Everything is in flux following a report that the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded that the virus that causes COVID likely leaked from a coronavirus lab in Wuhan, China.
Since then, there have been other unsettling reports that shine a spotlight on just who said what and when.
For instance, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s recently retired leading infectious disease expert, had long sought to sell the idea that the virus emerged naturally. Nearly three years ago, Fauci cited a study that found the virus’s mutations “consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
“There was a study recently,” Fauci told reporters on April 17, 2020, when asked if it was possible that virus came from a Chinese lab, “where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.&#8221;
“So, the paper will be available. I don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,&#8221; Fauci said.
But new emails revealed by House Republicans show a completely different story. The emails indicate Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; that very study to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan. In fact, he had final approval of the scientific paper he had commissioned, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/05/new-emails-show-fauci-commissioned-paper-to-disprove-wuhan-lab-leak-theory/">reported</a>.
Enter Dr. Jeremy Farrer. Like Fauci, he &#8220;prompted&#8221; the scientific paper. Farrar was then the head of the British nonprofit, the Wellcome Trust, which has long ties to the pharmaceutical industry. On the day the paper was published, emails show Farrar pushed for an edit to the piece. &#8220;Sorry to micromanage/micro edit! But would you be willing to change one sentence?”
He wanted to change the word “unlikely” to “improbable” so a sentence would read: “It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.”
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Now, Farrar is about to become chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO). He is set to take the six-figure role in the second quarter of this year after stepping down as director of Wellcome.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a doctor, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11826847/Experts-call-lab-leak-denying-doctor-Jeremy-Farrar-sacked-World-Health-Organization.html">told</a> DailyMail.com that he opposes Farrar&#8217;s appointment.
&#8220;Jeremy Farrar, the guy who then publicly disdained the lab leak theory despite privately admitting he was still 50:50 on the lab leak should not be in charge of the WHO or any investigations into the origins of Covid,&#8221; Paul told the U.K. paper.
The Mail reported that emails leaked last year show Farrar privately expressed concern that COVID could have leaked from a lab in February 2020. &#8220;He famously told Dr. Anthony Fauci and colleagues that he was 50:50 between a lab leak and natural origin,&#8221; the paper said.
But just weeks later, Farrar signed his name to a letter in the Lancet medical publication denouncing the lab leak hypothesis as nothing more than a &#8220;conspiracy theory.&#8221;
Dr. David Livermore, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia in the U.K., also told the Mail WHO should reconsider Farrar&#8217;s appointment.
&#8220;He first privately speculated on a lab leak origin for Covid. Yet, he then added his signature to a notorious Lancet letter seeking to debunk the lab leak theory. If he is to lead the WHO, it would be wise for Dr. Farrar to commission investigations of Covid&#8217;s origins entirely independent of the Organization&#8217;s hierarchy, himself included,&#8221; Livermore 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.

Dr. Fauci Testifies Before Senate Committee On Federal Response To COVID-19

Sen. Rand Paul Says COVID Lab Leak-Denying Doctor Should NOT Be WHO’s Top Scientist

 Sen. Rand Paul Says COVID Lab Leak-Denying Doctor Jeremy Farrar Should Be Fired From New Post As World Health Organization's Top Scientist

Anthony Fauci

COVID

COVID-19

Rand Paul

World

World Health Organization

Wuhan Institute of Virology

With Republicans now in control of the House, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/temporary-conflict-is-necessary-rep-chip-roy-touts-speaker-vote-concessions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)</a> reintroduced legislation Thursday to defund the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a> and raised concerns about China&#8217;s influence over the group.
The bill, titled ‘‘No Taxpayer Funding for the World Health Organization Act,&#8221; cracks down on contributions to the WHO that have <a href="https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">risen to hundreds of millions of dollars</a> annually, making the United States one of the United Nations agency&#8217;s largest donors.
&#8220;Funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to the corrupt World Health Organization that serves the Chinese Communist Party is a slap in the face to hardworking American families struggling under record high inflation, and to all those whose lives and livelihoods were ruined and destroyed by the COVID pandemic,&#8221; Roy said in a statement given to The Daily Wire.
The legislation takes aim at the two types of contributions to the WHO. &#8220;Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, the United States may not provide any assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization,&#8221; the bill states.
Assessed contributions are &#8220;required dues a government agrees to pay when it becomes a member,&#8221; while voluntary contributions &#8220;fluctuate annually and are often earmarked for specific projects,&#8221; <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11369" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Congressional Research Service</a>.
Roy, a conservative who is a firm believer in Congress&#8217; &#8220;power of the purse&#8221; as a means to enact change, has accused the WHO of &#8220;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/rep-chip-roy-dems-more-supportive-of-china-than-protecting-american-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">siding with the communists in China</a>&#8221; over concerns that the group helped Beijing <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/FINAL_Letter-to-WHO-re-China-Pressure-.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cover up the origins of the coronavirus pandemic</a>. His bill is the latest salvo in recent years over U.S. contributions to the WHO as the group faced scrutiny for how it responded to the health crisis.
Then-President Donald Trump announced in the spring of 2020 that he intended to halt funding to the WHO while his administration reviewed its handling of COVID. He <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-he-halting-funding-world-health-organization-n1183941" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused the group</a> of &#8220;severely mismanaging and covering up&#8221; the threat.
Trump&#8217;s declaration prompted condemnation from Democrats.
“President Trump must stop his petty, counterproductive political games,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/14/trump-world-health-organization-funding-186786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)</a>, who was chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee at the time. “The coronavirus cannot just be defeated here in the United States, it has to be defeated in every conceivable location throughout the world.”
Soon after taking office in January 2021, Biden wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to say the United States no longer planned to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-united-states-will-withdraw-from-the-world-health-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdraw its membership</a> from the group. Meanwhile, Biden&#8217;s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, announced the United States <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-who-support-006ed181e016afa55d4cea30af236227" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would resume supporting</a> the World Health Organization and join its COVAX vaccine initiative to distribute COVID vaccines around the world.
At the time, Roy quickly <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/419?r=6&amp;s=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced legislation</a> to slash WHO funding, but the House, then controlled by the Democrats, did not take any action on the bill. From 2020-2021, the United States was the third largest donor to the WHO, investing nearly $700 million, <a href="https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the group reported last May</a>. Only Germany and the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation contributed more money in that timeframe.
Roy&#8217;s new bill stands a better chance for consideration with Republicans now running the lower chamber, but it still faces long odds to become law with Democrats still in charge of the Senate and Biden in the White House.
&#8220;The WHO not only regularly promotes abortion and radical gender ideology but also praised China for their &#8216;leadership&#8217; at the beginning of COVID-19 and has done nothing to hold the CCP accountable for the spread of COVID-19,&#8221; Roy said in his statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;It is far past time for Congress to use its power of the purse to cut off US funding to this corrupt international body just like the Trump Administration did.&#8221;

