California freezes hundreds of thousands of suspicious disability insurance claims

 California's labor department froze 345,000 disability insurance claims the state suspects are connected to fraudulent actors looking to exploit the system.

The state's Employment Development Department (EDD) said in a news release on Jan. 13 that it suspected "organized criminal elements" of filing false claims using stolen credentials from doctors or other medical professionals. The department froze 27,000 suspicious medical provider registrants and 345,000 claims associated with those providers or other suspicious activity.

The EDD is asking medical providers to complete identification forms to confirm identities as the state works to unfreeze accounts that are authentic.

"While the majority of these providers and claims were likely fraud attempts, the Department has partnered with state regulators and medical provider organizations to coordinate the verification process to clear any legitimate claims as quickly as possible," the press release read. "This is EDD’s top priority."

The pandemic revealed that many states were vulnerable to fraudulent claims for insurance benefits issued by the state and federal government to assist people affected by the novel coronavirus. California has lost $20 billion to fraudulent claims, according to the Los Angeles Times.

California is still in the process of unfreezing 1.4 million Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims it suspended in light of fraud concerns. One in five of residents have refiled claims for PUA so far, and 90 percent of those claims have been cleared by the state, according to the Jan. 13 update.

Disability insurance assists Americans who struggle with a disability. Until the suspended claims are reprocessed, some people who rely on those benefits say they will struggle.

Theresa Holt told Fox KTVU she was "angry" after she had recent medical issues and could not access her disability insurance.

"I'm stuck in this loophole that they've created. I feel it's unacceptable," she said.

But the sheer number of fraudulent claims and the amount of stolen dollars in California has some questioning how fraud has become so easy.

Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician who represents Sacramento for the state congress, told the Los Angeles Times that people can easily look up identities online.

"I think it speaks to the issue of privacy on the internet and the opportunity it gives people who want to scam and try to take over other people's identity," he said.

https://thehill.com/regulation/labor/590148-california-freezes-hundreds-of-thousands-of-suspicious-disability-insurance

VA launches automation pilot to process veteran disability claims faster

 The Department of Veterans Affairs is processing its backlog of disability claims faster than ever before, but is looking to accelerate this pace through an automation pilot it launched last month.

The VA is running the automation pilot through its newly created Office of Automated Benefit Delivery, an initiative that has the potential to dramatically reduce the time it takes to process an individual claim.

The pilot is processing claims within a day or two, while the traditional method of processing these claims currently takes well over 100 days, on average.

“Automation is the way that we’ll really break through this backlog and get vets their earned benefits as quickly as possible,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough told reporters Tuesday.

The VA currently has around 260,000 claims in its backlog right now, a significant increase compared to approximately 70,000 backlogged cases the agency had before the start of the pandemic.

“Despite COVID, we’re processing these claims faster than ever before in VA’s history … The challenge is that the claims are also coming in faster than ever before, making it difficult to drive the backlog down,” McDonough said.

McDonough said the VA plans to hire and train 2,094 additional claims processors and support staff before the end of spring.

The agency, he added, has already hired 1,078 of these employees, and 900 of them are already in training. In the meantime, the VA is using funds from the American Rescue Plan to pay overtime for claims processors.

Rob Reynolds, the acting deputy undersecretary of VA’s Office of Automated Benefit Delivery, said the agency launched the pilot last month to eliminate unnecessary medical examinations, streamline workflows and reduce manual processes.

The pilot is currently focused on claims related to service-related hypertension, and processing claims through the agency’s Boise Regional Office.

Reynolds said the automation pilot determines if there is sufficient medical evidence for disability rating purpose, and will pre-populate the rating calculator and draft a proposed rating decision.

If the medical evidence provided by the veteran is not sufficient, the algorithm will automatically request a medical exam from the veteran.

“Our solution really is to leverage technology and automate the administrative tasks and workflows that we currently have,” Reynolds said.

While the automation pilot can process claims in as little as one-to-two days, Reynolds said in cases VA needs to see the veteran for a medical exam, the claims are processed in about 50 days.

