A federal appeals court upheld a lower court decision Thursday which prevented the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> from enforcing a COVID <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/vaccine-mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vaccine mandate</a> for federal employees.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a rare en banc ruling that reversed a prior decision enacted by three judges from the same court, which had upheld the vaccine mandate. A preliminary injunction issued in January 2022 by Judge Jeffrey Brown in the Southern District of Texas was therefore affirmed by the most recent decision.
“We hasten to emphasize that this case only involves a preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction’s purpose is to maintain the status quo until the parties have the chance to adjudicate the merits,” the <a href="https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/22/22-40043-CV3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision</a> said. “When the parties proceed to the merits in the district court, the plaintiffs will have to prove that whatever injunction they request is broad enough to protect against their proven injuries and no broader. And the government will have another chance to show that any permanent injunction should be narrower than the preliminary one.”
Judges from the Fifth Circuit Court noted that both sides will “have to grapple” with the recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-admits-it-will-end-covid-emergency-in-may-in-a-letter-telling-republicans-not-to-end-covid-emergency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> from President Joe Biden revealing that the national emergency issued in response to COVID is slated to end in May. White House officials will reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-covid-response-team-will-disband-in-may-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disband</a> its COVID response team as the national emergency concludes.
The lawsuit against the vaccine mandate for federal employees was filed by Feds for Medical Freedom, a nonprofit that represents government workers across multiple agencies who oppose COVID vaccine mandates and sanctions against those who refuse to be inoculated. “Dedicated public employees have answered the call of duty and served throughout the pandemic, no matter the risk,” the group says on its <a href="https://www.feds4medfreedom.org/who-we-are" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. “We believe that the government should not fire workers because of health conditions or medically-informed health care decisions.”​
Analysts have expressed doubt that vaccine mandates, which were issued in several major cities shortly after the lockdown orders that crippled businesses and shuttered government schools, effectively prevented the transmission of COVID. Researchers at George Mason University recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/citywide-vaccine-mandates-did-nothing-to-stop-spread-of-covid-researchers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examined</a> vaccine mandates in cities such as Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia, and concluded that there exists “no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake,” as well as cases or deaths related to the illness.
The continued legal action over the federal vaccine mandate comes after the Biden administration sought in November 2021 to require companies with more than 100 employees to require COVID vaccinations or weekly testing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration could have fined businesses as much as $14,000 for each violation.
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The Daily Wire, along with Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Dhillon Law Group and the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/one-year-after-supreme-court-struck-down-covid-vax-mandate-freedom-flourishes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> against the Biden administration challenging the mandate, prompting the Supreme Court to rule against the requirement for private employers in January 2022. Major employers such as Starbucks, Intel, and Adidas dropped their vaccine mandates after the decision. “The constitution simply doesn’t grant the federal government the power to insert itself into employment relationships this way,” Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing said at the time. “And even if it did, Congress certainly never delegated that power to OSHA.”

Joe Biden

Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Biden Vaccine Mandate For Federal Workers

Court Rules Against Biden Vaccine Mandate For Federal Workers

Biden Administration

COVID

COVID-19

COVID-19 Vaccine

Lawsuit

U.S.

Vaccine Mandate

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a letter to President Joe Biden this week urging the president to allow Novak Djokovic, the world&#8217;s top-ranked tennis player, entry into the United States so that he could compete in a tournament being held in Florida.
Djokovic played through a hamstring injury at the start of the year on his way to winning the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/sports/tennis/djokovic-biden-miami-open-covid-vaccine.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that his problems began after the injury healed as his team realized that the next two important events were in the U.S., which does not allow unvaccinated foreigners into the country. Djokovic is not vaccinated against COVID. The report noted that some pro-vaccination medical experts have concluded that the restriction is no longer necessary.
Djokovic was <a href="https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/35795350/novak-djokovic-pulls-indian-wells-eve-draw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced</a> to withdraw from competing in the two tournaments, one of which is being held in Miami.
&#8220;The only thing keeping Novak Djokovic from participating in the Miami Open tennis tournament is President Biden’s misguided and unscientific COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreigner travelers,&#8221; DeSantis wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Mr. President – lift your restrictions and let him compete.&#8221;
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The only thing keeping Novak Djokovic from participating in the Miami Open tennis tournament is President Biden’s misguided and unscientific COVID-19 vaccination requirement for foreigner travelers.   Mr. President – lift your restrictions and let him compete. <a href="https://t.co/fFyhNoUV4S">pic.twitter.com/fFyhNoUV4S</a>
&mdash; Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1633233731514245121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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DeSantis&#8217; letter called the Biden administration&#8217;s refusal to allow him into the country &#8220;unfair, unscientific and unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;While Mr. Djokovic is surely a supreme competitive threat to his fellow tennis professionals, his presence in our country poses no meaningful health or public safety risk,&#8221; DeSantis said. &#8220;I note that since the onset of COVID-19, Mr. Djokovic has visited the United States at least twice — including once during your presidency — without any apparent health incident.&#8221;
DeSantis then suggested that a loophole could be used to skirt the Biden administration&#8217;s restrictions for keeping unvaccinated foreign nationals out of the U.S.
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&#8220;It is also not clear to me why, even by the terms of your own proclamation, Mr. Djokovic could not legally enter this country via boat,&#8221; DeSantis wrote. &#8220;Please confirm no later than Friday, March 10, 2023, that this method of travel into Florida would be permissible.&#8221;
DeSantis explained in the letter that Biden&#8217;s previous proclamations only issued restrictions on foreign nationals entering the U.S. through air travel and at &#8220;land ports of entry and ferry terminals at the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders.&#8221;
&#8220;Your administration does not appear to have issued analogous restrictions for non-U.S. individuals seeking to enter our country by boat,&#8221; DeSantis noted.
DeSantis then pointed out how the administration flaunted its own rules to allow &#8220;thousands of unvaccinated migrants to enter our country through the southern border.&#8221;
&#8220;Mr. Djokovic is an extraordinary tennis player who should have every right to compete in this year&#8217;s Miami Open, which will commence on March 20,&#8221; DeSantis concluded. &#8220;I respectfully ask you to grant his requested exemption so that he may delight and inspire tennis fans in Florida and around the Nation.&#8221;

