The organization trusted to tell every parent how and when to vaccinate their precious babies and children is "suddenly" making mistakes.  Why? Because of COVID-exhaustion and rational thought taking over? Because this is President Trump's CDC and therefore suspect in every area as the nation's politics turns poisonous?  Because  Americans have a much sharper understanding of the level of control CDC has over their lives? We've known this for decades, as CDC has created, exacerbated and ignored the autism epidemic.

Media outlets are reporting on a CDC error, CDC stumbles again, mistakenly posting 'draft' guidance on airborne Covid spread.

By Erika Edwards - CNBC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has walked back information posted on its website just three days ago, which stated Covid-19 can spread through aerosolized droplets.

The CDC now says Friday's guidance was posted "in error," and that new information will be issued shortly. The move is yet another misstep for the nation's leading public health agency, which recently reversed its guidance for the second time on testing asymptomatic people for the coronavirus....

pla·ce·bo
/pləˈsēbō/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: placebo; plural noun: placebos

a harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect.
"his Aunt Beatrice had been kept alive on sympathy and placebos for thirty years"
a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs.
a measure designed merely to calm or please someone.

Interesting article below.  Imagine testing one vaccine against another - as a placebo? We've been fed two decades' worth of placebos from the pharma, medical and public health industries - "a measure designed merely to calm or please someone." Ironic that the vaccine industry's mask is slipping during this, the time of Covid and masks.

###

Coronavirus vaccine: why it's important to know what’s in the placebo

September 21, 2020 7.14pm BST

Some researchers conducting clinical trials on a COVID-19 vaccine have not revealed to the public what the placebo contains, but they should. This is because the placebo ingredients influence how effective or harmful the active treatment, with which the placebo is compared, appears. Our new guideline published in PLOS Medicine remedies this problem by providing a template for reporting what’s in placebo controls.

In some COVID-19 vaccine trials, participants in the control group (the group receiving a placebo) are injected with a saline solution. In other trials, they receive an actual treatment. For example, in the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, the control group receives a meningitis and septicaemia vaccine as a placebo.

The benefit of using an actual vaccine as the placebo control is that it will cause a similar reaction at the site of the injection as the COVID-19 vaccine, such as muscle pain and soreness. This prevents patients from knowing whether they are getting the placebo or the real treatment. The scientific term for hiding knowledge of who got what treatment is “blinding”.

If patients know they are getting the real thing, they may expect to get better, and their expectations can make them get better a bit faster. And if they know they are getting the placebo, they could drop out of the trial because they know they aren’t getting the actual treatment. Adding an actual vaccine to the placebo control helps the trial remain blinded and so prevents bias arising from differing expectations.
Active placebos

The main problem with including something active in the placebo, such as another vaccine, is that it can confuse researchers when they measure side-effects.  Read more here.

Britain is facing six months of lockdown following a morning broadcast from No 10 Downing Street by Chief Government Scientist Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty. The lockdown will be imposed on the much disputed theory that there are still only low levels of immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community, which can only be rectified by vaccination campaigns now deferred to next year.

In recent weeks the government have been ramping up fear of the virus by mass testing (~250 thousand tests a day) leading to what are most likely largely false positive results, while hospitalisation and death statistics remained static. Though it is true that hospitalisations and deaths have begun to increase (perhaps seasonally) there is little basis that COVID-19 deaths will reach near the same levels as in the spring (as Whitty is claiming), even supposing that data is reliable. More likely many will die because normal medical services are vastly reduced (they never recovered after the spring lockdown), and because many thousands people will be made jobless, homeless and destitute this winter, while the nation is plunged into ever greater everlasting debt with the complicity of all the main political parties.

Futhermore, even with contemptible acquiescence of most elected members of Parliament the government is acting illegally in imposing these measures on society as has been stated by retired senior judges Lord Sumption and Baroness Hale. The case against the government is now likely to reach the Court of Appeal towards the end of next month.

John Stone is UK Editor of Age of Autism

This weekend marked the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, after a protracted war with cancer.  She won many cancer battles, returning to work each time,  long after most would have retired. She was 87 years old. In 2011, there was a SCOTUS case known as The Bruesewitz Decision. In a stunning blow to the health and safety of American children, six Justices voted to protect Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and their cooperate "peers."  The men. Two justices dissented. Both were women. Including Justice Ginsburg. 

In a 6-2 decision, the justices said Congress had effectively shut the courthouse door to these lawsuits in 1986, when it created a special vaccine court designed to compensate victims of vaccine injuries.  Source CNBC, 2011

In addition, she was a champion for choice and self-determination for the intellectually disabled, even if it bucked the politically correct trend:

From the advocacy group VOR: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away on Friday. Justice Ginsberg's milestone statement in the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision has helped ensure the right to choice for those with a disability. She understood real CHOICE for those with disabilities, and we are grateful for her statement in the Olmstead decision. When there are some so-called advocacy groups that try to use Olmstead to prevent real choice, and close our congregate care centers we have Justice Ginsberg and Kennedy to thank... for Olmstead means the right to choice..........whether that is the family home or a large congregate care, and in order for there to be choice, the choice has to be available.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced the decision of the Court on June 22, 1999.  She stated that the Supreme Court answered with a “qualified yes” the question of whether the ADA’s prohibition of discrimination by a public entity required “placement of persons with mental disabilities in community settings rather than in institutions.” Source Olmstead Rights.org.

Throughout time, it has been the women at the forefront of many social justice issues. We have strong men working in our community, but the task of raising children has traditionally, and continues, to fall to the more frequently to the women. The mothers. And here we are, so many of us still fighting for justice and to protect from further harm.

As we approach the Presidential Election, look for even more dissent and roiling anger over the nomination process for Justice Ginsberg's replacement.

Mary Holland and Louise Kuo Habakus wrote a post for Age of Autism about Bruesewitz after the SCOTUS decision. Today? The PREP Act extends immunity even further as the world races to produce COVID vaccines.

What Bruesewitz v. Wyeth Means for American FamiliesWhat Bruesewitz v. Wyeth Means for American Families

Who remembers Teddy Ruxpin?

By Cathy Jameson

A few years ago we added a toddler-friendly gizmo to the car seat Ronan was using.  It's a plush strap cover that has a bear head on it.  I hated to have to add the strap cover, but with how Ronan wiggled in his car seat, it was an extra layer of soft fabric over the thin seat belt material.

Let's just say that Ronan didn’t love it.  Besides it being something new for him to get used to, Ronan especially didn't love the bear head that was sewn on the strap.  After he tried to yank it off several times, I cut it off and brought it inside to the kitchen.

The same day that I put the strap cover on Ronan's car seat was the same day that I was asked a slew of questions about my kids' health.  It was a friendly conversation and also third one I'd had on the topic in less than a week.  During the three conversations, I was asked my thoughts about vaccines.  Funny that so many of the conversations I have lead back to that subject.  

I am happy to be a source of information, but it made me sad.  These people, who were each well-educated experts in their field, were concerned about diseases but confused about vaccines.  As knowledgeable as they were about other topics, they lacked enough information to be able to come to a solid decision about what to do.  I could hear their concern in their voices and in the questions they did not ask their doctor but instead asked me.  Their doctors said, 'Here, your child needs this shot.  Get it.' 

But their doctor didn't stick around to talk about the vaccine excipients.  

They didn't explain the risks of vaccination or share what side effects to look for.  

They didn't offer advice should an adverse reaction occur. 

The longer our conversations went, the more I realized how very little their doctors did to fully inform their patients.  Some people prefer to blindly trust what they are told.  Remember, I was that person at one time, too.  But I think if someone is being asked to be a partner in a medical decision, they must be presented with a lot more information than what each of these three people had been offered.  Because some patients are not being treated as partners, some facts about vaccines bear repeating.  

Happy to repeat that information no matter who reaches out to me for help, I like NVIC’s Ask 8. A conversation starter, I've suggested people ask their provider that list of questions when vaccines are first brought up.  Of course many more links, books, and websites exist and can be read, studied, and cited.  I thought this next list, which I happened to stumble upon after that third vaccine conversation that one week, was very thorough.  

From Natural Immunity Community:  

Question to ask your Pediatrician before you allow them to vaccinate your healthy newborn.
__________

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT VACCINATION.

Can you show me any studies regarding infant vaccines being tested directly on infants, and comparing the observations to non-vaccinated infants? There are none, those studies have never been done.

Can you show me any studies regarding childhood vaccines being tested directly on children, and comparing the observations to non-vaccinated children? There are none, those studies have never been done.

Pardon the paraphrased headline, 92 years after the original Hoover slogan....  Below is the CNBC version of yesterday's announcement. Brings to mind another famous ad campaign... "Some new cereal. Supposed to be good for you. You try it.  I'm not gonna try it. YOU try it...."  Ironically named: LIFE.

Trump says U.S. will manufacture enough coronavirus vaccine doses for every American by April

President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. will manufacture at least 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses before the end of the year with enough to inoculate every American by April

“Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month and we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April and again I’ll say even at that later stage, the delivery will go as fast as it comes,” Trump said at a White House press briefing.

Pfizer and Moderna, frontrunners in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump’s forecast is at odds with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who said earlier this week that the U.S. wouldn’t start vaccinating people until November or December at the earliest and the doses would be limited at first. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said a vaccine wouldn’t be widely available until the summer or early fall of next year.

“If you’re asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we’re probably looking at third ... late second quarter, third quarter 2021,” he told the U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, education, and related agencies on Wednesday.

Trump said Friday that “massive amounts” of the vaccine “will be delivered through our great military and the general is one of our best and he’s ready to go.”