Chip Roy

Chip Roy Unveils Bill To Defund The World Health Organization

Congress

Politics

U.S. House of Representatives

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> stood by its strategy regarding its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a> outbreak after the World Health Organization (WHO) called the country out on Wednesday, saying they are not providing the whole picture.
The escalation in rhetoric is a reversal from the WHO’s previous practice early in the pandemic of appearing to go easy on China.
“We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva Wednesday.
“WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalization, severe disease, and death,” he said.
WHO Executive Director for Health Emergencies Mike Ryan reportedly also <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/china/china-covid-outbreak-who-data-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230104-china-stats-under-represent-true-impact-of-covid-outbreak-who" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wednesday</a> that the current figures China is putting out &#8220;under-represent the true impact of the disease” when it comes to deaths, hospital, and intensive care numbers.
Mao Ning, China&#8217;s foreign ministry spokesperson, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-china-idAFKBN2TK05P" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was asked about</a> the WHO&#8217;s comments at a regular press <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/202301/t20230105_11001406.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">briefing</a> in Beijing on Thursday.
&#8220;Since COVID began, China has shared information and data with the international community in an open and transparent manner. We shared the genome sequence of the virus at the earliest opportunity, making important contribution to the drug and vaccine research and development in countries around the world,&#8221; she claimed.
&#8220;Facts have proven that China has always maintained close communication with the WHO and shared information and data on the epidemic in a timely, open and transparent manner in accordance with law. At the moment, China’s COVID situation is under control. As China adjusts its COVID response policy, we will continue to carry out activities including technical exchanges with the WHO. It is hoped that the WHO Secretariat will take a science-based, objective and just position and play a positive role in addressing the pandemic globally,&#8221; she added.
She was also asked about President Joe Biden, who said Wednesday he is worried about how the country is addressing the disease.
&#8220;We also call on all parties to take science-based and proportionate response measures not targeting any specific country, avoid remarks and actions that politicize the epidemic, jointly safeguard normal people-to-people exchange and work together for an early victory over the pandemic,&#8221; she responded in part.
Chinese authorities said they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/biden-raises-concern-over-chinas-covid-response-after-who-questions-data-2023-01-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a> the health situation with the WHO and its member states on Thursday. They said there had been one new COVID death for Wednesday on the mainland, which was down from a previous rate of five per day.
The country recently got rid of its COVID restrictions, leading to concerns of a widespread outbreak across the country due to the intense lockdowns that the government has imposed on its citizens. Funeral homes across the country have been feeling <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/bodies-pile-up-in-china-as-covid-surge-overwhelms-crematoriums" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strained</a> as they fill up.
China’s lack of forthrightness may not be surprising to many people around the world who watched as the country likely hid information about COVID in the early months of the pandemic, resulting in the massive spread of the virus across the globe.
During the early days of the pandemic, the WHO appeared to be less interested in China’s lack of reporting, and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/china/china-covid-outbreak-who-data-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">received</a> criticism for not getting the country to release more important information.
A Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-note-serious-problems-in-coronavirus-response-the-world-health-organization-keeps-praising-them/2020/02/08/b663dd7c-4834-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from February of 2020 detailed how the WHO backed China early on before the virus shut down the globe. The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, even praised the “transparency” of China’s reaction to the virus.
Tedros did eventually <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/asia/who-report-criticism-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admit</a> that China had not been helpful in providing information for the WHO’s COVID report that was released last year.
On Wednesday, Biden <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/biden-raises-concern-over-chinas-covid-response-after-who-questions-data-2023-01-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weighed</a> in on China’s response, saying he was worried about how the country is dealing with COVID. “China has not been … they&#8217;re very sensitive &#8230; when we suggest they haven&#8217;t been that forthcoming,&#8221; Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/04/remarks-by-president-biden-before-air-force-one-departure-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the press.
“There’s a lot more data that needs to be shared from China and additionally from around the world so that we can track this pandemic as we enter this fourth year,” Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO said Wednesday.
“We need more information on sequencing around the country, (and for) those sequences to be shared with publicly available databases like GISAID so that deeper analyses can be done,” she added.