Ronald Reagan Library, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

DeSantis Blasts Biden For Denying Entry To World’s No. 1 Tennis Player, Floats Using Loophole To Get Him In

Florida

Novak Djokovic

Ron DeSantis

Novak Djokovic plays tennis for a living. And the 35-year-old Serbian has won 22 Grand Slam titles, a feat accomplished by only one other player, Rafael Nadal &#8212; so he&#8217;s pretty good.
But the administration of President Joe Biden has forbidden Djokovic from coming to the United States to play, saying that the fact that he refuses to be vaccinated against COVID makes him a deadly risk.
Djokovic has long been reticent to take the vaccine, and at first, it seemed a bit petty. There was a deadly pandemic, and most people felt a sense of society when they bit the bullet and took the jab.
But now, with world-class athletes seemingly dropping dead all around the world, Djokovic&#8217;s recalcitrance appears to have been correct. And besides, his body, his choice. He didn&#8217;t want to put an odd substance into his highly honed athletic body, so he just didn&#8217;t.
He&#8217;s not against vaccines, he said in 2020, but he does oppose forced vaccination. &#8220;The principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else,&#8221; he said.
But in late 2021, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) decided he couldn&#8217;t play in the Australian Open, a major that he won the year before. A short time later, Djokovic lost the No. 1 <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-15/novak-djokovic-vaccination-stance-affects-legacy/100831504">ranking</a> that he had held for a record 373 weeks. And due to the U.S. government&#8217;s forced vaccination policy for non-U.S. citizens, Djokovic was banned from entering the United States to play in the 2022 U.S. Open, another major tournament he was the favorite to win.
That all seems ages ago now. Most Americans &#8212; and most of the world, too &#8212; have moved on, returning to normal life. The COVID pandemic has greatly waned, and for many who get the virus, it&#8217;s more like the flu nowadays.
Yet with nationwide vaccine mandates still in place for foreign travelers, Djokovic has been forced to pull out of the Indian Wells tournament in California. His request for a waiver to enter the U.S. without a vaccine was rejected by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He was supposed to play in the Miami Open the following week, but his participation in the tournament is up in the air, too.
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All this while the pandemic is &#8220;over.&#8221; That&#8217;s not us saying that — it was Biden.
Last September, Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-shocks-white-house-by-declaring-pandemic-is-over-while-hundreds-of-americans-die-every-day">declared:</a> &#8220;The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s – but the pandemic is over. if you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
Florida Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio last week urged the Biden administration to intervene so that Djokovic could get into the country to play. The pair wrote a letter to Biden saying Djokovic poses no danger to the public.
“Mr. Djokovic is a world-class athlete in peak physical condition who is not at high-risk of severe complications from COVID-19,” the duo says in the letter. “It seems both illogical and misaligned with the opinions of your own administration to not grant him the waiver he requests so that he may travel to the U.S. to compete in a professional event.”
“The lack of public health risk, along with the clear benefit of his participation in an event that will be a major driver of our local economies should make the decision before you simple and serve as a precedent for others in his position,” the letter continues, “while hopefully leading to the full reversal of this mandate for other foreign visitors who wish to legally travel to our great nation.”
Djokovic is, of course, a high-profile foreigner. But the U.S. Travel Association says, &#8220;America&#8217;s outdated vaccine policy for international visitors is an unforced error that is contributing to an $80 billion loss in foreign traveler spending.&#8221;
&#8220;Novak Djokovic is merely one of millions of travelers deterred from visiting the United States due to a well-intended but antiquated policy. It is well past time for the United States to join with its peers in Europe, Australia and elsewhere and remove pandemic vaccine requirements for our international guests,&#8221; the association said in a <a href="https://www.ustravel.org/news/us-travel-banning-novak-djokovic-unforced-error-america">statement</a> Monday.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON

What A Joke? One Of The Greatest Active Tennis Players Is Barred From Playing In U.S. For Not Taking COVID Vaccine

What A Joke? Novak Djokovic, One Of The Greatest Active Tennis Players Is Barred From Playing In U.S. For Not Taking COVID Vaccine

