As the situation gets worse, covid-wise, in many areas around the world, governments are taking stiffer actions against vaccine hesitancy.
In Russia, many regions are mandating vaccination for employees in a wide range of sectors including government, health care, retail, and food service.
In the Philippines, Duterte has threatened to arrest Filipinos who refuse vaccination and suggests that they leave the country if they won't comply. It doesn't appear that he has the power to do this, but who knows? There's a precedent:
Our government are all fucking mistresses and breaking rules leading to covidiots to grow in number and say. ... see told you so. Why do these people in power abuse such power and shit on all the progress. And our lap dog boris forgives him and moves on. Eerr no mate thats not how it works. This is why we are fucked NO TRUST
brixton 93
astoria 06
albany 06
hartford 06
reading 06
barcelona 06
paris 06
wembley 07
dusseldorf 07
nijmegen 07
this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Some people who lost their sense of smell to covid-19 have not regained it at all, or it comes and goes. Some are experiencing parosmia, in which familiar things have unfamiliar odours, some of which are disgusting or off-putting and prevent them from eating certain foods. It's still unclear why this is and when/if they might see full recovery.
Why is it that there’s open jobs everywhere and no takers, are high school kids not working anymore I’m at shop rite there’s like 6 cashiers working and the self check out is completely full line
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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F Me In The Brain
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After how many ‘Muricans carried themselves and behaved over the past year and a half, I wouldn’t be eager to work in a public facing position either. People suck.
After how many ‘Muricans carried themselves and behaved over the past year and a half, I wouldn’t be eager to work in a public facing position either. People suck.
No. Not at all. People are on vacation, at concerts, at the beach, shopping , flying, etc… people are making more staying home. That’s the one and only reason.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
After how many ‘Muricans carried themselves and behaved over the past year and a half, I wouldn’t be eager to work in a public facing position either. People suck.
No. Not at all. People are on vacation, at concerts, at the beach, shopping , flying, etc… people are making more staying home. That’s the one and only reason.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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F Me In The Brain
this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 30,647
After how many ‘Muricans carried themselves and behaved over the past year and a half, I wouldn’t be eager to work in a public facing position either. People suck.
No. Not at all. People are on vacation, at concerts, at the beach, shopping , flying, etc… people are making more staying home. That’s the one and only reason.
The one and only reason? That’s bs. It’s a reason but there are many others.
Like parents having to be home to look after kids who were not at school and for whom they could not find child care.
Like health care workers who dealt with the stress and fear and pressure for a year and a half and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Like people who got laid off from their former positions when their workplaces closed and whose industries haven’t recovered yet.
Like people who left positions that pay much more than covid benefits due to daily harassment from customers or clients.
Those and other reasons weigh in just as much as the laziness that you assume
my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
After how many ‘Muricans carried themselves and behaved over the past year and a half, I wouldn’t be eager to work in a public facing position either. People suck.
No. Not at all. People are on vacation, at concerts, at the beach, shopping , flying, etc… people are making more staying home. That’s the one and only reason.
The one and only reason? That’s bs. It’s a reason but there are many others.
Like parents having to be home to look after kids who were not at school and for whom they could not find child care.
Like health care workers who dealt with the stress and fear and pressure for a year and a half and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Like people who got laid off from their former positions when their workplaces closed and whose industries haven’t recovered yet.
Like people who left positions that pay much more than covid benefits due to daily harassment from customers or clients.
Those and other reasons weigh in just as much as the laziness that you assume
Laziness I assume? What’s lazy about staying home and making more money than going to work? I’d take that deal any day. Working sucks.
Intake back “the one and only “ line. That is nonsense. There are other reasons as you stated. But IMO, this is the biggest reason.
Almost every small business in my neighborhood has a help wanted sign up, including mine. I would get applications the minute I would put that sign up. Now im lucky if one person comes in a week to inquire. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
States hesitant to adopt digital COVID vaccine verification
By DAVID A. LIEB
Today
Customers wanting to wine, dine and unwind to live music at the City Winery's flagship restaurant in New York must show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to get in. But that's not required at most other dining establishments in the city. And it's not necessary at other City Winery sites around the U.S.
If City Winery tried doing such a thing at its places in Atlanta and Nashville, "we would have no business, because so many people are basically against it,” said CEO Michael Dorf.
Across the U.S., many hard-hit businesses eager to return to normal have been reluctant to demand proof of vaccination from customers. And the public and the politicians in many places have made it clear they don't care for the idea.
In fact, far more states have banned proof-of-vaccination policies than have created smartphone-based programs for people to digitally display their vaccination status.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends masks when dining or gathering indoors for those who aren't fully vaccinated. But few states require it, and most businesses rely on voluntary compliance — even in places with low vaccination rates where COVID-19 cases are climbing.
Digital vaccine verification programs could make it easier to enforce safeguards and tamp down new outbreaks.
"But that only works when you have mass adoption, and mass adoption requires trust and actual buy-in with what the state health department is doing, which is not necessarily present in all states,” said Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization.
Hawaii is the only state enforcing some version of a vaccine passport. It requires travelers to upload a photo or PDF of their Hawaii vaccination document or pass a pre-arrival COVID-19 test to avoid having to quarantine for 10 days.
Earlier this month, California became just the third state — behind New York and Louisiana — to offer residents a way to voluntarily display digital proof of their COVID-19 shots. None of those states requires the use of their digital verification systems to access either public or private-sector places.
By contrast, at least 18 states led by Republican governors or legislatures prohibit the creation of so-called vaccine passports or ban public entities from requiring proof of vaccination. Several of those — including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota and Texas — also bar most businesses from denying service to those who aren't vaccinated.
“Texas is open 100%, and we want to make sure that you have the freedom to go where you want without limits,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in signing a law against vaccine passports.
The prohibition doesn't apply to the demands employers make on their employees. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas threw out a lawsuit from 117 Houston hospital employees who challenged a workplace requirement that they get vaccinated. More than 150 were later fired or resigned for not getting their shots.
In Louisiana, under a Republican-passed bill facing a potential veto from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, public facilities would not be allowed to bar unvaccinated people until the COVID-19 vaccines have received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccines for now are being dispensed under emergency FDA authorization.
In May, Louisiana launched a program allowing residents using the state's digital driver's license, LA Wallet, to add a record of their COVID-19 vaccination.
But its reach is still limited. About 105,000 people have activated the COVID-19 verification function. That's about 14% of those with a digital license and less than 4% of Louisiana's 3.1 million people with valid driver's licenses.
Democratic state Rep. Ted James, who wrote the bill creating the digital driver's license, said he has used the feature just once — to show an Uber driver in Nevada that he didn't need to wear a mask. But James said he has never been asked to show it in Louisiana and doubts he ever will.
“Earlier in the year, I felt that at some point we would be limited in travel, going to certain places, unless we had the vaccine,” James said. Now, "I don’t foresee us ever having some type of requirement.”
As a step in reopening, New York in March launched its Excelsior Pass, the first state system to provide digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative test. As of early June, more than 2 million people had gotten the digital pass — about one-fifth of those who have been vaccinated.
At the City Winery, most customers bypass the Excelsior Pass and instead show their paper CDC vaccination cards to gain entry, according to Dorf, who said patrons at the 1,000-person capacity venue "appreciate going into a bubble of safety, knowing that everyone around them is vaccinated.”
Though larger ticketed events, like concerts at Madison Square Garden, require proof of vaccination, most businesses don't ask.
“Think of a bar,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. "You have four friends that go in — maybe two of them have it, the other two don’t. You’re going to turn the other two away when small businesses are struggling so much?”
Though most states have shied away from creating digital vaccination verification systems, the technology may soon become widespread nonetheless.
Vaccine providers such as Walmart and major health care systems already have agreed to make digital COVID-19 vaccination records available to customers. Apple also plans to incorporate the vaccination verification function into a software update coming this fall.
Within months, hundreds of millions of people across the U.S. will be able to access digital copies of their COVID-19 vaccination records, said Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at the nonprofit MITRE Corp., part of a coalition of health and technology organizations that developed such technology.
People will receive QR codes that can be stored on smartphones or printed on paper to be scanned by anyone seeking vaccine verification. Those who scan the codes won't retain any of the information — a protection intended to address privacy concerns.