“We are again very advanced on the vaccine, we think that sometime in the very near future we’ll have it,” he said. “We’re... I would say I think I can say years ahead of scheduled what it would be if it were an administration other than this one.”   Read more Trump says U.S. will manufacture enough coronavirus vaccine doses for every American by April.

Thanks to SafeMinds for bringing this article to readers. It's true, from coast to coast, red states, blue states, purple states alike - our loved ones with special needs are suffering. And for most of us, that means WE ARE TOO.  Sure, we suck it up. We act like we can handle anything. We adore and cherish our kids. Yadda, yadda. But the fact of the matter is..... we're human.  I have worked all three shifts of a 3 person day program for months. My break? 2 night every 3 to 4 weeks when the ladies see their Dad.  Can I do it? You betcha.  Is it my preference for my daughters first and foremost?  No.   They need their outlets outside the home. Without schools and programs, many families face danger, exhaustion, and breakdowns. Ugly. We know it. I'm fortunate. My older daughters' day programming opened up. They attend 3  days a week. My youngest has a working outline of a school program, but it has not started yet, except for 40 minutes of OT and speech.  Which are provided in my home, exactly like early intervention.  So now I make another pot of coffee and clean up the kitchen before each visit. Families of adults in group homes have been devastated by the lack of ability to see their sons and daughters. COVID has taken a steep toll on all of us. How are you managing?

###

September 17, 2020

“Few are more adversely affected by COVID-19” than individuals with IDD

A letter published recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry on behalf of the directors of the nation’s 13 intellectual and developmental disabilities research centers — which are funded by the National Institutes of Health — is sounding the alarm about the devastating impact the pandemic has had on an already vulnerable population.  Click here to continue.

Kim's pediatrician had one of these in his office. Kinder than today's pediatricians.

I call this the new Mommy wars.

Pediatricians are more likely to be female; a 2010 survey by the American Academy of Pediatrics found 55.6 of graduate pediatricians and 68.9 percent of pediatric residents were female. The same survey found almost 74 percent were Caucasian and 35 percent were less than 40 years old.

And from 2015 source ama:  Based on key findings, women make up a larger percentage of residents in:

• Family medicine (about 58 percent)
• Psychiatry (about 57 percent)
• Pediatrics (about 75 percent)
• Obstetrics/gynecology (about 85 percent)
  
  

If this story below doesn't tell you that pediatrics is the last sales arm of the female pharmaceutical sales rep force, nothing will.  I imagine that the pediatricians refusing care to families are the younger doctors who have been full indoctrinated in medical school. Pediatrics used to be about the whole care of a child from head to toes, all ten of them. And while there are those dedicated MDs who still have their hearts in the right place for patients, the trend to abandoning the “non-compliant” is sad indeed. My experience over the years?  They weigh. Measure. Do a cursory eye exam for those patients who CAN sit and answer (never for my own daughters). Administer vaccines. And now they also encourage private conversations about gender and sexuality (there are signs on the wall of the exam rooms telling kids that they can talk, which is a good thing. ) and they refer out to specialists for everything else.  My pediatrician pierced my ears in the 70s! I have been aghast at how little care my daughters with autism have received, compared to their typical peers.  This discrimination now expands to the actual refusal to do their job, to treat sick children.  Imagine if ER doctors interviewed every gun shot victim who entered their hallways - and refused treatment for any reason. Doctors are supposed to provide care - without question. Perhaps we need a new exemption category whereby the DOCTORS can become exempted from treating under or unvaccination children.  Just as doctors can conscientiously object to performing abortions. If the Doctors feel so strongly about vaccination, let them have that choice.  No punishments for those doctors who chose to accept families who alter the CDC schedules.  Just a fair market choice. And parents can vote with their feet where to go.

###

https://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/news/20200915/more-than-1-in-3-us-pediatricians-dismiss-vaccine-refusing-families#1

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Parents who choose to forgo or delay their children's vaccinations may quickly find themselves without a pediatrician.

Just over half (51%) of pediatric offices in the United States have a policy to dismiss families that refuse childhood vaccines, a nationwide survey found. Thirty-seven percent of pediatricians themselves said they often dismissed families for refusing vaccines, and 6% said they would dismiss a family for choosing to spread out crucial early vaccines.

"Arguments for dismissing families include that vaccination is the standard of care and the benefits far outweigh the risks. The evidence for vaccines is so strong that doctors may feel they just can't work with parents who stray so far from the standards of medical care," said lead author Dr. Sean O'Leary. He's a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora.

"Another argument for dismissing families is that doing so may increase vaccine rates when parents see that pediatric practices feel so strongly about vaccines. Some of the downsides are that kids might end up without a medical home, or parents will find pediatricians who don't have policies about vaccines," O'Leary said.

From Autism Action Network's John Gilmore:

Sen. Kamala Harris has a bill that threatens religious exemptions from vaccine mandates to attend school in every state. The “Do No Harm Act,” Senate Bill S. 593. prohibits people from refusing to comply with a law, regulation or policy because it would violate their religious beliefs. If passed it could be used in court to argue that exercising a religious exemption from vaccine mandates exposes other people to potential harm and “discriminates” against them. And if it can be used this way you know it will. It guts the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.

"The Do No Harm Act clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is intended to protect religious freedom without allowing the infliction of harm on other people. It would amend RFRA in order to restore the original intent of the legislation by specifically exempting areas of law where RFRA has been used to bypass federal protections. Source: Human Rights Campaign.org" That's the loophole in play, if you or I use the religious exemption to refuse a vaccine, the argument will be that we can not, because refusal will inflict harm on other people. The slope has been greased and you're being pushed.

Click HERE to send a letter to your representatives. It's easy, when you fill in your address, the system generates the letter for your location. You can use the stock letter provided, but we suggest you personalize the intro paragraph to share your unique point of view.  I just sent mine - Kim

Introduced in Senate (02/28/2019)

Do No Harm Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/593?s=1&r=81

This bill prohibits the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) to specified federal laws or the implementation of such laws. Currently, RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, except in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest when using the least restrictive means.

Under the bill, RFRA is inapplicable to laws or the implementation of laws that

protect against discrimination or the promotion of equal opportunity (e.g., the Civil Rights Act of 1964);
require employers to provide wages, other compensation, or benefits, including leave;
protect collective activity in the workplace;
protect against child labor, abuse, or exploitation; or
provide for access to, information about, referrals for, provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or service.

The bill prevents RFRA from being used to deny (1) goods or services the government has contracted, granted, or made an agreement to provide to a beneficiary; or (2) a person's full and equal enjoyment of a government-provided good, service, benefit, facility, privilege, advantage, or accommodation.

In order for a person to assert a RFRA claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, the government must be a party to the proceeding.

I fully believe there are those at the CDC who do not give a rat's ass about our health. From the top on down. The autism epidemic is an example that is in your face, in our schools, under my very own roof proof of their blatant disregard.  COVID is as much a political opportunity as any "war." Our nation is in alarming disarray.  The nattering nabobs of negativism have taken over. 

###

  Top HHS official accuses scientists of plotting against Trump, tells supporters to buy ammunition

The top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accused career government scientists of plotting against President Trump and told Trump supporters to arm themselves ahead of the November presidential election.

In a Facebook Live video on Sunday, HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was harboring a “resistance unit" to Trump, The New York Times reported.

The career scientists "haven’t gotten out of their sweatpants except for meetings at coffee shops” to plot “how they’re going to attack Donald Trump,” Caputo said, according to the Times. “There are scientists who work for this government who do not want America to get well, not until after Joe Biden is president.”

Age of Autism is proud to present an urgent COVID-era UNIFIED message from dozens of organizations and nations who are fighting for your health and your medical freedom.  You'll see many familiar faces -  including our own Mark Blaxill and me. As we say in the video "BE COURAGEOUS" - share this video. I suggest we all screen record it as well, in case VIMEO pulls it down.

https://vimeo.com/457783711

Unity Video from bburrowes on Vimeo

Organizations in Unity:

Children’s Health Defense
The Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge 
The Bolen Report
GreenMedInfo
Autism Action Network
DeMoss Chiropractic
California Jam
Health Choice 4 Action

By Anne Dachel

What if, what if we can never return to normal until there’s a COVID19 vaccine that we all have to take? What if that’s our only hope? Won’t everyone in the world be desperate to get that vaccine?

 That seems to be what Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying.

Sept 12^th leading coronavirus expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was highlighted on

Fox Business in a story entitled, Fauci: Americans can go to theaters once a vaccine has existed for 'almost a year'.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, believes Americans will be able to sit in theaters again once a coronavirus vaccine has existed "for almost a year." 

"I think it’s going to be a combination of a vaccine that has been around for almost a year and good public-health measures," Fauci said. "I would think by the time we get to the end of 2021 — maybe even the middle of 2021."

So the message clearly is, life will get back to normal when we’ve all had the vaccine. 

He added that if the U.S. gets a "knock-out vaccine that's 85 [to] 90% effective," and "just about everybody gets vaccinated," society will have "a degree of immunity" that allows the general public to "walk into a theater without masks and feel like it's comfortable" that they will not be at risk of catching COVID-19.

Everyone seems to be on the same page. I’ve heard a number of news commentators toss out the aside, “Once we have a vaccine…”

No one questions the magic power of A VACCINE to end all our problems with COVID19. Liberal and conservative news outlet can’t say it enough. No one is questioning the safety of the rushed vaccine. It’s all good. We just have to get it, and it’s coming soon!

by John Stone

The British government (Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured) are running a public consultation with a view to cutting every corner and safe-guard in order to roll out a COVID vaccine campaign before Christmas (the British “warp-speed”). presumably with the Oxford/Astra-Zeneca product in mind. For anyone who wants to respond it ends this Friday (18 September). This is how I have responded to the on-line form.

