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Event 201 was a pandemic preparedness simulation hosted in New York City by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October 2019 — 10 weeks before the COVID-19 outbreak first began in Wuhan, China.

This scripted tabletop exercise — select portions of which are featured in the introduction of 'Plandemic 2' above — included everything we now see playing out in real time, in the real world, from PPE shortages, lockdowns and removal of civil liberties to mandated vaccination campaigns, riots, economic turmoil and the breakdown of social cohesion.

Many of the discussions revolved around the development of strategies to limit and counter the spread of expected “misinformation” about the pandemic and subsequent vaccines.

In addition to censorship of certain views, their plan included the use of celebrities and other social media influencers to “model” and promote adherence to pandemic response edicts. I discussed this in “The PR Firm Behind WHO’s Celeb Endorsements.”

Just as in real life, one of the pieces of “misinformation” that would need to be countered was rumors that the virus had been created and released from a bioweapons laboratory.

Naturally-Occurring SARS-CoV-2 Is the Real Conspiracy Theory

Mounting evidence now suggests SARS-CoV-2 is indeed a laboratory creation, whether released by accident or on purpose. Increasingly, “conspiracy theories” are turning out to be factual conspiracies, and as noted in an August 20, 2020, article¹ on Wio News.

The article was written by Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D., a former researcher with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute, who says the real conspiracy theory here is that SARS-CoV-2 is a naturally occurring virus. Sellin’s article reviews some of the studies that offer significant clues to the virus’ origin, including the fact that SARS-CoV-2 has:²

• A very high infection rate, thanks to it being more selective for the human ACE2 receptor than SARS-Cov-1 (responsible for the 2003 SARS pandemic)³
• A unique furin cleavage site not found in any closely related bat coronaviruses that allows the virus to fuse to human cells, thereby enhancing its pathogenicity and transmissibility^4,5,6,7
• Certain spike protein structures that are similar to those found in the MERS-CoV virus, which allow the virus to attach using not only the ACE2 receptor but also the DPP4 receptor, like MERS-CoV. This dual receptor strategy might be responsible for its ability to infect a wide range of human tissues⁸

Together, these features make SARS-CoV-2 exceptionally well-adapted for human infection, which is odd, considering it “came out of nowhere” and hasn’t been found in any other living creature.

The Mojiang Miners Theory

Sellin goes on to discuss a theory⁹ put forth by Jonathan Latham, Ph.D., and Allison Wilson, Ph.D., two molecular biologists (Latham is also a virologist). I interviewed Latham about some of their theories in July 2020. His interview is featured in “Cover-Up of SARS-CoV-2 Origin?”

Latham and Wilson’s theory can be summarized as follows: A virus similar to SARS-CoV-2 — known as RaTG13, SARS-CoV-2’s closest relative — infected six Chinese miners in 2012. The virus then evolved into its current virulent form once inside the miners, as all were ill for an extended period of time.

Tissue samples from the patients were sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for testing, which revealed the infection was caused by a SARS-like coronavirus from horseshoe bats. This virus, now dubbed SARS-CoV-2, then somehow escaped from the Wuhan lab in 2019.

Sellin, however, isn’t buying it, saying that, while it’s a well-documented article,¹⁰ it’s “marred by offering an untenable theory of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 based on the serendipitous linking of a series of undocumented assumptions.” He explains:¹¹

“First of all, the extent of viral evolution in a single patient that would be required to go from RaTG13 to SARS-CoV-2, about 1,200 nucleotides, is unprecedented in the annals of scientific inquiry.

Latham and Wilson attribute the adaptation to the viral load within a large lung surface area and, in particular, a lengthy infection lasting over four months.

Yet, despite the presence of an active infection of a coronavirus highly adapted for human infection, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, even though the Chinese clinical study provides no indication of special quarantine efforts and a therapeutic regime resembling that for ordinary respiratory infections, including fungal infections.

Although it seems likely that the miners experienced an initial viral respiratory infection and secondary, probably bacterial infections, tests for viral infections, including SARS-CoV-1, were negative during the course of hospitalization.

It was only afterwards, that the Chinese clinical study mentions a positive test for an unidentified virus, one possibility being henipa-like virus, which was also discovered¹² in the same cave along with numerous types of bat coronaviruses."

Things Simply Don’t Add Up

Sellin points out the fact that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting research on RaTG13 in 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2, obtained from the tissue samples from the miners, was supposedly still on ice in that same facility.

Why would they be experimenting with RaTG13 if a more virulent form of the virus was already available? What’s more, were the miners’ illness the result of direct bat-to-human transmission, it should have been front page news, yet it wasn’t.

“If the Latham and Wilson theory proves anything, it demonstrates the lengths one must go in evidence-stretching to show that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally-occurring, when one begins by precluding the possibility that it was manufactured in a laboratory,” Sellin writes.

In fairness, Latham and Wilson have presented several theories for a laboratory escape — discussed in our interview — so I don’t think their starting point is one of trying to prove that the virus is a natural occurrence. Sellin is not alone in his observation that this zoonotic transmission should have been a groundbreaking discovery, though.

In “Why Was Wuhan Lab Locked Down When Outbreak Began?” I review the writings of an anonymous (possibly Chinese) scientist who has published^13,14 an alternative theory — including raw data — in a blog called Nerd Has Power.¹⁵ The unnamed writer suggests RaTG13 is a fabrication and doesn’t actually exist.

If it did exist, it would have been groundbreaking news back in 2013, yet the scientist that is supposed to have made the discovery, Shi Zheng-Li, got her fame from the publication of two other bat coronaviruses that same year instead. The gene sequence for RaTG13 wasn’t published until February 3, 2020.¹⁶

According to that 2020 paper, the sequencing of RaTG13 had not previously been performed. Why did she wait until people started questioning the origin of SARS-CoV-2 to publish the RaTG13 genetic sequence?

What’s more, according to the anonymous scientist, the genetic sequence of RaTG13’s spike protein “reveals clear evidence of human manipulation.” And then there’s Zheng-Li’s statement to Scientific American in June 2020, where she claimed the miners were sickened from a fungal infection¹⁷ — not a coronavirus.

Confusing matters further, there’s evidence suggesting RaTG13 was previously published in a 2016 paper, but under the name BtCoV/4991, thereby obscuring its connection to the Mojiang mine where the miners were sickened. Latham discussed this convoluted story in “Cover-Up of SARS-CoV-2 Origin?” (see earlier hyperlink).

New Engineered Coronaviruses Are Under Development

As if there aren’t enough unanswered questions already, uncertainty is piled on top of uncertainty as experimentation with fully infectious SARS-CoV-2 has exploded in recent months.