Department of Homeland Security

Politics

Sports

Tennis

Actor Woody Harrelson drew much scorn from the liberal elite after he blasted Big Pharma in a scathing monologue last week as host of &#8220;Saturday Night Live.&#8221;
So what&#8217;d he do? Double down, of course.
Harrelson — who <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-woody-harrelson-covid-19-mandates-conspiracies-1235334744/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> himself as an &#8220;anarchist, Marxist, ethical hedonist, non-discriminatory empath, epistemological deconstructionist Texan&#8221; — ripped the ongoing COVID-19 protocols put in place for movie making in the early days of the pandemic.
&#8220;Now to get an indie done? Especially with all the Covid protocols — which, to me, are rather absurd. I don’t know what’s going to happen,&#8221; Harrelson said in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/27/magazine/woody-harrelson-interview.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with The New York Times.
The Times, which has been pitching everything from mandatory masks to nationwide lockdowns, just had to know: &#8220;What’s absurd about the Covid protocols?&#8221;
&#8220;The fact that they’re still going on!&#8221; Harrelson said. &#8220;I don’t think that anybody should have the right to demand that you’re forced to do the testing, forced to wear the mask and forced to get vaccinated three years on. I’m just like, Let’s be done with this nonsense. It’s not fair to the crews. I don’t have to wear the mask. Why should they? Why should they have to be vaccinated? How’s that not up to the individual?&#8221;
Harrelson knew that liberal heads would surely explode. &#8220;I shouldn’t be talking about this [expletive]. It makes me angry for the crew. The anarchist part of me, I don’t feel that we should have forced testing, forced masking and forced vaccination. That’s not a free country. Really I’m talking about the crew. Because I can get out of wearing a mask. I can test less. I’m not in the same position they’re in, but it’s wrong. It’s three years. Stop.&#8221;
On SNL, Harrelson told a story about smoking cannabis in New York City&#8217;s Central Park and reading &#8220;the craziest script&#8221; for a movie pitch.
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&#8220;So the movie goes like this,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes.&#8221;
&#8220;And people can only come out if they take the cartel&#8217;s drugs and keep taking them over and over. I threw the script away,&#8221; he joked. &#8220;I mean, who was going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day long.&#8221;
The Washington Post was incensed, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/02/26/snl-harrelson-covid-vaccine-monologue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> a piece with the headline: &#8220;On SNL, Woody Harrelson pushes popular covid-19 conspiracy theory.&#8221; Of course, the liberal papers went right to the naysayers.
&#8220;&#8216;Thank you, @nbcsnl, for Woody Harrelson’s insipid anti-vax monologue. Who are [you] going to have guest host next week, Scott Baio? Rob Schneider? Kevin Sorbo? Maybe invite Kanye back while you’re at it,&#8217; wrote Twitter user Lee Goldberg. Another viewer asked: &#8216;Does #SNL think just harmless noise? Normalizing #antivaxx conspiracies does real harm!'&#8221;
One Twitterer mocked the MSM getting all wee-weed up.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Woody Harrelson nailed it and Im having fun watching the media prove him right 😂👇🏼 <a href="https://t.co/FlvbiezUr6">pic.twitter.com/FlvbiezUr6</a>
&mdash; Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/DogRightGirl/status/1629828543382274049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But over the last few weeks, much of the COVID-19 protocol narrative has taken a hit. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/opinion/do-mask-mandates-work.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> a piece titled “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?” It was penned by Bret Stephens, an opinion columnist with the Times who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2013.
“The most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses — including Covid-19 — was published late last month. Its conclusions, said Tom Jefferson, the Oxford epidemiologist who is its lead author, were unambiguous.”
“‘There is just no evidence that they’ — masks — &#8216;make any difference,&#8217; he told the journalist Maryanne Demasi. &#8216;Full stop.&#8217;”
Then a report came out from researchers who had examined the efficacy of citywide COVID vaccine mandates implemented across the United States in 2021 and found — meh.
“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the researchers said in a <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/research/working-papers/indoor-vaccine-mandates-and-covid-19">study</a> conducted by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. “We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, COVID-19 cases, or COVID-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” the researchers wrote.
And a &#8220;COVID Vaccine Surveillance <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1057599/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week-8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report</a>&#8221; released late last month by the UK Health Security Agency found that 92% of the COVID deaths in the United Kingdom in March were people who were fully vaccinated.
So, maybe Harrelson is on to something.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

“Champions” New York Premiere

What’s Wrong With COVID Protocols? ‘The Fact That They’re Still Going On!’ Woody Harrelson Declares

What's Wrong With COVID Protocols? 'The Fact That They're Still Going On!' Woody Harrelson Declares