Temporary authorisation of the supply of unlicensed products

The urgency of the situation in which such a decision needs to be taken is heavily in doubt. While the government has taken it upon itself to place restrictions on the public from which it would gladly be alleviated the hospitalisation and fatality rates for the virus have been in continuous decline since the spring - if indeed there is a continuing infection rate this presumably confers more certain immunity than any putative vaccine. None of the initial candidate products purports to offer strong immunity so it is hard to see even if there were any good reasons for the present restrictions that the introduction of these products would offer sufficient grounds for their removal. It is more likely that they would simply contribute to public confusion.

As I understand it the decision to distribute unlicensed vaccines (or licensed ones) will be taken by the JCVI. The JCVI is described as an “independent” body, but of what? The chair of the JCVI, Andrew Pollard, is lead developer of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which has been backed by the government to the tune of at least £100 million. In February 2014 Pollard chaired a meeting of the JCVI which recommended the Bexsero Men B vaccine to the schedule of which he was also lead developer, which became part of Conservative window-dressing at the 2015 election. Even if Pollard recuses himself the “independence” of any decision will be in doubt - apart from anything else at its February 2016 meeting the JCVI enjoyed the hospitality of Pollard’s research institution, the Martin School, and his Oxford College, St Cross. It is not reported that any members protested. Dissent at JCVI meetings had never been reported, indeed no votes ever seem to be recorded.

Should a decision be delayed beyond the end of the year it will come under the remit of the licensing authority, the MHRA. The MHRA is entirely funded by the industry for the licensing of medicines and biologicals, and also advised by Prof Pollard. In 2009 the MHRA - at the time of the swine flu scare - failed to detect an association between the GSK vaccine Pandemrix and the condition of narcolepsy, and remained uncontrite in BMJ correspondence as late as 2018. It is illusory at the present time to suppose the licensure in itself provides grounds for confidence. The government in fact has no existing processes to ensure confidence. The government also assumes that anything “authorised” will subsequently be “licensed” which further calls the independence of the process into question. What if it turned out to be not just “temporary”

Civil liability and immunity

The document maintains that it would be unfair to manufacturers to have to sustain liability, but it is not clear why it would be fair to the public who have already had incredible costs loaded on to them, whether any suit was against the manufacturer (to be reimbursed by the government) or against the government itself, the cost of which would then be passed to the public, if successful. Admittedly, in almost any circumstances the Legal Aid Agency will fail to support such litigation (a dramatic instance would be Vioxx), so it is somewhat theoretical: whatever happens the manufacturer makes a killing and there is little sanction on them to ensure safety, let alone that you will not catch the disease.

Ultimately, the government shelters legally behind the principle of informed consent which leaves the onus on the patient or their guardian, but needs to entail that it is genuinely informed (including all the risks and shortcomings of the product as is provided in the Montgomery ruling). It is further prejudicial if scorn and loathing are heaped on anyone who is not sure whether to comply (for instance the several derogatory comments made the Prime Minister about “anti-vaxxers”, or pronouncements by the WHO about the “vaccine hesitant” being a threat to global health) which is devoid of intellectual merit, quite outside the spirit of freedom of choice or the recommendations of the recent Cumberlege review, which considered instances where injured patients were subjected to bullying tactics. This fails to recognise the rights of the patient. It also undermines the rights of the patient if they are expected to be vaccinated to protect someone other than themselves. It is not only a dubious principle it may well be that it is in the interests of children, for example, to acquire natural immunity, particularly if the virulence of the disease retreats to the level of the common cold (which seems entirely likely).

I had a little Tweetchat with Johnson & Johnson on Twitter. They have pinned this Tweet about "the integrity of the scientific process" vis a vis Covid vaccine development.  How many Americans know that because of the PREP act, they bear all the risk of injury or even death, and J&J is fully protected by Uncle Sam. When the cat has walked away, the mice never pay. "We stand with science."  Like a boot on your throat.  According to DrugWatch: A Huffington Post investigation called J&J “America’s most admired lawbreaker.” That must have been MANY years ago, before HuffPo became HuphPo.

By  Cathy Jameson

We’ve been told that a severe adverse event has occurred during AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine trial. Not much has been shared yet about what the transverse-myelitis injury entails except that the trial has been halted and that an investigation is underway. You won’t find that kind of quick response when an individual reacts negatively to a vaccine that's already on the market. In fact, it won’t make the sort of news that AstraZeneca is getting at all. People are lucky if their doctor believes them let alone sees them write a press release about it.

When vaccine injuries happen with FDA-approved, liability-free vaccines, Americans are out of luck. That’s because:

- vaccines come with no warranty

- consumers have the right to get vaccines, but they have no recourse when a vaccine fails or causes injury or death

- documented side effects and adverse events, including death, are listed on package inserts of vaccines produced, sold, and administered in the United States, but

- pharmaceutical companies,  and those who administer their products, aren’t held legally responsible for vaccine products or what happens after vaccines have been administered, and because

- pharmaceutical companies are the priority, never the consumers.

Consumers may file a claim. They may do that anytime they suspect an injury and if they can prove that one of the following events has happened.

Senator Rand Paul on Mandated COVID Vaccination for American schoolchildren in at the HELP Hearing on 9/9. Dr. Francis Collins, the witness with whom he speaks, is the head of the NIH.  Read about the hearing here - Testimony on Vaccines: Saving Lives, Ensuring Confidence, and Protecting Public Health

"There is a difference between smallpox and COVID..."

"We really need to start thinking through our fervor."

COVax - a new way to gamble at your local store?

The nutshell summary: You can now take your child age 3 and older to a pharmacy for a COVID vaccine thanks to a Trump Administration action that uses the PREP Act announced this week.  The PREP act protects the manufacturers during a pandemic - the consumer will bear all risk.  Wayne Rohde wrote two articles for us about The Prep Act and the recent decision to allow pharmacists to administer routine pediatric vaccines (see links below.) He shared this recent COVax announcement on Facebook, and expressed legitimate concerns over the ramifications.  And of course, we agree. But then I chose to think like a devil's advocate:

Pediatricians will have a COW over this decision. Think of how much (more) business they will lose. Parents will NOT feel the pressure to vaccinate from a pharmacist as they shop for bread, milk and eggs, though they'll be bombarded with signage no doubt.  Those parents who go to a drug counter for the vaccine will only be those who want to go - at least until/unless the vaccine is mandated. At a doctor's office? Mom is PRESSURED, SHAMED, CAJOLED - badly. Every child is a customer. Maybe this announcement is a going to open eyes, hearts, minds and ears.  Think about the horror of loud, sobbing kids getting vaccinated and their anxious, agitated Moms  in Walgreen's Kroger, Target, Giant Eagle, Stop & Shop, Vons -  all over the country. This act makes vaccination a PUBLIC event. No more safety of hiding behind closed pediatric office doors like confessionals.  Imagine when parents see adverse reactions and start calling their doctors who may tell them,  "Not my problem. I did not administer those vaccines."  Pray for those children who will be harmed. We know that "collateral damage" for the herd is a terrible thing, more than anyone. Share your thoughts in our comments.

Breaking News: Trump Administration Takes Action to Expand Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

Today, under the leadership of President Trump, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Assistant Secretary for Health, issued guidance under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to expand access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines when they are made available. This guidance authorizes state-licensed pharmacists to order and administer, and state-licensed or registered pharmacy interns acting under the supervision of the qualified pharmacist to administer, COVID-19 vaccinations to persons ages 3 or older, subject to certain requirements.  Read the full announcement here: Trump Administration Takes Action to Expand Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

The PREP Act^[i] or “Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act” was the product of President Bush 43 and his Health and Human Services (HHS) agency. The PREP Act was passed in December of 2005. Most of the emphasis for this act was born upon the federal government’s response to the Anthrax scare immediately after 9/11.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) added new legal authorities to the Public Health Service (PHS) Act to provide liability immunity related to the manufacture, testing, development, distribution, administration and use of medical countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents of terrorism, epidemics, and pandemics.   It also added authority to establish a program to compensate eligible individuals who suffer injuries from administration or use of products covered by the PREP Act’s immunity provisions. ^[ii]

Wayne Rohde wrote about the PREP Act here at Age of Autism earlier this year.
Meet The PREP "Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness" Act

Rohde also wrote about the very recent expansion of what vaccines pharmacists are authorized to administer:
HHS Authorizes Pharmacists to Administer Pediatric Vaccines

By John Stone
Reprinted with permission from Children's Health Defense

These days every country seems to have evolved its own bureaucratic methods for inflicting misery on its citizens. This article documents the complicity of the British state and politicians in the continued deliberate practice of medical abuse. It results from the recent report of veteran Conservative politician, Julia (Baroness) Cumberlege into instances of iatrogenic (medical) harm and patient abuse. Though the report, First Do No Harm commissioned by the former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, was excellent in itself, it only looked into three areas: hormone pregnancy test (abandoned long ago in the late 1970s), the epilepsy drug sodium valproate and vaginal mesh implants. At the time of commissioning the report Hunt had already stated:

“It is an essential principle of patient safety that the regulatory environment gives sufficient voice to legitimate concerns reported by patients, families and campaigners, works alongside them and responds in a rapid, open and compassionate way to resolve issues when they are raised. My view is that that did not happen in the way I would expect in these three cases.”