High-security biosafety labs around the world are clamoring to get in on the action, and according to Richard Ebright, an epidemiologist at Rutgers University, such research is now taking place “in every, or almost every, BSL-3 facility in the U.S. and overseas.”¹⁸

In an August 17, 2020 article,¹⁹ Latham reports that at least one safety breach involving a modified SARS-CoV-2 virus has already occurred this year, when a lab mouse injected with the virus bit the researcher.

The event reportedly occurred at the high-security lab at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, sometime after April 1, but was only discovered because Edward Hammond of Prickly Research had filed a FOIA request. Hammond told Latham:²⁰

“It is evident that swarms of academic researchers with little prior experience with coronaviruses have leapt into the field in recent months. We need to be clear headed about the risk.

The first SARS virus was a notorious source of laboratory-acquired infections and there is a very real risk that modified forms of SARS-CoV-2 could infect researchers, especially inexperienced researchers, with unpredictable and potentially quite dangerous results.

The biggest risk is the creation and accidental release of a novel form of SARS-CoV-2 … Each additional lab that experiments with CoV-2 amplifies the risk.’”

Some researchers are even arguing for infectious SARS-CoV-2 research to be permitted in biosafety level 2 laboratories, which Ebright has called “egregiously irresponsible.”

Anthrax Equipped With SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

In another FOIA request, Hammond obtained information showing researchers (whose names are redacted) at the University of Pittsburgh are working on what he dubbed “corona-thrax.” As reported by Latham,²¹ they intend to “put the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (which allows the virus to gain entry into human cells) into Bacillus anthracis which is the causative agent of anthrax.”

Do we really need this kind of research, where already lethal bacteria are equipped with viral components that allow them better entry into human cells and a wider range of human tissues? What could go wrong? Just about everything!

The argument for “biodefense” research is that we need to be prepared should nature throw us a curveball, but the idea that bacteria would naturally evolve to develop a spike protein from a highly infectious virus would have to be infinitesimally small. As such, this kind of research is nothing short of insanity.

Hundreds of Safety Lapses Have Been Covered Up

As reported in a 2014 USA Today article,²² safety lapses at biosafety labs are far more common than anyone might imagine. Between 2008 and 2012 alone, more than 1,100 lab incidents involving highly infectious germs were reported to federal regulators, but the details are shrouded in secrecy.

In all likelihood, the real number is far higher, as the April 2020 incident at UNC does not appear to have been reported to regulators, as required. According to USA Today:²³

“More than half these incidents were serious enough that lab workers received medical evaluations or treatment, according to the reports. In five incidents, investigations confirmed that laboratory workers had been infected or sickened; all recovered.

In two other incidents, animals were inadvertently infected with contagious diseases that would have posed significant threats to livestock industries if they had spread. One case involved the infection of two animals with hog cholera, a dangerous virus eradicated from the USA in 1978.

In another incident, a cow in a disease-free herd next to a research facility studying the bacteria that cause brucellosis, became infected due to practices that violated federal regulations, resulting in regulators suspending the research and ordering a $425,000 fine, records show.”

I’ve also reviewed many other incidents in “Bioweapon Labs Must Be Shut Down and Scientists Prosecuted,” “More Errors Involving Deadly Pathogens Discovered” and several other articles over the years.

NIH Demands Answers

To circle back to where I left off on RaTG13, August 22, 2020, the Daily Mail reported²⁴ that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is now demanding answers about the authenticity of RaTG13:

“The National Institutes of Health has asked if COVID-19 was linked to the deaths of three miners eight years ago and questioned whether the high-security laboratory in Wuhan possessed samples of the virus prior to the pandemic’s outbreak late last year …

The NIH letter, sent by Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research, said there were ‘serious bio-safety concerns’ over research at the Wuhan lab …

Lauer also said the agency needed to know why the Wuhan Institute ‘failed to note that the RaTG13 virus, the bat-derived coronavirus in its collection with greatest similarity to SARS-Cov-2, was actually isolated from an abandoned mine where three men died in 2012 with an illness remarkably similar to COVID-19’ …

The agency also demanded to know more about the ‘apparent disappearance’ of a scientist at the lab rumored to be Patient Zero, and questioned if roadblocks were placed around the Wuhan Institute of Virology between October 14 and 19 last year …

‘It seems NIH experts are not just discarding lab escape scenarios as conspiratorial theories any more,’ said one U.S.-based biomedical expert.”

As I said earlier, conspiracy theories are increasingly looking like conspiracy facts, and even the suspicion that the genomic sequence of RaTG13 might be a fabrication is now being investigated.

The demands for answers are directed to EcoHealth Alliance, the research organization that, between 2014 and 2019, received a long list of grants from the NIH to study “the risk of bat coronavirus emergence.” EcoHealth Alliance then subcontracted that work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They’ve been working with Zheng-Li for over 15 years.

NIH initially canceled its funding to EcoHealth Alliance in April 2020,²⁵ but has agreed to reinstate the multimillion-dollar grant provided EcoHealth fulfills the seven conditions issued by the NIH.

The scrutiny appears to have put EcoHealth Alliance president, British research scientist Peter Daszak, on edge, calling the demands “heinous” and “politically motivated.” Zheng-Li echoed Daszak’s sentiments, calling the NIH’s demands “outrageous.”²⁶

EcoHealth Alliance is also the subject of FOIA requests,^27,28,29 which Daszak is none too happy about. In an interview with Nature, published August 21, 2020, Daszak said:³⁰

“Conspiracy-theory outlets and politically motivated organizations have made Freedom of Information Act requests on our grants and all of our letters and e-mails to the NIH.

We don’t think it’s fair that we should have to reveal everything we do. When you submit a grant, you put in all your best ideas. We don’t want to hand those over to conspiracy theorists for them to publish and ruin and make a mockery of.”

Daszak’s dismay at having to show correspondence and information relating to the organization’s coronavirus research at Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests what they’re doing is likely dangerous. Why else is he worried that the information will spark conspiracy theories?

Promises Kept?

In 2015 Bill Gates said we needed to start preparing for pandemics as if preparing for war. In 2018, Bill Gates said a deadly new disease is coming, and it might not even be a flu but something we’ve never seen before.³¹ Earlier that same year, Melinda Gates said the biggest global risk she could imagine is a bioterrorist attack.³²

As suggested by Gates in the video clip above, modern warfare is more likely to involve germs than bombs. In the past, when you looked at the global bargaining table, having weapons of mass destruction gave you bargaining power, and countries that posed a threat to that power were paid not to arm themselves.

They were paid provided they promised not to produce atomic weapons, for example, and for most, the cost of producing weapons was far greater than the aid they stood to lose.

Bioweapons, on the other hand, are so inexpensive to make, everyone can make them, and many are. Like nuclear weapons before them, biological weapons also give you bargaining power, but at a much lower cost. Many thousands of biosafety labs around the world are now equipped with highly infectious pathogens that can be manipulated into even more dangerous pathogens.