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom officially ended the COVID state of emergency on Tuesday, nearly three years after placing residents under strict lockdown orders and expanding his legal powers as chief executive of the state.
Newsom became one of the first governor&#8217;s in the U.S. to declare a statewide COVID emergency on March 4, 2020, and has previously said that maintaining the state of emergency was important for California to curb the spread of the virus.
&#8220;California is better prepared, and that&#8217;s because we have a serious Legislature and the health ecosystem in California is second to none in the country,&#8221; Newsom told the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-28/newsom-rescinds-californias-covid-19-state-of-emergency-marking-an-end-to-the-pandemic-era" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Angeles Times</a>.
Newsom&#8217;s end comes just after California&#8217;s Department of Public Health <a href="https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/#location-los_angeles">reported</a> that the state confirmed more than 100,000 deaths related to the virus.
California currently ranks 11th  as the country&#8217;s lowest COVID death rate per capita, <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Times.</a>
Under the proclamation, Newsom issued a stay-at-home order that lasted approximately 16 months and capitalized on his authority over state regulations, laws, and state funds.
Critics accuse the governor of shutting down the economy, harming businesses and families as companies and schools were forced to close. When schools and companies returned to everyday life in California and other states nationwide, Newsom kept the directive going. Republicans have called out Newsom over extending the declaration and even requested that lawmakers hold a vote to get rid of the order.
Republican state Senator Melissa Melendez said, pushing for her measure last year, that the state legislature should do its job to address COVID.
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&#8220;We ended school years, and we shuttered businesses, and we implemented lockdowns, and we enforced remote work, and we implemented all sorts of policies and testing,&#8221; Melendez <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-to-end-covid-emergency-declaration-next-year">said</a>. &#8220;We have grown over the last few years. We are equipped to deal with this and this constant state of emergency is no longer necessary.&#8221;
Newsom faced criticism across the political spectrum for his extensive orders in response to COVID — from shifting positions on mask mandates and attempting to force businesses and schools to enact vaccine requirements.
In November 2020, Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, were spotted maskless outside their households at the upscale Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry as COVID cases soared across the state. The negative media coverage painted the governor as a hypocrite after advising Californians to avoid socializing in person with anyone outside their households, especially during the holiday season.
Newsom also defeated a recall for his governorship, an effort that gained significant momentum as Californians became increasingly fed up with the emergency powers during the pandemic.
Residents across the state have been escaping Newsom&#8217;s rule of California in droves, especially since 2020, when the Democratic leader and the primarily Left-wing legislature shut down the state in response to COVID.
Amid high taxes already killing the middle class, skyrocketing crime rates, rampant homelessness, and an unaffordable housing crisis, many Republicans say the effectively one-party system on the West Coast essentially turned California into a feudal state, or as some conservative leaders called it, a socialist nightmare.
In December, the U.S. Census Bureau <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-lost-more-residents-than-any-other-state-in-2022-u-s-census-bureau">reported</a> that California lost more residents than any other state in 2022, with more than 300,000 people fleeing, marking the third consecutive year that California&#8217;s population declined.
Over the last three years, census <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-census-data-reveals-700000-have-abandoned-california-in-2-years">data</a> revealed California&#8217;s population dropped by more than 500,000 between April 2020 and July 2022, with nearly 700,000 residents leaving the state, with almost half of the residents escaping Los Angeles.
California becomes one of the last states to drop the emergency.
According to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-gavin-newsom-california-texas-illinois-f2bbcd1c380169f8a17b0a718b67df7d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Associated Press</a>, five other states — including Delaware, Illinois, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Texas — are still under the declaration.
President Joe Biden announced last month the federal government would end the COVID emergency declarations on May 11.

California Governor Newsom Announces New Gun Safety Legislation After String Of Mass Shootings In The State

Gov. Newsom Officially Ends COVID State Of Emergency After Three Years

California

Gavin Newsom

Health

Now they tell us.
The New York Times published a <a href="https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fdnyuz.com%2F2023%2F02%2F21%2Fthe-mask-mandates-did-nothing-will-any-lessons-be-learned%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">piece</a> on Tuesday titled &#8220;The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?&#8221; It was penned by Bret Stephens, an opinion columnist with the Times who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2013.
The top of the story was fascinating.
&#8220;The most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses — including Covid-19 — was published late last month. Its conclusions, said Tom Jefferson, the Oxford epidemiologist who is its lead author, were unambiguous.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;There is just no evidence that they&#8217; — masks — &#8216;make any difference,&#8217; he told the journalist Maryanne Demasi. &#8216;Full stop.'&#8221;
&#8220;But, wait, hold on. What about N-95 masks, as opposed to lower-quality surgical or cloth masks? &#8216;Makes no difference — none of it,&#8217; said Jefferson.&#8221;
But hang on. There was study after study in the early days of the pandemic claiming masks worked, which prompted lawmakers at every level of government to enact mask mandates. But Jefferson says those studies were &#8220;non-randomized&#8221; and &#8220;flawed observational studies.&#8221;
So that begs the question: What about Jefferson&#8217;s study? He and 11 colleagues conducted 78 randomized controlled trials, with a total of 610,872 participants in numerous countries.
&#8220;Mask mandates were a fool’s errand from the start,&#8221; Stephens wrote. &#8220;They may have created a false sense of safety — and thus permission to resume semi-normal life. They did almost nothing to advance safety itself. The Cochrane report ought to be the final nail in this particular coffin.&#8221;
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Also this week, researchers examined the efficacy of local COVID vaccine mandates implemented across the United States in 2021 and found they didn&#8217;t work.
“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the researchers said in a <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/research/working-papers/indoor-vaccine-mandates-and-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> conducted by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. “Yet, we find no evidence that the mandates were effective in their intended goals of reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.”
The researchers evaluated New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
“We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, COVID-19 cases, or COVID-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” the researchers wrote.
When COVID first appeared on our shores in early winter 2020, leaders of big cities — almost invariably Democrats — enacted major lockdowns, forcing businesses to close and shutting down entertainment and sports venues. They also ordered everyone to wear masks. When vaccines were created, those same leaders issued mandates requiring millions to take them.
For instance, Philadelphia Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said in August 2021 that science shows mask and vaccine mandates would slow the spread.
“The updated policies we announced today are critical to slowing the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more dangerous and transmissible than earlier forms of the virus,” Kenney said in a statement. “The science is clear: these measures will protect Philadelphians and save lives.&#8221;
But researchers found zero evidence to back that up.
&#8220;Our findings put into question the efficacy of city-level vaccine mandates,&#8221; the researchers found. &#8220;Indoor vaccine mandates caused large disruptions for many individuals and businesses. New York City, for example, fired 1,430 city workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate. A survey found that over 90% of NYC restaurants reported having customer-related challenges, such as losing customers who objected to the mandate, and 75% having staff-related challenges. Those are just a small fraction of the disruptions caused by the mandates.&#8221;
&#8220;Most supporters of the mandates claim that the associated increase in vaccination rates, and its implied reduction in the spread of COVID-19, outweigh the cost of the disruptions. However, we find that the effects of the mandates on their intended outcomes are not statistically noticeable in any of the cities they were implemented in all empirical strategies used,&#8221; the report said.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Presidential Candidate Joe Biden And Running Mate Kamala Harris Get Briefed On Coronavirus