These are excellent sentiments but the question remains whether the British government is prepared to look into abuse in areas other than these. It seems unlikely that the issues involved, such as failure to identify serious harms and the ignoring of patients or their representatives when they speak up about horrifying side-effects, only occurred in connection to these three groups of products. In this regard Julia Cumberlege has written to me:

READ MORE HERE: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Systemic Patient Abuse and State Repression

ePainAssist.com

The New York Times reported that the Astra-Zeneca CoVax injury may have been "Transverse Myelitis." As ominous as that name sounds, the laymen's term is worse and would scare the pants off Americans: spinal cord injury.

The individual also said that a volunteer in the U.K. trial had received a diagnosis of transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections. However, the timing of this diagnosis, and whether it was directly linked to AstraZeneca’s vaccine, is still unknown.

Here are excerpt from a 2009 PubMed article:  Note, the reference to the adjuvant as the possible culprit. 

Transverse myelitis and vaccines: a multi-analysis N Agmon-Levin 1 , S Kivity, M Szyper-Kravitz, Y Shoenfeld

Transverse myelitis is a rare clinical syndrome in which an immune-mediated process causes neural injury to the spinal cord. The pathogenesis of transverse myelitis is mostly of an autoimmune nature, triggered by various environmental factors, including vaccination....   ...We have disclosed 37 reported cases of transverse myelitis associated with different vaccines including those against hepatitis B virus, measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and others, given to infants, children and adults. ...The associations of different vaccines with a single autoimmune phenomenon allude to the idea that a common denominator of these vaccines, such as an adjuvant, might trigger this syndrome.

What is Transverse Myelitis?

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Transverse myelitis is an inflammation of the spinal cord, a major part of the central nervous system.  The spinal cord carries nerve signals to and from the brain through nerves that extend from each side of the spinal cord and connect to nerves elsewhere in the body.  The term myelitis refers to inflammation of the spinal cord; transverse refers to the pattern of changes in sensation—there is often a band-like sensation across the trunk of the body, with sensory changes below.

Note: We hope the clinical trial participant will recover. There's no joy in vaccine injury. Ever. We speak and write glibly about "the vaccine," sometimes overlooking that real people, men and women, are the test subjects.

Here is the Clinical Trials News Release from NIH on the Phase III trial.

From DailyMail UK

Oxford and AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine trial is put on HOLD for safety reasons after a British volunteer had a 'serious' reaction that could have been caused by injection

Phase 3 trials for the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca have been placed on a hold after a 'serious adverse event' was reported in a participant in the UK. 

Serious adverse events are suspected reactions to vaccines or drugs that require hospitalization, are life-threateningly or deadly. 

It's unclear what the exact nature of the reaction was, but a person familiar with the matter told Stat News that the person is expected to recover. 

New York Post AstraZeneca halts COVID-19 vaccine trial after possible serious side effect

(Note: In large trials illnesses will happen by chance.... Is THAT what AZ wants us to believe?)

“This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.

“In large trials, illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully.”

Note:  Anne Dachel transcribed a YouTube video below. The channel is controversial. The information? We'll let you decide.  The COVID vaccines are racing down the pike.

###

Dr. Carrie Madej speaks out about COVlD-19 vaccine

(Dr. Carrie Madej, DO is an Internal Medicine Specialist in McDonough, GA and has over 19 years of experience in the medical field. She graduated from Kansas City Univ Of Medicine Bioscience College Of Osteopathic Medicine medical school in 2001. She is affiliated with Southern Regional Medical Center.)

Dr. Carrie Madej, Forest Park, GA

So what do you think about going from Human 1.0 to Human 2.0? And what does that mean? 

Well going from humans as we now know ourselves to Human 2.0 has something to do with transhumanism. If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s about taking humans as we know ourselves and melding with artificial intelligence, kind of like being in The Matrix, if you’ve ever seen that movie. And that may seem kind of cool to you. We might have some  superhuman abilities. Maybe be able to think of something and it happens, maybe have some physical abilities that would be almost superhuman like. That’s the idea, that’s what you see in sci-fi movies.

For myself, thinking about this topic, I’m like well, I have some time, I think that’s many years in the future. However, this question, this idea is now right in this moment. We need to make a decision. I found out we need to make a decision about this because I investigated the proposed COVID 19 vaccine, and this is my alarm call to the world. I looked at the pros and cons and it frightens me. I want you to know about this. You need to be very well informed because this new vaccine is not like your normal flu vaccine. This is something very different. This is something brand new. This is completely experimental on the human race.

We are at a loss for words to explain what is happening Through The Looking Glass right now. Tighten your seat belt, all the same.

Trump blasts Biden, Harris for 'anti-vaccine rhetoric'

President Trump on Monday took aim at his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), over remarks by Harris that she would not take Trump's word on the efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine without assurances from top health officials.

During a press conference Monday at the White House, the president pledged that a vaccine for the coronavirus would be available in "record time," and swiped at Harris in particular over the remarks, calling her "the most liberal person in Congress."

Biden and Harris, Trump said, "should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now, talking about endangering lives. It undermines science, and what happens is all of the sudden you'll have this incredible vaccine and because of that fake rhetoric, it's a political rhetoric ... that's all that is."

Read more:  Trump blasts Biden, Harris for 'anti-vaccine rhetoric'

Note: Below is an article that ran in The Washington Post this weekend.   You may or may not approve of Ellenby's language choices. Or what she says about her son.  I was surprised to see a mainstream article that talks about the violence and danger that can come with autism behaviors.  I haven't dug into the comments yet. I'm sure she's taking a drubbing from all sides, as I did when I wrote for WaPo.  Have you been able to explain the COVID shutdown to your loved one with autism? If you are an adult with autism, how have you processed the changes?

###

By Whitney Ellenby

I put off explaining death to my autistic son. Covid-19 convinced me I couldn’t wait any longer.

Even before I uttered a word, my son knew something was off.

My flustered movements alerted him to a shift in equilibrium in the house. The statewide coronavirus shutdown had just been announced, and as I struggled to wrap my head around the profound adjustments I needed to make, the fear of a grave illness was rivaled by an entirely different threat: How would I explain the crisis to my profoundly autistic 19-year-old son?

Zack’s language and comprehension are truncated; he has no conspicuous understanding of global adversity, personal sacrifice or collective safety.

The stakes of being truthful were greater than you might imagine. I’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that Zack fully participates in his community, even forcing him to remain at indoor venues he feared such as movie theaters, restaurants and airplanes. My “inclusion by fire” methods feel vindicated by the fact that Zack regularly navigates the world with competence and zeal.

But there is one dire exception — his absolute intolerance of unexpected closures. Zack has no interest in the reason: All venues should be open according to his schedule. Delivering news of a sudden closure — of a splash park shut due to lightning, a movie sold out — is perilous. In seconds, Zack lashes out in frustration. Sometimes I absorb the blows and hold my ground to enforce upon him the reality that disappointment is a part of life; more often I scramble for alternatives to distract him.

And now I couldn’t. For a young man whose life quite literally revolves around predictable schedules and recreation, virtually everything he depended upon had been eviscerated overnight.

Read more here I put off explaining death to my autistic son. Covid-19 convinced me I couldn’t wait any longer.

Whitney Ellenby is the author of “Autism Uncensored: Pulling Back the Curtain,” founder of the charitable venture Autism Ambassadors and a former Justice Department disability rights attorney.

As I read post after post about the paralyzing fear of Covid exposure on social media, and in news reports, I wonder about public perception of those of us genuinely wary, fearful of vaccination. You know what we’re called. A local college in Fairfield, CT has just put onto distance learning only the students who live in housing in Bridgeport, due to an "orange level alert" for infection. The students who live across the street in Fairfield are allowed to attend. Why did the student cross the road? To be able to attend her $55,000 a year college. 

I was scrolling along a local Facebook group and came across this:

There are times I feel paralyzed with indecision and doubt. There are times I'm so overwhelmed that I can't make any decisions, I don't even want to eat. This is what this pandemic does to some people. There are other days where I am hyper motivated and wear myself to exhaustion before bed. I'm never sure which person is getting out of bed. If you feel these things too, you aren't alone. If you feel lost and scared and overwhelmed,  you are not alone. If you are dealing fine, you are not alone. This is affecting us all and we are not alone.

Makes you want to reach out to him and say, "There there," kind of like Dory to Nemo, doesn't it?  The COVID shutdown is taking a toll on everyone. Mental health even more than physical.  I'm sure every AofA reader has a litany of gripes and worries and sea changes to our homes because of the shutdown.

Here's a revised version of what I read:

There are times I feel paralyzed with indecision and doubt. There are times I'm so overwhelmed that I can't make any decisions, I don't even want to eat. This is what this pandemic vaccine injury does to some people. There are other days where I am hyper motivated and wear myself to exhaustion before bed. I'm never sure which person is getting out of bed. If you feel these things too, you aren't alone. If you feel lost and scared and overwhelmed,  you are not alone. If you are dealing fine, you are not alone. This Vaccine Injury is affecting us all and we are not alone.

Now what if I told you that this person had shut down every conversation about vaccine safety on a town group? That this person calls anyone who asks a question about vaccines an "anti-vaxxer" and deletes them? And that this person made a phone call to a venue 30 miles away that was hosting a talk about the removal of the religious exemption here in Connecticut with Children's Health Defense's Mary Holland and GOT THE EVENT CANCELLED. And was proud of that.

If everyone who has ever called us "anti-vaccine" took a single moment to think of us as neighbors and family members and colleagues facing real pain, and framed our plight they way they so EASILY frame the stress and wear and tear of a shutdown, maybe they wouldn't call us anti-vaxxers at all. Maybe they would call us heroes?