Reynolds said the automation pilot will help the VA make decisions more quickly, accurately and fairly, and will also provide a better user experience for VA employees and veterans.

The data used during the pilot comes from a veteran’s official record and is available for quality reviews, decision reviews or cases before the Board of Veterans Appeals.

As for the next steps, the VA is looking to expand the automation pilot to process additional types of disabilities and claims.

Reynolds said the team behind the pilot is currently looking at including asthma, sleep apnea and prostate cancer claims into the automation pilot, and is looking at adding three new diagnostic codes each quarter.

“With lessons learned, we can create a systemic, repeatable process for other claim types and leverage our enhanced automation claims process,” Reynolds said.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/veterans-affairs/2022/01/va-launches-automation-pilot-to-process-disability-claims-faster/

Long COVID Associated With Risk of Metabolic Liver Disease

 Postacute COVID syndrome (PACS), an ongoing inflammatory state following infection with SARS-CoV-2, is associated with greater risk of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), according to an analysis of patients at a single clinic in Canada published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

MAFLD, also known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is considered an indicator of general health and is in turn linked to greater risk of cardiovascular complications and mortality. It may be a multisystem disorder with various underlying causes.

PACS includes symptoms that affect various organ systems, with neurocognitive, autonomic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal, psychological, sensory, and dermatologic clusters. An estimated 50%-80% of COVID-19 patients experience one or more clusters of symptoms 3 months after leaving the hospital.

But liver problems also appear in the acute phase, said Paul Martin, MD, who was asked to comment on the study. "Up to about half the patients during the acute illness may have elevated liver tests, but there seems to be a subset of patients in whom the abnormality persists. And then there are some reports in the literature of patients developing injury to their bile ducts in the liver over the long term, apparently as a consequence of COVID infection. What this paper suggests is that there may be some metabolic derangements associated with COVID infection, which in turn can accentuate or possibly cause fatty liver," said Martin in an interview. He is chief of digestive health and liver diseases and a professor of medicine at the University of Miami.

"It highlights the need to get vaccinated against COVID and to take appropriate precautions because contracting the infection may lead to all sorts of consequences quite apart from having a respiratory illness," said Martin.

The researchers retrospectively identified 235 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between July 2020 and April 2021. Overall, 69% were men, and the median age was 61 years; 19.2% underwent mechanical ventilation and the mean duration of hospitalization was 11.7 days. They were seen for PACS symptoms a median 143 days after COVID-19 symptoms began, with 77.5% having symptoms of at least one PACS cluster. Of these clusters, 34.9% were neurocognitive, 53.2% were respiratory, 26.4% were musculoskeletal, 29.4% were psychological, 25.1% were dermatologic, and 17.5% were sensory.

At the later clinical visit for PACS symptoms, all patients underwent screening for MAFLD, which was defined as the presence of liver steatosis plus overweight/obesity or type 2 diabetes. Hepatic steatosis was determined from controlled attenuation parameter using transient elastrography. The analysis excluded patients with significant alcohol intake or hepatitis B or C. All patients with liver steatosis also had MAFLD, and this included 55.3% of the study population.

The hospital was able to obtain hepatic steatosis index (HSI) scores for 103 of 235 patients. Of these, 50% had MAFLD on admission for acute COVID-19, and 48.1% had MAFLD upon discharge based on this criterion. At the PACS follow-up visit, 71.3% were diagnosed with MAFLD. There was no statistically significant difference in the use of glucocorticoids or tocilizumab during hospitalization between those with and without MAFLD, and remdesivir use was insignificant in the patient population.

Given that the prevalence of MAFLD among the study population is more than double that in the general population, the authors suggest that MAFLD may be a new PACS cluster phenotype that could lead to long-term metabolic and cardiovascular complications. A potential explanation is loss of lean body mass during COVID-19 hospitalization followed by liver fat accumulation during recovery.

Other infections have also shown an association with increased MAFLD incidence, including HIV, Heliobacter pylori, and viral hepatitis. The authors worry that COVID-19 infection could exacerbate underlying conditions to a more severe MAFLD disease state.

The study is limited by a small sample size, limited follow-up, and the lack of a control group. Its retrospective nature leaves it vulnerable to biases.