A9B5200B-1CE9-4E85-9362-23F64539DC26_1_201_a

China Stands By Its COVID Strategy After WHO Criticizes

Communist China

Executive

Joe Biden

A Republican senator said President Joe Biden is this year’s Grinch for weaponizing the government to censor or attack Americans for engaging in &#8220;misinformation&#8221; by questioning official government lines.
“You better watch out! President Biden is making a list and checking it twice. Going to find out who is being naughty…exercising their constitutional rights,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said Tuesday.
Ernst urged the Biden administration’s National Science Foundation to pull funding for a $5 million grant to a group called Hacks/Hackers to make software that would essentially turn American citizens into online bots. The tool will ask them to paste in their friends’ tweets and Facebook posts to be told whether they constituted “harmful” “misinformation.” If so, the software will generate rebuttals offering the official positions of groups like the World Health Organization, and ask them to copy-and-paste them as replies to their friends’ posts as if they were their own words. The grant came to light through a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-pay-journalism-group-5m-to-create-software-to-turn-people-into-anti-misinformation-bots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Wire investigation</a> on December 1.
In addition to the software, called the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-pay-journalism-group-5m-to-create-software-to-turn-people-into-anti-misinformation-bots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust</a> (ARTT), Hacks/Hackers also hired people for a project to help determine which news outlets are “credible” when it comes to vaccine information and which aren’t. Those who don&#8217;t get the seal of approval won&#8217;t be able to be cited on Wikipedia.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-469649 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ss1-1021x576.png" alt="" width="1021" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-1021x576.png 1021w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1-768x433.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss1.png 1468w" sizes="(max-width: 1021px) 100vw, 1021px" /></div>
“To no one’s surprise, liberal outlets, like The New York Times, made Hack/Hackers’ nice list for being ‘reliable.’ The naughty list of ‘unreliable’ or ‘conspiracy’ sources predictably includes conservative-leaning media, like The Daily Wire, which coincidentally exposed this new Washington enemies list!” Ernst wrote.
“I am giving my December 2022 Squeal Award to ‘the minister of misinformation’ himself, President Biden, for promoting blatant falsehoods while his administration is steering tax dollars into these Soviet-style propaganda tactics that target citizens and media who dare question the administration’s narrative,” Ernst said. She bestows the <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/priorities/make-em-squeal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">award</a> monthly on an example of pork-like or abusive government spending.
In an effort to &#8220;pull the plug on this taxpayer-funded troll service,” she wrote to the National Science Foundation&#8217;s director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, that &#8220;We really do not need a return to the dark days when some in Washington maintained an ‘enemies lists’ of fellow citizens and journalists with opposing viewpoints. Instead, the NSF would much better serve taxpayers by supporting our nation’s bright young minds with initiatives to improve math and science education rather than these efforts to troll taxpayers online.&#8221;
She said that the World Health Organization, which is involved in the ARTT project and which the software’s creators take as the north star of truth, has repeatedly been wrong.
“Bending to China’s propaganda machine, a WHO representatives not only announced it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that COVID-19 might have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting dangerous studies on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/coronavirus-loan-fraud-prevention-fell-to-unvetted-firms-that-profited-hugely-while-ignoring-fraud-congress-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coronaviruses</a> in the very city where the pandemic began, but that a lab leak ‘isn’t a hypothesis we suggest implies further study.’ Does NSF believe these are credible statements based on reliable facts and sound scientific evidence?” Ernst asked the director.
“WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has gone as far as saying, &#8216;We appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated,&#8217;” she wrote.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-470135" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ss2.png" alt="" width="1361" height="814" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2.png 1361w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-300x179.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-963x576.png 963w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/ss2-768x459.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1361px) 100vw, 1361px" /></div>
“It is very disappointing that taxpayer dollars would be spent on this project when our nation is facing a dire shortage of STEM teachers who are vital to inspiring others to pursue careers in the sciences,” she added.
In the Biden administration, a full gamut of government agencies have taken it upon themselves to try to stop Americans from spreading what it deems “misinformation” online, despite it repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dhs-officially-shuts-down-disinformation-board-after-longtime-pause" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backfiring</a>.
The federal laboratory that designed the atomic bomb, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atomic-bomb-lab-studying-ways-to-combat-misinformation-including-covid-lab-leak-theory">Los Alamos National Laboratories</a>, dedicated eight staff to a study on how to &#8220;combat&#8221; &#8220;misinformation&#8221; that had nothing to do with its field of energy. One of the &#8220;conspiracies&#8221; was that the coronavirus had escaped, accidentally or intentionally, from a lab in China. Los Alamos boasted about its study in September, omitting the nature of the &#8220;conspiracy&#8221; it wanted to learn how to suppress — which by then was widely accepted as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-investigation-concludes-covid-likely-originated-from-a-chinese-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely</a>.
Both Los Alamos and ARTT said they are using coronavirus as just a pilot program to learn how to police Americans&#8217; speech on other topics in the future, and NSF’s “Convergence Accelerator” has funded several programs similar to ARTT.
In announcing her Squeal Award, Ernst wrote: “Here is a fact: Iowans and most Americans don’t trust Washington and don’t want the government or some state-sponsored group to tell us what we can and cannot think, say, or believe. And we certainly don’t want the Biden administration spending our hard-earned tax dollars to keep lists of approved and unapproved opinions or encouraging citizens to troll their friends with government-generated propaganda.”
“If this effort was applied to statements by the Biden administration, the ‘fact checkers’ would be working overtime countering the disinformation being spread by the president himself. Such as the president’s false claim that he ‘cut the federal debt in half — a fact!’”

