had no complaints when asked during observation, but died at his home on Jan. 2, according to his supervisor.
A 63-year-old male in Illinois died from a heart attack four days after getting Pfizer’s vaccine, according to the database.
Another entry stated a resident in a long term care facility who received the first dose of Moderna’s vaccine on Dec. 12 had only mild fatigue. She passed away on Dec. 27 “of natural causes per report.” The elderly resident with dementia had been in and out of hospice and lived in the nursing home for over nine years, the entry read.
“Patient was vaccinated at 11a.m. and was found at the facility in his room deceased at approximately 3:00p.m. Nurse did not have cause of death,” reported another entry.
Side effects and injuries reported on the VERS site include fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, chest pain, shortness of breath, facial paralysis and swelling, and foaming at the mouth.
Elderly ‘dropping like flies?’
James, a certified nurse’s assistant in a video posted by Health Impact News, said seniors in the nursing home where he works were “dying like flies” after getting the Covid-19 vaccine.
Very few residents in the nursing home got sick with Covid-19 in 2020, and none of them died that entire year, according to James. But 14 died just two weeks after getting particularly Pfizer’s vaccine, and others were near death, he continued, often close to tears.
He said he understands the purpose of vaccines, and is not anti-vaccines, but residents are dying after taking it, and what bothered him is no one’s talking about or addressing it, he said.
“They are dying in our hands! … They are dying like flies,” he cried out. “What if this was your mother? … your father? … your grandparents?” he asked.
“I am seeing this pattern of not just side effects, but to the point where we had people who were once walking, who are no longer walking, people who were once talking, who could no longer talk, people who were once able to think, who no longer think properly; delirium, confused,” he said.
He said he spoke out on video after leaving work one evening, because he couldn’t contain himself. He also refuted his superior’s claims that the deaths resulted from a super spreader.
Those in the nursing home, on other floors, who refused the vaccine did not get sick, he further said. But most, approximately 70 percent, who took the vaccine “are sick to the point of death,” said James.
Federal safety monitoring
Attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chair and chief legal counsel of The Children’s Health Defense wants complete transparency, and recently asked David Kessler, FDA director, and the federal government to “release ALL of the data from the clinical trials and suspend COVID-19 vaccine use in any group not adequately represented in the clinical trials, i.e. elderly, frail, comorbid conditions, etc.”
“Anyone suffering from a serious injury will have little legal recourse because they will be directed to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program which has rejected 90% of vaccine-injury claims over the past decade,” said Children’s Health Defense.
“In terms of liability there are several agencies, but it’s not that simple,” stated Martha Sharan, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.
Life threatening illnesses, hospitalizations or prolonged hospitalization, permanent disability, congenital anomalies or birth defects are classified as serious adverse events, according to Ms. Sharan. However, that doesn’t mean they were caused by the vaccine, she said.
“If a regular person wants to prove their case, it goes to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. They have to prove obviously that their injuries have been caused by a vaccination. They don’t get compensated based on their claim … . There are many steps involved,” stated Ms. Sharan.
The program, established under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, is administered jointly by the Division of Injury Compensation Programs Healthcare Systems Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Other federal agencies are involved, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents HHS in court and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims which makes final decisions regarding compensation, type and amount.
“Never forget the climate in which the vaccine is being pushed,” warned Student Minister Ava Muhammad, national spokesperson for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
A deeper look into the Covid-19 vaccine deaths and adverse effects reveals the U.S. policy of depopulation, observed Min. Muhammad, who is also an attorney.
“Why not target the older population that cannot fight you, that you do not desire to take care of and that you consider ‘near death’ anyway?” she asked.
“One strong possibility that so many of the vaccine-related deaths are among elderly persons is that the vaccines have shown a tendency to trigger antibody-enhancement (ADE). It means that rather than enhance the person’s immunity against infection, the vaccine actually enhances the ability of the virus to enter and infect your cells, resulting in a more severe disease when exposed to the actual virus than you would have had if you had not been vaccinated. The elderly are most vulnerable to ADE,” stated Min. Muhammad.
She reiterated that there has never been a successful vaccine for coronavirus because of its nature. She also encouraged people to familiarize themselves with Attorney Kennedy’s summary of the history of coronavirus vaccine development in light of the series of horrific outcomes that have been occurring in the short time the vaccine has been administered.
Atty. Kennedy is chairman and chief legal counsel of the non-profit Children’s Health Defense.
“As of now, a ‘successful’ vaccine is being defined as one which reduces the severity of the symptoms. With each passing day, the reward offered is less and less. No reduction in infection, hospitalization or death rates is being promised. So why risk your life by taking a vaccine?” asked Atty. Muhammad.
(Final Call staff contributed to this report.)