"The natural history of MAFLD in the context of PACS is unknown at this time, and careful follow-up of these patients is needed to understand the clinical implications of this syndrome in the context of long COVID," the authors wrote. "We speculate that [MAFLD] may be considered as an independent PACS-cluster phenotype, potentially affecting the metabolic and cardiovascular health of patients with PACS."

One author has relationships with several pharmaceutical companies, but the remaining authors reported no conflicts of interest. Martin has no relevant financial disclosures.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/967060

How Preventable Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

 Women who made at least four healthy lifestyle choices saw their risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis reduced significantly, an analysis of Nurses' Health Study (NHS) data found.

Adopting such habits as moderate drinking, never smoking, regular exercise, and a good diet was associated with a population-attributable risk reduction of 34% (95% CI 20%-47%), reported Jill Hahn, ScD, MS, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues.

With data on nearly 250,000 women, the study -- published in Arthritis Care & Research -- is one of the largest and longest ever to examine the relationship between lifestyle and incident rheumatoid arthritis.

Hahn and colleagues drew on the original NHS, which began in 1976, and its second wave initiated in 1989. Both recruited female professional nurses in the U.S. and are still underway. At baseline and repeatedly during follow-up, participants completed questionnaires about their health status and related behaviors, and they allowed access to their medical records as well.

Diet was assessed through questions about their intake of more than 130 types of foods, allowing the investigators to gauge dietary healthiness via the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Exercise habits were summarized into metabolic equivalent of task (MET) hours per week. Other lifestyle factors examined in the study included self-reported average alcohol intake and smoking history. Participants' body mass index (BMI) was also used as an indicator of lifestyle healthiness. All factors together were entered into a categorical "healthy lifestyle index score" or HLIS.

For statistical purposes, Hahn and colleagues analyzed these factors as binary variables, with the following defined as "healthy":

• ≥19 MET hours/week
• BMI 18.5-24.9
• Upper 40th percentile of AHEI
• Never smoking
• Daily alcohol intake of 5-15 g (equivalent to about one drink)

Choice of this last item as the healthiest approach to drinking was based on previous studies indicating that total abstinence, as well as greater daily intake, were both associated with adverse health status relative to this moderate level.

Over a mean 24 years of follow-up, rheumatoid arthritis developed in 1,219 participants, with roughly two-thirds seropositive for rheumatoid factor (RF).

Each HLIS increment was associated with a 14% decrease in incident rheumatoid arthritis risk (95% CI 10%-18%), which varied little by whether participants were RF-positive. Women in the highest categories for each of the five HLIS components had just 40% of the risk seen in those in the lowest category for each.

Taken individually, the biggest contributors to the apparent protective effect, as reflected in population-attributable risk, were moderate drinking, smoking abstinence, and normal BMI. By the same token, the least important for rheumatoid arthritis were diet and exercise.

Hahn and colleagues acknowledged the potential for reverse causation "if preclinical rheumatoid arthritis caused less physical activity or led to an increase in BMI." But a sub-analysis in which they "lagged" physical activity by 4 years did not yield notably different results, arguing against reverse causation.

Limitations to the analysis included the predominantly white NHS sample and reliance on self-report for much of the lifestyle data.

Still, the investigators concluded that "the confluence of modifiable lifestyle factors represents something of a paradigm shift in thinking about rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune disease risk."

Moreover, "promotion of multiple healthy behaviors to minimize risk is an important message for the general population and in particular those at risk by virtue of family history," they wrote.

Disclosures

The study was funded through NIH grants.

Authors declared they had no relevant financial interests.

Primary Source

Arthritis Care & Research

Source Reference: Hahn J, et al "Association of healthy lifestyle behaviors and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis among women" Arthritis Care Res 2022; DOI: 10.1002/acr.24862.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology/arthritis/96807

Immunotherapy 'Not Additive to Standard of Care' for Untreated Metastatic CRC

 Immunotherapy's limited activity against microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer (CRC) failed to improve when added to standard-of-care (SOC) therapy, a phase II randomized trial showed.

