NATURAL NEWS

Kansas Pulls COVID Vaccine Ads From TV After Lawmakers Object to Calling Them Safe and Effective

The Kansas health agency stopped airing television advertisements promoting the COVID-19 vaccine after some Republican lawmakers took issue with calling the shots safe and effective.

The revelation came during Janet Stanek’s confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. Stanek is the acting secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, again raised the issue Wednesday. “When it comes to the COVID shot … we talked about the problem that KDHE was basically saying ‘safe and effective, safe and effective, safe and effective’ when we have a CDC VAERS reporting system that ties 20,000-plus deaths, and more complications, to these shots than all the other vaccines combined,” he said.

“One thing we’ve done is revisited the ads, which were brought up by many of you, and we have removed the TV ads,” Stanek said.

Hidden Harm: World Saw Spike in Anxiety, Depression in COVID’s First Year

Rates of anxiety and depression rose by about 25% worldwide in the first year of COVID-19, another indication of the widespread harm on mental health inflicted by the pandemic.

Young people were at the greatest increased risk of suicide and self-harm, and women bore the brunt of the emotional and psychological burden, according to a report from the World Health Organization. People with chronic conditions such as asthma or cancer were also more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders during the outbreak.

Evidence of the ongoing toll of isolation, restrictions and financial worries are continuing to mount. The WHO report mirrors a study in The Lancet medical journal last year that found the pandemic had resulted in an extra 53.2 million cases of major depressive disorder and an extra 76.2 million cases of anxiety disorders globally.

Biden Administration Kicks off Nationwide Tour Addressing Mental Health Challenges From COVID Pandemic

The Biden administration announced Wednesday a nationwide tour to address mental health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, another sign the U.S. may have reached what the president said in his State of the Union Address “a new moment in the fight against COVID-19.”

The “National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health,” led by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, aims to hear directly from Americans about the behavioral health challenges they’re facing and engage with local leaders to strengthen services.

Mental health experts say they’re optimistic about the tour but hope it’s closely followed by tangible responses to the mental health crisis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was among the top five leading causes of death in 2020 for people ages 10 to 64.

Biden Seeks $10 Billion for Aid to Ukraine, $22.5 Billion for Coronavirus

The Biden administration is seeking another $10 billion to help protect Ukraine against the Russian invasion and an additional $22.5 billion to cover coronavirus pandemic-related expenses, two major additions to budget talks already underway.

The acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, laid out the need for the supplemental funding in a Thursday blog post. The requests would be additions to a planned budget agreement that Congress is trying to finish before a March 11 deadline.

The $22.5 billion tied to the coronavirus would pay for testing, treatments and vaccines as well as investments in research and efforts to increase vaccinations worldwide.

COVID Has Intensified Gender Inequalities, Global Study Finds

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality, according to a global study that reveals women have been hit much harder socially and economically than men.

The research, conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and published in the Lancet, shows that women have experienced greater negative social and economic impacts than men.

The greatest and most persistent gender gap was seen in employment and uncompensated labor, with 26% of women reporting the loss of work compared with 20% of men globally in September 2021. Women and girls were also more likely to drop out of school and more likely to report an increase in gender-based violence than men and boys.

You’ll Probably Need a Second COVID Booster Shot — Here’s When Experts Say It Could Happen

Pandemic restrictions may be easing across the country, amid declining COVID cases — but experts say the virus is going to stick around for a long time.

That likely means you’ll need another COVID booster shot sometime in the future. The big question is: When?

There have been mixed reports on the matter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing early data that could point to the authorization of a new booster dose this coming fall — potentially as the first in a series of annual COVID vaccinations, much like flu shots — according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, some recent studies suggest that most people who are already boosted may not need another dose for months, or even years. In the U.S., that’s approximately 44% of all fully vaccinated people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

EU Clears Moderna Shot for Young Kids, Pfizer Boosters

The European Medicines Agency said it has authorized Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for children aged 6 to 11, in addition to recommending booster shots of Pfizer’s vaccine for those aged 12 and over, in decisions aimed at providing further protection against COVID-19 for children across Europe.

At a press briefing Thursday, the EU regulator’s vaccines chief Dr. Marco Cavaleri said the Moderna vaccine for younger children will be a half-dose of what is given to older teens and adults. He said research showed young children had an immune response comparable to that seen in older populations “as measured by the level of neutralizing antibodies” against the COVID-19 virus.

Regeneron Must Face Patent Lawsuit Over COVID Treatment

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Wednesday failed to persuade a federal judge in New York to throw out a lawsuit over its alleged misuse of a patented protein to test its breakthrough COVID-19 treatment.

U.S. District Judge Philip Halpern said during an oral argument that he could not grant Regeneron’s request at an early stage of the case to find it immune from Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Inc’s infringement claims.

San Diego-based Allele sued Regeneron in October, accusing the rival biotech company of using Allele’s fluorescent protein mNeonGreen to test its coronavirus antibody cocktail, REGEN-COV, without a license. Allele settled a lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in January over their use of the same protein in developing their widely distributed COVID-19 vaccine.

U.S. to Share Some Coronavirus Technologies With World Health Organization

The Biden administration will share U.S. government-devised coronavirus technologies with the World Health Organization, a policy shift intended to allow other countries to replicate some American scientific breakthroughs and better fight the pandemic abroad, according to three people with knowledge of the announcement who were not authorized to discuss it.

Under the plan, some technologies now being developed by the National Institutes of Health will be licensed to WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, the people said. The technologies will also be sub-licensed to the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool.

The policy is not intended to apply to the vaccines and therapeutics that have been developed by private companies and are currently in the U.S. market, the people said.

Paid Sick Leave Makes a Comeback in New Biden Plan

The Biden administration included paid sick leave provisions as part of its new COVID-19 preparedness plan, which calls for a raft of measures meant to manage the U.S. through its new “post-pandemic” era.

The emergency sick leave provisions passed in 2020 at the outset of the pandemic expired that year and weren’t renewed — despite protests from worker advocates and at least one study that showed the policy reduced the spread of the virus.

The administration said Wednesday that it will work with Congress to provide paid sick leave to people who need to miss work due to COVID-19 or to care for a loved one who has the virus.

19 Coronavirus Cases at Mainz Puts Dortmund Game in Doubt

Sunday’s Bundesliga game between Mainz and Borussia Dortmund is in doubt after Mainz reported 19 coronavirus cases among players and staff on Thursday.

Mainz said everyone involved in first-team business was “completely immunized” and it was in contact with local health authorities about what to do next. The club didn’t name any infected players.