Event 201 simulated a pandemic outbreak of a coronavirus illness that, for all intents and purposes, is identical to COVID-19. Gates has been pushing for war-level preparedness against viruses for years. And as long as bioweapons labs remain open, the real-world Event 201 that is this COVID-19 pandemic will become Event 202, Event 203, and so on — until all of these labs are shut down.

The evidence is clear. Gain-of-function research is creating the very diseases that global governments are then forced to “arm” themselves against. It’s time to stop the new arms race, before it really is too late.

In the meantime, it is important to make sure you’re prepared at home. I strongly recommend reviewing my interview with Dr. David Brownstein, in which he explains the benefits of nebulized hydrogen peroxide. It’s important to have something in your own arsenal to protect yourself against whatever they come up with next.

This needs to be a central player in your emergency medical kit as I fully believe it could be the difference for many, especially the elderly, those who are vitamin D deficient and/or metabolically unfit and insulin resistant. I believe nebulized peroxide is one of the best options available for any respiratory virus, including even more dangerous ones than SARS-CoV-2 that are likely to be introduced in the future.

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In 1976, as the U.S. marked the 200th anniversary of its declaration of independence, more than 4,000 American Legion members converged in Pennsylvania to celebrate.¹ The heat drove many of the veterans inside, and some took refuge in the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel.

Four days later the crowd dispersed and people returned home. But a few short days after that, reports of illness and death began reaching the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Legion. The first recorded death was that of a retired U.S. Air Force captain, 61-year-old Ray Brennan, who reportedly succumbed to a heart attack.²

As the media picked up the story it was discovered that not all were American Legion members. Some were people who worked near, or had contact with, the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched what became the largest probe in the history of the organization. History.com reports the Boston Globe carried a story in which the reporter wrote:³

“No previous scientific detective effort in history has approached the scale and intensity of the campaign now under way to track down the course, source and pattern …”

The investigators found one common thread — those who were sick had spent some time in or near the hotel. After months of testing ice machines, toothpicks, food and cooling systems, they found nothing.

Finally frustrated with the lack of movement in the investigation, one microbiologist canceled Christmas plans and spent many more hours examining slides. After inspecting the lung of one victim, he discovered an unidentified bacterium the CDC subsequently named Legionella.

Increased Risk of Pathogens in the Plumbing After Shutdown

By the end of the outbreak, more than 200 people had become sick and 34 had died. Once the case was solved, the researchers discovered the same type of bacteria had been at the root of Pontiac Fever in 1968. During this outbreak, 144 people who worked at or visited the Pontiac Health Department became ill with a mild fever.⁴

The illness affected 29% of visitors and 95% of the employees. There were no reports of pneumonia, but several people had neuropsychiatric symptoms that took months to resolve. In all cases it was determined that the building was to blame for this outbreak — that a faulty air duct allowed contaminated moist air to recirculate through the building’s air conditioning system.

Today the CDC receives and processes reports of Legionnaires’ disease, and they have been rising since 2000. Nearly 10,000 cases were reported to health departments around the U.S. in 2018. However, the CDC believes the condition is "likely underdiagnosed, [and] this number may underestimate the true incidence."⁵

In early August 2020, the organization announced it had closed several leased buildings they use in Atlanta after Legionella bacteria were discovered in the water system.⁶ It’s likely the bacterial overgrowth in the water supply happened because of the prolonged shutdown in the building during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legionella is naturally found in freshwater sources and doesn't become a problem until it begins to multiply. People catch Legionnaires’ disease when droplets of water are misted, and the bacteria are inhaled.

Further research into the growth pattern of Legionella shows it’s an opportunistic pathogen that grows more rapidly when the plumbing has low flow.⁷ In one investigation of the effect of "green" strategies to reduce water usage, scientists found that water age, or the amount of time water stayed in the plumbing, had a significant effect on pathogen growth.

In light of building and business closures during the COVID-19 lockdown, the CDC is warning building managers and owners to take precautions as businesses begin reopening. In a statement to CNN, a CDC representative said:⁸

"During the recent closures at our leased space in Atlanta, working through the General Services Administration (GSA), CDC directed the landlord to take protective actions.

Despite their best efforts, CDC has been notified that Legionella, which can cause Legionnaires' Disease, is present in a cooling tower as well as in some water sources in the buildings. Out of an abundance of caution, we have closed these buildings until successful remediation is complete."

Plumbing Produces More Than One Pathogen

Legionella bacteria are opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPP).⁹ These are bacteria that are responsible for infections linked to drinking water. In 2015, these waterborne illnesses came with an annual combined cost of at least $1 billion.

There were some common features, which include the ability to form biofilm, to stick to the inside of pipe and to resist disinfection efforts. Older adults and people who are sick or have problems with their immune system are at highest risk.

Legionella bacteria specifically may be responsible for $430 million annually. However, researchers believe this is an underestimate as only those who are hospitalized are included in the costs. As the authors of one study noted:¹⁰

“Higher water age also has possible implications for opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing (OPPPs), including Legionella spp. (especially L. pneumophila), Mycobacterium avium complex (non-tuberculosis mycobacteria), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acanthamoeba spp., and Naegleria fowleri, which are now the waterborne pathogens of highest concern in the U.S.”

OPPPs are indigenous to plumbing systems and able to survive in water distribution systems. They’ve also adapted to high flow volume and low organic carbon. Evidence demonstrates that the number of pathogens and the number of individuals who are at risk continue to rise.

For example, between 2000 and 2009, Legionnaires' disease rose dramatically by almost 200%. The yearly numbers of P. aeruginosa are not accurate since it's not required to be reported. Despite this, it’s known that there were nearly 11,000 hospital-acquired infections from January 1992 through May 1999.

Legionnaire Cover-Ups Not Uncommon

Aging water pipes and an infrastructure grade of D+ by the American Society of Civil Engineers likely contribute to the number of red flags raised over toxic drinking water across the U.S.¹¹

Making matters worse, it appears from media coverage that some of these incidents are hidden from public view. Unfortunately, the American public is not able to count on the average local water utility to warn them about problems.

In a 48-page report dated September 25, 2019, from the Office of Inspector General, the Environmental Protection Agency and water utilities were criticized for failure to provide accurate reporting on the risks associated with drinking water.¹² They identified several problems that may place the public health at risk, including:¹³

Some primacy agencies (agencies with the primary responsibility for enforcing water regulations) are not consistently fulfilling their responsibility to enforce public notice requirements. Specifically, violations are not consistently reported and tracked, and public notices are not consistently issued.

The EPA's oversight protocols do not cover all public notice requirements and as a result, some primacy agencies do not know whether the public water systems under their supervision are properly notifying consumers when safety violations occur.