The New York Times Finally Admits Masks Don’t Do A @#%*& Thing

NY Times Finally Admits Masks Don't Do A @#%*& Thing

Face Masks

Mask Mandate

Media

New York Times

Researchers examined the efficacy of citywide COVID vaccine mandates implemented across the United States in 2021 and found — meh.
“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the researchers said in a study conducted by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. “Yet, we find no evidence that the mandates were effective in their intended goals of reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.”
The researchers evaluated New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
“We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, COVID-19 cases, or COVID-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” the researchers <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/research/working-papers/indoor-vaccine-mandates-and-covid-19">wrote</a>.
When COVID first appeared on our shores in early winter 2020, leaders of big cities — almost invariably Democrats — enacted major lockdowns, forcing businesses to close and shutting down entertainment and sports venues. They also ordered everyone to wear masks. When vaccines were created, those same leaders issued mandates requiring millions to take them.
For instance, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in August 2021 that science shows mask and vaccine mandates would slow the spread.
“The updated policies we announced today are critical to slowing the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more dangerous and transmissible than earlier forms of the virus,” Kenney said in a <a href="https://www.phila.gov/2021-08-12-city-of-philadelphia-implements-new-covid-19-vaccine-and-mask-requirements/">statement</a>. “The science is clear: these measures will protect Philadelphians and save lives.&#8221;
But researchers found zero evidence to back that up.
&#8220;Our findings put into question the efficacy of city-level vaccine mandates,&#8221; the researchers found. &#8220;Indoor vaccine mandates caused large disruptions for many individuals and businesses. New York City, for example, fired 1,430 city workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate. A survey found that over 90% of NYC restaurants reported having customer-related challenges, such as losing customers who objected to the mandate, and 75% having staff-related challenges. Those are just a small fraction of the disruptions caused by the mandates.&#8221;
&#8220;Most supporters of the mandates claim that the associated increase in vaccination rates, and its implied reduction in the spread of COVID-19, outweigh the cost of the disruptions. However, we find that the effects of the mandates on their intended outcomes are not statistically noticeable in any of the cities they were implemented in all empirical strategies used,&#8221; the report said.
Vitor Melo, a postdoctoral fellow at the Mercatus Center, said the cities&#8217; &#8220;intended outcomes were to raise vaccination rates, for people to get more vaccines; and consequently, the expectation was that COVID cases and deaths would go down.&#8221; But he added that compared to cities that didn’t implement mandates, the study found “there’s not much to show for it,&#8221; WTOP <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2023/02/study-how-effective-was-dcs-indoor-covd-19-vaccine-mandate-in-raising-vaccination-rates/">reported</a>.
The final report added one final &#8220;key takeaway.&#8221;
&#8220;Public health restrictions and regulations were widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so understanding their consequences is essential. The authors find that city-level mandates had smaller effect on vaccine uptake (and consequently on COVID-19 cases and deaths) than nationwide mandates — and thus failed to achieve their intended objectives,&#8221; said the report.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

