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Trucker Convoy Heading To DC. Nation's Capital Returning To POLICE STATE?

US trucker convoy gathers for cross-country trip to protest Covid rules

A group of US truckers embarked in a convoy of vehicles on Wednesday on a 2,500 mile cross-country trip from Barstow, California to Washington DC to protest against coronavirus restrictions.

The group, which is calling itself the “people’s convoy”, is one of several starting from different parts of the country and due to start arriving in the US capital at various points through to late next week – all inspired by the demonstrations that recently paralyzed Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, for weeks.

Just over two dozen trucks moved to the front of the convoy as it left Barstow, with almost none hauling cargo. The bulk of the convoy was made up mostly of regular cars, many with an assortment of flags including American flags and anti-Joe Biden banners. ...

In the face of the protests hundreds of troops have been approved to be deployed in Washington if needed, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.

The group coming from California said it wanted to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the US. It’s unclear how big the protest will be; organizers say they expect thousands will join them.

Some of the trucker groups are scheduled to arrive in time for Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday, 1 March, with others arriving later.

CDC changes guidance and advises longer interval between vaccine doses

Some people getting Pfizer or Moderna Covid vaccines should consider waiting up to eight weeks between the first and second doses, instead of the three or four weeks previously recommended, US health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday quietly changed its advice on spacing the shots.

CDC officials said they were reacting to research showing that the longer interval can provide more enduring protection against the coronavirus. Research suggests that 12- to 64-year-olds – especially males ages 12 to 39 – can benefit from the longer spacing, the CDC said.

They also say the longer wait may help diminish an already rare vaccination side effect: a form of heart inflammation seen in some young men.

The change won’t affect many people, coming 14 months after the beginning of the US vaccination campaign. The CDC says 73% of people 12 and older already have had two doses of vaccine.

Also, the suggestion to wait up to two months does not apply to all. The original, shorter interval is still recommended for people with weakened immune systems; people 65 and older; and anyone who needs fast protection due to risk of severe disease.

US has suffered more than 1m excess deaths during pandemic, CDC finds

There have been more than 1m excess deaths in the US during the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The deaths are mainly attributable to Covid-19, as well as conditions that may have resulted from delayed medical care and overwhelmed health systems.

At least 923,000 Americans have died from confirmed Covid cases, according to the CDC. Other causes of death above the normally expected number have included heart disease, hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease.

Some Americans also die months after their initial Covid diagnosis, because the virus created other fatal complications.

CDC CAUGHT Hiding Troves Of Booster Shot Data

Vaccination reduces chance of getting long Covid, studies find

Covid vaccination reduces the risk of developing long Covid, while current sufferers may experience an improvement in symptoms after getting jabbed, a comprehensive review by the UK Health Security Agency suggests.

The “rapid evidence briefing” drew together data from 15 UK and international studies, about half of which examined whether Covid vaccination protected against developing long Covid if someone had never been infected, while the rest looked at the impact of vaccination among people who already had long Covid.

It found that, as well as any benefit obtained by not catching the virus in the first place, those who do catch it are less likely to develop long Covid if they have received one or two doses of vaccine compared with unvaccinated individuals.

According to the two studies that measured individual long Covid symptoms, the fully vaccinated were less likely than unvaccinated people to develop medium- or long-term symptoms such as fatigue, headache, weakness in the arms and legs, persistent muscle pain, hair loss, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of smell or scarring of the lungs.

“There is also evidence that unvaccinated people with long Covid who were subsequently vaccinated had, on average, reduced long Covid symptoms, or fewer long Covid symptoms than those who remained unvaccinated,” the review said. There were, however, some people who reported worsened symptoms after vaccination, it added.

US regulators put brakes on Covid vaccine for children under five

US regulators on Friday put the brakes on their push to speed Pfizer’s Covid vaccine to children under five, creating major uncertainty about how soon the shots could become available.

The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply for authorization of extra-low doses of its vaccine for the youngest children before studies were even finished – citing the toll the Omicron variant has taken on children.

Next week, FDA advisers were supposed to publicly debate if youngsters should starting getting two shots before it is clear if they would actually need a third.

But Friday, the FDA reversed course and said it had become clear it needed to wait for data on how well that third shot works for this age group. Pfizer said in a statement that it expected the data by early April.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans have some Covid immunity, experts say

Almost three-quarters of Americans are now estimated to have some level of immunity to the Omicron Covid variant that created havoc after it emerged late last year just as people hoped the pandemic was finally waning.

The subsequent Omicron wave that assaulted the US this winter has, however, bolstered its defenses, leaving enough protection against the coronavirus that future surges will probably require much less – if any – dramatic disruption to society, experts reckon.

Millions of individual Americans’ immune systems now recognize the virus and are primed to fight it off if they encounter Omicron, or even another variant.

About half of eligible Americans have received booster shots, there have been nearly 80m confirmed infections overall and many more infections have never been reported.

One influential model uses those factors and others to estimate that 73% of Americans are, for now, enjoying protection from Omicron, the dominant variant, and that could rise to 80% by mid-March, experts say.

Also of interest:

WHO Says Covid Still Killing 'Far, Far Too Many' as Pharma Hoards Vaccine Tech