Not all public water systems are held to the same compliance standards established by the EPA and primacy agencies.

Primacy agencies use inconsistent methods to record violations and identify problems with public notices regarding the national drinking water database. Because the EPA's information about public water systems' compliance with public notice requirements is incomplete, the agency cannot properly monitor compliance.

The EPA's public notice guidance given to primacy agencies and public water systems is out of date and does not fully reflect current regulations.

"Public water systems lack accurate guidance about current tools available to provide public notices and may therefore miss opportunities to efficiently inform consumers about drinking water problems."

In Flint, Michigan, there was a widespread outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that coincided with the switch to Flint River water.^14,15 Residents were not informed about the rising lead levels, nor about the presence of Legionella. It triggered another large outbreak, killing at least 12 and sickening more than 90.

However, these are the official numbers, which do not account for people who were not identified or treated in the hospital. In a PBS follow-up to the Frontline report it was noted that, unofficially, the death record may have reached 115, accounting for residents who died from pneumonia during the years of the outbreak.¹⁶ To make matters worse, it’s reported that officials refused to even test the water, and:¹⁷

“Even when state and city officials were made aware of the legionnaires’ disease outbreak officials ignored what was happening or completely denied that there was a problem.”

Yet, Flint isn't the only place where Legionella bacteria are causing illness and being covered up. Between 2017 and 2018 a hospital in Loma Linda, California, tested positive for Legionella, and the staff were not informed until June 2018 after a whistleblower complaint was filed.¹⁸

In February 2019, an article appeared in Georgia Health News reporting that the number of Legionnaires’ cases had risen fourfold in just one decade.¹⁹ Surprisingly, 80% of the outbreaks occurred in health care facilities.

Not All Coughs, Pneumonia and Fever are COVID

Chris Edens is an epidemiologist at the CDC who works on the Legionella team. He spoke with a reporter from CNN, saying investigators who normally monitor Legionella infections are currently dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, adding:²⁰

"There is currently no nationwide surveillance of water systems for Legionella disease. We are talking hotels, we are talking large office buildings, we are even talking certain kinds of factories … a lot of those buildings have been shut down. This water has been sitting and could be at risk of Legionella growth."

But Eden also warns there are other waterborne pathogens that may cause an infection after buildings have been left vacant during lockdown. As people start going back to work, he is concerned that testing related to severe pneumonia will only include flu and coronavirus. He suggests it's worth testing for Legionella since those with the infection can be treated successfully with antibiotics.

Symptoms can include fever, cough, diarrhea, nausea, confusion, muscle aches and headaches. The first signs of Legionnaires’ disease can occur two days to two weeks after exposure.²¹ Doctors can confirm pneumonia using a chest X-ray and typically use a urine test or sputum test to confirm that the cause of the problem is Legionella.²²

Reducing Risk of Legionnaires’ Disease

The CDC has developed guidelines to reduce hazards for people who are returning to work. Mold and Legionella are potential microbial problems that should be considered. The steps to reduce Legionnaires’ disease include:

• Developing and following a comprehensive water management system
• Evaluating and testing the water heater to ensure the temperature is set correctly
• Flushing the water system
• Cleaning all water features and checking hot tubs and spas
• Making sure all cooling towers are cleaned and fire safety equipment, eye washing stations and showers are maintained

These steps are important for building owners as well as homeowners.²³ Many people have hot tubs and decorative fountains that potentially can harbor Legionella and produce a contaminated mist. Because the bacteria grow well in warm water, such as in hot tubs, the tubs should be cleaned regularly as recommended, and the water needs to be tested. The CDC offers a free, online toolkit to inform the public about safely managing its water systems.²⁴

The take-home message is that you cannot rely on the authorities to warn you about potential problems in your drinking water. As reported in a 2017 analysis by the Environmental Working Group, water samples from nearly 50,000 water utilities in 50 states found people drinking tap water are:²⁵

“… getting a dose of industrial or agricultural contaminants linked to cancer, harm to the brain and nervous system, changes in the growth and development of the fetus, fertility problems and/or hormone disruption.”

A safe option to protect your family’s health is to install a quality water filtration system in the home. For a short discussion on a combination of methods you may use to remove contaminants see “Water Poisoning Alerts Hidden From Public.”

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HIIT is a fitness trend that has lasted for a while now, and for good reason - expert Centr trainer Ashley Joi explains why HIIT should be your top priority if fat burning (and endorphin-boosting!) is your goal.

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This passionate netball umpire from regional Victoria says a sensible, sustainable program was her key to success. And now she’s back on the court, better than ever.

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We tried and tested the Echelon EX1 smart bike to see how it compares to an IRL spin class.

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New research documents the presence of astrocytes in zebrafish, a milestone that will open new avenues of research into a star-shaped type of glial cell in the brain that is critical for nearly every aspect of brain assembly and function.

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Cutting calories significantly may not be an easy task for most, but it's tied to a host of health benefits ranging from longer lifespan to a much lower chance of developing cancer, heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's. A new study illuminates the critical role that body temperature plays in realizing these diet-induced health benefits.

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At the macroscopic level, there are numerous examples of people cooperating to form groupings. Yet at the basic two-person level, people tend to betray each other, as found in games like the prisoner's dilemma, even though people would receive a better payoff if they cooperated among themselves. The topic of cooperation and how and when people start trusting one another has been studied numerically, and researchers investigate what drives cooperation analytically.

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176 million women worldwide who have endometriosis, a chronic, painful gynaecological condition. It affects nearly three times as many women as breast cancer.

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Structural coloration is promised to be the display technology of the future as there is no fading - it does not use dyes - and enables low-power displays without strong external light source. However, the disadvantage of this technique is that once a device is made, it is impossible to change its properties so the reproducible colors remain fixed. Recently, a research team has successfully obtained vivid colors by using semiconductor chips - not dyes - made by mimicking the human brain structure.

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176 million women worldwide who have endometriosis, a chronic, painful gynaecological condition. It affects nearly three times as many women as breast cancer.

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Child: “Will I go back to school this fall?
Parent: “I’m not sure yet.”
Child: “Do you know when we’ll find out?”
Parent: “I also don’t know that yet.”
Child: “Will school be the same for the whole year?”
Parent: “I don’t know that either.”

Sound familiar? If the only thing you do know is that plans are in flux, you’re not alone. School plans seem to be changing frequently — before the school year even has started in some places! With so much uncertainty, how can families limit the potential chaos that may unfold from last-minute decisions and changes? Below are four tips that may help.

Develop a plan for each school setup

Schools seem to be deciding among having all students return, all students attend school remotely, and a hybrid plan of the two. Although you can’t prepare for everything in the future, you can contain some of the mayhem by creating a plan for your family based on each of the three school scenarios. Because there is the possibility that schools may change their decisions throughout the school year, it may be helpful to develop all three now, in case any of them might be needed.

