Human cases are rising, although most appear to be in people infected by birds, poultry, and dairy cattle. But the virus is getting ever closer to human-to-human transmission and a possible pandemic.
I hope we all learned our lessons on how badly Covid was handled. Both political parties succumbed to the pressure to use it to their own advantage. Millions paid with their life, millions more are living with long term side effects, whether it’s their health or their inability to read at grade level. Both parties eroded trust in science and expertise. With the current hyper partisan climate, I do not have a whole lot of faith we’ll do better this time around.
Thank you for your reporting and raising the awareness Michael. We do not have to be divided along political lines for something like this.
Yes I agree that both sides played politics, as I detailed at some length in the article in Truthdig I linked to near the beginning of the report. Each side politicized a different aspect of the pandemic, so the damage was multiplied.
Thank you for your very informative article. I believe it is unfortunate that routine testing of those individuals in occupations at risk are not being availed of testing for the presence of avian flu, and or provided with the opportunity to be vaccinated for free from the current government stockpiles available to protect them. We should be pushing forward as expeditiously as possible to develop safe and effective commercially produced vaccinations for avian flu that is routinely made available to workers who are occupationally exposed. We routinely avail healthcare workers with a prophylactic regiment for years in the event of a significant exposure to a contaminated needle from an individual who has HIV. Why do we seem to be going backwards? My suspicion that it is in part caused by the politicalization of our government in every facet of our life with the aid of the fourth estate.
As you say there are government stockpiles of avian flu vaccines for both animals and people, but they are not widely used. As the virus mutates, new versions of them will need to be developed, as with the influenza vaccines we use widely today. The government also needs to be honest about efficacy and side effects and not exaggerate these aspects of vaccine safety and the balancing act that all vaccines represent.
Thanks for this detailed article! I agree that it shouldn’t be made political, but from what I saw last time, that is impossible.
Hopefully there is more truth and less fear mongering from our officials if/when there is another pandemic.
Last time around, we had a governor who enjoyed the limelight of his daily conferences more than anything else.
A NYC mayor who tried to entice us with free fast food fries and burgers to take a vaccine that didn’t work well (and the irony shouldn’t be lost of the fast food offer - yes, that lifestyle sounds healthy). But then again, a healthy lifestyle is rarely the solution since there is far less money to be made when you have a healthy society.
And let’s not forget Fauci, who spread nothing but falsehoods (I wonder why he was pardoned?) and the media and social media who were all paid for or pressured to go along with all of it. Studies are now showing some of the adverse impacts of the MRN vaccines, let alone the isolation we had to deal with, schools closed and such. Yeah, close my gym and outdoor recreation, but keep McDonald’s open. Sounds about right.
The fact is, everyone is in bed with each other and the money to be made from people getting sick to vaccines to government is just too great. The misinformation spread by the mainstream media was horrifying. That’s exactly what we saw during the last pandemic and I have no faith in our government, media or big pharmaceutical if it happens again.
I hope we all learned our lessons on how badly Covid was handled. Both political parties succumbed to the pressure to use it to their own advantage. Millions paid with their life, millions more are living with long term side effects, whether it’s their health or their inability to read at grade level. Both parties eroded trust in science and expertise. With the current hyper partisan climate, I do not have a whole lot of faith we’ll do better this time around.
Thank you for your reporting and raising the awareness Michael. We do not have to be divided along political lines for something like this.
Yes I agree that both sides played politics, as I detailed at some length in the article in Truthdig I linked to near the beginning of the report. Each side politicized a different aspect of the pandemic, so the damage was multiplied.
Thank you for your very informative article. I believe it is unfortunate that routine testing of those individuals in occupations at risk are not being availed of testing for the presence of avian flu, and or provided with the opportunity to be vaccinated for free from the current government stockpiles available to protect them. We should be pushing forward as expeditiously as possible to develop safe and effective commercially produced vaccinations for avian flu that is routinely made available to workers who are occupationally exposed. We routinely avail healthcare workers with a prophylactic regiment for years in the event of a significant exposure to a contaminated needle from an individual who has HIV. Why do we seem to be going backwards? My suspicion that it is in part caused by the politicalization of our government in every facet of our life with the aid of the fourth estate.
As you say there are government stockpiles of avian flu vaccines for both animals and people, but they are not widely used. As the virus mutates, new versions of them will need to be developed, as with the influenza vaccines we use widely today. The government also needs to be honest about efficacy and side effects and not exaggerate these aspects of vaccine safety and the balancing act that all vaccines represent.
Thank you for your detailed, thoughtful and scientific analysis of where we are currently re avian flu.
This is not what we could expect from our national government.
We need to remain vigilant.
Vera Plummer
Thank you. Please feel free to share this post with friends and neighbors. Vigilance is indeed called for!
Thanks for this detailed article! I agree that it shouldn’t be made political, but from what I saw last time, that is impossible.
Hopefully there is more truth and less fear mongering from our officials if/when there is another pandemic.
Last time around, we had a governor who enjoyed the limelight of his daily conferences more than anything else.
A NYC mayor who tried to entice us with free fast food fries and burgers to take a vaccine that didn’t work well (and the irony shouldn’t be lost of the fast food offer - yes, that lifestyle sounds healthy). But then again, a healthy lifestyle is rarely the solution since there is far less money to be made when you have a healthy society.
And let’s not forget Fauci, who spread nothing but falsehoods (I wonder why he was pardoned?) and the media and social media who were all paid for or pressured to go along with all of it. Studies are now showing some of the adverse impacts of the MRN vaccines, let alone the isolation we had to deal with, schools closed and such. Yeah, close my gym and outdoor recreation, but keep McDonald’s open. Sounds about right.
The fact is, everyone is in bed with each other and the money to be made from people getting sick to vaccines to government is just too great. The misinformation spread by the mainstream media was horrifying. That’s exactly what we saw during the last pandemic and I have no faith in our government, media or big pharmaceutical if it happens again.