US Army Directs Commands To Prep For Mandatory COVID Shots For Troops

 by Steve Watson via Summit News,

The US Army is preparing to enforce mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for service members from the beginning of September, according to an Army Times report.

The report published Saturday notes “The Army has directed commands to prepare to administer mandatory COVID-19 vaccines as early as Sept. 1, pending full Food and Drug Administration licensure.”

“The directive came from an execute order sent to the force by Department of the Army Headquarters,” the report adds.

An update to a purported leaked military directive says that “Commands will be prepared to provide a backbrief on servicemember vaccination status and way ahead for completion once the vaccine is mandated.”

Both the Army and the DoD have denied that there are plans for mandatory vaccinations.

Army spokesperson Maj. Jackie Wren staled that “As a matter of policy we do not comment on leaked documents. The vaccine continues to be voluntary.”

“If we are directed by DoD to change our posture, we are prepared to do so,” Wren added.

The military is experiencing vaccine hesitancy, just as in the greater population. This is sure to continue, with new research linking heart issues and chest pains in soldiers to mRNA vaccines.

The latest study, published in JAMA’s Cardiology Journal on Tuesday, showed that 23 male soldiers (including 22 who were deemed “previously health”) between the ages of 20 and 51 presented “acute onset of marked chest pain” within four days of receiving their second dose. Patients who sought care for chest pain in the military health-care system following COVID-19 vaccination and were subsequently diagnosed with clinical myocarditis were included in the case study.

In the UK, soldiers have been warned that if they decline the vaccine they will face ‘punishment and re-education’.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/us-army-directs-commands-prep-mandatory-covid-shots-troops-report

Facebook, Google and Twitter threaten to leave Hong Kong over privacy law changes

 Tech companies are already at odds with the Hong Kong government, and that tension appears to be on the rise. The Wall Street Journal has learned that the Asia Internet Coalition, a tech alliance including Facebook, Google and Twitter, has quietly warned Hong Kong that companies would stop operating in the territory if officials move forward with data protection law amendments that could hold companies liable for doxxing campaigns.

The tech giants are worried that staff could face criminal investigations or even charges if users share personal info online, even if they didn't mean any harm. That would be a "completely disproportionate and unnecessary response" and could chill free speech, the Coalition wrote. The alliance instead suggested that Hong Kong narrow the scope of violations.

Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data acknowledged the letter's existence, but said that new measures were needed after doxxing pushed the "limits of morality and the law." The Commissioner also insisted that the changed laws would "not have any bearing" on freedom of speech, and wouldn't deter outside investment in the Hong Kong region.

The amendments could be approved by the end of the legislative year.

The concern, as you might guess, is that pro-China officials might abuse the updated laws to silence dissent. Pro-democracy activists doxxed police officers and others frequently during the 2019 protests, and there's a worry that the revised laws could be worded loosely enough that merely sharing a photo of someone in a public space could get both sharers and tech companies in trouble. It could be harder to hold police accountable for violence, or to criticize officials for anti-democratic policies.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-google-twitter-may-leave-hong-kong-190015028.html

Fauci-Funded EcoHealth Refuses To Give Wuhan Documents To Congress

 Four months before the Obama administration suspended federal funding for gain-of-function research on US soil, the process by which virologists manipulate viruses to be more transmissible to humans, a subagency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci - effectively shifted this research to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) via a grant to nonprofit group EcoHealth Alliance, headed by Peter Daszak.

Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance

The first $666,442 installment of EcoHealth's $3.7 million NIH grant was paid in June 2014, with similar annual payments through May 2019 under the "Understanding The Risk Of Bat Coronavirus Emergence" project, as we noted in April.

As we noted in April, the WIV "had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions" for years under the leadership of Dr. Shi 'Batwoman' Zhengli, according to the Washington Post's Josh Rogin.

Now, Daszak is refusing to comply with a months-old document request from House Republicans related to his work at the Wuhan lab, according to Just The News.

As government investigators and journalists dig to uncover the full scope of Daszak's links to the WIV, Daszak is continuing to spurn a congressional request for that information. 

In April, Republicans on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent Daszak a letter directing him to submit, among many other documents, "all letters, emails, and other communications between [EcoHealth] and [the WIV] related to terms of agreements, bat coronaviruses, genome or genetic sequencing, SARS-CoV-2, and/or laboratory safety practices" pursuant to key NIH research funding through EcoHealth to the Wuhan lab as a grant sub-recipient.

