'Freedom Convoy' Protests Spread Throughout World As Truckers Lead Fight Against Mandates

 by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Following the tactics used by Canadian truckers in Ottawa, a growing number of trucker-inspired protests appear to be gaining momentum worldwide—with groups in the Netherlands, Austria, the United States, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand forming.

The Ottawa protest, known as the “Freedom Convoy,” aims to do away with Canadian COVID-19 vaccine mandates, namely for truckers crossing the U.S.–Canada border. On Sunday evening, the mayor of Ottawa declared an emergency, while police started making arrests and seizing the truckers’ fuel.

In New Zealand, truckers reportedly launched a convoy from both the North and South Islands. They are slated to converge at the country’s capital, Wellington, according to the New Zealand Herald.

One of the truckers, who only called herself Jess, told the Toronto Star that she is attempting to organize a trucker protest in New Zealand, which has some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the world, because “her country needed to hear the call to stand up.”

She confirmed that the two groups will converge in Wellington in the near future after communicating with truckers via social media.

Farm vehicles joining the trucker convoy protest against COVID-19 mandates parked in Ottawa on Feb. 5, 2020. (Courtesy of Simon Alary)

“I think you’re starting to see what will become a big global movement to end these mandates,” Brian Brase, co-organizer of the U.S. protest, told Fox News on Sunday, referring to vaccine requirements.

“It’s a violation of your human rights to be mandated to take this vaccine. If you want it, go get it, but being mandated to get it, we’re standing up against that. We think it’s wrong.”

Last week, organizers of a U.S. freedom convoy criticized Facebook after the social media giant removed a page organizing protests. The truckers told Fox News that they were planning to drive from California to Washington, D.C.

Truckers in the United Kingdom will also demonstrate against mandates in a Glasgow suburb and will drive to Edinburgh, the capital, before heading to London, organizers told the Scottish Daily Express newspaper. Freedom Convoys will also depart in the English cities of Manchester, Exeter, Bristol, and Bournemouth, as well as in cities in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.

In the Netherlands, according to the local NL Times, dozens of trucks and other vehicles gathered in Leeuwarden to protest local COVID-19-related mandates and restrictions on Sunday. A video posted by the “Freedom Convoy Nederland” showed the group.

Protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 mandates gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., on Feb. 2, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

Elsewhere in Europe, Aram Lemmer, a business owner and organizer in Austria, told the outlet that he got commitments from about 2,500 vehicles to drive to Vienna, the capital, to protest against mandates. Recently, Austria passed a law that will mandate vaccinations for all eligible people aged 18 and older or they’ll face hefty fines.

And police in the Australian Capital Territory say they expect crowd sizes for the “Convoy to Canberra” to peak on Feb. 8 when Australia’s Parliament resumes. Protesters led by truckers are expected to gather outside Parliament House.

It comes as Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency on Sunday, alleging a “serious danger” posed by the trucker protest. Protest organizers say their movement is peaceful.

“IMPORTANT: Anyone attempting to bring material supports (gas, etc.) to the demonstrators could be subject to arrest. Enforcement is underway,” Ottawa police also said in a statement on social media Sunday.

The decision was panned by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a group representing the truckers.

“In a free and democratic society that is governed by the rule of law, citizens can freely associate with each other, including the giving and receiving of goods and gifts. There is no law that would allow the Ottawa Police to arrest people for giving fuel or food to another Canadian,” Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyer Nicholas Wansbutter said in a statement.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/freedom-convoy-protests-are-spreading-throughout-world-truckers-lead-fight-against

Lander resignation potentially imperiling the rest of Biden’s scientific agenda

 When President Biden tapped Eric Lander as White House science adviser in January 2021, he tasked the renowned genomics researcher with “reinvigorating” American science.

Following Lander’s stunning resignation on Monday evening, however, the question is no longer whether he’ll reinvigorate the U.S. scientific enterprise. It’s whether he’s derailed it.

In a resignation letter, Lander apologized to White House science staff for the workplace-abuse scandal that caused his downfall, admitting he “caused hurt to past and present colleagues for the way in which I have spoken to them.”

In interviews with STAT, White House aides and outside research experts worried that the scandal will delay or undercut several of the administration’s key scientific priorities: appointing a new biomedical research chief; relaunching the “Cancer Moonshot”; retooling federal pandemic preparedness; and creating a new agency geared toward biomedical breakthroughs.

“The questions should be around small-molecule antivirals, around climate change, not around the culture of the office,” said Sudip Parikh, the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “That’s a huge distraction, and it overshadows a lot of the really important work that’s ongoing.”

The Biden administration, however, pushed back on the characterization that its science agenda could be in jeopardy.

“You’re talking about things that are both personal and policy priorities for the President — and which have a great deal of groundwork already laid,” an Office of Science and Technology Policy official said in a statement before the resignation.