The California Chamber of Commerce said it welcomes the state's new vaccine verification system as a way for employers to check on their employees. California regulations require most employees who aren't fully vaccinated to wear masks when dealing with others indoors.
Digital vaccine verification "allows an employer who really wants to make sure the workplace is vaccinated to require that without having the impossible problem of ‘John says he’s vaccinated but he lost his vaccine card. What do we do?’ This solves that issue,” said Rob Moutrie, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
As Parents Forbid Covid Shots, Defiant Teenagers Seek Ways to Get Them
Most medical consent laws require parental permission for minors to get a vaccine. Now some places are easing restrictions for Covid shots while others are proposing new ones.
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When the mother of this Florida teenager blocked her from getting the Covid vaccine, the 15-year-old was uninvited to a friend’s party and continues to feel excluded from many social events because she remains unvaccinated.Credit...Maria Alejandra Cardona for The New York Times
Teenagers keep all sorts of secrets from their parents. Drinking. Sex. Lousy grades.
But the secret that Elizabeth, 17, a rising high-school senior from New York City, keeps from hers is new to the buffet of adolescent misdeeds. She doesn’t want her parents to know that she is vaccinated against Covid-19.
Her divorced parents have equal say over her health care. Although her mother strongly favors the vaccine, her father angrily opposes it and has threatened to sue her mother if Elizabeth gets the shot. Elizabeth is keeping her secret not only from her father, but also her mother, so her mom can have plausible deniability. (Elizabeth asked to be identified only by her middle name.)
The vaccination of children is crucial to achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus and returning to normal school and work routines. But though Covid vaccines have been authorized for children as young as 12, many parents, worried about side effects and frightened by the newness of the shots, have held off from permitting their children to get them.
A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only three in 10 parents of children between the ages of 12 through 17 intended to allow them to be vaccinated immediately. Many say they will wait for long-term safety data or the prod of a school mandate. But with many teenagers eager to get shots that they see as unlocking freedoms denied during the pandemic, tensions are crackling in homes in which parents are holding to a hard no.
Forty states require parental consent for vaccination of minors under 18, and Nebraska sets the age at 19. (Some states carve out exemptions for teenagers who are homeless or emancipated.) Now, because of the Covid crisis, some states and cities are seeking to relax medical consent rules, emulating statutes that permit minors to obtain the HPV vaccine, which prevents some cancers caused by a sexually transmitted virus.
Last fall, the District of Columbia Council voted to allow children as young as 11 to get recommended vaccines without parental consent. New Jersey and New York Legislatures have bills pending that would allow children as young as 14 to consent to vaccines; Minnesota has one that would permit some children as young as 12 to consent to Covid shots.
But other states are marching in the opposite direction. Although South Carolina teenagers can consent at 16, and doctors may perform certain medically necessary procedures without parental permission on even younger children, a bill in the Legislature would explicitly bar providers from giving the Covid shot without parental consent to minors. In Oregon, where the age of medical consent is 15, Linn County ordered county-run clinics to obtain parental consent for the Covid shot for anyone under 18. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has been tracking Covid-related bills, some states, including Tennessee and Alabama, are working on legislation to prevent public schools from requiring Covid shots.
The issue of who can consent to the Covid shots is providing fresh context for decades-old legal, ethical and medical questions. When parents disagree, who is the arbiter? At what age are children capable of making their own health decisions and how should that be determined?
“Isabella wants it because her friends are getting it, and she doesn’t want to wear a mask,” said Charisse, a mother of a 17-year-old in Delray Beach, Fla., who asked that her last name be withheld for family privacy. Charisse fears the shot could have an effect on her daughter’s reproductive system (a misperception that public health officials have repeatedly refuted).
“Isabella said, ‘It’s my body.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s my body until you’re 18.’”
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Many teenagers see the Covid shot as unlocking freedoms denied to them during the pandemic. In New Orleans, Ava Kreutziger, 14, left, high-fives Croix Hill, 15, after Croix received her first dose.Credit...Kathleen Flynn/Reuters
As both the legal debates and family arguments unfold, those administering the vaccine at pharmacies, clinics and medical offices are trying to determine how to proceed when a young teen shows up for the Covid shot without a parent.
“We may be in a legal gray zone with this vaccine,” said Dr. Sterling Ransone Jr., a family physician in Deltaville, Va. In his health system, a parent can send a signed consent form for a teenager to be vaccinated. But because the Covid vaccine is authorized only for emergency use, the health system requires a parent to be present for a patient under 18 to get that shot.
Marina, 15, who lives in Palm Beach County, Fla., — and who, like others interviewed, asked not to be fully identified — longs for the shot. But her mother says absolutely not. The subject is not open for discussion.
And so Marina has been excluded from the social life she covets. “Five of my friends are throwing a party and they invited me, but then they said, ‘Are you vaccinated?’” she said. “So I can’t go. That hurts.”
As the pandemic ebbs, some teen social circles are reconstituting based on vaccination status. “I see my friends posting on social media — ‘Woo-Hoo I got it!’ — and now when I see them, they ask me things like, ‘Where have you been? Are you traveling a lot? Are you sure you don’t have Covid?’ It sucks that I can’t get the shot,” Marina continued.
Increasingly, frustrated teenagers are searching for ways to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent. Some have found their way to VaxTeen.org, a vaccine information site run by Kelly Danielpour, a Los Angeles teenager.
The site offers guides to state consent laws, links to clinics, resources on straightforward information about Covid-19 and advice for how teenagers can engage parents.
“Someone will ask me, ‘I need to be able to consent at a vaccine clinic that is open on weekends and that is on my bus route. Can you help?’” said Ms. Danielpour, 18, who will begin her freshman year at Stanford in the fall.
She started the site two years ago, well before Covid. The daughter of a pediatric neurosurgeon and an intellectual property lawyer, she realized that most adolescents know neither the recommended vaccine schedule nor their rights.
“We automatically talk about parents but not about teens as having opinions on this issue,” she said. “I decided I needed to help.” Ms. Danielpour wrangled experts to help her understand vaccination and consent laws, and she recruited teenagers to be “VaxTeen ambassadors.”
“I want teenagers to be able to say to pediatricians, ‘Hey, I have this right,’” added Ms. Danielpour, who gives talks at conferences to physicians and health department officials.
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In Los Angeles, Kelly Danielpour, 18, started VaxTeen.org, a site that lists state health care consent laws, vaccine clinic locations and advice for how teens can address vaccine hesitancy in their parents.Credit...Jessica Pons for The New York Times
Elizabeth surreptitiously got her vaccine at a school pop-up clinic.
After administrators at her boarding school informed parents they would be offering Covid shots, her mother gave permission. Her father forbade it. Upset, Elizabeth consulted the school nurse, who said she could not be vaccinated without approval from both. Elizabeth researched state laws, learning that she wasn’t old enough to consent on her own.
She showed up anyway. At worst, she figured, the school would just turn her away.
Apparently, they took note only of her mother’s consent. Saying nothing, Elizabeth stuck out her arm.
Now she is in a pickle. The school is requiring students to be vaccinated for the fall semester and she says her father has begun warring with the administration over the issue. Elizabeth is afraid that if he learns how she was vaccinated, he will be furious and tell the school, which will discipline her for having deceived vaccinators, a stain on her record just as she is applying to college.
Gregory D. Zimet, a psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, pointed out the irony of an adolescent being legally prevented from making a choice that was strenuously urged by public health officials. Developmentally, he said, adolescents at 14 and even younger are at least as good as adults at weighing the risks of a vaccine. “Which isn’t to say that adults are necessarily great at it,” he added.
In many states, young teenagers can make decisions around contraception and sexually transmitted infections, which are, he noted, “in many ways more complex and fraught than getting a vaccine.”
Pediatricians say that even parents who have themselves been vaccinated are wary for their children. Dr. Jay Lee, a family physician and chief medical officer of Share Our Selves, a community health network in Orange County, Calif., said parents say they would rather risk their child having Covid than get the new vaccine.
“I will validate their concerns,” Dr. Lee said, “but I point out that waiting to see if your child gets sick is not a good strategy. And that no, Covid is not just like the flu.”
Elise Yarnell, a senior clinic operations manager for the Portland, Ore., area at Providence, a large health care system, recalled a 16-year-old girl who showed up at a Covid vaccine clinic at her school in Yamhill County.