Minnesota Vikings v Detroit Lions

Senator Blasts Biden For Compiling ‘Naughty List’ Of Peddlers Of ‘Misinformation’ Like The Lab-Leak Theory

Senator Blasts Biden For Compiling 'Naughty List' Of 'Misinformation' Peddlers

Coronavirus

Joni Ernst

Misinformation

Social Media Censorship

U.S.

The World Health Organization (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization">WHO</a>) has told people not to attack monkeys as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">monkeypox</a> spreads around the world. 
WHO’s statement comes after reports from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/brazil">Brazil</a> revealed that seven monkeys had been killed there in recent days, possibly linked to reactions to the spread of monkeypox, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-warns-do-not-attack-monkeys-monkeypox-rcna42433">according</a> to NBC News. A Brazilian outlet reported that 10 monkeys appeared to be poisoned or otherwise harmed. 
“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,&#8221; said WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris. 
Dener Giovanini, the coordinator of a group that combats the trafficking of animals, said the name for the disease had led some in Brazil to believe that monkeys were causing the outbreak. 
&#8220;The name chosen for this new disease is very unfortunate. Many people in Brazil believe that monkeys carry the disease and are persecuting these animals,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are very concerned because this represents a huge threat to wild animals in Brazil, which are already very endangered.&#8221;
Brazil’s Environmental Military Police also suspect that the killings were motivated by the fear that monkeys spread the disease. 
While monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, studies have<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/monkeypox-driven-overwhelmingly-sex-men-major-study-finds-rcna39564"> shown</a> that the disease has primarily been transmitted by men who have sex with men. Some health experts <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/monkeypox-outbreak-likely-spread-by-sex-at-2-raves-in-europe-says-who-expert">believe</a> the first outbreaks were among gay and bisexual men who attended raves in Europe. 
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), monkeypox can spread through skin-to-skin contact that often happens through hugging, kissing, extended face-to-face contact, and sexual intercourse.
The WHO said people should not be concerned about monkeys spreading the disease but instead look to crack down on the spread among humans. 
&#8220;The concern should be about where it&#8217;s transmitting in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it,&#8221; Harris said. &#8220;They should certainly not be attacking any animals.&#8221;
Last month, WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/monkeypox-declared-global-health-emergency-by-world-health-organization">directed</a> the organization to declare monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” despite a lack of consensus from the body on the declaration. 
The disease joined COVID and polio as the other diseases designated as international emergencies by the global health organization. 
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria,” Tedros <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/health/monkeypox-pandemic-who.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">told</a> the press at the time.

A mother Hooded Capuchin Monkey carries her baby on it’s back in the Pantanal, Brazil.

World Health Organization Tells People Not To Attack Monkeys Amid Monkeypox Spread