President Biden Receives Covid-19 Booster Shot At The White House

Citywide Vaccine Mandates Did Nothing To Stop Spread Of COVID: Researchers

Citywide Vaccine Mandates Did Nothing To Stop Spread Of COVID, Researchers Find

Lockdowns

Young men face an elevated risk of heart inflammation after getting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-biontech-pressured-twitter-to-censor-activists-demanding-generic-covid-vaccine-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vaccinated for COVID</a>, a virus that poses very little threat to them in the first place, a top medical expert told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> Friday.
Speaking on the “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire">Morning Wire</a>” podcast, Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and an oncology surgeon at the school’s affiliated hospital, noted a recent study from Cedars Sinai found a disturbing 30% increase in heart attack deaths among adults between the ages of 25 and 44 during the first two years of the COVID pandemic. One theory holds that the uptick could be the result of COVID itself, while another places blame on the vaccine. Makary said there is evidence for the latter.
“We did not see the uptake before the vaccine was rolled out, but, young people were primarily affected around that same time as well,” he said. “The state of Florida did their own study, looking at heart attacks after the vaccine in particular, and found that there was an 81% increase in sudden death from heart attacks in the months following the vaccine compared to baseline rates. So many people do believe that the vaccine is one of the causes of heart problems in young people.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire">CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE LATEST EPISODE OF &#8220;MORNING WIRE&#8221;</a>
Although the federal government and pharmaceutical industry initially downplayed or even denied it, the vaccine has increasingly been linked to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart. Makary said myocarditis appears most prevalent after the second dose of the vaccine. He noted that parts of Europe, unlike the U.S., have discouraged giving the second dose to young, healthy people.
Makary also dispelled what he called a “myth” pushed by the medical establishment that myocarditis is more common after actual COVID infection than after the vaccine, saying the data does not support that claim. In fact, figures show a young male is 28 times more likely to suffer myocarditis after getting the vaccine than after contracting COVID, he said.
According to Makary, all the data suggests it may be a bad idea for young healthy adults, especially males, to get the vaccine. Young males between 16 and 30 have a higher risk of myocarditis than their female peers by a factor of nine to one, he said.
“They have the lowest benefit from a vaccine because they are the lowest risk of any COVID complications,” Makary said. “We still don&#8217;t know if any young, healthy person has ever died of COVID in the United States. The CDC won&#8217;t tell us, and they&#8217;ve never broken the data down by young people who are healthy versus had a comorbidity like leukemia or an immunosuppression condition.”
Doctors still don’t know the long-term effects of the type of myocarditis being associated with the vaccine.
“MRIs of people&#8217;s heart three months after myocarditis from the vaccine found there were still abnormalities on those MRIs, which make people worry in the medical field, that the inflammation may resolve in some kind of scarring. That&#8217;s a general pattern and physiology we see is that after something&#8217;s inflamed, some scar tissue can set in.”
“And the concern is that could affect the conduction of the heart,” he added. “That is the electrical. rhythm and beat of the heart.”

Dr. Marty Makary

COVID Vaccine Brings Higher Heart Risk, Little Benefit To Young Men, Medical Expert Warns

Johns Hopkins University

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cdc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC</a> changed routine immunization schedules to include <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID vaccines</a> for both adults and children.
Officials at the public health agency now <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommend</a> that children between six months and 15 months old receive a two-dose or three-dose primary series and booster; from 18 months to adulthood, children should likewise receive the primary series and boosters, according to the agency. Children more than six months old can receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the Moderna vaccine, while children more than 12 years old can also receive the Novavax vaccine. The CDC recommended the three-dose series for children who are “moderately or severely immunocompromised.”
Vaccination schedules for adults also <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html#table-age" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommend</a> two-dose or three-dose primary series and boosters. COVID vaccines were placed in a distinct call out box in previous schedules; this year is the first in which the inoculations are considered routine.
The CDC noted that the doses are not covered by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, an “alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury claims.” The agency added that COVID vaccines fall under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
The changes to the routine vaccination schedules come after pharmaceutical companies <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-hiking-covid-vaccine-prices-by-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> plans to drastically increase the costs of the products. Pfizer President Angela Lukin announced in October that the firm would charge between $110 and $130 per dose, although the treatment will be available at no cost to Americans with private or government insurance. The price hike will render the doses several times more expensive; the federal government <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-new-agreement-us-government" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bought</a> 105 million doses for $3.2 billion in one deal, implying a cost of roughly $30 per dose.
Oxfam America previously said that Pfizer and Moderna had been “charging governments as much as $41 billion above the estimated cost of production” since the shots can be <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/vaccine-monopolies-make-cost-vaccinating-world-against-covid-least-5-times-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">produced</a> for as little as $1.20 per dose. Lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have expressed <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-in-letter-to-ceo-sanders-calls-moderna-plan-to-raise-price-of-covid-19-vaccine-unacceptable-corporate-greed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concern</a> over the significant markups and their effects on federal healthcare budgets.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-ceo-covid-19-could-be-controlled-by-annual-vaccines-pills-to-treat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he hopes COVID will be “controlled” by annual vaccinations and pills for individuals who contract the virus. “We will have perfectly normal lives, with just an injection maybe once a year. And the pill in case we are sick will make it more flu-like rather than life-threatening disease,” he said during an interview last year, contending that “two doses of the vaccine offers very limited protection, if any.”
The addition of COVID vaccines to the routine immunization schedule occurs shortly after Project Veritas journalists <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-exec-appears-to-admit-there-are-concerning-impacts-on-female-reproductive-health-from-vaccine-in-round-two-of-project-veritas-sting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">captured</a> Jordon Walker, a Pfizer official who leads research and development for mRNA projects, admitting that the company does not know why the vaccines are impacting women’s menstrual cycles, postulating that the effects could be evidence of hormonal disruptions. “There is something irregular about their menstrual cycles. So, people will have to investigate that down the line, because that is a little concerning,” he told an undercover reporter. “The vaccine shouldn’t be interfering with that.”
Researchers have indeed found that COVID vaccines impact menstruation; one international <a href="https://news.ohsu.edu/2022/09/27/global-study-finds-covid-19-vaccination-can-affect-menstrual-cycle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from the Oregon Health and Science University concluded that “some people may experience a slight, temporary change in the length of their monthly menstrual cycle” after receiving the vaccine. Another <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm7201#:~:text=In%20this%20sample%2C%2042%25%20of,no%20change%20after%20being%20vaccinated." target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that 42% of women with regular menstrual cycles reported heavier bleeding than usual after inoculation.
Walker, who later called himself a &#8220;liar&#8221; who made up the stories to impress a  person with whom he thought he was on a date, said the vaccine should not be interfering with the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, the system which regulates menstrual cycles, but acknowledged “there is something happening, but we don’t always figure it out.”