Her parents oppose the vaccine so she wanted to get it without them knowing, which she could do legally because Oregon’s age of consent is 15. She teared up when she saw the shots were not ready before she had to be home, but she was able to return that night without alerting her parents and was vaccinated.
“She was extremely relieved,” Ms. Yarnell said.
Isabella is the 17-year-old daughter of Charisse, the Delray Beach, Fla., mother who refuses to grant permission for the vaccine. Asked why she wanted the shot, Isabella gave a stream of reasons. “A lot of older people in my family are at risk for catching Covid and possibly dying,” she said. “I want to get the vaccine so I can be around them, and they’ll be safe. And then I can go out with my friends again, and they won’t be so much at risk either.”
Although doctors have been trying to instill vaccine confidence in parents as well as patients, there’s not much they can do when parents object. Recently, Dr. Mobeen H. Rathore, a pediatrics professor at the University of Florida medical college in Jacksonville, told a patient whose mother refused consent that she couldn’t get the Covid vaccine until she turned 18, three weeks hence.
“She got vaccinated on her birthday,” Dr. Rathore said. “She sent me a message saying that was her birthday gift to herself.”
Jan Hoffman writes about behavioral health and health law. Her wide-ranging subjects include opioids, vaping, tribes and adolescents. @JanHoffmanNYT
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Does an opinion article talking about side effects change the data on the efficacy?
The one is professor on UCLA and the other on Yale.. i think their opinion has some weight..
The article for those who can't get past the paywall:
"One remarkable aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic has been how often unpopular scientific ideas, from the lab-leak theory to the efficacy of masks, were initially dismissed, even ridiculed, only to resurface later in mainstream thinking. Differences of opinion have sometimes been rooted in disagreement over the underlying science. But the more common motivation has been political.
Another reversal in thinking may be imminent. Some scientists have raised concerns that the safety risks of Covid-19 vaccines have been underestimated. But the politics of vaccination has relegated their concerns to the outskirts of scientific thinking—for now.
Historically, the safety of medications—including vaccines—is often not fully understood until they are deployed in large populations. Examples include rofecoxib (Vioxx), a pain reliever that increased the risk of heart attack and stroke; antidepressants that appeared to increase suicide attempts among young adults; and an influenza vaccine used in the 2009-10 swine flu epidemic that was suspected of causing febrile convulsions and narcolepsy in children. Evidence from the real world is valuable, as clinical trials often enroll patients who aren’t representative of the general population. We learn more about drug safety from real-world evidence and can adjust clinical recommendations to balance risk and benefits.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or Vaers, which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, is a database that allows Americans to document adverse events that happen after receiving a vaccine. The FDA and CDC state that the database isn’t designed to determine whether the events were caused by a vaccine. This is true. But the data can nonetheless be evaluated, accounting for its strengths and weaknesses, and that is what the CDC and FDA say they do.
The Vaers data for Covid-19 vaccines show an interesting pattern. Among the 310 million Covid-19 vaccines given, several adverse events are reported at high rates in the days immediately after vaccination, and then fall precipitously afterward. Some of these adverse events might have occurred anyway. The pattern may be partly attributable to the tendency to report more events that happen soon after vaccination.
The database can’t say what would have happened in the absence of vaccination. Nonetheless, the large clustering of certain adverse events immediately after vaccination is concerning, and the silence around these potential signals of harm reflects the politics surrounding Covid-19 vaccines. Stigmatizing such concerns is bad for scientific integrity and could harm patients.
Four serious adverse events follow this arc, according to data taken directly from Vaers: low platelets (thrombocytopenia); noninfectious myocarditis, or heart inflammation, especially for those under 30; deep-vein thrombosis; and death. Vaers records 321 cases of myocarditis within five days of receiving a vaccination, falling to almost zero by 10 days. Prior research has shown that only a fraction of adverse events are reported, so the true number of cases is almost certainly higher. This tendency of underreporting is consistent with our clinical experience.
Analyses to confirm or dismiss these findings should be performed using large data sets of health-insurance companies and healthcare organizations. The CDC and FDA are surely aware of these data patterns, yet neither agency has acknowledged the trend.
The implication is that the risks of a Covid-19 vaccine may outweigh the benefits for certain low-risk populations, such as children, young adults and people who have recovered from Covid-19. This is especially true in regions with low levels of community spread, since the likelihood of illness depends on exposure risk.
Given that the database doesn't state what would have happened in the absence of the vaccine, this is only half of a valid comparison. It also doesn't answer what the community spread was like in areas
And while you would never know it from listening to public-health officials, not a single published study has demonstrated that patients with a prior infection benefit from Covid-19 vaccination. That this isn’t readily acknowledged by the CDC or Anthony Fauci is an indication of how deeply entangled pandemic politics is in science.
There are, however, signs of life for scientific honesty. In May, the Norwegian Medicines Agency reviewed case files for the first 100 reported deaths of nursing-home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine. The agency concluded that the vaccine “likely” contributed to the deaths of 10 of these residents through side effects such as fever and diarrhea, and “possibly” contributed to the deaths of an additional 26. But this type of honesty is rare. And it is rare for any vaccine to be linked to deaths, so this unusual development for mRNA vaccines merits further investigation.
The battle to recover scientific honesty will be an uphill one in the U.S. Anti-Trump politics in the spring of 2020 mushroomed into social-media censorship. News reporting often lacked intellectual curiosity about the appropriateness of public-health guidelines—or why a vocal minority of scientists strongly disagreed with prevailing opinions. Scientists have advocated for or against Covid-19 therapies while having financial relationships with product manufacturers and their foundation benefactors.
Public-health authorities are making a mistake and risking the public’s trust by not being forthcoming about the possibility of harm from certain vaccine side effects. There will be lasting consequences from mingling political partisanship and science during the management of a public-health crisis.
Dr. Ladapo is an associate professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Risch is a professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health."
And the referenced Norway study:
"The Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine is “likely” to have been responsible for at least 10 deaths of frail elderly people in nursing homes in Norway, an expert review commissioned by the Norwegian Medicines Agency has concluded.
The expert group was established at the end of February 2021 to look into the cause of the first 100 reported deaths of nursing home residents who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. At the time, around 30 000 elderly nursing home residents had been vaccinated.
Although the mortality rate in nursing homes is generally very high and the deaths of some nursing home residents after vaccination was anticipated, the Norwegian Medicines Agency wanted to determine whether the vaccine had possibly hastened any deaths and to gain a clearer understanding of the risks and benefits of its use in frail elderly people.
The review reported on 19 May and concluded that a causal link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and death was considered “likely” in 10 of the 100 cases, “possible” in 26 cases, and “unlikely” in 59 cases. The remaining five were deemed “unclassifiable.”1
While emphasising considerable uncertainty around its conclusions, the expert group acknowledged a risk that adverse reactions to the vaccines among very frail patients could initiate a cascade of complications, which in the worst case scenario could lead to earlier death.
Extremely frail patients
“Frail patients can benefit from vaccination because they are at great risk of serious illness and even death if they become infected with the covid-19 virus,” said Sigurd Hortemo, senior medical consultant at the Norwegian Medicines Agency. “Nevertheless, the expert group believes that, for some of these frail patients, common adverse reactions may have contributed to a more serious course of their disease.”
The group noted that more thorough assessment of the benefits and risks of vaccination could have been made for some very frail elderly people, particularly during the first few weeks of the vaccine’s use. People with a very short life expectancy have little to gain from being vaccinated, it said, noting a genuine risk that the time of death will be brought forward and that they will experience adverse reactions to the vaccine in the last days of their life.
The benefits of vaccination for very frail people with very short life expectancy should therefore be carefully assessed against the associated risks, and it may often be better not to vaccinate, the group recommended. However, the guidelines on risk assessment—issued by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shortly after the first reported deaths of frail elderly patients after vaccination—were adequate, it said. These advise that doctors should assess such patients individually to determine whether the benefits of vaccination outweigh the side effects. The guidelines recommend that, ahead of vaccination, doctors should consider the benefits and disadvantages of giving the vaccine to extremely frail patients (such as those whose frailty is ranked 8 or 9 on the Clinical Frailty Scale or equivalent) or terminally ill patients.
Preventive measures such as good hydration, medicine reviews, and optimised treatment of comorbid conditions may also reduce the risk of fatal consequences from adverse reactions to vaccines, the expert group added.