Brazil

Monkeypox

With anxiety, frustration, and “<a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/335820/WHO-EURO-2020-1160-40906-55390-eng.pdf">pandemic fatigue</a>” remaining at high levels after two and a half years of watching COVID disrupt everything &#8211; from businesses to education to travel and much more &#8211; it is understandable that many people are worried that we are in the early stages of the next pandemic with the current monkeypox epidemic. Especially considering the regular <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/07/1122982">headlines</a>, the unusual name, and the recent World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-the-press-conference-following-IHR-emergency-committee-regarding-the-multi--country-outbreak-of-monkeypox--23-july-2022">designation</a> of monkeypox as a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).
It doesn’t help that former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who presided over the nation’s initial response to the COVID pandemic, recently induced some panic when he <a href="https://twitter.com/jeromeadamsmd/status/1547766121599684608?s=21&amp;t=81k9ONqhZjXo_JyUOM3sDw">tweeted</a>, “I hate to tell you all this, but <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/covid19?src=hashtag_click">#covid19</a> is still a pandemic, and now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/monkeypox?src=hashtag_click">#monkeypox</a> is too. And both are gonna get a LOT worse before they get better… just wait till schools &#8211; including colleges &#8211; reopen in a few weeks…” before <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/medical/dr-jerome-adams-discusses-latest-development-on-monkeypox/">later admitting</a> that this is not actually the case.
Given how new and unexpected the monkeypox outbreak is, we all have many questions: Is there any justification to panic over the monkeypox outbreak? Is monkeypox the next COVID? Will it lead to thousands or millions of deaths? Will there be any need to impose mandates or restrictions on most of society to control the epidemic? Who is at risk? How do we control it?
To understand the answers to these questions, it is necessary to understand what monkeypox is as well as what it is not. Monkeypox is a member of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891552019300170?via%3Dihub">the pox family of viruses</a>, which includes the now-eradicated smallpox as well as the vaccinia or cowpox virus, which would confer immunity to smallpox to those it infected. Since it was first <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">discovered in humans in 1970</a>, over 50 years ago, monkeypox has been largely confined to West Africa, where humans interact closely with non-human animal reservoirs of the virus (which, incidentally, tend to be rodents, not monkeys). The monkeypox virus is known to spread from one human to another via prolonged skin-to-skin or other intimate contact. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, it is not a respiratory pathogen, which means monkeypox is not thought to spread via inhalation of the same air or respiratory droplets that are released during a sneeze or cough.
After a five to 21-day incubation period, an illness typically lasting between <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">two and five weeks</a> may begin. Initially, monkeypox-infected individuals develop flu-like <a href="https://clark.wa.gov/public-health/public-health-investigating-first-confirmed-case-monkeypox-virus-infection#:~:text=Monkeypox%20illness%20often%20begins%20with,%2C%20arms%2C%20legs%20and%20hands.">symptoms</a>, including: muscle aches, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue. These early symptoms are then shortly followed by a rash resembling chickenpox, which typically originates in the face and eventually spreads outward to the hands and feet. While mortality has historically been low with monkeypox, at around <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">three to six percent of cases</a> (and with young adults and immunocompromised individuals at higher risk of severe disease), common complications can include respiratory distress and even blindness.
In 2003, a monkeypox <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5227a5.htm">outbreak occurred</a> in the United States, originating from infected prairie dogs that were housed near animals imported from Ghana, that infected 47 people. During this outbreak, all cases were attributable to animal-to-human transmission from close handling, bites, scratches, and cleaning the cages of sick animals. The outbreak was contained by quickly identifying the source and administering smallpox vaccines (which have cross-reactivity with monkeypox) to at-risk individuals. No deaths occurred in that outbreak.
The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/index.html">2022</a> monkeypox outbreak, however, has now arguably evolved into a global epidemic. At the time of this writing, there are over 25,000 global <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html">confirmed cases</a>, and the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html">United States</a> has over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html">6,000 confirmed</a> cases in 49 jurisdictions, with the highest case counts being in New York state and California. Thus far, among these cases, there have been no reported monkeypox-associated deaths in the United States. <a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/08/non-endemic-countries-record-first-monkeypox-deaths">Brazil and India</a> have each reported one death, with the Brazil patient being immunocompromised and having lymphoma. Spain has also reported two deaths. With a reported death rate in the current monkeypox epidemic far below the three to six percent previously reported, there is low concern for mortality, but there remains a risk for other complications of the infection.
We have also amassed a great deal of information regarding who is at risk. As of August 2, <a href="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox.aspx">California’s Department of Public Health</a> has reported that among its approximately 1,135 statewide cases of monkeypox, 14 have been hospitalized for the infection, with the vast majority of patients being aged between 25 and 44 years. From among the monkeypox cases with available data, 98.8% have been reported in male or transgender male individuals, with 97.2% of infected individuals identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Given this information, California’s public health website states: “While it’s good to stay alert about emerging public health outbreaks, the current risk of getting monkeypox in the general public is very low.”
The WHO and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have taken a different approach to the monkeypox outbreak than they did with COVID, electing to adopt recommendations directed at the individuals and communities at greatest risk, rather than issuing broad restrictions that impact the entire public. The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/monkeypox-who-recommends-gay-bisexual-men-limit-sexual-partners-to-reduce-spread.html">WHO</a>, in addition to declaring monkeypox a PHEIC, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/monkeypox-who-recommends-gay-bisexual-men-limit-sexual-partners-to-reduce-spread.html">recommended</a> that men who have sex with men limit their number of sexual partners, while the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/pdf/MonkeyPox-SaferSex-InfoSheet-508.pdf">CDC</a> has chosen to issue “safer sex” recommendations that deliberately avoid singling out any groups to avoid stigmatization.
At this point in the monkeypox epidemic, when case numbers are relatively few and infections are concentrated among well-defined communities, we have a unique and narrow window of opportunity to adopt lessons we have learned from the COVID pandemic and <a href="https://gbdeclaration.org/focused-protection/">enact focused protection</a> of those who are at risk to both protect those individuals and halt the broader spread of the virus. Focused vaccination programs, educational campaigns regarding safe practices, and temporary limitations on specific events that are likely to lead to further spread of the monkeypox virus should all be considered. We learned from our initial response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s that we can do so while being respectful to impacted communities by focusing our language on medical risk reduction, rather than shaming individuals for their identities or personal practices. Any efforts to avoid focused protection of at-risk communities out of fear of stigmatization will cause public health agencies to squander this opportunity to contain the spread of monkeypox, effectively worsening its impact and potentially making it far more difficult to control in the future.
Given how skeptical the public has become after watching public health and political leaders make one harmful mistake after another in their attempt to manage the COVID pandemic, leaders must now set aside politics and political correctness and very transparently employ the clinical evidence about monkeypox to address this epidemic swiftly, before it spreads beyond its existing pockets. Time is running out.
Houman David Hemmati, M.D., Ph.D. is a board-certified ophthalmologist and biomedical research scientist in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Hemmati earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, an MD from UCLA School of Medicine, and a PhD from Caltech, and completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Stanford Hospital, an ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a postdoctoral research fellowship in chemical engineering at MIT, and a clinical fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He has co-founded and helps run two pharmaceutical companies developing treatments for eye diseases like macular degeneration, and has published extensively in the areas of stem cell research and blinding eye diseases. You can follow him on Twitter: @houmanhemmati
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers Pass – Hemmati – Monkey Pox16x9