Patients had a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 11.9 months regardless of whether they received nivolumab (Opdivo) in addition to FOLFOX6 chemotherapy, and bevacizumab (Avastin). Median overall survival (OS) had yet to be reached in patients who received FOLFOX6 and bevacizumab but leveled off at 29.2 months with the addition of nivolumab.

PFS landmark analyses at 15 and 18 months showed clear advantages for the nivolumab arm, and a subgroup analysis suggested a trend favoring the addition of immunotherapy, reported Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

"Higher objective response rate and more durable responses were observed with nivolumab plus standard of care, said Lenz. "In exploratory subgroup analyses, benefit was observed with the addition of nivolumab to standard of care in CMS1 [consensus molecular subtype for CRC] and CMS3 patients and in patients with CD8 count ≥2%."

"Results from this phase II exploratory study suggest that a subgroup of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer may experience benefit from the addition of nivolumab to standard of care in the first-line setting," Lenz added. "However, further investigation is warranted to identify characteristics of these patients."

The collective data from multiple studies "do not support concurrent chemotherapy plus immune checkpoint inhibition in either MSI-H [microsatellite instability-high] or MSS in metastatic colorectal cancer," said invited discussant Rona Yaeger, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. "Immune checkpoint inhibition does not improve outcomes in MSS in metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients should be encouraged to enroll in clinical trials to identify new combinations with increased activity."

With respect to the current trial, biomarker analyses could provide insight into why immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are not beneficial in metastatic CRC, she said. However, even if a subpopulation of patients might be more sensitive to ICIs, "we need new approaches and combination regimens to achieve meaningful clinical activity with immune checkpoint inhibition with metastatic colorectal cancer."

ICIs have substantial activity in MSI-H metastatic CRC but little activity in MSS disease. Some evidence suggests immunotherapy may enhance antitumor activity in metastatic CRC when combined with standard treatment, said Lenz.

Nivolumab has FDA approval as a single agent or in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for previously treated MSI-H or mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) metastatic CRC. The current CheckMate 9X8 randomized trial investigated the efficacy of nivolumab in combination with standard-of-care therapy as first-line treatment for unselected patients with metastatic CRC.

The trial involved 195 patients who were randomized 2:1 to FOLFOX6 plus bevacizumab with or without nivolumab. More than 90% of the patients had MSS/MMR-proficient tumors. The primary endpoint was PFS, and OS was a key secondary endpoint.

With a minimum follow-up of 21.5 months, the results showed no significant difference between treatment groups in either the primary endpoint or OS. PFS in the MSS/pMMR subgroup was identical to the overall results. Landmark PFS analyses favored the nivolumab arm at 15 months (45% vs 21.5%) and at 18 months (28% vs 9%).

The addition of nivolumab led to a higher response rate (60% vs 46%) and to more prolonged responses (median duration 12.9 months vs 9.3 month). A majority of responses in the nivolumab arm persisted for at least 12 months as compared with 31% in the standard-of-care group.

An exploratory analysis showed that patients with CMS1 and CMS3 tumors derived a PFS benefit from nivolumab after 12 months. The same was true of patients who had baseline tumor CD8 ≥2%.

The nivolumab arm had a higher incidence of grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events (75% vs 48%), but no new or unexpected safety issues arose during the study, said Lenz.

Disclosures

The study was supported by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).

Lenz disclosed relationships with Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fulgent Genetics, G1 Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Isofol Medical, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Oncocyte, Roche, and BMS.

Primary Source

Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

Source Reference: Lenz HJ, et al "Nivolumab plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin/oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6)/bevacizumab versus mFOLFOX6/bevacizumab for first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: Phase II results from CheckMate 9X8" GICS 2022; Abstract 8.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/mgics/96815

Fauci: 'confident most states reach peak of omicron in mid-February'

 Anthony Fauci said Sunday he is "as confident as you can be" that most states in the U.S. will reach a peak in omicron infections over the next several weeks. 

"You never want to be overconfident when you're dealing with this virus," Fauci said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week." "But if you look at the patterns that we've seen in South Africa in the U.K. and Israel ... they've peaked and starting to come down rather sharply." 