Pfizer COVID Booster

CDC Adds COVID Vax To Routine Immunization Schedules For Both Children And Adults

CDC Adds COVID Vax To Routine Immunization Schedules

Moderna

Pfizer

The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to block the requirement that foreign travelers have proof of COVID vaccination to fly into the United States.
Seven Democrats joined with the GOP majority to pass the <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2023116" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation 227-201</a>, sending the bill to the Democrat-led Senate where it faces long odds.
Still, the vote represents a triumph for Republicans who oppose the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/proof-of-vaccination.html#:~:text=Noncitizens%20who%20are%20nonimmigrants%20and,States%20from%20a%20foreign%20country." target="_blank" rel="noopener">rules from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> which stipulate adult visitors who seek to enter the United States by air need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before boarding a flight to enter the country.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced the bill</a>, argued the CDC requirement is baffling because immigrants are crossing the southern border without being governed by such regulations. &#8220;Where&#8217;s the logic in that?&#8221; he said.
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The Democrats’ basic argument against my bill to end the COVID-19 mandate on international air visitors is this: Congress should defer to bureaucrats because “science is hard” and Democrats aren’t qualified to vote on laws affecting basic human rights. <a href="https://t.co/T30MelBhu2">pic.twitter.com/T30MelBhu2</a>
&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1623439449722871811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said Republicans are prioritizing &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPallone/status/1623445915997548547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">politics over science</a>&#8221; and warned unvaccinated individuals could bring new, dangerous variants into the country.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Republicans are bringing their second bill in as many weeks to the House floor today that questions the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and undermines our public health agencies. I’m leading the opposition to this dangerous bill. <a href="https://t.co/INb0Zeqmrg">pic.twitter.com/INb0Zeqmrg</a>
&mdash; Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPallone/status/1623445915997548547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The federal government is expected to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire in May.
Pallone acknowledged policy-change discussions are warranted, but accused Republicans of rushing partisan legislation forward without up-to-date input from public health officials. To that end, he took issue with a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/185/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clause in the bill</a> that blocks &#8220;any successor or subsequent order&#8221; from the CDC requiring foreigners traveling by air to show proof of COVID–19 vaccination as a condition on entering the United States.
More than 1 million deaths in the United States have been attributed to COVID-19 since it first emerged in late 2019. While rates are far below the peaks during the height of the pandemic, the CDC <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports weekly deaths</a> attributed to COVID hovering between 2,500 and 4,400 since the beginning of this year.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-touts-americas-possibilities-in-state-of-the-union-address" target="_blank" rel="noopener">During his State of the Union address on Tuesday</a>, President Joe Biden talked about the United States emerging from the grip of a years-long pandemic. &#8220;And today, COVID no longer controls our lives,&#8221; Biden said.

Thomas Massie

House Votes To Kill Travel Vax Mandate For Foreign Travelers

Congress

U.S. House of Representatives

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Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nancy-mace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nancy Mace</a> (R-SC) said she experienced health complications from a COVID vaccine during a Wednesday hearing about alleged <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> censorship.
The social media giant stifled the voices of medical experts who raised doubts about the prevailing narrative of the pandemic, Mace argued as she shared details about her own health.
In particular, 45-year-old Mace said she suffered side effects from a COVID vaccine jab, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encouraged people to get</a> to protect themselves from severe illness.
&#8220;I, along with many Americans, have long-term effects from COVID,&#8221; Mace said. &#8220;Not only was I a long-hauler, but I have effects from the vaccine. It wasn’t the first shot but it was a second shot.&#8221;
Mace said she developed asthma, tremors in her left hand, and occasional heart problems that doctors cannot explain.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Todays <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GOPoversight</a> hearing puts <a href="https://twitter.com/Twitter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@twitter</a> execs in the hot seat. Twitter has basically been a subsidiary of the FBI and other government agencies who successfully censored voices they disagreed with. Just cause. <a href="https://t.co/KtTMzFHf0w">pic.twitter.com/KtTMzFHf0w</a>
&mdash; Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepNancyMace/status/1623374516855443475?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I find it extremely alarming Twitter’s unfettered censorship spread into medical fields and affected millions of Americans by suppressing expert opinions from doctors and censoring those who disagree with the CDC,&#8221; Mace said.
&#8220;I have great regrets about getting the shot because of the health issues that I now have that I don&#8217;t think are ever going to go away,&#8221; she added. &#8220;And I know that I&#8217;m not the only American who has those kinds of concerns.&#8221;
To illustrate her argument, Mace put on display findings from the Twitter Files, which have revealed internal deliberations within Twitter about major decisions regarding censorship.
Stanford’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-twitter-releases-documents-showing-it-took-secret-actions-against-conservatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jay Bhattacharya</a>, she noted as one example, once tweeted an article he wrote about natural immunity. According to a Twitter Files disclosure, he was placed on a &#8220;Trends Blacklist.&#8221;
Mace presented a tweet about natural immunity among children from epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff, a Harvard Medical School professor, that ended up being flagged for misinformation. Even when a Twitter account with 18,000 followers shared data from the CDC, Mace said its tweet received a &#8220;misleading&#8221; label.
Former Twitter Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, one of the witnesses at the House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday, said Twitter enacted COVID policies meant to &#8220;protect individuals.&#8221; Mace pressed Gadde, getting her to testify she is not a doctor, leaving the congresswoman to question Twitter&#8217;s level of expertise.
Mace concluded Twitter &#8220;worked overtime to suppress accurate COVID information.&#8221;