Health authorities
As of 18 May 2021, 155 deaths had been reported in Norway after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and most deaths involved elderly and very frail nursing home residents.2
Pfizer has said in a statement that all decisions on the rollout of vaccine programmes reside with health authorities and that the Norwegian health authorities had previously issued updated recommendations on vaccinating terminally ill and extremely frail patients.
“More than 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine have been administered globally,” said Pfizer. “Serious adverse events unrelated to, but close in timing to vaccination, are expected to occur at a similar rate in vaccinated individuals as they would in the overall population.”
Only the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are now part of the covid-19 vaccination programme in Norway. On 11 March officials suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of concerns about blood clots, and in April the Norwegian Institute of Public Health recommended no further use of that vaccine.3
Geir Bukholm, director of the Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said, “Since there are few people who die from covid-19 in Norway, the risk of dying after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine would be higher than the risk of dying from the disease, particularly for younger people.” As of 25 May, Norway had recorded 782 deaths from covid-19.4"
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
He should take it up with the opposition conservatives…I’ve been told around here that they want the border closed. It’s our liberal racist and misogynist prime minister that has kept the border closed for no reason at this point…it’s alright for the elite to fly in snd out but us peons are to stay put..hehehe
But he should pressure his president to open the US side at least..
Give Peas A Chance…
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
He should take it up with the opposition conservatives…I’ve been told around here that they want the border closed. It’s our liberal racist and misogynist prime minister that has kept the border closed for no reason at this point…it’s alright for the elite to fly in snd out but us peons are to stay put..hehehe
But he should pressure his president to open the US side at least..
psst you really should pay attention. The US side has been open a couple weeks now.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
He should take it up with the opposition conservatives…I’ve been told around here that they want the border closed. It’s our liberal racist and misogynist prime minister that has kept the border closed for no reason at this point…it’s alright for the elite to fly in snd out but us peons are to stay put..hehehe
But he should pressure his president to open the US side at least..
psst you really should pay attention. The US side has been open a couple weeks now.
First I have heard of this.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
edited June 2021
that was the word a while back. US agents were told to prep for it. guess things changed during G7 meetings.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
U.S. border to re-open June 22
Unilateral move by the U.S. government
Posted
Thursday,
May 27, 2021
7:42 pm
By Pat Grubb
While there has been no official word, two highly
placed sources in the Blaine port of entry have told local immigration
attorney Len Saunders on May 25 that the U.S. intends to unilaterally
open the land border without restrictions between the U.S. and Canada on
June 22.
Another ranking CBP officer also confirmed the news
independently. Despite the lack of official confirmation from the
Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., a number of CBP
officers have independently confirmed that they have been given word to
prepare for a full opening next month. It also appears to be common
scuttlebutt among regular line officers both in the CBP and the Canada
Border Services Agency (CBSA). The current border closure order was
extended on May 20 until June 21.
The border was closed to non-essential traffic on March
20, 2020. At the same time, the U.S. also suspended biometrics
processing at e-SAFE ports of entry for non-essential travel and has
extended the suspension each month in coordination with the border
closure.
Biometric processing requires individuals who are
submitting electronic immigration files to go to designated ports of
entry for photographs and fingerprints. On Tuesday, May 25, local
immigration attorneys were notified that biometric processing had
resumed, effective immediately.
Saunders declined to identify his first source publicly
but said, “He has been highly reliable in the past and is in a position
to know.” Saunders said the two other sources are equally reliable.
There have been inchoate rumors circulating the last few days in
government circles regarding upcoming changes to border restrictions but
nothing definite.
If accurate, the U.S. move will place significant pressure
on Canada to consider relaxing border restrictions at a time when
provincial governments are still locking down their residents. Travel
from one part of B.C. to another is still prohibited as is
inter-provincial movement. Still, with Canadians eager to return to
travel to their cabins in the U.S. or to vacation destinations, the
Canadian government will be hard-pressed to deal with returning
residents who don’t want to undergo 14-day quarantines as currently
required. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently said the
border would not be opened until 75 percent of Canadians had received at
least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
In a phone call to the All Point Bulletin on May
26, Windsor, Ontario mayor Drew Dilkens said the reported border
re-opening had made many, many people happy and he expected thousands of
Ontario residents would rush
south of the border to get vaccinated the moment the border re-opens.
Within 60 minutes of their return, he prophesied, the Canadian
quarantine system would come to a “crashing halt.”
Absent some form of relaxation by the Canadian government,
the U.S. decision will not improve the ability of Point Roberts
residents to access the mainland for non-essential purposes.
It will, however, allow Canadians who own cabins in Birch
Bay, Point Roberts and other areas to enter the U.S. to access them. As
well, once they are here, they will be able to take advantage of
Covid-19 vaccinations available through the various service providers.
At time of press, calls seeking information from CBP, CBSA and U.S. federal politicians had not been returned.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,872
After 460 days, still no word on when border will reopen
Marketplace owner Ali Hayton warns of July 15 store closing
The Canadian flag was recently planted with flowers at the
Canadian side of the Peace Arch border crossing near where two people
sit June 17.
Photo by Ruth Lauman
Posted
Friday,
June 25, 2021
1:04 pm
By Pat Grubb
Despite unofficial reports that the U.S. intended to
open its land borders with Canada and Mexico on June 22, that day came
and went with no change to the status quo, the 458th day since the
borders were closed on March 21, 2020. The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) officially posted its intention to extend the closure
until July 21, approximately nine hours before the restriction was due
to expire at midnight on June 21. The notice was subsequently published
in the Federal Register on June 23.
In doing so, DHS followed the lead of Canada which had
announced its decision to extend the closure to non-essential traffic on
June 18 with a tweet from Canadian public safety minister Bill Blair
saying the prohibition against non-essential travel into Canada was
being extended until July 21. In a June 20 tweet, the DHS noted positive
developments in recent weeks and wrote it was “participating with other
U.S. agencies in the White House’s expert working groups with Canada
and Mexico to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be
eased safely and sustainably.”
Blaine immigration attorney Len Saunders pointed out that
the Americans who were held during the Iranian hostage crisis were
released on their 454th day of imprisonment, meaning the border closure
is now longer than one of America’s most fraught and emotional
international crises. “How ironic is that,” Saunders asked.
“I’d be shocked if the border doesn’t open on June 22.
Shocked,” Saunders had said on June 15 when asked for an update on the
border. Saunders was the source of the May 25 story in All Point Bulletin that broke the news nationwide that the U.S. was preparing to open the border on June 22 on a unilateral basis, if necessary.
That story related how he had been told by multiple local
CBP officials that while there was no “official” directive, the Blaine
sector had been told to get ready to open the gates on June 22. Since
that time, there had been changes in traffic routing and a bevy of new
officers being trained in the inspection booths. The ubiquitous and
obligatory zapping of vehicles, drivers and passengers by the
drive-through X-ray machine had also stopped with most vehicles directed
to the nearest exit.
In response to the border extension, New York congressman
Brian Higgins had this to say: “There’s no other way to say it: another
month’s delay is bullshit.” Higgins has been a strong proponent of
reopening the border and is co-chair of the Canada-U.S.
Interparliamentary Group On Continued Extension Of Border Restrictions.
The group released the following statement:
“Millions of Americans and Canadians are counting on our
governments to work together to reach an agreement that provides a clear
roadmap for reopening the border between our two nations. The lack of
transparency surrounding these negotiations is a disservice to our
constituents and the millions of residents on both sides of the border
waiting to see their loved ones, visit their property, and renew
business ties. While the arrival of vaccines in record time has been a
modern marvel, the inability of the U.S. and Canadian governments to
reach an agreement on alleviating border restrictions or aligning
additional essential traveler classes is simply unacceptable.”
Other politicians on both sides of the border were quick
to endorse Higgins’ opinion and urged both governments to quickly
release the criteria under which the border would be re-opened. The
Canadian government has been especially vague and fluid in its position
on reopening the border. Prime Minister Trudeau had said border
restrictions would be relaxed once 75 percent of Canadians had received
at least one vaccine dose and 20 percent were fully vaccinated.
However, Blair said June 20 that 75 percent of Canadians
would need to be fully vaccinated before restrictions would be phased
out. As of June 23, 75.6 percent of eligible Canadians (age 12 or older)
have received one dose while 24.3 percent have been fully vaccinated.