Below is a BEST OF from Cathy, from Labor Day 2015. What a difference 5 years makes. What does your child's school look like this year? In person? Distance? Hybrid. My Bella is in her last two years of transition, and so far, it looks a LOT like early intervention. We have an OT coming to the house to implement IEP services on Thursday. Wish her luck. I've been at this a very long time, and my patience is "wafer thin." Like many of you, I've been full time autism parent, full time teacher, full time OT, full time speech, full time so full I could barf time everything. Oh, yeah, and work too.  3 labors might have been easier! At least shorter.  Hope you get a break this weekend, friends.  KR

By Cathy Jameson

I went into the education field over twenty years ago.  Conceivably, had I continued to teach, I might soon be eligible to retire.  I don’t think about retirement like others in today’s workforce think about retirement.  That’s because I left my field long before I ever expected I would.

Instead of soon retiring from what I’d hoped would be a life-long career, I found myself in a different role.  It’s a more permanent one that comes with no salary, no benefits, and no 401(k).  The role I have now is full-time caregiver for my child.

More and more parents today are finding themselves in similar roles.  While some may be able to juggle part-time work or a full-time job while caring for a severely affected child with autism, I have not had that chance.  Ronan is non-verbal.  He has seizures, and he has low energy levels.   His week is peppered with therapy and with a shortened and modified school day.  He is home more than not, which means that I, too, am home with him.  Being able to afford the round-the-clock care that Ronan would require in order for me to step out of the home and work again is nearly impossible. 

I do work, as does every stay-at-home parent, but I don’t know if I could actually put a dollar sign on the labor that is required to care for Ronan.  I have read that over a child’s lifetime, it costs parents $245,000 to raise them.  If that child has autism, costs can exceed $1.4 million  over their first 18 years.  Even if I had made my way back to the teaching field, I’d be hard pressed to find a job that would cover those costs. 

Today, instead of writing lesson plans, grading papers, and developing curriculum, I’m home.  At home, I’m overseeing Ronan’s therapy, medical appointments, and his wellness.  I certainly couldn’t do what I have had to do for my son and for my family without the help of some of the people who’ve graced our lives.   We have quite a team of people, specialists, providers, and supporters to assist me with Ronan’s needs for which I am grateful. 

Mayor DeBlasio prognosticates that the COVID vaccine will come into New Yorkers' lives and change the future. Cue the smoke and patchouli. He's probably right..... it will change lives. I was reminded of a song that kind of scared me as a kid, Showdown (thanks, Anne)  from Emerson Lake and Palmer. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. Anyone old enough to remember the guy in that photo?  LOL!  From the New York Post, which has been shedding light on the reality of what's happened in the Big Apple all summer.

De Blasio claims COVID-19 vaccine will cure NYC shooting epidemic

With gun violence hitting fever pitch in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed Wednesday that a coronavirus vaccine would somehow cure the shooting epidemic.

“We are dealing with a challenge we’ve never seen in the city. It is, thank God, temporary … there will be a vaccine, there will be a turnaround,” de Blasio said when asked at his daily press conference about the surging gunplay.

The NYPD reported Wednesday that shootings have spiked by 151 incidents in August, from 91 to 242, which is a 161 percent increase from the same time last year.

By Kim Rossi

I've been thinking about Age of Autism, our relevance, our place in the community, our perceived value (or lack of value) the importance of longevity and history versus some of the shinier kids on the block with full staff and fat budgets.  Agonizing over it all,  as we approach our 14 anniversary in November and our 4th year without Dan Olmsted in January. I had been thinking about how to shift what we look like, what we do, how to use the social media base - for faster, up to the minute, 2020 ADHD snippet style reporting. As a one woman shop, which is what we are for all intents and purposes, I'm trying to find ways to bring readers a consistently valuable product.  And then I saw the above photo in my Facebook messages.

Holy spying, Batman.

A couple of weeks ago, I snapped a photo of a U-Haul in my neighborhood, and posted it in a PRIVATE group, saying I hoped the new neighbors were tolerant yadda yadda, autism, yadda. A PRIVATE group. One photo.

Yesterday, I got this message asking if I had SOLD the item I had listed in marketplace. I did not list anything in marketplace. The moving van must have triggered a bot-ish thing. The photo was in a private group. I 'm not naive. But this blew me away.

I've heard we're about to see a new Facebook layout, some folks are already in a beta version, and they all seem to hate it. Then there's been a memo from FB saying there's a major change coming on October 1st - that makes it sound like they can just delete posts nilly willy if their "fact checkers" don't like them. Just in time for the COVID vaccines, yes?

I think AofA will try to continue along in its current iteration - a little engine that can blog in a lopsided social media world. Especially under the watchful eye of SUCKerberg.

Please join us in wishing Dr. Andy Wakefield a very happy (1 day belated) birthday. Andy has never given up on the health of children around the world, no matter the crushing cost to him personally. In a world where one's word can mean so little, where money talks and the shortcut is the well worn path, Andy stands almost alone. If his colleagues had a smidgen of his courage, the autism epidemic may have been halted years ago.

Please visit his new movie's site at 1986 The Act  and 1986 the Act's Facebook page. 

New from Safeminds:

Scientists from the University of Sheffield and University College London have made a breakthrough in understanding the formation of the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Dysfunction of the ENS is linked to a wide range of conditions such as Parkinson’s, Hirschprung’s disease and autism. The scientists were able to generate enteric neurons in the lab using human pluripotent stem cells and successfully implant them into mice engineered to lack an ENS. The neurons took hold in the mouse GI tract and became functional. The findings pave the way for new regenerative treatments for GI diseases in humans.  Read more here.

Ah, Liz Szabo. Now writing directly for Kaiser Health. How many of us have been interviewed her in the past? I was for nearly two hours many years ago. I'm pretty sure she channeled Harry Potter's Rita Skeeter and used some sort of Weasley Brothers Mix'emUp translation writing system when "my words" finally made the paper. 

Can you imagine if the short-short-short terms results, so short they make the Oompah Loompahs look like Jolly Orange Giants are considered "so good" that the Data and Safety Monitoring board would green light the vaccine to the American public before testing is complete? As a moral obligation, no less.  Watch it happen. And then when medium and long term data comes in - it will be too late for recipients to turn back.  If the trial is stopped early, do the pregnancy criteria for the Moderna vaccine as an example cease to matter? Moderna, a company that has never brought a product to market. If recipients become pregnant or impregnate their partner, will we usher in The Age of Covax?

Male subjects of childbearing potential*: use of condoms to ensure effective contraception with a female partner of childbearing potential from first vaccination until 60 days after the last vaccination.

Women of childbearing potential* must agree to use or have practiced true abstinence** or use at least one acceptable primary form of contraception

True abstinence is 100% of time no sexual intercourse (male's penis enters the female's vagina). (Periodic abstinence [e.g., calendar, ovulation, symptothermal, post-ovulation methods] and withdrawal are not acceptable methods of contraception).

Acceptable forms of primary contraception include monogamous relationship with a vasectomized partner who has been vasectomized for 180 days or more prior to the subject's first vaccination, intrauterine devices, birth control pills, and injectable/implantable/insertable hormonal birth control products.

Must use at least one acceptable primary form of contraception for at least 30 days prior to the first vaccination and at least one acceptable primary form of contraception for 60 days after the last vaccination.

Women of childbearing potential must have a negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 24 hours prior to each vaccination.  Source Clinicaltrials.gov###

By Liz Szabo September 1, 2020, Kaiser Health

Fauci Says COVID Vaccine Trials Could End Early If Results Are Overwhelming

A COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if ongoing clinical trials produce overwhelmingly positive results, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, in an interview Tuesday with KHN.

Although two ongoing clinical trials of 30,000 volunteers are expected to conclude by the end of the year, Fauci said an independent board has the authority to end the trials weeks early if interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board could say, “‘The data is so good right now that you can say it’s safe and effective,’” Fauci said. In that case, researchers would have “a moral obligation” to end the trial early and make the active vaccine available to everyone in the study, including those who had been given placebos — and accelerate the process to give the vaccine to millions.   Read more at Fauci Says COVID Vaccine Trials Could End Early If Results Are Overwhelming

Note: Below is a BMJ rapid response by John Stone.  Thank you, John!

###

Is the government suffering from Munchausen Syndome by Proxy?
Re: Covid-19: Less haste, more safety Fiona Godlee. 370:doi 10.1136/bmj.m3258

Dear Editor

Eight days ago I wrote here [1]:

“To limp along like this in the hope that we will all be rescued by a vaccine (supposing we any longer need rescuing) is not realistic, and not the basis on which policy should be directed - quite apart from the harm that it is doing to every other aspect of civil life and of health policy itself.”

I now note the publication of an article by Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson in The Spectator questioning whether the present rise in cases is an artefact of PCR testing, as hospitalisations and deaths continue to decline [2]. Bearing this in mind perhaps it is time the British Medical Journal itself began to move the narrative on.

[1] John Stone, ‘ Less haste, more safety, certainly, but we could do with an end to the vaccine rescue narrative as well’, 25 August 2020, https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3258/rr-0

[2] Carl Heneghan & Tom Jefferson, ‘ Coronavirus cases are mounting but deaths remain stable. Why?’, The Spectator, 1 September 2020, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/coronavirus-cases-are-mounting-but-d...