Yet Daszak himself has not cooperated with the request. An aide with the Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed to Just the News this week that the committee has "received no response still from EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak to the April 16th letter from Leaders Rodgers, Guthrie, and Griffith." -JTN

"We have asked Daszak to provide information we know he has that sheds light on the origins of this pandemic," said GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who has also publicly noted Daszak's refusal to play ball.

"Dr. Daszak, you received American funds you used to conduct research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," Rodgers continued during a House subcommittee meeting last week. "You owe it to the American people to be transparent."

Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats aren't actually interested in getting to the bottom of things - as they themselves hold subpoena power in both chambers. The ultimate authority, as JTN notes, rests with that party - specifically Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone - who notably boosted funding to Fauci's NIH in 2015 to the tune of $2 billion per year through 2020. 

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)

Why a subpoena hasn't been issued in more than two months is unclear, but we could venture a guess...

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fauci-funded-ecohealth-refuses-give-wuhan-documents-congress

UK body recommends COVID booster campaign in autumn

 The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended that the NHS should start a COVID-19 booster shot programme in September, to run alongside the annual flu vaccine drive. 

The programme should run in two stages, initially targeting elderly and vulnerable people and frontline health and social care workers like the initial vaccination push, and then be expanded to include all adults aged 50 and over, plus younger, at-risk people who qualify for a flu shot.

While not yet formally adopted by the government, the proposals would mean that millions of people – perhaps as many as 30 million – could be in line for a third dose in the autumn.

The recommendation comes as the UK is anticipating a more severe flu season than usual, which could place added pressure on the NHS if protection against COVID-19 afforded by the initial two-dose vaccinations starts to wane.

There’s no evidence that will happen, and just this week AstraZeneca reported results suggesting that a single shot of its Vaxzevria vaccine induced immunity for at least one year. The JCVI’s recommendation is a precaution while the UK waits for the results of its large-scale COV-BOOST trial in September.

A large-scale booster rollout will help to ensure that the protection already built up in the population does not decline through the winter months, and that additional protection is layered in to guard against any problem variants of SARS-CoV-2 that may emerge.

No decisions have yet been made on which vaccines will be used, but the COV-BOOST should provide important data on that front as it is including seven types – from AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Valneva, CureVac and Janssen.

With the UK now heading for a possible ending of social restrictions on 19 July, the country “is now heavily dependent on the continued success of the vaccination programme,” said England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam.

“We want to be on the front foot for COVID-19 booster vaccination to keep the probability of loss of vaccine protection, due to waning immunity or variants, as low as possible – especially over the coming autumn and winter,” he added.

The latest estimates from Public Health England (PHE) suggest that vaccines deployed so far have already had an impact on hospitalisation rates, and prevented an estimated 7.2 million infections and 27,000 deaths in England alone.

Wales and Scotland’s devolved health administrations are also working on delivering booster shot campaigns in the autumn, according to a BBC report.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/uk-body-recommends-covid-booster-campaign-in-autumn/

Ocugen preps filings for COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin on new data

 Armed with new data from its development partner Bharat Biotech, Ocugen is planning to press ahead with plans to file for approval of their COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin in the US and Canada.

Covaxin has already been approved for restricted emergency use in India, getting the green light in January months before the final results from the trial were available.

That data from the 25,800-patient phase 3 trial is now in, and suggested the shot has an overall protective efficacy of 77.8%, and 65.2% against the highly transmissible delta (B.1.617.2) variant of SARS-CoV-2 which is troubling health systems around the world.

Covaxin – a two-dose shot based on an inactivated form of the virus formulated with an immune-boosting adjuvant – is also  93.4% protective against severe symptomatic COVID-19, according to a preprint posted on the MedRxiv website, where studies can be published before being peer reviewed.

Bharat said in a statement that Covaxin is the first COVID-19 vaccine to report promising efficacy against asymptomatic infections based on PCR testing, adding that “will help in reducing disease transmission.”

According to Balram Bhargava, the director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which co-developed the vaccine, Covaxin “will not only benefit the Indian citizens but would also immensely contribute to protect the global community against the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus.”

Ocugen licensed rights to Covaxin in the US and Canada earlier this year in twin deals that give it a 45% share of profits made from sales in the two countries.

Shares in the Philadelphia-based biotech fell after it said it would go after a full marketing application for Covaxin rather than emergency use authorisation, although the FDA had already said it had closed the door on the EUA route with multiple COVID-19 vaccines now available.