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Monkeypox Outbreak

Readers Pass

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">Monkeypox</a> cases continue to rise in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york-city">New York City</a>, prompting officials to declare a public health emergency on Saturday while estimating that approximately 150,000 Big Apple residents face possible exposure.
The emergency declaration went into effect immediately and has allowed the state&#8217;s health department to issue orders under the New York City Health Code and access more funds and resources to &#8220;slow the spread&#8221; of the virus. New York&#8217;s Department of Heath reported at least 1,383 cases as of July 29. Of those numbers, New York City alone makes up for 1,289 cases. 
&#8220;This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment,&#8221; Mayor Eric Adams and Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the head of the New York City health and mental hygiene department, <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/555-22/new-york-city-health-department-declares-monkeypox-public-health-emergency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a joint statement.
Two days earlier, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a State Disaster Emergency in response to the outbreak. 
&#8220;More than one in four monkeypox cases in this country are in New York State, and we need to utilize every tool in our arsenal as we respond,&#8221; Hochul <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-declares-state-disaster-emergency-response-ongoing-monkeypox-outbreak" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s especially important to recognize the ways in which this outbreak is currently having a disproportionate impact on certain at-risk groups.&#8221;
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the U.S. has at least 5,189 reported cases of Monkeypox, which spreads through skin-to-skin and extended face-to-face contact, hugging, kissing, and sexual intercourse. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion. The disease can also cause painful rashes and blisters.
While Monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, the disease infects gay men at a far higher rate than any other demographic. 
The Biden administration could declare Monkeypox a national public health emergency in the coming days, according to Politico. The announcement would come from the Department of Health and Human Services and give the federal agency the ability to new money and appoint new personnel. 
Last weekend, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the virus a &#8220;public health emergency of international concern.&#8221; Recent numbers indicate more than 18,000 cases and five deaths across 78 countries have spread since the current outbreak began spreading in May.
Roughly 70% of those cases were reported from Europe, while the Americas make up about 25%.
New York City marks the second major city in the United States, following San Francisco, to declare a public health emergency.
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.

Aerial view of Loser Manhattan skyline, New York City, USA

150,000 New Yorkers At Risk For Monkeypox, Officials Declare Public Health Emergency

Eric Adams

Kathy Hochul

New York City

Officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) called on social media platforms and news organizations Wednesday to counter so-called monkeypox misinformation through national regulations as the virus spreads into a global outbreak. 
Last weekend, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the virus a &#8220;public health emergency of international concern.&#8221; Recent numbers indicate that there are more than 18,000 cases and five deaths across 78 different countries. Roughly 70% of those cases were reported from Europe, while the Americas make up about 25%.
The virus has primarily spread among &#8220;men who have sex with men&#8221; and is spread through close physical contact, including sexual intercourse. The virus could also be spread by touching objects that someone with the virus had used. 
<a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1552382934300200960" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ghebreyesus</a> warned that men who engage in homosexual sex should reduce the number of partners they sexually engage with and further cautioned nations to be on guard against disinformation about the virus.  
&#8220;The stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus and can fuel the outbreak,&#8221; Ghebreyesus <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1552288345438437379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1552288345438437379%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Felamerican.com%2Fthe-who-chief-that-spread-dangerous-covid-misinformation-calls-to-regulate-monkeypox-disinformation-on-social-media%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;As we have seen with COVID-19, misinformation and disinformation can spread rapidly online.&#8221;
&#8220;So we call on all social media platforms, tech companies, and news organizations to work with us to prevent and counter harmful information,&#8221; he added.
New York City&#8217;s Department of Health recently wrote a <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/NYCHealthCommr/status/1552030247691894785?s=20&amp;t=mC4oyiTyLHSa_Rmu6KvhMg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Ghebreyesus saying the city has once again found itself at the epicenter of a contagious disease after it surpassed 1,000 confirmed cases.
The department also expressed worry about the effect the name monkeypox can have on vulnerable communities &#8220;given the stigma it may engender, and the painful racist history within which terminology like this is rooted for communities of color.&#8221;
The letter asked the WHO to use alternative terms for the virus, such as &#8220;hMPRXV&#8221; and &#8220;MPV,&#8221; as the virus does not &#8220;originate in monkeys.&#8221;
However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&#8217;s <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/about.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> claims monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research. Yet, the CDC says the disease&#8217;s source remains unknown despite its name.
The Biden administration could declare monkeypox a national public health emergency in the coming days, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/27/biden-admin-monkeypox-health-emergency-00048333">according to</a> Politico. The announcement would come from the Department of Health and Human Services and give the federal agency the ability to new money and appoint new personnel. 
Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/25/biden-administration-monkeypox-public-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a> it might be too late to stop the monkeypox virus from becoming endemic in the U.S.
&#8220;We may have already crossed that threshold — then it will be looked back on as among the biggest public health failures of recent times,&#8221; Gottlieb said.
CDC officials <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> more than 4,600 cases of monkeypox in the U.S. as of July 27.

SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-VIRUS-PANDEMIC

WHO Director Calls On Social Media And News Outlets To Regulate Monkeypox ‘Disinformation’ 

WHO Director Calls On Social Media And News Outlets To Regulate Monkeypox 'Disinformation' 

Biden Administration

New York City Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/eric-adams">Eric Adams (D)</a> announced on Sunday that he believes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/religion">God</a> is a &#8220;she&#8221; who created him specifically for this moment to deal with a wide barrage of issues facing the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york-city">Big Apple</a>.
During a press conference on Sunday, Adams was asked whether or not the World Health Organization&#8217;s declaration that monkeypox is a global emergency would change how he handles the issue. Adams dodged that question and declared his belief that it was God&#8217;s plan for him to be Gotham&#8217;s mayor in 2022.
&#8220;You know every skill I&#8217;ve ever acquired is coming to play right now. You know, I mean from monkeypox to COVID, to, you know, asylum seekers,&#8221; he said with a laugh. &#8220;You know, this is a moment where leadership matters. I think the Creator knew we were going to have a difficult time so she made sure I was made at this time.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m prepared for this moment,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I built a great team we are we are meeting these challenges as they come and I&#8217;m just thankful that I&#8217;m here to serve this city. And the entire team my five women deputy mayors have led from the front, and you know I never hear them complaining. They&#8217;re always coming up with new ways of solving the problems that we face.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mayor Eric Adams Make Health and Education Related Announcement" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/varKAPjLK-0?start=1917&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is not the first time that Adams has expressed his belief that his electoral victory was mandated from Heaven.
In March, Adams <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/10/adams-faith-based-office-00007805">told</a> faith leaders in the city, &#8220;There are days that the perfect people are going to judge me and tell me how to do it better. But I know and you know — they’re not the mayor.&#8221;
He also said he &#8220;never doubted&#8221; he was going to be mayor during his career. &#8220;God told me, ‘Eric, you’re going to be mayor,&#8221; Adams said at the time.
While the mayor said his deputy mayors do not complain, Adams <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-city-mayor-warns-everyones-block-is-going-to-be-impacted-by-influx-of-illegal-aliens">lamented</a> during the press conference that illegal aliens arriving in New York City were a “burden” on the system while blaming conservative states for the problem.
“If there was ever an all-hands-on-deck moment, this is it. This is it,” Adams said Sunday. “Our system … was inundated with … you know, those who were seeking shelter because of the callousness of those other states that pushed them out. We’re here. We’re receiving them and everyone is going to have to be on board and we can’t have of the historical, ‘I believe people should be housed but just don’t house them on my block.&#8217;”
The mayor also stated that the rising number of illegal aliens would strain New York City’s safety net.
“Everyone’s block is going to be impacted by this and so we have to add our advocacy with our ability to help our neighbors and we need everyone on board with this, you know?&#8221; he said during the press conference. &#8220;Because as I stated last week, our schools are going to be impacted, our health care system is going to be impacted, our infrastructure is going to be impacted but we’re willing to do our job and we’re going to do our job and we’re going to need all New Yorkers to be with us on this.”

NYC Mayor Adams Says God Is A ‘She’ Who Made Him For ‘This Moment’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams Says God Is A 'She' Who Made Him For The 'Moment' To Deal With Monkeypox, Covid, And Asylum Seekers

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) has declared <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">monkeypox</a> a global health emergency, which the group&#8217;s director says is spreading “rapidly through new modes of transmission” around the world. 
Despite a WHO panel not having consensus on labeling the sickness a global health emergency, WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus directed the organization to declare it a “public health emergency of international concern.”
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria” Tedros <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/health/monkeypox-pandemic-who.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">told</a> the press. 
The disease, which primarily <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/monkeypox-driven-overwhelmingly-sex-men-major-study-finds-rcna39564">spreads</a> among men who have sex with men, joins both COVID and polio as the other diseases designated as international emergencies by the global health organization. 
While monkeypox has long been prevalent in parts of Africa, it has been spreading around the world in recent months after circulating at raves in Europe. Excluding Africa, there are about 16,000 cases worldwide, including 3,000 in the U.S. There have been no known deaths to date from the disease outside of Africa. 
After a WHO panel did not unanimously decide that monkeypox needed international efforts to crack down on its spread, Tedro made the decision to elevate the response to the disease and said that the process of declaring an emergency needed to be redesigned. 
“This process demonstrates once again that this vital tool needs to be sharpened to make it more effective,” he said.
The disease, which leads to lesions and rashes on the skin, is spread through close physical contact. It has also been known to cause those who have it pain when using the bathroom. 
“We have seen patients with severe rectal pain that worsens every time they go to the bathroom, genital pain every time they urinate and throat pain every time they swallow,” Jason Zucker at Columbia University <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/monkeypox-driven-overwhelmingly-sex-men-major-study-finds-rcna39564">said</a>. 
A new study suggests that monkeypox is also largely sexually transmitted. 
“These data point clearly to the fact that infections are so far almost exclusively occurring among men who have sex with men,” said epidemelogist Jennifer Nuzzo at Brown University, commenting on a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“And the clinical presentation of these infections suggest that sexual transmission, not just close physical contact, may be helping spread the virus among this population,” Nuzzo added.
The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-places-another-bulk-order-of-monkeypox-vaccines">ordered</a> hundreds of thousands of doses of a vaccine used to protect against the disease.