Fauci said there are some states, particularly in the south and west that have seen an increase in omicron infections despite falling infection rates in other areas of the country where vaccination levels are higher. 

"But if the pattern follows the trend that we are seeing in other places, such as the northeast, I believe that you will start to see a turn around throughout the entire country," he predicted. 

Fauci said that despite "varying" levels of vaccination in different portions of the country, "ultimately they're all going to go in the same direction."

Public health experts have been working to beat back the omicron variant of the coronavirus for the last several months. Patients with omicron, particularly those who are vaccinated, have reported more mild symptoms from the highly contagious variant of the virus. 

President Biden and other public officials have said being vaccinated and boosted against the coronavirus is the surest way people can protect themselves severe illness from all strains of the virus. 

"We do know ... that even with omicron, boosting makes a major, major difference in protecting you from hospitalization and severe outcomes," Fauci said. "So things are looking good, we don't want to get over confident, but they look like they are going in the right direction right now."  

https://thehill.com/homenews/590960-fauci-says-hes-confident-most-states-reach-peak-of-omicron-in-mid-february

All Eyes On DC 'Defeat The Mandates' Rally As Organizers Caution Against Bad Actors

 At least 20,000 people are expected to attend Sunday's "Defeat the Mandates: American Homecoming" rally on the North Mall in Washington DC on Sunday - and organizers have already put bad actors on notice.

"We condemn all organizations and individuals who would use the March as an opportunity to further their own agendas of extremism, intolerance, and violence," reads a Friday statement, which notes that disinformation has already been spread about the event.

For example, on January 11, owners of the Instagram account “Intheweeds_dmv” published a slanderous post that claimed participants intended to “enter hospitality venues to challenge DC’s vaccine mandate.” WAMU, the local NPR affiliate in Washington, then reported it, despite the account’s lack of any substantiation. 

A false narrative was then created, leading listeners and readers to believe that the March to Defeat the Mandates was created in response to Mayor Bowser’s Washington DC Mandate when in reality, organizers for the March applied for permits in November before the mayor’s Mandate was ever made public.  In fact, one could argue that the mayor’s mandate was in response to our announcement of the March to Defeat the Mandates.

The organizers have also contracted "comprehensive private security" which is "working in concert with local and federal law enforcement" in an effort to keep the event peaceful.

"We do not welcome extremist groups on any side that condone racism or bring violence of any kind to the thousands of Americans that will be marching peacefully," the statement continues.

Meanwhile, the New York Freedom Rally group - which is affiliated with "Defeat the Mandates," offered guidance to anyone traveling to DC to attend the rally.

"The media will paint anyone doing sit-ins or other disruptive behavior as insurrectionists," they wrote in an Instagram post which was shared by the DC organizers. "We are here to peacefully gather, march and stand for freedom, nothing more."

The march will begin in the morning at the Washington Monument and end in the afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial.

"You're going to hear a lot of people talk about on the left say this is a big, anti-vax rally — it's people coming in to deny science," organizer Will Witt told Fox News, "but this march is about the mandate, and this march is about the Draconian measures that we're seeing all across this country right now, especially in places like D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco."

Witt said 90% of speakers at the march are vaccinated. Several high-profile speakers, however, have been at the center of national debate over COVID-19 vaccines and mandates, including Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Peter McCollough, YouTuber JP Spears, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently said giving children "one of these vaccines" is "criminal medical malpractice" at a December event in California, according to The Associated Press.

Kennedy's nonprofit organization, Children’s Health Defense — which has received some criticism for its newsletters and social media posts questioning the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in children — is sponsoring Sunday's march. The organization doubled its revenue in 2020 to $6.8 million, filings with charity regulators obtained by AP show. -Fox News

According to Witt, the mandates are a "slippery slope" towards more restrictions - pointing to Australia where all residents may face $4,000 fines per quarter for remaining unvaccinated. Witt says that when Covid-19 first hit the scene, it was "understandable why politicians" would want to lock down cities - however two years later - and with Omicron variant evading the vaccine - the mandates are moot.