The data against delta is particularly encouraging as the variant is becoming dominant in the US, and President Biden has warned that the strain – coupled with low vaccination rates in some areas of the country – means that the pandemic is has yet to be “vanquished.”

The number of people choosing to remain unvaccinated has contributed to the Biden administration missing its goal of 70% of US adults receiving at least one shot of vaccine by the Fourth of July holiday.

There was more good news on the delta variant front last week when Johnson & Johnson announced that its single-shot vaccine generated “strong and persistent activity” against delta and other prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variants in a study of blood samples taken from its phase 3 trial.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/ocugen-preps-filings-for-covid-19-vaccine-covaxin-on-new-data/

Zydus Cadila nears world-first human plasmid DNA vaccine approval

 Zydus Cadila has filed for emergency use approval (EUA) in India of its plasmid DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19, which if given a green light could become the first shot of its type to be cleared for widespread use in humans. 

Leaving aside the possible technological milestone, the ZyCOV-D vaccine has a few characteristics that could stand in the way of its rollout, including a need for three doses, whereas all India’s current vaccines only need two.

The 28,000-patient trial conducted in support of the EUA fling also showed a top-line protective efficacy of 66.6%, which is above the World Health Organization threshold for an effective vaccine but lower than the already-approved shots.

ZyCOV-D has one big factor in its favour however, as its clinical trial included a large proportion of patients infected with the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 raising concern around the world.

So far, India has approved four vaccines, including the AstraZeneca/Oxford University jab (sold there as Covishield and made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), which accounts for almost nine in 10 administered shots to date.

The others are the Covaxin from India’s Bharat Biotech, Russia’s Sputnik V, and Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, with at least three more in the pre-approval stage including Pfizer/BioNTech.

In a statement, Zydus Cadila said it hopes to produce upwards of 100 million doses of ZyCOV-D a year, with 10 million expected to be available within the next few weeks, which could help the Indian government meet its targeting of vaccinating all adults by December.

Coronavirus infections in India have dropped from the devastating highs of April and May, with hundreds of thousands of cases per day that pushed its health services to breaking point, but are still running at upwards of 40,000 per day.

“As the first-ever plasmid DNA vaccine for human use, ZyCoV-D has proven its safety and efficacy profile in our fight against COVID-19,” said the company’s managing director Dr Sharvil Patel.

One advantage for the latecomer vaccine could be data from its clinical trial showing activity in 12- to 18-year-olds, according to analyst Prashant Khadayate at GlobalData, who said it is the first shot to have data in this age group.

“It will focus on this patient pool as the third wave is said to affect children below 18 years,” said Khadayate. “Moreover, the vaccine is administered through a needle-free injection system, which may further increase the acceptance of this vaccine in this age group,” he added.

The vaccine has also shown good stability at temperatures of 25 degrees Centigrade for at least three months, which could be a big help in delivering vaccinations to India’s vast rural communities.

Zydus Cadila also says that the plasmid DNA technology can be quickly modified to generate new vaccine constructs against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/zydus-cadila-nears-world-first-human-plasmid-dna-vaccine-approval/

Ramsay Health Care Increases Final Offer for Spire Healthcare

 Ramsay Health Care Ltd. said Monday that it has made an increased all-cash final offer for U.K. rival Spire Healthcare Group PLC, valuing the business at an enterprise value of around 2.11 billion pounds ($2.92 billion).

The Australian hospital operator said that under the terms of the final offer, Spire shareholders will receive 250 pence a share in cash, a premium of 30% to the closing price of 193 pence a share on the latest practicable date.

The final price is an increase from the 240-pence offer previously made to Spire on May 26, which Spire management unanimously recommended its shareholders accept. Spire said separately on Monday that the increase follows extensive engagement with its shareholders.

Ramsay Chief Executive Craig McNally said the offer provides Spire shareholders an ability to realize a premium on their investments at attractive values, without further risk.

The acquisition will be funded by existing debt facilities and Ramsay has already secured undertakings to vote in favor of the scheme from shareholdings representing about 30.4% of Spire's issued share capital.

Spire said that it unanimously recommends shareholders vote in favor of the increased final offer at the court meeting and general meeting, set for next Monday.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/RAMSAY-HEALTH-CARE-LIMITE-6492228/news/Ramsay-Health-Care-Makes-Increased-Final-Offer-for-Spire-Healthcare-35791742/