For example, when planning for a hybrid school year, have all caregivers in the house map out a schedule of child care coverage for the days when children would be home. For the remote learning days, creating a structured daily routine may help if the remote education doesn’t fill the whole school day.

It’s also important to talk to children about how school plans may change throughout the school year and what to expect from each plan. It can be helpful for children to understand why shifts in plans may happen, so explain that the goal of the changes would be to make sure schools can continue helping children learn while keeping them as healthy as possible.

No matter what school plan is in place on a given day, try to keep children’s schedules as consistent as possible. Keeping wake-up, meal, and bedtimes the same each day can help make children less vulnerable to the stress of other changes that may happen for them.

Plan for health and safety, too

If your children will have in-person classes, talk about healthy and safe hygiene practices while they’re in school: wearing masks, washing hands often, and paying attention to staying at a safe distance from others. Also share what you want your children to do when they return home. Where should they put their backpacks? When and where should they wash their hands when they get home? Decide how your children will get to and return home from school if you determine that needs to be different this year. For example, if your son used to carpool with other families or walk to school with other children, that plan may need to change to keep your son six feet apart from peers.

Check with your school for information about whether testing will be involved. If so, how and when would the school want a child to get tested? Also, ask about what steps the school will take if a teacher or student tests positive for COVID-19.

Make a family calendar

With so many plans in flux, a visual reminder of what the upcoming week will look like can help children keep track of the changes. Put a weekly family calendar in a shared space like the kitchen. Review the upcoming week when you’re together, such as Sunday around dinner time. You might find that it’s useful to review the next day’s schedule each night at dinner, too, to remind children what’s ahead for them. For younger children who are not of reading age, try using images, such as pictures of a school or a house, to illustrate where the child may be that day.

Create a space to share reactions

You might feel exasperated one day, sad the next, worried another, and hopeful the following day. Your children also may have a range of emotions as they navigate these trying and ever-evolving times with you. Talk to your children regularly about how they’re feeling about the plans, the changes, and more, to give them space to share their experiences and receive support. Perhaps the weekly calendar review time also could be when you check in and see how everyone is feeling about the school plans. None of you chose for this to happen, and you’re making the most of the situation by offering support and some predictability.

The post Limiting COVID chaos during the school year appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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A phase three global clinical trial has shown that the drug vosoritide restores close-to-average bone growth rates of children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. The study enrolled 121 children aged five to 18. The 60 children who received vosoritide grew an average 1.57 cm more per year. Regulatory authorities are reviewing applications to license treatment.

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Like wrenches made of Legos, SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes tighten or loosen DNA in our cells to control how genes are turned on and made into proteins. When assembled correctly, these complexes play a crucial role in the development of normal tissues, and when broken, they can lead to the development of cancer. These complexes are commonly disrupted by mutations in the genes that encode them - but how this leads to cancer is poorly understood.

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Selecting treatments according to genetic differences could help children and teenagers with asthma, according to new research. The trial, which compares patients treated according to small genetic differences with patients treated according to existing guidelines, is the first of its kind in children and teenagers.

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Stop scratching: rubbing skin activates an anti-itch pathway in the spinal cord, according to new research.

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You are worried about your mother. Before the pandemic, you would visit her every week with your young children. They loved playing in her garden and eating homemade cookies together. You would take your mother to medical appointments and on small excursions. However, due to her chronic lung disease, you made the difficult decision in March not to continue in-person family visits. You call her daily, but she sounds increasingly sad and worried. What can you do?

What is loneliness and how does it affect health?

 Loneliness is a subjective mental state of feeling disconnected from others. It is different from social isolation — you can be lonely even when surrounded by people you care about. Loneliness can be triggered by memories of losing someone, by feeling misunderstood by others, through having emotionally unsatisfying relationships, or by having less access to relationships due to changing life circumstances. According to studies, loneliness is one of the greatest health concerns people face: it is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes daily, it appears to be worse for your health than obesity, and it may increase your risk of death by 29%.

Loneliness and suicide

It does not seem surprising that reports of both loneliness and suicide have increased dramatically in recent years. According to a recent survey, more than three out of five Americans now consider themselves lonely. Data from the federal government show that the rates of suicide have increased more than one-third from 1999 through 2018. Although studies have not determined whether loneliness causes suicidality, they have demonstrated an association between loneliness and suicidal thoughts and behaviors that are independent of depression. Alarmingly, gun sales in the United States have skyrocketed since March 2020. With lockdowns and stay-at-home orders increasing social isolation, decreasing loneliness should be a public health priority. If unaddressed, loneliness may contribute to a firearms-related suicide crisis.

Tips for conquering loneliness

So what can you do to prevent loneliness and help a loved one? Although we do not have enough data to identify the most effective loneliness interventions, the following principles may help guide you and your loved ones and should be used daily:

• Connect meaningfully with family and friends. Although technology can help foster connections, it is imperfect: social media, for example, has actually been linked to increasing loneliness. Connect in a way that works best for you: whether by phone, via video chat, through a mobile application, or even by talking with your neighbors across the fence or in a park.
• Be thankful. Loneliness can lead people to focus on themselves and their hardships. Aim to express appreciation toward friends, family, and strangers.
• Focus on what you can change. Spending time dwelling on your current situation can perpetuate loneliness; rather, focus your attention on something within your control and work at it.
• Enjoy being busy. Complete a chore, spend time writing, find a new hobby, or just allow yourself to delve into a new activity. Let your creativity shine!
• Remove negativity. Surround yourself with people and activities that bring you joy. Consider taking a break from the news, or at least limiting your consumption.
• Data suggest that just the act of smiling can make you feel better.
• Be kind, understanding, and patient. Work on treating yourself and others with compassion. Engaging in pleasurable interactions can also help those around you, and may result in deeper connections.
• Develop a routine that provides balance and familiarity. Create a daily plan that includes physical activity, time for connecting with loved ones, a project or hobby, and a relaxing pleasure.

The post How can you help a loved one suffering from loneliness? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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While acetaminophen is helping you deal with your headache, it may also be making you more willing to take risks, a new study suggests. People who took acetaminophen rated activities like 'bungee jumping off a tall bridge and ''speaking your mind about an unpopular issue in a meeting at work' as less risky than people who took a placebo, researchers found.

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New research found that, despite having a great concern for the environment and animal welfare, 72 percent of Generation Z were not ready to accept cultured meat - defined in the survey as a lab-grown meat alternative produced by in-vitro cell cultures of animal cells, instead of from slaughtered animals.

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The long-term expression of genes in vertebrate organs predisposes these genes to be subsequently utilized in other organs during evolution.