The resignation is a major blow to the Biden administration’s broader scientific agenda, which is already floundering. The National Institutes of Health is currently without a director. Even Senate Democrats have yet to rally behind Robert Califf, Biden’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Increasingly, there are questions about whether health secretary Xavier Becerra is a player in either process, or in the federal pandemic response.

And Lander was an uncommonly central player in Biden’s life sciences ambitions. His appointment in itself was historic: He is the first White House science adviser to sit in the president’s Cabinet; the first from a life sciences background; and the first to create an entire wing of OSTP devoted to biology, medicine, and human health.

Politico first reported that Lander faced an internal investigation into workplace abuse. 

This is not the first scandal surrounding Lander. He’s widely known in the scientific community to be abrasive and at times condescending, though no public reports of active verbal abuse had ever emerged prior to this week.

In the wake of the latest controversy, however, a number of academics and lawmakers moved to distance themselves from Lander, or called for his dismissal outright. AAAS disinvited Lander from its annual meeting on Monday, saying in a statement: “Unfortunately, toxic behavioral issues still make their way into the STEM community where they stifle participation and innovation.”

Minutes later, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate’s science committee, issued a statement saying Lander “should not continue to serve in the administration.”

“The President accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Monday evening. “He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”

In interviews with STAT, researchers and White House aides were split as to how Lander’s ouster will impact the Biden administration’s scientific work.

Some argued the work will continue unabated regardless of Lander’s departure in the administration. The Cancer Moonshot in particular is largely isolated from Lander, multiple aides argued. Its director, Danielle Carnival, is a longtime Biden aide thought to have the ear of the president, and Lander’s resignation could only serve to empower her more. Plus, as currently structured, Biden’s latest effort does not require support from Congress — and some funding from the original moonshot in 2016 remains available as well.

The fate of ARPA-H is perhaps more uncertain, largely because it requires Congress to pass authorizing language and funding for the new agency. To date, lawmakers have offered less than half of the money the Biden administration originally requested for the new agency, and have been beset by squabbles over whether the new agency should exist independently, or as a unit within NIH. It’s also not clear what bill Congress could attach it to to ensure its passage by the end of the year.

Still, key players in D.C. research advocacy remain optimistic, largely because the ARPA-H proposal enjoys support from both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate.

“ARPA-H and the Cancer Moonshot serve the best interests of Americans,” Ellie Dehoney, the vice president for policy and advocacy at the advocacy group Research!America, said in a statement. “We believe the administration and Congress will work on a bipartisan basis to advance both initiatives.”

Others, though, warned that the White House has little margin for error. Biden has already been in office for a year, and with midterm elections looming and Republicans heavily favored to regain control on Capitol Hill, many aides view the end of 2022 as a firm deadline for achieving anything that requires lawmaker support.

“If we somehow miss this moment, if we somehow don’t get those pieces of legislation and those initiatives off the ground, that moment will pass,” Parikh said. “There’s a very small window. So I do worry about distractions like this, and the fact that there are incredible minds inside the OSTP, and this overshadows their work.”

https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/07/eric-lander-resigns-imperiling-the-rest-of-bidens-scientific-agenda/

Zimmer Biomet plots $1B revenue for spine, dental spinoff ZimVie, sets launch date

 While many of its peers in the medtech industry are proceeding with caution amid the fluctuating market conditions of 2022, Zimmer Biomet, for one, is putting the pedal to the metal.

First up on the docket is the devicemaker’s planned spinoff of its spine and dental segments, which is now slated to be completed on March 1, well ahead of previous estimates that it would be finalized closer to the middle of the year.

When the separation is complete, the standalone public company—dubbed ZimVie after its progenitor and the French word for “life”—will begin trading on the Nasdaq as “ZIMV.” Zimmer Biomet will retain a stake of just under 20% of ZimVie’s outstanding shares of common stock, though the elder company said it would ultimately divest those shares in an unspecified “tax-efficient manner.”

The remaining 80% of ZimVie’s outstanding stock will go to current Zimmer shareholders, distributed as one ZimVie share for every 10 Zimmer shares they own.

For all of 2022, ZimVie is expecting to rake in revenues of $1 billion. That’s the same amount the dental and spine businesses registered under the Zimmer Biomet umbrella in 2021, indicating the company’s inclination to temper expectations amid the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, which ZimVie noted could “materially impact” projections.

The spinoff will comprise a solid slate of Zimmer’s products, including its Rosa One Spine robotic surgery system, Mobi-C artificial cervical disc replacement implants, dental reconstruction implants and more. Those sectors took a hit at the height of the pandemic in 2020, with revenues dropping to $897 million for the year as elective surgeries were postponed and canceled.