In the U.S., 63 percent of those aged 12 or older had received at least
one dose and 53 percent were fully vaccinated.
On June 21, the Canadian government announced it would
allow fully vaccinated Canadian residents to forgo the previously
mandated 14-day quarantine. As of July 5, returning Canadians will still
need to submit electronically proof of vaccination, a negative test
result taken 72 hours ahead of arrival, not have Covid-19 symptoms and
take a test on arrival.
The increasing number of vaccinations in both the U.S. and
Canada has state, provincial and federal politicians calling upon the
Canadian and U.S. federal governments to reopen the border.
State representative Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) wrote a letter
to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau June 18 urging him to allow
Point Roberts residents to cross the border.
Marketplace in danger of closing
“The lack of practicality of these American citizens to
cross over our international border to access basic necessities, their
American property, loved ones and medical care is of grave concern,”
Rule wrote.
In the letter, Rule highlights that Point Roberts’ only
grocery store is in danger of closing. Ali Hayton, the owner of
International Marketplace, has announced she will be closing the store
on July 15 due to continued heavy losses. Other representatives such as
U.S. congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) have called for help to Point
Roberts and other border town communities.
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) sent a letter on June
23 to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the Biden
administration to reach an agreement with the Canadian government to
grant the Point Roberts community an immediate exemption to current
border restrictions and reopen the Boundary Bay border crossing.
“The status quo is simply unacceptable. Leaders ultimately
bear responsibility for the hardships faced by members of the Point
Roberts community,” wrote DelBene. “We must act quickly to reach an
adequate and safe solution before it is too late. I respectfully request
that the United States and Canadian governments immediately grant the
community of Point Roberts an exemption to the current border rules and
reopen the Boundary Bay border crossing.”
Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu advised council that
he had “met with the owner Ali Hayton last week when I visited Point
Roberts. We were very hopeful that the border [would] open on June 22nd
but it did not. The Port of Bellingham received $100,000 from the U.S.
Departmen of Commerce for helping small businesses with $25,000 grants.
The Port shall be sending these grant funds to the grocery store soon.
“I had another conversation with the owner today and we
discussed a possibility of them providing “meals on wheels” service in
Point Roberts, which can be funded with Whatcom County funds. I have
asked her for a proposal with some details. I will share that with you
once I receive such a request. She feels this service can keep her
employees busy and on the job.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
In Russia, many regions are mandating vaccination for employees in a wide range of sectors including government, health care, retail, and food service.
In the Philippines, Duterte has threatened to arrest Filipinos who refuse vaccination and suggests that they leave the country if they won't comply. It doesn't appear that he has the power to do this, but who knows? There's a precedent:
Why do these people in power abuse such power and shit on all the progress. And our lap dog boris forgives him and moves on. Eerr no mate thats not how it works. This is why we are fucked
NO TRUST
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If that is the only side effect that stays with him at least he quit his coffee habit.
www.headstonesband.com
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this song is meant to be called i got shit,itshould be called i got shit tickets-hartford 06 -
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I agree.
Like health care workers who dealt with the stress and fear and pressure for a year and a half and decided it wasn’t worth it.
Customers wanting to wine, dine and unwind to live music at the City Winery's flagship restaurant in New York must show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination to get in. But that's not required at most other dining establishments in the city. And it's not necessary at other City Winery sites around the U.S.
If City Winery tried doing such a thing at its places in Atlanta and Nashville, "we would have no business, because so many people are basically against it,” said CEO Michael Dorf.
Across the U.S., many hard-hit businesses eager to return to normal have been reluctant to demand proof of vaccination from customers. And the public and the politicians in many places have made it clear they don't care for the idea.
In fact, far more states have banned proof-of-vaccination policies than have created smartphone-based programs for people to digitally display their vaccination status.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends masks when dining or gathering indoors for those who aren't fully vaccinated. But few states require it, and most businesses rely on voluntary compliance — even in places with low vaccination rates where COVID-19 cases are climbing.
Digital vaccine verification programs could make it easier to enforce safeguards and tamp down new outbreaks.
"But that only works when you have mass adoption, and mass adoption requires trust and actual buy-in with what the state health department is doing, which is not necessarily present in all states,” said Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization.
Hawaii is the only state enforcing some version of a vaccine passport. It requires travelers to upload a photo or PDF of their Hawaii vaccination document or pass a pre-arrival COVID-19 test to avoid having to quarantine for 10 days.
Earlier this month, California became just the third state — behind New York and Louisiana — to offer residents a way to voluntarily display digital proof of their COVID-19 shots. None of those states requires the use of their digital verification systems to access either public or private-sector places.
By contrast, at least 18 states led by Republican governors or legislatures prohibit the creation of so-called vaccine passports or ban public entities from requiring proof of vaccination. Several of those — including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota and Texas — also bar most businesses from denying service to those who aren't vaccinated.
“Texas is open 100%, and we want to make sure that you have the freedom to go where you want without limits,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in signing a law against vaccine passports.
The prohibition doesn't apply to the demands employers make on their employees. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Texas threw out a lawsuit from 117 Houston hospital employees who challenged a workplace requirement that they get vaccinated. More than 150 were later fired or resigned for not getting their shots.
In Louisiana, under a Republican-passed bill facing a potential veto from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, public facilities would not be allowed to bar unvaccinated people until the COVID-19 vaccines have received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccines for now are being dispensed under emergency FDA authorization.
In May, Louisiana launched a program allowing residents using the state's digital driver's license, LA Wallet, to add a record of their COVID-19 vaccination.
But its reach is still limited. About 105,000 people have activated the COVID-19 verification function. That's about 14% of those with a digital license and less than 4% of Louisiana's 3.1 million people with valid driver's licenses.
Democratic state Rep. Ted James, who wrote the bill creating the digital driver's license, said he has used the feature just once — to show an Uber driver in Nevada that he didn't need to wear a mask. But James said he has never been asked to show it in Louisiana and doubts he ever will.
“Earlier in the year, I felt that at some point we would be limited in travel, going to certain places, unless we had the vaccine,” James said. Now, "I don’t foresee us ever having some type of requirement.”
As a step in reopening, New York in March launched its Excelsior Pass, the first state system to provide digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative test. As of early June, more than 2 million people had gotten the digital pass — about one-fifth of those who have been vaccinated.
At the City Winery, most customers bypass the Excelsior Pass and instead show their paper CDC vaccination cards to gain entry, according to Dorf, who said patrons at the 1,000-person capacity venue "appreciate going into a bubble of safety, knowing that everyone around them is vaccinated.”
Though larger ticketed events, like concerts at Madison Square Garden, require proof of vaccination, most businesses don't ask.
“Think of a bar,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. "You have four friends that go in — maybe two of them have it, the other two don’t. You’re going to turn the other two away when small businesses are struggling so much?”
Though most states have shied away from creating digital vaccination verification systems, the technology may soon become widespread nonetheless.
Vaccine providers such as Walmart and major health care systems already have agreed to make digital COVID-19 vaccination records available to customers. Apple also plans to incorporate the vaccination verification function into a software update coming this fall.
Within months, hundreds of millions of people across the U.S. will be able to access digital copies of their COVID-19 vaccination records, said Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at the nonprofit MITRE Corp., part of a coalition of health and technology organizations that developed such technology.
People will receive QR codes that can be stored on smartphones or printed on paper to be scanned by anyone seeking vaccine verification. Those who scan the codes won't retain any of the information — a protection intended to address privacy concerns.
The California Chamber of Commerce said it welcomes the state's new vaccine verification system as a way for employers to check on their employees. California regulations require most employees who aren't fully vaccinated to wear masks when dealing with others indoors.
Digital vaccine verification "allows an employer who really wants to make sure the workplace is vaccinated to require that without having the impossible problem of ‘John says he’s vaccinated but he lost his vaccine card. What do we do?’ This solves that issue,” said Rob Moutrie, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The CoronavirusOutbreak
As Parents Forbid Covid Shots, Defiant Teenagers Seek Ways to Get Them
Most medical consent laws require parental permission for minors to get a vaccine. Now some places are easing restrictions for Covid shots while others are proposing new ones.
By Jan Hoffman
Teenagers keep all sorts of secrets from their parents. Drinking. Sex. Lousy grades.
But the secret that Elizabeth, 17, a rising high-school senior from New York City, keeps from hers is new to the buffet of adolescent misdeeds. She doesn’t want her parents to know that she is vaccinated against Covid-19.