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Unequal compensation reduces people's motivation to work, even among those who stand to benefit from unfair advantages, finds a new study.

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People with more pain sensitization were more likely to suffer from constant and unpredictable pain, rather than just intermittent pain. This study has identified for the first time a potential underlying mechanism in the nervous system responsible for why people experience varying pain patterns with knee osteoarthritis.

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If a novel virus is introduced to a population, eventually enough people acquire natural immunity so that the number of susceptible people declines. When the number susceptible is low enough to prevent epidemic growth, herd immunity is said to have been reached.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, some experts estimated that 70% of the population or more may need to gain immunity before COVID-19 would be under control. Now, experts are suggesting the percentage may be far lower, and some areas may already have reached what’s known as the herd immunity threshold (HIT).

Scientists: COVID Herd Immunity Threshold Lower Than Thought

According to The New York Times, more than a dozen scientists said in interviews that the HIT for COVID-19 is likely 50% or lower. “If that’s true, then it may be possible to turn back the coronavirus more quickly than once thought,” the Times reported,¹ and perhaps without the need for a vaccine.

Herd immunity is calculated using reproductive number, or R-naught (R0), which is the estimated number of new infections that may occur from one infected person.² R0 of below 1 (with R1 meaning that one person who’s infected is expected to infect one other person) indicates that cases are declining while R0 above 1 suggests cases are on the rise.

It’s far from an exact science, however, as a person’s susceptibility to infection varies depending on many factors, including their health, age and contacts within a community. The initial R0 calculations for COVID-19’s HIT were based on assumptions that everyone has the same susceptibility and would be mixing randomly with others in the community.

“That doesn’t happen in real life,” Dr. Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, told The Times. “Herd immunity could vary from group to group, and subpopulation to subpopulation,” or even zip code.³

When real-world scenarios are factored into the equation, the HIT drops significantly, with some experts saying it could be as low as 10% to 20%. In fact, as the Times suggested, it’s possible that herd immunity for the pandemic is “ahead of schedule.”⁴

Herd Immunity Threshold for COVID-19 Could Be Under 10%

Researchers from Oxford, Virginia Tech and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine⁵ are among those that found when individual variations in susceptibility and exposure are taken into account, the HIT declines to less than 10%.⁶

Independent news source Off-Guardian⁷ also cited data from Stockholm County, Sweden, that showed an HIT of 17%,⁸ as well as an essay by Brown University professor Dr. Andrew Bostom, who explained:⁹

“… [A] respected team of infectious disease epidemiologists from the U.K. and U.S. have concluded: 'Naturally acquired immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may place populations over the herd immunity threshold once as few as 10-20% of its individuals are immune.'”

And, in an article he wrote for Conservative Review, Bostom said:¹⁰

“… Naturally acquired herd immunity to COVID-19 combined with earnest protection of the vulnerable elderly — especially nursing home and assisted living facility residents — is an eminently reasonable and practical alternative to the dubious panacea of mass compulsory vaccination against the virus.

This strategy was successfully implemented in Malmo, Sweden, which had few COVID-19 deaths by assiduously protecting its elder care homes, while 'schools remained open, residents carried on drinking in bars and cafes, and the doors of hairdressers and gyms were open throughout.'”

The findings have implications for vaccination as well. Tom Britton, a mathematician at Stockholm University, told the Times that because viral infections naturally target the most susceptible during the first wave, “immunity following a wave of infection is distributed more efficiently than with a vaccination campaign that seeks to protect everyone.”¹¹

It’s also suggested by Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University, that, if herd immunity is obtained during “superspreader” events, vaccinating groups that are most likely to be exposed during such events may be sufficient to induce herd immunity, without the need for universal vaccination.¹²

Herd Immunity Likely in Some Regions

It’s likely that certain areas of the world have achieved herd immunity already, and all eyes are on the fall and winter to see whether or not COVID-19 reappears. “I’m quite prepared to believe that there are pockets in New York City and London which have substantial immunity,” Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told the Times. “What happens this winter will reflect that.”¹³

Some data also suggest that up to 80% of people tested at clinics had COVID-19 antibodies, and while rates may be lower among the general population, it’s possible that herd immunity may already exist among certain populations. In a survey of random households in Mumbai, up to 58% of residents in poor areas had antibodies, compared to up to 17% in the rest of the city.¹⁴

What’s more, one study even found that 81% of people not exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were still able to mount an immune response against it, which “suggests at least some built-in immune protection from SARS-CoV-2 …”¹⁵

Sweden, a country that handled the pandemic differently than most of the globe, may also be close to reaching herd immunity. While high schools and universities closed and gatherings of more than 50 people were banned, elementary and middle schools, shops and restaurants have remained open during the pandemic,¹⁶ in contrast to many other countries, which instituted strict lockdowns.

Dr. Gilbert Berdine, an associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, used data on daily mortality rates for COVID-19 to track the course of the pandemic in Sweden, New York, Illinois and Texas, which each used different pandemic responses.

Sweden, which serves as the control group since it did not implement required lockdowns, hit a peak of 11.38 deaths per day per million population on April 8, 2020, and again on April 15, but deaths have declined since.

“Daily mortality has been less than one death per day per million population for the previous eighteen days. Cases are very low. For all practical purposes, the covid-19 epidemic is over in Sweden. Almost certainly herd immunity has been achieved in Sweden irrespective of any antibody test results,” Berdine wrote for the nonprofit think-tank Mises Institute.¹⁷

Lockdowns the ‘Greatest Policy Error of This Generation’

In New York City, the mortality rate from COVID-19 reached beyond 50 deaths per day per million in April 2020, despite a full lockdown being implemented in March. The state ordered nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients from hospitals until May 10, when the order was reversed, but by then the virus was already ravaging nursing homes’ elderly residents — the most vulnerable.

“By facilitating the transmission of the virus from hospitals to nursing homes, the rate of spread within the elderly population was maximized, and any possible benefit from lockdown of the young and healthy population was rendered moot,” Berdine explained.¹⁸

In Illinois, meanwhile, a strict lockdown was also implemented and daily mortality rates increased more slowly, reaching a peak of more than 15 deaths per day per million on May 17, 2020.

However, mortality rates have also been slower to decline and death rates have remained higher than in other areas. While the lockdowns appear to have succeeded in flattening the curve and slowing transmission among healthy populations, they also may have lengthened the time that young people could transmit the virus to the elderly.

“The lockdown appears to have made more deaths from covid-19 in Illinois than would have occurred without it,” according to Berdine.¹⁹ “Almost certainly herd immunity has not been achieved and will not be achieved until the schools and economy are reopened.”