“At ZimVie, we intend to prioritize innovation and enhanced commercial and operational focus to improve the adoption of our product platforms within the growing $20 billion global dental and spine markets,” said Vafa Jamali, president and CEO of the new entity.

Jamali, a former Medtronic exec who oversaw the Zimmer competitor’s respiratory, gastrointestinal and informatics divisions, was selected to lead ZimVie in early 2021, shortly after the spinoff plans were announced.

He’ll be joined in the C-suite by Richard Heppenstall, former chief financial officer of orthopedic brace maker Breg, who has been tapped to take on the same role and an executive VP slot at ZimVie. 

As for the rest of its business, Zimmer is playing it similarly safe in terms of 2022 forecasts. The medtech giant recorded total net sales of $7.8 billion for 2021, a jump of more than 11% compared to 2020.

That increase, however, was somewhat muted by a 2.3% drop in net sales in the fourth quarter, which Zimmer CEO Bryan Hanson linked to “hospital staffing shortages and the omicron variant surge worldwide.”

Wary of continued fluctuations from the coronavirus pandemic, Zimmer is therefore predicting, at best, stagnant sales for the year after the dental and spine segments are spun out. Its forecasts for the remaining business—led by hip and knee replacement technologies—include a year-over-year impact on revenue somewhere between a 4% drop and no change at all.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/zimmer-biomet-plots-1b-revenue-for-spine-dental-business-zimvie-sets-spinoff-date

Biden's Top Science Advisor Forced Out Over Harsh Treatment Of Subordinates

 President Joe Biden's top advisor on science and technology policy - two areas that have become extremely important to the White House over the past two years - has just been fired for demeaning and mistreating his subordinates following an internal White House probe.

Recordings and documents obtained by Politico exposed how Eric Lander bullied his former general counsel, and how he spoke to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy staff in "a disrespectful or demeaning way," which he acknowledged in his apology.

"I am devastated that I caused hurt to past and present colleagues by the way in which I have spoken to them," Lander wrote in a resignation letter to his boss. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday night that the president had accepted Lander’s resignation from his cabinet-level position (which technically put him in the line of succession)

This could create serious problems for the president as he tries to shift the public's attention to his cancer moonshot. Biden appeared alongside Dr. Lander during an event last week where the White House re-launched an initiative to cut the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. The president said Dr. Lander would take a lead role in implementing the initiative. Dr. Lander had already recused himself from all COVID vaccine-related issues, but he has still played an important role in shaping the White House's response to the pandemic.

Dr. Lander

Biden now finds himself in a difficult spot: he has repeatedly promised to fire anybody in his administration who "talks down to someone...on the spot".

One former subordinate of Dr. Lander's complained that his behavior was downright "shocking".

Rachel Wallace, a career civil servant who works at OSTP, filed a complaint about Dr. Lander’s behavior to the White House, according to people familiar with the matter. A person who has spoken to OSTP staff said other people who worked in the office had similar concerns about Dr. Lander’s behavior.

"Dr. Lander’s behavior is shocking, to say the least, and I’m concerned that this kind of misconduct may adversely affect science policy," said David Seide, senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project, which is representing Ms. Wallace.

However, Lander's transgressions are much bigger than all that.  While his behavior offered a convenient excuse for the White House to get rid of him, Lander has an employment record fraught with potential controversies. For one: before joining the White House, he was the founding director of the Broad Institute, a biotech outfit whose genomics work has touched upon eugenics - specifically the role that genetics plays in same-sex attraction, the development of PTSD and other issues, according to a report from the Organic Consumers Association.

Lander also helped cover up evidence showing that "gain-of-function" research financed in part by the US had helped a team of Chinese scientists create the highly infectious SARS-CoV-2, before the virus escaped from the lab and set off the global pandemic

Here's more on that from the OCA:

In January 2020, when scientists examined the genome of SARS-CoV-2 it was immediately clear that the unique feature that made it “100 to 1,000 times” more infectious than the first SARS was something that couldn’t have been achieved through natural recombination. In fact, the virus’s genetic code bore a tell-tale sign that it had been engineered in the lab. This was obvious to every scientist who looked at the virus, even those who later published articles claiming the virus wasn’t engineered.

The US government engaged in a coordinated cover-up that has been revealed in emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, but one aspect of the cover-up hasn’t been explored before now: A January 2020 analysis conducted by Eric Lander’s Broad Institute for the Director of National Intelligence that falsely claimed that the virus wasn’t genetically engineered.

Fortunately for Lander, he doesn't even need this job: He is already among the richest members of President Biden's cabinet, with a personal net worth of $45 million.

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee demanded that the White House turn over its report on Landers' behavior - for which he issued a formal apology to staffers on Friday - as soon as possible.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bidens-top-science-advisor-forced-out-over-harsh-treatment-subordinates

Anti-vax protesters detained after storming AMC theater in midtown

At least 10 people were taken into police custody after a group of anti-vaccine protestors stormed the AMC Empire 25 movie theater in midtown on Monday night, police said.