Her divorced parents have equal say over her health care. Although her mother strongly favors the vaccine, her father angrily opposes it and has threatened to sue her mother if Elizabeth gets the shot. Elizabeth is keeping her secret not only from her father, but also her mother, so her mom can have plausible deniability. (Elizabeth asked to be identified only by her middle name.)
The vaccination of children is crucial to achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus and returning to normal school and work routines. But though Covid vaccines have been authorized for children as young as 12, many parents, worried about side effects and frightened by the newness of the shots, have held off from permitting their children to get them.
A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only three in 10 parents of children between the ages of 12 through 17 intended to allow them to be vaccinated immediately. Many say they will wait for long-term safety data or the prod of a school mandate. But with many teenagers eager to get shots that they see as unlocking freedoms denied during the pandemic, tensions are crackling in homes in which parents are holding to a hard no.
Forty states require parental consent for vaccination of minors under 18, and Nebraska sets the age at 19. (Some states carve out exemptions for teenagers who are homeless or emancipated.) Now, because of the Covid crisis, some states and cities are seeking to relax medical consent rules, emulating statutes that permit minors to obtain the HPV vaccine, which prevents some cancers caused by a sexually transmitted virus.
Last fall, the District of Columbia Council voted to allow children as young as 11 to get recommended vaccines without parental consent. New Jersey and New York Legislatures have bills pending that would allow children as young as 14 to consent to vaccines; Minnesota has one that would permit some children as young as 12 to consent to Covid shots.
But other states are marching in the opposite direction. Although South Carolina teenagers can consent at 16, and doctors may perform certain medically necessary procedures without parental permission on even younger children, a bill in the Legislature would explicitly bar providers from giving the Covid shot without parental consent to minors. In Oregon, where the age of medical consent is 15, Linn County ordered county-run clinics to obtain parental consent for the Covid shot for anyone under 18. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has been tracking Covid-related bills, some states, including Tennessee and Alabama, are working on legislation to prevent public schools from requiring Covid shots.
The issue of who can consent to the Covid shots is providing fresh context for decades-old legal, ethical and medical questions. When parents disagree, who is the arbiter? At what age are children capable of making their own health decisions and how should that be determined?
“Isabella wants it because her friends are getting it, and she doesn’t want to wear a mask,” said Charisse, a mother of a 17-year-old in Delray Beach, Fla., who asked that her last name be withheld for family privacy. Charisse fears the shot could have an effect on her daughter’s reproductive system (a misperception that public health officials have repeatedly refuted).
“Isabella said, ‘It’s my body.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s my body until you’re 18.’”
As both the legal debates and family arguments unfold, those administering the vaccine at pharmacies, clinics and medical offices are trying to determine how to proceed when a young teen shows up for the Covid shot without a parent.
“We may be in a legal gray zone with this vaccine,” said Dr. Sterling Ransone Jr., a family physician in Deltaville, Va. In his health system, a parent can send a signed consent form for a teenager to be vaccinated. But because the Covid vaccine is authorized only for emergency use, the health system requires a parent to be present for a patient under 18 to get that shot.
Marina, 15, who lives in Palm Beach County, Fla., — and who, like others interviewed, asked not to be fully identified — longs for the shot. But her mother says absolutely not. The subject is not open for discussion.
And so Marina has been excluded from the social life she covets. “Five of my friends are throwing a party and they invited me, but then they said, ‘Are you vaccinated?’” she said. “So I can’t go. That hurts.”
Latest Updates
As the pandemic ebbs, some teen social circles are reconstituting based on vaccination status. “I see my friends posting on social media — ‘Woo-Hoo I got it!’ — and now when I see them, they ask me things like, ‘Where have you been? Are you traveling a lot? Are you sure you don’t have Covid?’ It sucks that I can’t get the shot,” Marina continued.
Increasingly, frustrated teenagers are searching for ways to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent. Some have found their way to VaxTeen.org, a vaccine information site run by Kelly Danielpour, a Los Angeles teenager.
The site offers guides to state consent laws, links to clinics, resources on straightforward information about Covid-19 and advice for how teenagers can engage parents.
“Someone will ask me, ‘I need to be able to consent at a vaccine clinic that is open on weekends and that is on my bus route. Can you help?’” said Ms. Danielpour, 18, who will begin her freshman year at Stanford in the fall.
She started the site two years ago, well before Covid. The daughter of a pediatric neurosurgeon and an intellectual property lawyer, she realized that most adolescents know neither the recommended vaccine schedule nor their rights.
“We automatically talk about parents but not about teens as having opinions on this issue,” she said. “I decided I needed to help.” Ms. Danielpour wrangled experts to help her understand vaccination and consent laws, and she recruited teenagers to be “VaxTeen ambassadors.”
“I want teenagers to be able to say to pediatricians, ‘Hey, I have this right,’” added Ms. Danielpour, who gives talks at conferences to physicians and health department officials.
Elizabeth surreptitiously got her vaccine at a school pop-up clinic.
After administrators at her boarding school informed parents they would be offering Covid shots, her mother gave permission. Her father forbade it. Upset, Elizabeth consulted the school nurse, who said she could not be vaccinated without approval from both. Elizabeth researched state laws, learning that she wasn’t old enough to consent on her own.
She showed up anyway. At worst, she figured, the school would just turn her away.
Apparently, they took note only of her mother’s consent. Saying nothing, Elizabeth stuck out her arm.
Now she is in a pickle. The school is requiring students to be vaccinated for the fall semester and she says her father has begun warring with the administration over the issue. Elizabeth is afraid that if he learns how she was vaccinated, he will be furious and tell the school, which will discipline her for having deceived vaccinators, a stain on her record just as she is applying to college.
Gregory D. Zimet, a psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, pointed out the irony of an adolescent being legally prevented from making a choice that was strenuously urged by public health officials. Developmentally, he said, adolescents at 14 and even younger are at least as good as adults at weighing the risks of a vaccine. “Which isn’t to say that adults are necessarily great at it,” he added.
In many states, young teenagers can make decisions around contraception and sexually transmitted infections, which are, he noted, “in many ways more complex and fraught than getting a vaccine.”
Pediatricians say that even parents who have themselves been vaccinated are wary for their children. Dr. Jay Lee, a family physician and chief medical officer of Share Our Selves, a community health network in Orange County, Calif., said parents say they would rather risk their child having Covid than get the new vaccine.
“I will validate their concerns,” Dr. Lee said, “but I point out that waiting to see if your child gets sick is not a good strategy. And that no, Covid is not just like the flu.”
Elise Yarnell, a senior clinic operations manager for the Portland, Ore., area at Providence, a large health care system, recalled a 16-year-old girl who showed up at a Covid vaccine clinic at her school in Yamhill County.
Her parents oppose the vaccine so she wanted to get it without them knowing, which she could do legally because Oregon’s age of consent is 15. She teared up when she saw the shots were not ready before she had to be home, but she was able to return that night without alerting her parents and was vaccinated.
“She was extremely relieved,” Ms. Yarnell said.
Isabella is the 17-year-old daughter of Charisse, the Delray Beach, Fla., mother who refuses to grant permission for the vaccine. Asked why she wanted the shot, Isabella gave a stream of reasons. “A lot of older people in my family are at risk for catching Covid and possibly dying,” she said. “I want to get the vaccine so I can be around them, and they’ll be safe. And then I can go out with my friends again, and they won’t be so much at risk either.”
Although doctors have been trying to instill vaccine confidence in parents as well as patients, there’s not much they can do when parents object. Recently, Dr. Mobeen H. Rathore, a pediatrics professor at the University of Florida medical college in Jacksonville, told a patient whose mother refused consent that she couldn’t get the Covid vaccine until she turned 18, three weeks hence.
“She got vaccinated on her birthday,” Dr. Rathore said. “She sent me a message saying that was her birthday gift to herself.”
Jan Hoffman writes about behavioral health and health law. Her wide-ranging subjects include opioids, vaping, tribes and adolescents. @JanHoffmanNYT
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June 24, 2021Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
The article for those who can't get past the paywall:
"One remarkable aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic has been how often unpopular scientific ideas, from the lab-leak theory to the efficacy of masks, were initially dismissed, even ridiculed, only to resurface later in mainstream thinking. Differences of opinion have sometimes been rooted in disagreement over the underlying science. But the more common motivation has been political.