Texas fell somewhere in the middle, with a looser lockdown than Illinois and New York, although nonessential businesses were closed March 31 and schools were also closed. Daily mortality hit a peak of more than 10 deaths per day per million population on July 31, 2020 — approaching Sweden’s mortality peak while their economy has yet to be reopened. Berdine wrote:

“Although the overall covid-19 mortality is lower in Texas (293 deaths per million population) than in Sweden (570), the current daily mortality in Texas is much higher than in Sweden, so covid-19 mortality in Texas may catch up to Sweden over the next 30–60 days. Furthermore, the situation in Texas will likely get worse when the schools and economy are reopened, as they eventually must be.”²⁰

It’s another example that Sweden appears to have gotten it right in their pandemic response, while other regions’ lockdowns may have backfired. At best, Berdine says, lockdowns may have only deferred death for a short time and, at worst, may have caused more deaths than would have occurred if people were left to choose how to manage their own risk.

“After taking the unprecedented economic depression into account, history will likely judge these lockdowns to be the greatest policy error of this generation,”²¹ she said.

When Will the Pandemic Be Over?

With herd immunity potentially progressing ahead of schedule, and some areas possibly already immune, when will the pandemic end? The World Health Organization has predicted within two years,²² but the dropping fatality rate is no longer a cause for hysteria.

Data show that the COVID-19 fatality rate for those under the age of 45 is “almost zero,” and between the ages of 45 and 70, it’s somewhere between 0.05% and 0.3%.²³ Data from the CDC also shows a stark drop in COVID-19 deaths based on provisional death counts, which are based on death certificate data received and coded by the National Center for Health Statistics.²⁴

The fact remains, however, that COVID-19 may never fully disappear. “Covid-19 is not going to be defeated; we will have to learn how to coexist with it,” Berdine said.²⁵ “The only way we can learn how best to cope with covid-19 is to let individuals manage their own risk, observe the outcomes, and learn from mistakes.” Toward that end, take action now to bolster your immune system against infectious diseases of all kinds.

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Could a “perfect storm” be brewing, ready to be unleashed this fall? If the regular influenza season ends up converging with a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, or even a new SARS-CoV-3, the results are anyone’s guess at this point. Confounding matters is the possibility that influenza vaccination may increase people’s risk of other viral infections.

In a June 12, 2020, Science editorial, Michael Osterholm, virologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and Edward Belongia, director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute in Marshfield, Wisconsin write:¹

“There are important differences in the epidemiology of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza, but symptoms overlap … The prospect of a second COVID-19 wave requires planning to ensure optimal delivery of influenza vaccines starting in the early fall …

The optimal timing of influenza vaccination in patients with confirmed COVID-19 is uncertain. There are no clinical studies on the effects of influenza vaccination in patients with COVID-19, but it may be prudent to delay vaccine administration until after the acute illness has resolved …

Will there be a perfect storm of COVID-19 and influenza during the 2020–2021 season? We do not yet know, but we must start preparing in the coming months.”

‘False Claim’ Is Based on Published Science

Osterholm and Belongia stress there is a “false claim that influenza vaccination increases the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection” promoted by Judy Mikovits and circulating online, and that “Scientists, health care providers, and public health leaders must counter these claims with clear, evidence-based information on the importance of influenza vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

But this so-called “false claim” is not a rumor pulled out of thin air. As is so often the case, Osterholm and Belongia are actually insulting fellow virologists and researchers when slapping a hoax label on such claims, seeing how there is published research showing that, yes, influenza vaccination appears to worsen outcomes during viral pandemics.

If Osterholm and Belongia wanted to be factual and clear, they should dissect the actual studies using scientific methods and reasoning, and not just dismiss them as made-up internet hoaxes.

The fact that peer-reviewed studies have come to the conclusion that previous flu vaccination seems to increase patients’ risk of contracting more severe pandemic illness at least worthy of consideration and review.

I’m not surprised though, seeing how Osterholm appears to routinely ignore the reality of published science. In a March 10, 2020, interview with Joe Rogan,² in which the question of SARS-CoV-2’s origin came up, Osterholm stated that “we could not have crafted a virus like this to do what it’s doing; I mean we don’t have the creative imagination or the skill set.” 

This simply does not line up with reality. Again, published research shows we clearly have the technology, know-how and “creative imagination” to create SARS-CoV-2.

Flu Vaccine Increased Risk of Pandemic H1N1

So, what is the basis for these claims? Research raising serious questions about flu vaccinations and their impact on pandemic viral illnesses include a 2010 review^3,4 in PLOS Medicine, led by Dr. Danuta Skowronski, a Canadian influenza expert with the Centre for Disease Control in British Columbia, which found the seasonal flu vaccine increased people’s risk of getting sick with pandemic H1N1 swine flu and resulted in more serious bouts of illness.

People who received the trivalent influenza vaccine during the 2008-2009 flu season were between 1.4 and 2.5 times more likely to get infected with pandemic H1N1 in the spring and summer of 2009 than those who did not get the seasonal flu vaccine.

In all, five observational studies conducted across several Canadian provinces found identical results. These findings also confirmed preliminary data from Canada and Hong Kong. As Australian infectious disease expert professor Peter Collignon told ABC News at the time:⁵

"Some interesting data has become available which suggests that if you get immunized with the seasonal vaccine, you get less broad protection than if you get a natural infection …

We may be perversely setting ourselves up that if something really new and nasty comes along, that people who have been vaccinated may in fact be more susceptible compared to getting this natural infection."

Double-Blind Animal Study Confirmed Results

To double-check the findings, Skowronski and other researchers conducted a study on ferrets. Their findings were presented at the 2012 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. As reported by MedPage Today:⁶

“A double-blind, placebo-controlled animal study suggests that vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine did, in fact, worsen symptoms after subsequent exposure to H1N1 flu … The vaccinated ferrets also accumulated significantly greater lung virus titers — 4.96 plot forming units/ml versus 4.23 pfu/ml ...

‘We did find that the ferret findings were consistent with our earlier human studies,’ Skowronski said, noting that the scientifically stringent experiment used ferrets, considered to be excellent models of human influenza infection …

‘We needed to follow up on those studies from Canada. They were clearly indicating something important about the interaction between seasonal and pandemic viruses,’ she said.

‘First, people attributed the human findings to bias and confounding. That is a common problem with observational studies … Our ferret studies showed that the findings could not be explained away on the basis of confounding.

There may be a direct vaccine effect in which the seasonal vaccine induced some cross-reactive antibodies that recognized pandemic H1N1 virus, but those antibodies were at low levels and were not effective at neutralizing the virus,’ she continued, explaining that instead of killing the new virus it actually may facilitate its entry into the cells.”

Flu Vaccine Increases Risk of Respiratory Infections

Another study,⁷ published in the Journal of Virology in 2011, found the seasonal flu vaccine weakens children's immune systems and increases their chances of getting sick from influenza viruses not included in the vaccine.