Nancy Mace

Nancy Mace Reveals Health Problems After COVID Jab While Criticizing Twitter Censorship

Twitter

Could the experts be starting to admit, three years later, that they were wrong about COVID?
At least one medical researcher is calling on the scientific community to admit mistakes were made.
&#8220;I was wrong. We in the scientific community were wrong. And it cost lives,&#8221; wrote Kevin Bass, an MD/PhD student, in a recent <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/its-time-scientific-community-admit-we-were-wrong-about-coivd-it-cost-lives-opinion-1776630">op-ed</a> for Newsweek.
Whoops.
For years and with almost one voice, the scientific elites seemingly doubled down on the necessity of broad vaccine mandates and prolonged lockdowns, even as Americans suffered.
Medical professionals who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55141055">questioned</a> <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/05/scho-j05.html">the narrative</a> or <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/">offered</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1601011428579717121">opinions</a> not accepted by the mainstream were mocked and censored on social media platforms.
Americans were required to abide by COVID restrictions even when they seemed to defy common sense, <a href="https://www.bmhsc.org/blog/mask-etiquette-when-dining-out">such as</a> wearing a face mask when standing in a restaurant but not when sitting down.
Bass said he &#8220;staunchly supported&#8221; public health authorities when they called for lockdowns, vaccines, and booster shots. He believed at the time that they were responding with &#8220;compassion, diligence, and scientific expertise.&#8221;
Now the scales have fallen from his eyes, he said.
Public health authorities &#8220;overstated the evidence and misled the public&#8221; on a litany of issues, including natural COVID immunity vs. vaccine immunity, school closures and disease transmission, aerosol spread, mask mandates, and vaccine effectiveness and safety, especially for young people, Bass wrote.
The U.S. government, namely the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), are all at fault, he said.
Bass also pointed out that pandemic policies like lockdowns were promoted by elites in academia, government, medicine, journalism, tech, and public health and forced on the working class, &#8220;whose daily lives routinely demand that they reckon with risk.&#8221;
Not only were the experts wrong, but their mistakes cost lives, Bass concluded.
&#8220;If our public health officials had led with less hubris, the course of the pandemic in the United States might have had a very different outcome, with far fewer lost lives,&#8221; he wrote.
Beyond the loss of life potentially caused by the half-baked policies foisted on the public, Americans suffered physically, emotionally, and financially.
Elderly Americans <a href="https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2022/03/07/covid-patients-icu-dying-alone-helen-t-dcouto">died alone</a> in the hospital. Their families were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-rites-insight/there-are-no-funerals-death-in-quarantine-leaves-nowhere-to-grieve-idUSKBN2161ZM">denied</a> a funeral. Children <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/student-suicides-nevada-coronavirus.html">committed</a> suicide. Many of the ones who didn&#8217;t suffered, cooped up at home and stuck behind a computer screen, watching their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/briefing/pandemic-learning-loss.html">grades sink</a> while schools stayed closed longer than restaurants. Families <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/14/us/phoenix-arizona-aguirre-family-covid-deaths/index.html">lost</a> their businesses. <a href="https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/jobtracker/#tool-3-tracking">Millions</a> lost their jobs.
Then many Americans were forced to get the COVID vaccine <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251914/health-care-workers-denied-religious-exemption-to-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-settlement">despite</a> religious and health objections. Stories of &#8220;vaccine injuries&#8221; including <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1786/rr-0">nerve damage</a> proliferated online. Some young people, who are least at risk of developing serious COVID symptoms, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html">developed</a> myocarditis or inflammation of the heart after the vaccine.
Bass describes himself as a &#8220;centrist&#8221; with &#8220;non-partisan takes on health, longevity, nutrition&#8221; who welcomes &#8220;constructive criticism.&#8221;
He is not the first <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/scientists-need-to-admit-what-they-got-wrong-about-covid/">to admit</a> that medical experts oversold their confidence in how COVID works and what the response should be. Even CNN&#8217;s Dr. Leana Wen <a href="https://twitter.com/DrLeanaWen/status/1473045198980665344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1473045198980665344%7Ctwgr%5Edb858c6fabbade8faa619e3a7a9b9eff05053fb7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-13444116233539229772.ampproject.net%2F2301181928000%2Fframe.html">said</a> at the end of 2021 that &#8220;cloth masks are little more than facial decorations.&#8221;
However, so far it has been crickets from most of the scientific community on whether they got anything wrong over the last three years.

D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital Opens Up Drive-Through Coronavirus Testing Site

Scientific Community Should Admit It Was Wrong About COVID, Medical Researcher Says

Health Care

Newsweek

Science

Vaccines

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