Another reversal in thinking may be imminent. Some scientists have raised concerns that the safety risks of Covid-19 vaccines have been underestimated. But the politics of vaccination has relegated their concerns to the outskirts of scientific thinking—for now.
Historically, the safety of medications—including vaccines—is often not fully understood until they are deployed in large populations. Examples include rofecoxib (Vioxx), a pain reliever that increased the risk of heart attack and stroke; antidepressants that appeared to increase suicide attempts among young adults; and an influenza vaccine used in the 2009-10 swine flu epidemic that was suspected of causing febrile convulsions and narcolepsy in children. Evidence from the real world is valuable, as clinical trials often enroll patients who aren’t representative of the general population. We learn more about drug safety from real-world evidence and can adjust clinical recommendations to balance risk and benefits.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or Vaers, which is administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, is a database that allows Americans to document adverse events that happen after receiving a vaccine. The FDA and CDC state that the database isn’t designed to determine whether the events were caused by a vaccine. This is true. But the data can nonetheless be evaluated, accounting for its strengths and weaknesses, and that is what the CDC and FDA say they do.
The Vaers data for Covid-19 vaccines show an interesting pattern. Among the 310 million Covid-19 vaccines given, several adverse events are reported at high rates in the days immediately after vaccination, and then fall precipitously afterward. Some of these adverse events might have occurred anyway. The pattern may be partly attributable to the tendency to report more events that happen soon after vaccination.
The database can’t say what would have happened in the absence of vaccination. Nonetheless, the large clustering of certain adverse events immediately after vaccination is concerning, and the silence around these potential signals of harm reflects the politics surrounding Covid-19 vaccines. Stigmatizing such concerns is bad for scientific integrity and could harm patients.
Four serious adverse events follow this arc, according to data taken directly from Vaers: low platelets (thrombocytopenia); noninfectious myocarditis, or heart inflammation, especially for those under 30; deep-vein thrombosis; and death. Vaers records 321 cases of myocarditis within five days of receiving a vaccination, falling to almost zero by 10 days. Prior research has shown that only a fraction of adverse events are reported, so the true number of cases is almost certainly higher. This tendency of underreporting is consistent with our clinical experience.
Analyses to confirm or dismiss these findings should be performed using large data sets of health-insurance companies and healthcare organizations. The CDC and FDA are surely aware of these data patterns, yet neither agency has acknowledged the trend.
The implication is that the risks of a Covid-19 vaccine may outweigh the benefits for certain low-risk populations, such as children, young adults and people who have recovered from Covid-19. This is especially true in regions with low levels of community spread, since the likelihood of illness depends on exposure risk.
Given that the database doesn't state what would have happened in the absence of the vaccine, this is only half of a valid comparison. It also doesn't answer what the community spread was like in areas
And while you would never know it from listening to public-health officials, not a single published study has demonstrated that patients with a prior infection benefit from Covid-19 vaccination. That this isn’t readily acknowledged by the CDC or Anthony Fauci is an indication of how deeply entangled pandemic politics is in science.
There are, however, signs of life for scientific honesty. In May, the Norwegian Medicines Agency reviewed case files for the first 100 reported deaths of nursing-home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine. The agency concluded that the vaccine “likely” contributed to the deaths of 10 of these residents through side effects such as fever and diarrhea, and “possibly” contributed to the deaths of an additional 26. But this type of honesty is rare. And it is rare for any vaccine to be linked to deaths, so this unusual development for mRNA vaccines merits further investigation.
The battle to recover scientific honesty will be an uphill one in the U.S. Anti-Trump politics in the spring of 2020 mushroomed into social-media censorship. News reporting often lacked intellectual curiosity about the appropriateness of public-health guidelines—or why a vocal minority of scientists strongly disagreed with prevailing opinions. Scientists have advocated for or against Covid-19 therapies while having financial relationships with product manufacturers and their foundation benefactors.
Public-health authorities are making a mistake and risking the public’s trust by not being forthcoming about the possibility of harm from certain vaccine side effects. There will be lasting consequences from mingling political partisanship and science during the management of a public-health crisis.
Dr. Ladapo is an associate professor of medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Risch is a professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health."
And the referenced Norway study:
"The Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine is “likely” to have been responsible for at least 10 deaths of frail elderly people in nursing homes in Norway, an expert review commissioned by the Norwegian Medicines Agency has concluded.
The expert group was established at the end of February 2021 to look into the cause of the first 100 reported deaths of nursing home residents who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. At the time, around 30 000 elderly nursing home residents had been vaccinated.
Although the mortality rate in nursing homes is generally very high and the deaths of some nursing home residents after vaccination was anticipated, the Norwegian Medicines Agency wanted to determine whether the vaccine had possibly hastened any deaths and to gain a clearer understanding of the risks and benefits of its use in frail elderly people.
The review reported on 19 May and concluded that a causal link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and death was considered “likely” in 10 of the 100 cases, “possible” in 26 cases, and “unlikely” in 59 cases. The remaining five were deemed “unclassifiable.”1
While emphasising considerable uncertainty around its conclusions, the expert group acknowledged a risk that adverse reactions to the vaccines among very frail patients could initiate a cascade of complications, which in the worst case scenario could lead to earlier death.
Extremely frail patients
“Frail patients can benefit from vaccination because they are at great risk of serious illness and even death if they become infected with the covid-19 virus,” said Sigurd Hortemo, senior medical consultant at the Norwegian Medicines Agency. “Nevertheless, the expert group believes that, for some of these frail patients, common adverse reactions may have contributed to a more serious course of their disease.”
The group noted that more thorough assessment of the benefits and risks of vaccination could have been made for some very frail elderly people, particularly during the first few weeks of the vaccine’s use. People with a very short life expectancy have little to gain from being vaccinated, it said, noting a genuine risk that the time of death will be brought forward and that they will experience adverse reactions to the vaccine in the last days of their life.
The benefits of vaccination for very frail people with very short life expectancy should therefore be carefully assessed against the associated risks, and it may often be better not to vaccinate, the group recommended. However, the guidelines on risk assessment—issued by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shortly after the first reported deaths of frail elderly patients after vaccination—were adequate, it said. These advise that doctors should assess such patients individually to determine whether the benefits of vaccination outweigh the side effects. The guidelines recommend that, ahead of vaccination, doctors should consider the benefits and disadvantages of giving the vaccine to extremely frail patients (such as those whose frailty is ranked 8 or 9 on the Clinical Frailty Scale or equivalent) or terminally ill patients.
Preventive measures such as good hydration, medicine reviews, and optimised treatment of comorbid conditions may also reduce the risk of fatal consequences from adverse reactions to vaccines, the expert group added.
Health authorities
As of 18 May 2021, 155 deaths had been reported in Norway after vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and most deaths involved elderly and very frail nursing home residents.2
Pfizer has said in a statement that all decisions on the rollout of vaccine programmes reside with health authorities and that the Norwegian health authorities had previously issued updated recommendations on vaccinating terminally ill and extremely frail patients.
“More than 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine have been administered globally,” said Pfizer. “Serious adverse events unrelated to, but close in timing to vaccination, are expected to occur at a similar rate in vaccinated individuals as they would in the overall population.”
Only the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are now part of the covid-19 vaccination programme in Norway. On 11 March officials suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of concerns about blood clots, and in April the Norwegian Institute of Public Health recommended no further use of that vaccine.3
Geir Bukholm, director of the Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said, “Since there are few people who die from covid-19 in Norway, the risk of dying after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine would be higher than the risk of dying from the disease, particularly for younger people.” As of 25 May, Norway had recorded 782 deaths from covid-19.4"
EV
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Inslee vents about Point Roberts as Canadian border remains closed due to COVID-19
He should take it up with the opposition conservatives…I’ve been told around here that they want the border closed. It’s our liberal racist and misogynist prime minister that has kept the border closed for no reason at this point…it’s alright for the elite to fly in snd out but us peons are to stay put..hehehe
But he should pressure his president to open the US side at least..
psst you really should pay attention. The US side has been open a couple weeks now.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
U.S. border to re-open June 22
Unilateral move by the U.S. government
While there has been no official word, two highly placed sources in the Blaine port of entry have told local immigration attorney Len Saunders on May 25 that the U.S. intends to unilaterally open the land border without restrictions between the U.S. and Canada on June 22.