Competing interests: AgeofAutism.com, an on-line daily journal, concerns itself with the potential environmental sources for the proliferation of autism, neurological impairment, immune dysfunction and chronic disease. I receive no payment as UK Editor

Many years ago, I wrote my obituary on Huffington Post as a way to explain to the asses (I mean masses) at that site what it's like to be an autism parent and how we say "we can never die."  (I'd link it, but they scrubbed my 7 years of FREE writing because I sometimes wrote about vaccines and autism.) The world is not ready to care for our adult children. Housing and residential care is going to be a nightmare.

Below is a news report about a disabled man (he not have autism) who was "missing" for months and then found and dead in the basement of his care facility. "No foul play." I call bullshit. His body was so decomposed there is no funeral.   Rest in peace Kam Franks.

Missing since March, man found dead in basement of adult care facility where he lived

His sister calls him a wanderer, so it wasn't a total surprise he went missing, she said. But months passed and the family heard nothing.

Until last Saturday we are told staff at Faithful Helping Hands, was cleaning out a basement room, when they found Kam dead.

"How do they not smell a body in the summer," Kai said. "How do you dismiss that? She said we get mice sometimes in the summer."

One of the owners of the facility told FOX 2 by phone, there was no odor blaming Detroit police for not checking the basement back in March. She didn't have an answer for why here own staff didn't look there.

The Pause that Refreshes was an advertising slogan from Coke, almost 100 years ago, in 1929, the year the stock market crashed.  Today, we're COVID crashing.

I was sitting at my desk, working on something autism-ish (what else is new?) and What the World Needs Now popped onto my Sirius station. I am disheartened by what I see happening around me. Especially on social media. We've always had divisions, even in the autism community. But we haven't been so openly contemptuous of one another. Contempt destroys friendships. Relationships. It burns bridges and prohibits reconciliation.

It may be cliche to talk about love, sweet love. But what if we just talk about listening?

While people choose sides - a huge chunk of our community is just trying to stay afloat. COVID has destroyed school and wiped out day programming. Parents have become more than full time caretakers. We've always been some superhuman version of Mom or Dad. Now we're expected to be teachers, therapists, recreational assistants, behaviorists -- and it's all unpaid work.  Other relationships suffer. One warrior Mom lamented that she has had ZERO time with her husband for months as they try to man the battle stations of autism and seizures and run a household. That is not healthy.

My older daughters are back at their day program part time. The program is limping along in the summer months because they can go to the parks and beaches, but come the Fall weather, I don't know what their days will look like sitting in stripped down rooms. My youngest's school shut down in June, refusing to tackle COVID programming. The school district and I are creating a transition program out of whole cloth. Except first we have to grow the cotton, spin it into thread, warp and weave it into material, fabricate a pattern, cut the cloth, sew the cloth and then - maybe we'll have a program. If we can find cotton seeds.

My role at AofA is to remind readers that we know you are still struggling. The organizations that used to be so active are all but gone.  Conferences are virtual if held at all. Yahoo groups where we felt safe are long gone, replaced by Facebook and Twitter with black box warnings on our work. We thought we were "old timers" ten years ago. I'm close to 25 years into autism. How about you? 

I mean no disrespect by that headline. Back in the day, even before my day, pharmacies had soda counters and the waiters were called "soda jerks" for the pull on the machines. Sometimes the pharmacist was the soda jerk.

Pediatricians and their "union" the AAP must feel like their seltzer has gone flat, their Coca Cola has no more cocaine, their hot fudge went cold.  HHS just authorized some pharmacists to administer PEDIATRIC vaccines. We're all familiar with the hard sales pitch to seniors at every grocery store and pharmacy compelling them with fear to get their flu, shingles and pneumonia shots while they wait for their Boar's Head pimento loaf to be sliced (thin but not so thin they can read the newspaper through it.)  Now, imagine the bounty of having parents line up their children for their vaccines, instead of going to a "well" visit.  In college, I studied marketing, and I still remember the 4 "Ps" Price. Product. Promotion and PLACEMENT. Adding pharmacies is a huge shift in product availability.  It is much easier to bring Johnny and Janey to the Piggly Squiggly (sic) for Cocoa Puffs, Pop Tarts and a Polio shot, than traipse into a busy, germy pediatric office where you have a co-pay, and may wait an hour or more to be seen by an overworked nurse and a doctor who might just have TikTwerked her desire to talk to your child alone in the exam room about this that or the other....  Ain't that the cherry on top!

I guess parents will have to weigh and measure their kids the old fashioned way, on a scale in the bathroom and with a marker on the laundry room wall.  Thanks to Wayne Rohde for covering this interesting development.

By  Wayne Rohde

Guess what happened?

While our nation was busy spending a considerable amount of time discussing racial inequalities (as we should) or whether or not public schools and colleges were going to open or start on-line, or debating the upcoming national political conventions, our federal government, specifically, The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued his 3^rd amendment to The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP). The Act was first enacted this year by a declaration from the Secretary of HHS on March 10, 2020.

The 3rd amendment on August 24^th, allowing pharmacists to administer vaccines to children ages 3-18. Many states had previously established restrictions on who could administer childhood vaccinations.

I must admit that this announcement slipped past me last week. I was alerted to it when talking with a parent advocate one evening. I could not believe it and thought it must be just for a specific state. Later, I searched the internet to find a few articles dated August 19^th, 20^th and 21^st. The Federal Register listed the action on Monday, August 24, 2020.^[1]

I remember my dad who was a pharmacist in North Dakota. In the ‘60s and 70’s he mastered the art of compounding pharmacy. He was so busy preparing prescriptions for his customers, trying to interpret correctly the doctor’s handwriting. Very proud of his profession. Yet I doubt that he would enjoy today’s modern pharmacy. I would think that he would say vaccinations are for doctors, not for pharmacists.

This action by the Secretary of HHS allows certain licensed pharmacists who order and administer, and pharmacy interns (who are acting under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist) who administer, any vaccine that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends to persons ages 3 through 18. This amendment was prompted by a report from the CDC in which it found a significant decrease in rates of routine childhood vaccinations.^[2]

On Saturday, we were all Berliners.  Anne Dachel created a partial transcript from Robert Kennedy Jr.'s speech in Berlin on Friday.

By Anne Dachel 

Robert Kennedy, Jr: 'People in Authority Lie"

On Friday, August 28, Robert Kennedy, Jr. spoke at a press conference in Berlin, Germany announcing the expansion of Children's Health Defense to Europe. Kennedy's words made it clear these are truly desperate times and no one can just sit back and hope things get better on their own. Very powerful forces have an agenda and that agenda will affect the freedom of all of us. It's time to listen to Kennedy and to act.

I am Robert F. Kennedy, Jr….

Let me explain to you a little bit about the journey that brought me here.

I run the biggest water protection group in the world. It’s called Waterkeeper Alliance.

Back in the early 2000s I was suing big coal burning power plants in the United States for discharging mercury. At that time my only concern was the impact of mercury on fish and on the human health of the human beings who ate the fish.

Around that time it came to my attention that there was also large amounts of mercury in vaccines, much larger exposures to children than any child would ever get from eating fish.

I began to address that and we started an organization that was trying to have a very limited scope which was trying to remove the mercury from vaccines. Little by little I came to understand there were larger problems with vaccines.

The central one and the one we were most deeply concerned with was that vaccines in the United States were not safety tested. They have an exemption that is not available to any other medical product, and that exemption which most people cannot even believe, is an artifact of the CDC’s legacy as the public health service which was a quasi-military agency.

At the time the vaccine program was launched, the purpose was a national defense purpose, and they wanted to make sure that vaccines could be quickly formulated and deployed in order to derail attacks by foreign countries with biological substances.

So they removed the regulatory impediments including the necessity to safety test vaccines against placebos.

By Cathy Jameson

Some time ago, one of my old posts and accompanying image (below) popped up in my FB memories.  It had me remembering the early days, the early worries, and the early choices I'd made, ones I now wish that I hadn't.  

I know too much, so much but then on some days, not enough. 

That's why I still ask questions.  That's why I still read as much as I do.  That's why I still reach out to people I trust to lead me on the right path.  Who are those people?  They are other parents.  When I need answers about autism, seizure, and mito-related concerns, I don't tend to run to medical people first.  I go straight to the parents.  

That habit goes back many years.  It started when I needed help at the beginning of our journey.  Parents set me straight then.  Parents set me straight now.  They are the ones actively researching.  They are the ones sharing ideas, reporting on the latest research and sharing results of their child’s therapies - and they do so with no strings attached.  

Parents weren't clueless like some of our son’s doctors had been.  Not only that, when another parent's child got better, because some kids do recover from autism, these people didn't clock out.  They didn't leave the community.  They stuck around and continued to help!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I'd be lost without the moms and dads I've met in this community.  I wouldn't have learned what I needed to...

I know about vaccines, and autism, and special education.  I’ve read the history behind vaccines and understand that autism can be a result of vaccines. I hear about the greed, the cover-ups and the on-going deception. I know more now than I have ever known before. I belong to a community because of that knowledge. A community was formed because of awful realizations and because of greed that intruded in our children’s lives… Parents should have been able to trust their doctor, their government, but no. Instead of trust, they got betrayal.  Formed for parents like me who also felt that stab of betrayal, this community stands out speaking up against the atrocities. 

They also offer something else that’s equally important: help, hope and the truth.

Is there anything else to say??

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Governors (Winken, Blinken and Nod) kiss the CDC's buttocks when it comes to vaccines, and now thumb their noses at them claiming they are not health experts when it comes to Covid.   You  may agree or disagree with the CDC recommendation changes (no point in outlining them as they will change again soon no doubt), but ask yourself, how much of ANYTHING the CDC does is really about our health and not tied to politics and profit? It's a jaded point of view, but one we know is all too true here in the age of autism. 