TOPSHOT-SWITZERLAND-HEALTH-VIRUS-WHO

Monkeypox Declared Global Health Emergency By World Health Organization

Approximately 25 million children worldwide missed their routine vaccinations against potentially life-threatening illnesses due to COVID pandemic disruptions to healthcare.
The new figures regarding lowered child vaccinations were released by the United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). A UNICEF press release referred to the issue as &#8220;the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years.&#8221;
“This is a red alert for child health. We are witnessing the largest sustained drop in childhood immunization in a generation. The consequences will be measured in lives,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, said in the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/WUENIC2022release" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>.
“While a pandemic hangover was expected last year as a result of COVID-19 disruptions and lockdowns, what we are seeing now is a continued decline. COVID-19 is not an excuse. We need immunization catch-ups for the missing millions or we will inevitably witness more outbreaks, more sick children and greater pressure on already strained health systems,&#8221; she added.
About 18 million of the 25 million children failed to receive a single dose of DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) in 2021. The nations most impacted include India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and the Philippines.
Vaccine percentages dropped in every region in the study, with East Asia and the Pacific regions experiencing the steepest drops in vaccine coverage.
The consequences of vaccine interruptions for traditional illnesses have already been felt in some parts of the world. UNICEF noted outbreaks of measles and polio in the past 12 months as examples that showed the importance of keeping communities and children healthy.
The recovery period for traditional child vaccinations is unknown, as the COVID pandemic has not yet ended, according to WHO.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that the pandemic still qualifies as a global emergency, and he was “concerned” about the recent surge in case numbers.
“The virus is running freely, and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden,” he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-middle-east-pandemics-united-nations-463906f1b1b10e8993b556f9e0bb398f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a press briefing. “New waves of the virus demonstrate again that COVID-19 is nowhere near over.”
The vaccination push for COVID and boosters continues to remain a focus for the Biden administration. The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-health-organization-warns-covid-nowhere-near-over" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the pharmaceutical company Moderna announced last week that the initial tests of its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19">COVID</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19-vaccine">booster</a> specifically targeting BA.4 and BA.5 variants were more effective than previous shots.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fda-panel-recommends-new-covid-19-shots-to-target-omicron-variant">recommended</a> producing new COVID vaccines against the Omicron variant. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee approved a plan in a recent 19-2 vote to have the new vaccines ready by early October.
In Los Angeles County, a required indoor mask mandate is also on pace to return on July 29 if the county remains within the CDC&#8217;s high transmission threshold. The Biden administration appears to also back the county&#8217;s plan.
“My view on this has been very clear, which is local jurisdictions, cities, counties, states should make decisions about mask mandates, because communities are different and their patterns of transmission are different,” Dr. Ashish Jha, President Biden’s COVID coordinator, <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/1-1-dr-ashish-jha-082830031.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Sunday during an interview on ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week.&#8221;
“That said, CDC has very clear guidance on this as well through their COVID community levels. And the CDC recommendation is that when you’re in a high zone, that sort of orange zone, you know, people wearing masks indoors is really important, and it really will make a difference,” he added.

COVID vaccine

Report: COVID Pandemic Led To Millions Of Children Missing Routine Vaccinations

Children

United Nations

Vaccines

Most Americans are done with COVID &#8212; the lockdowns, the masks, the fear &#8212; but apparently, the virus isn&#8217;t quite done with us.
The latest unpleasant news comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) as a new subvariant of Omicron known as BA.5 continues its spread across the U.S. and the world.
<div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body">
“The virus is running freely,” the WHO said. &#8220;New waves of the virus demonstrate again that covid-19 is nowhere near over,” according to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
It&#8217;s not just the U.S. that&#8217;s being hit. “A new COVID-19 wave is ramping up across the European Union,” the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Monday in a statement. The center said governments should prepare “for a next expected wave in the autumn and winter seasons.”
Meanwhile in China, the spread of the BA.5 subvariant raises concerns that cities like Shanghai, home to nearly 30 million people, might be forced back into lockdown.
On Tuesday, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/white-house">White House</a> urged Americans to get yet another booster for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid-19">COVID</a>, this time to address the BA.5, which has quickly become the dominant strain in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/omicron-variant.html?s_cid=11734:covid%20omnicron%20variant:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY22">estimates</a> BA.5 accounts for about 65% of all COVID cases in the U.S. Another strain, BA.4, is responsible for about 16% of infections.
“BA.5 is something we’re closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it,” Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID response coordinator, said Tuesday.
“We can prevent serious illness, we can keep people out of the hospital and especially out of the ICU, we can save lives, and we can minimize the disruptions caused by COVID-19,” Jha said. “And even in the face of BA.5, the tools we have continue to work.”
BA.5 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01771-3">concerns</a> scientists because it can infect people who have already had COVID or been vaccinated.
Last month, a panel of independent advisers that works with the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fda-panel-recommends-new-covid-19-shots-to-target-omicron-variant">recommended</a> producing new COVID vaccines to target the Omicron variant.
By a 19-2 vote, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee approved a plan to have new vaccines ready by early October. The panel said the newly formulated vaccines are needed because new subvariants of the Omicron strain appear to be able to bypass antibodies delivered via previous vaccines.
That would mean Americans could be urged to take a fourth shot, with fifth shots for the immunocompromised and people over 50 years old.
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.
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Syringe with a vaccine against the  Covid-19 and different COVID-19  mutations as omicron.

World Health Organization Warns COVID ‘Nowhere Near Over’

World Health Organization (WHO) Warns COVID-19 'Nowhere Near Over'

Omicron Variant

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