Another ranking CBP officer also confirmed the news independently. Despite the lack of official confirmation from the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., a number of CBP officers have independently confirmed that they have been given word to prepare for a full opening next month. It also appears to be common scuttlebutt among regular line officers both in the CBP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The current border closure order was extended on May 20 until June 21.
The border was closed to non-essential traffic on March 20, 2020. At the same time, the U.S. also suspended biometrics processing at e-SAFE ports of entry for non-essential travel and has extended the suspension each month in coordination with the border closure.
Biometric processing requires individuals who are submitting electronic immigration files to go to designated ports of entry for photographs and fingerprints. On Tuesday, May 25, local immigration attorneys were notified that biometric processing had resumed, effective immediately.
Saunders declined to identify his first source publicly but said, “He has been highly reliable in the past and is in a position to know.” Saunders said the two other sources are equally reliable. There have been inchoate rumors circulating the last few days in government circles regarding upcoming changes to border restrictions but nothing definite.
If accurate, the U.S. move will place significant pressure on Canada to consider relaxing border restrictions at a time when provincial governments are still locking down their residents. Travel from one part of B.C. to another is still prohibited as is inter-provincial movement. Still, with Canadians eager to return to travel to their cabins in the U.S. or to vacation destinations, the Canadian government will be hard-pressed to deal with returning residents who don’t want to undergo 14-day quarantines as currently required. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently said the border would not be opened until 75 percent of Canadians had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
In a phone call to the All Point Bulletin on May 26, Windsor, Ontario mayor Drew Dilkens said the reported border re-opening had made many, many people happy and he expected thousands of Ontario residents would rush south of the border to get vaccinated the moment the border re-opens. Within 60 minutes of their return, he prophesied, the Canadian quarantine system would come to a “crashing halt.”
Absent some form of relaxation by the Canadian government, the U.S. decision will not improve the ability of Point Roberts residents to access the mainland for non-essential purposes.
It will, however, allow Canadians who own cabins in Birch Bay, Point Roberts and other areas to enter the U.S. to access them. As well, once they are here, they will be able to take advantage of Covid-19 vaccinations available through the various service providers.
At time of press, calls seeking information from CBP, CBSA and U.S. federal politicians had not been returned.
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How nice to be out and see everybody
WA360 paddleboarders round the Point buoy
After 460 days, still no word on when border will reopen
Part Two: The Man with the Plan
How nice to be out and see everybody
WA360 paddleboarders round the Point buoy
After 460 days, still no word on when border will reopen
Part Two: The Man with the Plan
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After 460 days, still no word on when border will reopen
Marketplace owner Ali Hayton warns of July 15 store closing
Despite unofficial reports that the U.S. intended to open its land borders with Canada and Mexico on June 22, that day came and went with no change to the status quo, the 458th day since the borders were closed on March 21, 2020. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially posted its intention to extend the closure until July 21, approximately nine hours before the restriction was due to expire at midnight on June 21. The notice was subsequently published in the Federal Register on June 23.
In doing so, DHS followed the lead of Canada which had announced its decision to extend the closure to non-essential traffic on June 18 with a tweet from Canadian public safety minister Bill Blair saying the prohibition against non-essential travel into Canada was being extended until July 21. In a June 20 tweet, the DHS noted positive developments in recent weeks and wrote it was “participating with other U.S. agencies in the White House’s expert working groups with Canada and Mexico to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably.”
Blaine immigration attorney Len Saunders pointed out that the Americans who were held during the Iranian hostage crisis were released on their 454th day of imprisonment, meaning the border closure is now longer than one of America’s most fraught and emotional international crises. “How ironic is that,” Saunders asked.
“I’d be shocked if the border doesn’t open on June 22. Shocked,” Saunders had said on June 15 when asked for an update on the border. Saunders was the source of the May 25 story in All Point Bulletin that broke the news nationwide that the U.S. was preparing to open the border on June 22 on a unilateral basis, if necessary.
That story related how he had been told by multiple local CBP officials that while there was no “official” directive, the Blaine sector had been told to get ready to open the gates on June 22. Since that time, there had been changes in traffic routing and a bevy of new officers being trained in the inspection booths. The ubiquitous and obligatory zapping of vehicles, drivers and passengers by the drive-through X-ray machine had also stopped with most vehicles directed to the nearest exit.
In response to the border extension, New York congressman Brian Higgins had this to say: “There’s no other way to say it: another month’s delay is bullshit.” Higgins has been a strong proponent of reopening the border and is co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group On Continued Extension Of Border Restrictions. The group released the following statement:
“Millions of Americans and Canadians are counting on our governments to work together to reach an agreement that provides a clear roadmap for reopening the border between our two nations. The lack of transparency surrounding these negotiations is a disservice to our constituents and the millions of residents on both sides of the border waiting to see their loved ones, visit their property, and renew business ties. While the arrival of vaccines in record time has been a modern marvel, the inability of the U.S. and Canadian governments to reach an agreement on alleviating border restrictions or aligning additional essential traveler classes is simply unacceptable.”
Other politicians on both sides of the border were quick to endorse Higgins’ opinion and urged both governments to quickly release the criteria under which the border would be re-opened. The Canadian government has been especially vague and fluid in its position on reopening the border. Prime Minister Trudeau had said border restrictions would be relaxed once 75 percent of Canadians had received at least one vaccine dose and 20 percent were fully vaccinated.
However, Blair said June 20 that 75 percent of Canadians would need to be fully vaccinated before restrictions would be phased out. As of June 23, 75.6 percent of eligible Canadians (age 12 or older) have received one dose while 24.3 percent have been fully vaccinated. In the U.S., 63 percent of those aged 12 or older had received at least one dose and 53 percent were fully vaccinated.
On June 21, the Canadian government announced it would allow fully vaccinated Canadian residents to forgo the previously mandated 14-day quarantine. As of July 5, returning Canadians will still need to submit electronically proof of vaccination, a negative test result taken 72 hours ahead of arrival, not have Covid-19 symptoms and take a test on arrival.
The increasing number of vaccinations in both the U.S. and Canada has state, provincial and federal politicians calling upon the Canadian and U.S. federal governments to reopen the border.
State representative Alicia Rule (D-Blaine) wrote a letter to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau June 18 urging him to allow Point Roberts residents to cross the border.
Marketplace in danger of closing
“The lack of practicality of these American citizens to cross over our international border to access basic necessities, their American property, loved ones and medical care is of grave concern,” Rule wrote.
In the letter, Rule highlights that Point Roberts’ only grocery store is in danger of closing. Ali Hayton, the owner of International Marketplace, has announced she will be closing the store on July 15 due to continued heavy losses. Other representatives such as U.S. congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) have called for help to Point Roberts and other border town communities.
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) sent a letter on June 23 to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the Biden administration to reach an agreement with the Canadian government to grant the Point Roberts community an immediate exemption to current border restrictions and reopen the Boundary Bay border crossing.
“The status quo is simply unacceptable. Leaders ultimately bear responsibility for the hardships faced by members of the Point Roberts community,” wrote DelBene. “We must act quickly to reach an adequate and safe solution before it is too late. I respectfully request that the United States and Canadian governments immediately grant the community of Point Roberts an exemption to the current border rules and reopen the Boundary Bay border crossing.”
Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu advised council that he had “met with the owner Ali Hayton last week when I visited Point Roberts. We were very hopeful that the border [would] open on June 22nd but it did not. The Port of Bellingham received $100,000 from the U.S. Departmen of Commerce for helping small businesses with $25,000 grants. The Port shall be sending these grant funds to the grocery store soon.
“I had another conversation with the owner today and we discussed a possibility of them providing “meals on wheels” service in Point Roberts, which can be funded with Whatcom County funds. I have asked her for a proposal with some details. I will share that with you once I receive such a request. She feels this service can keep her employees busy and on the job.”
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How nice to be out and see everybody
County executive Sidhu goes 2 for 4
Young man killed in one-car collision
A look back at the Whalen Racetrack
How nice to be out and see everybody
WA360 paddleboarders round the Point buoy
After 460 days, still no word on when border will reopen
Part Two: The Man with the Plan
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All Point Bulletin – July 2021
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PO Box 1451
Point Roberts, WA 98281
360-332-1777
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14