Police said the group invaded the West 42nd street theater around 6:30 p.m. Those detained were awaiting charges on Monday night, cops said.

Video posted on social media from outside of the AMC shows NYPD officers escorting several men out of the theater into a van as a group of protesters can be heard loudly chanting.

“My body, my choice. The vaccine you won’t force,” the crowd repeated.

Another video, posted from inside of one of the theaters shows protesters engaged in an apparent “sit-in” in large theater seats while talking to responding officers. 

“I hope that you guys get inspired by that and stand up with us because this is going to the Supreme Court,” one protester tells a cop.

According to AMC’s website, the Empire 25 theater requires all guests ages 5 and up to show proof of vaccination. Masks are “recommended” for all guests and those who have received one shot but are not “fully vaccinated” are asked to wear a mask while walking around the building.

Masks can be taken off while guests eat snacks and drink during screenings, according to AMC.

https://nypost.com/2022/02/07/anti-vaxxers-arrested-after-protesting-in-midtown-amc-theater/

Novavax says U.S. government to fund study of COVID-19 shot in adolescents

 Novavax Inc said on Monday funding from the U.S. government for its COVID-19 vaccine had

been expanded to cover a late-stage study in adolescents with a booster component.

https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/novavax-says-u-s-government-to-fund-study-of-covid-19-shot-in-adolescents

Hong Kong Will Send More COVID Patients To Quarantine Camp Amid Record Surge In Cases

 COVID outbreaks may be waning in the US, UK and a number of other countries - including far-flung Australia, where Prime Minister Scott Morrison just unveiled plans to reopen the country to tourists on Monday as that country's omicron wave has diminished - but in Hong Kong, mainland China, and a handful of other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, case numbers are rising at an alarming rate, much to the consternation of local health officials.

On Monday, Hong Kong reported 614 new COVID cases, the largest daily tally since the start of the pandemic two years ago. The figure was double the number of cases reported the day prior, prompting local health officials to declare that the "fifth wave" of the pandemic has already begun, and that the city would soon be dealing with 1,000 new cases per day, according to Health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee. 219 of the new cases were deemed asymptomatic or untraceable, and seven imported.

The prospect of exponential growth of the virus has prompted Hong Kong to impose even tougher quarantine restrictions, including sending both close contacts of the infected, and those who tested positive but exhibit mild symptoms, to a quarantine camp similar to the barbed-wire-enclosed camps opened in Australia where some infected people have been forced to sit out their illness (and a trio of persons made headlines around the world when they escaped late last year). The camp is already housing patients who are deemed symptomatic and at high risk of spreading the virus. Authorities will also consider adopting even tougher social distancing restrictions.

This facility is located at the Penny's Bay facility on Lantau Island.

Officials have laid out plans to start sending more patients who meet the new criteria there on Tuesday, according to the SCMP. Although some infected patients will be allowed to quarantine at home if their digs are deemed "suitable" by the HK government (which, remember, is now under the untrammeled control of Beijing):

Warning that the Omicron-fuelled fifth wave of the pandemic was spiralling out of control, officials laid out plans to begin sending infected people to Penny’s Bay from Tuesday and allow home quarantine for close contacts whose flats were approved as suitable for isolation.

The city’s leader will also meet her top advisers on Tuesday to discuss further tightening social-distancing measures to address the infection surge, partly blamed on Lunar New Year celebratory gatherings. Tougher steps could entail expanding the use of the vaccine pass to cover shopping malls and public transport.

Authorities blamed family gatherings during the Chinese Lunar New Year for fueling the surge in infections. There have been a few notable clusters of cases in the city so far, illustrated below:

As of Monday, COVID patients were occupying 1,146 of the 3,416 units available in the facility on Penny's Bay. Meanwhile, more contacts of the infected will be required to quarantine at home for 14 days if their homes are deemed "suitable."

With fewer spaces available, close contacts of patients and the family members of those secondary contacts can isolate at home starting from Tuesday, for 14 days and four days, respectively, provided their living arrangements proved suitable.

"Our colleagues will assess whether the household is suitable for home isolation, such as whether they need to share rooms or facilities with their family members," said Centre for Health Protection controller Edwin Tsui Lok-kin.

Authorities in Hong Kong have imposed more draconian restrictions as of late, including locking down an entire housing complex after roughly 50 cases were found there. The city has also imposed a requirement for all Hong Kongers to be innoculated. If they aren't fully vaccinated before Feb. 24, they will not be allowed to enter crowded public places, which will now require proof of inoculation to enter.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/hong-kong-will-send-more-covid-patients-quarantine-camp-amid-record-surge-cases