 All righty then.

Note: Below is a Rapid Response from March, 2020 in BMJ (British Medical Journal) that asks a very important question.  Have you seen any official concern, let alone answers, as to whether flu vaccination could increase COVID?

In a world where EVERY move we make is judged upon its possible (no matter  how small) affect on COVID transmissions, should we be seeing the standard flu shot campaigns that are already popping up all over the USA? 

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Rapid Response: Flu shots and the risk of coronavirus infections

John Watkins is right; we need to think beyond containment, but he overlooks the possibility that seasonal flu shots are potential contributors to the current outbreak. (BMJ 2020;398:m810—February 28)….A randomized placebo-controlled trial in children showed that flu shots increased fivefold the risk of acute respiratory infections caused by a group of noninfluenza viruses, including coronaviruses. (Cowling et al, Clin Infect Dis 2012;54:1778) From Table 3, vaccine recipients had 20 noninfluenza virus-positive ARIs and 19 virus-negative ARIs; non-recipients had 3 noninfluenza virus-positive ARIs and 14 virus-negative ARIs. These figures yield an odds ratio of 4.91 (CI 1.04 to8.14).

Such an observation may seem counterintuitive, but it is possible that influenza vaccines alter our immune systems non-specifically to increase susceptibility to other infections; this has been observed with DTP and other vaccines. (Benn et al, Trends in Immunology, May 2013) There are other immune mechanisms that might also explain the observation.

To investigate this possibility, a case-control study is in order as we study and care for the victims of covid-19. Influenza vaccines have become sacred cows in some quarters, but they shouldn’t be.

ALLAN S. CUNNINGHAM 2 March 2020

How many times have you been told that your son (or daughters) will outgrow much of their autism, as if by magic? There is some good news and some...  Interesting to note that "adulthood" was age 23. Two of my daughters must be approaching middle age!) No 33, 43, or 53 year old subjects?

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August 26, 2020

Population-Based Study Aims to Identify Features to Predict Functioning Level in Later Life

Planning a meaningful future for a child with autism can give even the calmest parents anxiety. Especially when they are tasked with making educational, employment and/or vocational decisions while research gaps regarding autism symptoms experienced in adulthood exist. A recent SafeMinds Shares article reported on a new study that examined changes in autism symptom severities from preschool to early elementary school years. The study found around half (54.4%) of the young participant’s autism severities remained unchanged and about half of the cohort experienced a change. Twenty-eight percent saw a reduction in their autism symptoms while, sadly, 16% had their symptoms worsen.

But what about predicting changes in later developmental years? A study published earlier this year in the Journal of American Academy of Child Adolescence Psychiatry may help provide anxious parents with guidance with this issue. This population-based longitudinal study from Great Britain is the first to investigate autism symptom changes in late childhood through early adult life. Using data from the Special Needs Autism Project (SNAP), the study’s authors examined latent growth curve models at three time points 12, 16, and 23 years. At each of these intervals, IQ and parent reported Social Responsiveness Scale Autism Symptoms were measured in order to plot trajectory changes of development and functioning throughout these years.

Nature reports on a Yale Covid study that found a disparity in severity and death between men and women -- which almost makes cramps worth the discomfort.  Autism has typically been said to affect males 4:1 over females. Note the sentence saying that Nature "recognizes that sex and gender are neither binary nor fixed." But it seems COVID has not gotten the message.

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26 August — Sex differences in the COVID-19 immune response might drive men’s high risk

Variations in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 could explain why men are more likely to be hospitalized and die of COVID-19 than are women.

Akiko Iwasaki at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues studied the immune responses of 98 men and women infected with SARS-CoV-2. All had mild to moderate symptoms (T. Takahashi et al. Nature http://doi.org/d7gb; 2020). The researchers noticed that male participants’ typical immune response to infection differed from that of female participants, which could explain the more severe disease often observed in men. (Nature recognizes that sex and gender are neither binary nor fixed.)

The team found that in general, men had higher levels of certain inflammation-causing proteins known as cytokines and chemokines circulating in their blood than had women. By contrast, women tended to have a stronger response from immune cells known as T cells than did men. In men, an increase in symptom severity over time was associated with a weak T-cell response; in women, it was associated with increased amounts of inflammatory cytokines.

The study proposes taking sex into account when treating people with COVID-19.

Police Car? No.

By Kim Rossi

Every so often, I am reminded of why we publish Age of Autism. When Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill had the idea to start a blog around the concept of autism being a man-made epidemic, I had just begun a site called Rescue Post for JB Handley and Generation Rescue. We quickly merged, and I was delighted to join Dan and Mark on their mission to tell the world that autism is an epidemic with a hard, fast beginning, a middle (we're in it) and sadly, it seems, no ending. 

When I look at the lightning fast, over-the-top response to COVID-19, I'm sickened. We HAVE the ability to make drastic changes to stop an epidemic. Even if we hate or disagree vehemently with the changes. The country CAN change its track on a dime. We HAVE the ability to change behavior the moment the population feels or is told to feel afraid.  But no one seems to be afraid of autism. It has been whitewashed into a diagnosis that America now just accepts.

Take a look at the photo above. This is the car of an autism Mom whose teen son lashes out violently while she is driving. Take a good look at it. She used a dog barrier to create a safety cage, like a police car. For. Her. Son.  He beats her when he rages. She showed me her arms. Her back. Black and blue. Scraped. If you saw the photos, you would weep.  You should weep.  She is not alone. That is what I had to tell her. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  But Lord in heaven, when we are in the throes of autism, behind closed doors, in our homes, our cars, we FEEL ALONE. 

Sometimes our community goes very high level. The work seems to be more about changing the rate at which the planet spins than the daily grind we face.  We focus on major issues that honestly, most of us have very little time to consider, because we are holding on by a thread at home. We've branched out into other health categories and the autism takes a back seat, because we are a third rail. It's painful when that happens. And it seems that the real reason we're together as a community is often forgotten. Many of us have children with autism who are now adults with autism. The behaviors that are tolerable at age five become terrible at 15 and torturous at 25.

This is the Aging of Autism.

Article on the lack of liability Americans face when injured by COVID vaccines. Good to see this info getting out. Please share. Most know 0.0 about the NVICP and less about CICP - the Pandemic version.

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COVID-19 era highlights U.S. 'black hole' compensation fund for pandemic vaccine injuries

By Tom Hals (Reuters) - A U.S. government program that compensates people who say they have been harmed by an emergency vaccine has paid out on fewer than 10% of claims, raising questions whether the process should be used to address any potential side effects from a coronavirus shot, according to some lawyers who have filed such claims.
The Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), run by an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has been designated to handle any issues with a COVID-19 vaccine.

The lawyers say the program is inadequate for addressing fast-tracked coronavirus vaccines bit.ly/bigpicturecovid.

They say that any COVID-19 vaccine injuries should be handled through a different HHS program known as the “vaccine court,” a more transparent process with a better record of compensating people for the rare injuries or serious side effects from routine inoculations, such as measles shots.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) covers claims regarding 16 routine vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

When it comes to addressing any potential harm from a COVID-19 vaccine, “there are major deficiencies that need to change” in the U.S. approach, said Peter Meyers, an emeritus professor at George Washington University School of Law and former director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic.  Read more: COVID-19 era highlights U.S. 'black hole' compensation fund for pandemic vaccine injuries

Yesterday, an ACTION ALERT was sent by the Autism Action Network to fight the suggestion of a MANDATE for COVID vaccine in Virginia.  We might assume that the Governor's phones were ringing off the hook thanks to this alert and alarms sounded up and down the Commonwealth of Virginia, and thus, the updated announcement from the Governor's office denying a mandate. Don't let your guard down for a second, this vaccine (in all its unholy, warped iterations) will be on the agenda of every legislature this Fall as overzealous public health officials salivate at the prospect of mass, unbridled vaccination.

This story in the ACTION ALERT was updated that Gov Northam has stated he will not mandate the COVID vaccine.

Northam not planning on COVID-19 vaccine mandate despite support from top official

Evening, 8/24: RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC)- A spokesperson for Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday he’s not planning on mandating a COVID-19 vaccine in Virginia, even though his Administration’s top health official supports the idea.

In an interview with 8News on Friday, State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver said he planned on mandating a coronavirus immunization once it’s safely released to the public. In Virginia, state law gives him the authority to order immediate vaccination ‘of all persons in case of an epidemic of any disease of public health importance for which a vaccine exists.’ The law only includes an exemption for medical reasons.

Dr. Oliver was not available for a follow-up interview on Monday but a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health sent 8News the following statement:

“When Dr. Oliver spoke of his support of a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine for adults, he was sharing his personal opinion as a physician.  Currently, the Northam administration has taken no official policy position on whether or not a COVID-19 vaccine for adults should be mandatory. VDH regrets this error.”

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Action Alert:

The health commissioner of Virginia stated in a television interview on Saturday that he intends to make covid 19 vaccines mandatory for all residents of the state once it becomes available. Under Virginia law, Norman Oliver, MD, as health commissioner, can order mandatory vaccines in a health emergency. Only medical exemptions would be allowed. Commissioner Oliver, however, has not taken action yet.

So far Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has remained silent on the issue, but Oliver reports to him, and Northam appears to be letting an underling float a potentially unpopular idea so he can disavow it if politically expedient. This is the first incident we are aware of that where a state official with the authority to do so has declared the intention to make covid 19 shots mandatory for all residents. Therefore, this action has national significance and we are asking people from all over the US to respond.  No doubt this will be the first of many similar measures if we do not take action.