Further, when blood samples from 27 healthy, unvaccinated children and 14 children who had received an annual flu shot were compared, the former unvaccinated group was found to have naturally built up more antibodies across a wider variety of influenza strains compared to the latter vaccinated group, which is the type of situation Collignon referred to in the quote above.

Then there’s a 2012 study^8,9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, which found that children receiving inactivated influenza vaccines had a 4.4 times higher relative risk of contracting noninfluenza respiratory virus infections in the nine months following their inoculation.

The authors proposed the theory that “Being protected against influenza, trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine recipients may lack temporary nonspecific immunity that protected against other respiratory viruses.”

Natural Infection, Inoculation Confer Different Protection

So, on the one hand, studies have shown that when you get the flu vaccine, you may become more prone to flu caused by influenza viruses that are not contained in the vaccine, or other noninfluenza viral respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus infections (more on that below).

Conversely, researchers^10,11,12 recently found that common colds caused by the betacoronaviruses OC43 and HKU1 might actually make you more resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and that the resulting immunity might last as long as 17 years.

The authors suggest that if you’ve beat a common cold caused by a OC43 or HKU1 betacoronavirus in the past, you may have a 50/50 chance of having defensive T-cells that can recognize and help defend against SARS-CoV-2.

Flu Vaccination Increases Risk of Coronavirus Infection

So, what about SARS-CoV-2? Is there any evidence to suggest influenza vaccines might render people more susceptible to this pandemic virus too? So far, no one has looked at SARS-CoV-2 specifically, but there are recent findings showing seasonal flu vaccinations can worsen coronavirus infections in general.

Remember, SARS-CoV-2 is one of seven different coronaviruses known to cause respiratory illness in humans.¹³ Four of them cause symptoms associated with the common cold: 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1.

In addition to the common cold, OC43 and HKU1 — two of the most commonly encountered betacoronaviruses¹⁴ — are also known to cause bronchitis, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia in all age groups.¹⁵ The other three human coronaviruses — which are capable of causing more serious respiratory illness — are SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.

A study^16,17 published in the January 10, 2020, issue of the journal Vaccine found people were more likely to get some form of coronavirus infection if they had been vaccinated against influenza. As noted in this study, titled “Influenza Vaccination and Respiratory Virus Interference Among Department of Defense Personnel During the 2017-2018 Influenza Season”:

“Receiving influenza vaccination may increase the risk of other respiratory viruses, a phenomenon known as virus interference. Test-negative study designs are often utilized to calculate influenza vaccine effectiveness.

The virus interference phenomenon goes against the basic assumption of the test-negative vaccine effectiveness study that vaccination does not change the risk of infection with other respiratory illness, thus potentially biasing vaccine effectiveness results in the positive direction.

This study aimed to investigate virus interference by comparing respiratory virus status among Department of Defense personnel based on their influenza vaccination status. Furthermore, individual respiratory viruses and their association with influenza vaccination were examined.”

While seasonal influenza vaccination did not raise the risk of all respiratory infections, it was in fact “significantly associated with unspecified coronavirus (meaning it did not specifically mention SARS-CoV-2) and human metapneumovirus” (hMPV).

Those who had received a seasonal flu shot were 36% more likely to contract coronavirus infection and 51% more likely to contract hMPV infection than unvaccinated individuals.^18,19

Looking at the symptoms list for hMPV²⁰ is telling, as the main symptoms include fever, sore throat and cough. The elderly and immunocompromised are at heightened risk for severe hMPV illness, the symptoms of which include difficulty breathing and pneumonia. All of these symptoms also apply for SARS-CoV-2.

Did Flu Shots Increase Mortality in Italy?

In a recent blog post, Dr. Michael Murray discusses the possibility that seasonal influenza vaccinations may have contributed to the dramatically elevated COVID-19 mortality seen in Italy. He writes:²¹

“… the standard answers of an elderly population and the failure to implement social distancing soon enough just don’t explain what is happening. My colleague, Dr. Alex Vasquez, provided me with a valuable insight.

In September 2019, Italy rolled out an entirely new type of influenza vaccine. This vaccine called VIQCC is different than others. Most available influenza vaccines are produced in embryonated chicken eggs. VIQCC, however, is produced from cultured animal cells rather than eggs and has more of a ‘boost’ to the immune system as a result.

VIQCC also contains four types of viruses — 2 type A viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) and 2 type B viruses.²² It looks like this ‘super’ vaccine impacted the immune system in such a way to increase coronavirus infection through virus interference that set the stage for what happened in Italy.”

Fast-Tracked COVID-19 Vaccine Plus Flu Vaccine This Season?

Needless to say, there’s also no telling what the effects might be if people are vaccinated against both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 in the same season. We don’t even know what the ramifications of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine might be yet, although, historically, all coronavirus vaccines have resulted in more devastating disease and increased risk of death, as reviewed in my interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Preliminary results from Moderna’s Phase 1 trial showed the vaccine (mRNA-1273) caused systemic side effects in 80% of participants receiving the 100 microgram (mcg) dose.^23,24 Side effects ranged from fatigue (80%), chills (80%), headache (60%) and myalgia or muscle pain (53%). After the second dose, 100% of participants in the 100-mcg group experienced side effects.

This is important to note as, unlike the flu vaccine, the coronavirus vaccine will be a minimum of a two-dose regimen and most likely recommended to be repeated annually, just like the flu vaccine.

The 45 volunteers were divided into three dosage groups — 25 mcg, 100 mcg and 250 mcg — with 15 participants in each. Even in the low-dose group, one participant (6%) got so sick he required emergency medical care. In the high-dose (250 mcg) group, 100% of participants suffered side effects after both the first and second doses, and three of the participants suffered “one or more severe events.”

Keep in mind, these were healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 55,²⁵ who were not overweight, were lifelong nonsmokers with no family history of respiratory problems or seizures. People with asthma, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune diseases were excluded.

What do you think might happen when a vaccine that sends perfectly healthy individuals to the hospital is given to the elderly and/or people with serious health conditions? Then, add to that the possibility of being more prone to respiratory illnesses due to receiving the seasonal flu vaccine. The end result seems pretty obvious, and it’s not going to be a boon to public health.

I’ve written many articles reviewing the ineffectiveness of flu vaccines, and several more on the potential problems facing us from fast-tracked mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. Hopefully, sanity and logical thinking will sprout before it’s too late, but as it stands right now, it appears we’re headed toward a public health disaster.

The way forward is to make sure we defend our right to choose, to opt out, and to fight vaccine mandates wherever they turn up, regardless of the vaccine in question, because ultimately, it is previous precedents that allow government to continue mandating ever more dangerous vaccines.

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Prime Day is Amazon's biggest annual sale event - but what is it, when will it be, and what kind of deals can you expect?

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