"No politician wants to be known as the person who didn't [lock down] their city. Everyone gets sick. So, it made sense in the beginning, but it's been almost two years now," Witt said, arguing that those in favor of the mandates aren't being exposed to accurate information in the media," he said. "I think we've got a pretty clear understanding of how this virus works, how it spreads and the best way to combat this. But again, that real information isn't getting out to a lot of voters and people, so these left-wing places continue to be dominated by these … mandates."

Ahead of the event, Dr. Robert Malone - who will be speaking at the March - published a 'COVID Declaration' which has over 17,000 signatories.

Via rwmalonemd.substack.com:

Following Dr. Robert Malone’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, more physicians and medical scientists have joined with their colleagues from around the world in signing the Physicians Declaration. Now with more than 17,000 signatures confirmed through a rigorous validation process, these physicians and scientists are represented by Dr. Malone as he speaks at the march to Defeat the Mandates on Sunday, January 23 in Washington, D.C.

The over 17,000 signers to the declaration have reached consensus on three foundational principles:

1. Healthy children should not be subject to forced vaccination: they face negligible risk from covid, but face potential permanent, irreversible risk to their health if vaccinated, including heart, brain, reproductive and immune system damage.

2. Natural Immunity Denial has prolonged the pandemic and needlessly restricted the lives of Covid-recovered people. Masks, lockdowns, and other restrictions have caused great harm especially to children and delayed the virus’ transition to endemic status.

3. Health agencies and institutions must cease interfering with the physician-patient relationship. Policymakers are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, as a result of institutional interference and blocking treatments proven to cure at a near 100% rate when administered early.

Led by Dr. Malone and staying loyal to the Hippocratic oath, the declaration’s signers have resisted financial inducements, threats, unprecedented censorship, and reputational attacks to remain committed first to patient health and well-being. After 23 months of research, millions of patients treated, hundreds of clinical trials performed and scientific data shared, and after demonstrating and documenting their success in combating COVID-19, the 17,000+ physicians and medical scientists who signed the declaration support the core principles Dr. Malone and many other doctors have been speaking out about since late last year.

The 17,000+ signatures of the declaration are authentic and must pass a screening process before being officially identified as signing the declaration. Signatories are required to supply their affiliation and a link to their medical organization, facility, or profile. Nurses, non-MD practitioners and non-medical scientists are removed from the list signatories, as are duplicate entries and “bot” emails. The emails of the signatories have been separately and repeatedly tested and verified by a 3rd-party provider.

As the number of signatures to the declaration continues to rise, we have published a select group of world famous, highly credentialed physicians and scientists who authored the

declaration. Many other doctors who have spoken out against the corruption, censorship and hypocrisy by authorities have been threatened, fired, censured, lied about, intimidated, and harassed - all while saving patients’ lives daily. Never has the public been forced to become lab rats, for a vaccine 5 years away from adequate testing, violating basic principles of informed consent. Moreover, the medical and scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of the COVID- 19 vaccine do not support mandating its use for anyone, especially healthy children.

January 23 March on Washington

The over 17,000 signers of the declaration will be represented on Sunday, January 23, when Dr. Malone stands with fellow doctors and scientists on stage in Washington DC, as part of the Defeat the Mandates march Sunday, January 23, 2022. At the Lincoln Memorial, they will be joined by a wide range of featured guests for a series of inspiring talks and musical performances. Join us!

About the Global COVID Summit

Global Covid Summit is the product of an international alliance of doctors and scientists, committed to speaking truth to power about Covid pandemic research and treatment.

Thousands have died from Covid as a result of being denied life-saving early treatment. The Declaration is a battle cry from physicians who are daily fighting for the right to treat their patients, and the right of patients to receive those treatments - without fear of interference, retribution or censorship by government, pharmacies, pharmaceutical corporations, and big tech. We demand that these groups step aside and honor the sanctity and integrity of the patient- physician relationship, the fundamental maxim "First Do No Harm", and the freedom of patients and physicians to make informed medical decisions. Lives depend on it. More information here: https://globalCovidSummit.org

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/disinformation-extremism-and-violence-all-eyes-dc-defeat-mandates-rally-organizers