    Let's let Gov. Northam know that this idea is not politically expedient. Before you take action on this issue if you value the information, news and advocacy opportunities brought to you be the Autism Action Network please make it possible for us to keep going here, by supporting our one fundraiser of the year that we do in conjunction with the Autism Community Walk TENTATIVELY scheduled for October 18, 2020 at Belmont Lake State Park in Babylon, NY.

Give Governor Northam a call and let him know politely why this is a bad idea:

Governor Ralph Northam, (804) 786-2211
ralph.northam@governor.virginia.gov

Here are just a few reasons why a mandate is a bad idea:

What on earth did schools expect?  For months, parents have been told to keep their kids home. ALL non-emergency medical care was put on hold.  And so yes, vaccine rates have "crashed."  Can't wait to see what else crashes. Maybe food allergies. Asthma. Speech delays. Seizures. SIDS. (We may have already seen this beginning.) Autism. Developmental delays.

There's panic. And schools are trying to mandate that kids get up to date for September 1st. Massachusetts just passed a flu vaccine MANDATE for school aged children in the dark of night. Pay attention.  Doctors are worried about whooping cough? 

Vaccination rates crash amid COVID. WA requires students be up-to-date by 1st day of school Read more here: https://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article245055550.html#storylink=cpy

As Washington state vaccination rates plummet amid COVID-19, medical professionals are reminding families that students need to be up to date on their vaccinations by the first day of school this year even if they are returning remotely.

Doctors worry that not doing so could lead to outbreaks of other diseases and a strain on a health care system that’s trying to control the spread of COVID-19.

“The last thing we need right now with COVID is another measles outbreak or a whooping cough outbreak. To me, that would just put an extra burden on the health system,” said Dr. Carrie Jenner, a CHI Franciscan pediatrician from the Tacoma area.

PS: If you find his beloved bike, please call him.

NOTE:  Excerpted with permission from Children's Health Defense.

By John Stone

Taylor 2014: The International Fall-Back Position for Officials Challenged About Vaccine Safety and Autism

This is a complementary article to JB Handley’s ‘Vaccines and Autism—Is the Science Really Settled?’ because of a parallel British experience I had. JB was bemused when he challenged Joshua Gordon, the presently appointed head of the United States about vaccines and autism, to be sent the “meta-analysis” by Taylor et al ‘Vaccines are not associated with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies’. Could he do no better than that? In one respect this was consistent because this was the same study brandished by Gordon’s predecessor Thomas Insel at a 2014 Congressional hearing, when – if memory serves – Rep Posey chastised him by suggesting he might at least produce something that did not involve the research of Poul Thorsen, the former CDC employee on the run for embezzlement (whom the US government in all its might and majesty has now failed to extradite from Denmark in virtually in nine and a half years, despite being on the most wanted list).

In my case the story reaches back to November 2018 when I wrote to the British Government’s then Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, asking her to make good her claim that “we know” MMR “is a safe vaccine”. In response she referred me to the exact same paper Gordon cite to JB and Insel cited to Congress:

…Specifically in relation to whether MMR vaccines may be a cause of autism, a substantial body of population-based research has found no evidence to suggest a causal association. This evidence (not just for MMR, but other types of vaccine) is available for review in the published medical literature, and was summarised in a meta-analysis in 2014…

I think it is here worth mentioning that my answer (now recorded as part of an official document through Freedom of Information) was somewhat different than JB’s and therefore supplementary to it. Perhaps, when something is really rotten its rottenness may be multi-faceted, and this is what I have to add from my 2018 letter:  READ MORE AT:

Taylor 2014: The International Fall-Back Position for Officials Challenged About Vaccine Safety and Autism

Note: I wish Dan Olmsted were here to write this post. He was a Yale trained journalist and his perspective on the current state of reporting would be valuable. Not only does the fine hand of the Gates Foundation appear in what IS written, they dictate what can NOT be written as well.   Recently, Del Bigtree's The Highwire was taken "off air" in an effort to squelch his message.

Think about the messaging for autism. Neuurodiversity was given fertile ground and every column inch possible, while those of us who saw our children descend into autism from their vaccines were plainly shut out from saying, "boo."

I'm sure the same thing is happening with COVID right now. There is an agenda being shoved down our throats. On March 13, 2020, a switch was hit, and the USA ground to a halt.  And Bill Gates is at the forefront. 

I worry every single day that we might awaken to a 404 not found message that isn't just a technical glitch.  Journalism used to be about investigating and reporting what was happening. Now it's about regurgitating press releases and reporting on what someone in power wants you to think is happening. At some point, perhaps as newspapers realized they were a dying breed a couple of decades ago, they decided to give up on "all the news that's fit to print" and adopted an "only the  news we're told to print."  Even the New York Times, the Old Gray Lady.

Money. It's about money.  The haves take, the have nots, like Age of Autism, will keep up the good fight. For now.

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Journalism's Gate Keepers

Bill Gates, chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in 2019. Samuel Habtab/AP Photo

Last August, NPR profiled a Harvard-led experiment to help low-income families find housing in wealthier neighborhoods, giving their children access to better schools and an opportunity to “break the cycle of poverty.” According to researchers cited in the article, these children could see $183,000 greater earnings over their lifetimes—a striking forecast for a housing program still in its experimental stage.

If you squint as you read the story, you’ll notice that every quoted expert is connected to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which helps fund the project. And if you’re really paying attention, you’ll also see the editor’s note at the end of the story, which reveals that NPR itself receives funding from Gates.

NPR’s funding from Gates “was not a factor in why or how we did the story,” reporter Pam Fessler says, adding that her reporting went beyond the voices quoted in her article. The story, nevertheless, is one of hundreds NPR has reported about the Gates Foundation or the work it funds, including myriad favorable pieces written from the perspective of Gates or its grantees.

And that speaks to a larger trend—and ethical issue—with billionaire philanthropists’ bankrolling the news. The Broad Foundation, whose philanthropic agenda includes promoting charter schools, at one point funded part of the LA Times’ reporting on education. Charles Koch has made charitable donations to journalistic institutions such as the Poynter Institute, as well as to news outlets such as the Daily Caller, that support his conservative politics. And the Rockefeller Foundation funds Vox’s Future Perfect, a reporting project that examines the world “through the lens of effective altruism”—often looking at philanthropy.  Read more Journalism's Gate Keepers.

By Cathy Jameson

I had an incredibly busy week and had no time to write a new post.  Today’s story comes from an old journal entry of mine.  It’s been edited a tad for our AofA readers today:

--

February 4^th - This Blows

...While I try to be upbeat and hopeful, there are days I just can't keep smiling.  Ronan looks so normal at first glance.  Strangers are caught off guard when he does something unusual or has a meltdown.  Those encounters can be painful, so I either try to explain things or quickly move away from watchful eyes.

On those bad days, I sometimes just want to blow off my responsibilities.  I would never do that.  I have five kids, and they all need me in some special way.  Ronan is my most needy most days and always gets my full attention.  His complicated medical issues and cognitive delays have us constantly on the go to get him to his therapies and appointments.  My life includes weeks that are tornado-like and should have high alert statuses to warn others what to expect...

--

That old memory crossed my path today.  I’d appropriately titled the entry This Blows.  Written during what looks like was an awful week over 10 years ago, I recently had a similar week full of struggles and emotions.  Before things smoothed out, I told myself the same thing I’d said a decade ago:  Things really stink.  But you'll pick yourself back up again, Cat.  You’ll see.  I expected it to be a good week, but the week I wrote that was THE PITS.  Each day, my well-thought out plans were completely destroyed.  Then Ronan had dozens of seizures.  The night those came on was the worst, and the following day was no better.  Walking around with more worry than with happiness, I asked myself how do I keep smiling when there's nothing to smile about.  

...while most of Ronan's days are full of struggle just to do the simple things - like getting in his chair without falling over, or scooping his food without it spilling out of the spoon - Ronan is victorious.  Each day he faces more challenges than I will ever know.  Each day he teaches me to learn more and to do better, too.  I may want to blow things off some days, but that little hero wrapped up in a kid’s body pushes me along.  That’s when I try to remember ‘this too shall pass’.  He didn’t chose the medical and behavioral issues he suffers.  But together, we can try to work through them. 

As usual, things settled down after I’d written that old memory:

Note: Thank you to Anne Dachel for transcribing Dr. Larry Palevsky's presentation to the CT Assembly last February, during which time the religious exemption was in jeopardy. Then...  COVID. 

By Anne Dachel

Nightmare in Connecticut

On February 19, 2020 there was hearing by the Connecticut Assembly on vaccine safety. There should have been a packed chamber and lots of press coverage because what one expert testified to was shocking. Sadly, most of the seats were empty, but we need to consider what was said.

Larry Palevsky, MD answered questions for 28 minutes. He described the appalling lack of studies when it comes to vaccine safety, especially involving the use of aluminum in vaccines and its damaging impact on the brain.

“We have never studied whether the aluminum we’re giving in vaccines gets into the brain, and we’ve never measured whether it stays in the brain, and what it does if it does stay in the brain.”

“What we’re seeing is a large outbreak of neurodevelopmental disabilities in adults, including Alzheimer’s, and one of the main factors that they’re finding in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s is the aluminum nanoparticle that’s directly related to the vaccines that we’re giving. “

The representatives should have been more than a little worried over the statistics Dr. Palevsky cited.

“We have more than half of our children with chronic inflamed conditions, and we’ve never allowed ourselves to ask the question: If the vaccines cause inflammation acutely, do they continue to create inflammation chronically?