Last night, my daughter was feeling out of sorts. I could tell, even though she couldn't "tell" me, even with her AAC Touchchat. My daughters and I live in a small, rented, 3 bedroom ranch, built in 1952. We call it,"The Little Blue House," and it is a lovely retro home for us. We're happy here. Safe. The lower level is "finished" and has a makeshift bathroom with an old jetted bathtub that we rarely use.  The drain stopper is broken, there's a rubber plug on a chain to replace it. When the tub is running, it sounds like a Dodge Hemi engine, without the coolness.  I moved us here after my divorce, and had lofty thoughts of creating a "gals pad" downstairs, so my girls could work on independence. The area has a hideous mauve sectional sofa that I bought in a tag sale, a cheap not-so-smart TV, a therapy area, a spare bed, the laundry and what I'd hoped would become their own bathroom. That didn't happen. No matter where we live, they are always in the kitchen near Mom in all their noisy glory.

I decided to run a bath for my daughter.  I gave a small spider a respectful funeral, cleaned the jets and washed out the dust. She was surprised to see a full tub. Happy, I hope. She's always loved the bath and the pool.  I helped her sit down.  Then I sat on the closed toilet, keeping near her while she luxuriated in lavender Epsom salts. I had a rare moment of maudlin sadness. When I was a girl, I always read the local newspaper. Not just for the news, but for a small, one panel cartoon known as "Love is... by Kim." Maybe you remember it? My Mom used to send me clippings in the mail when I moved out of our house at age 21 to start my adult life. My daughter is 20. I thought of  the Love Is series as I sat next to the tub.  A quick Duck Duck Go search brought me right to the cartoon. My beautiful daughter is unlikely to have a boyfriend, lover, or husband to run a bath for her.  She has me. Her tired, old Mom. I tucked her into bed early. She tilted her forehead to me, her version of a kiss.

Love is... running a bath for her.

What was your first thought when you saw The Ghost Shield “strapless” mask?

Women on FB were asking if it comes in push up. LOL. My mind went straight to Navin R Johnson. But wait! There's more! It's coated in MicroGold^tm antimicrobial disinfectant. Do you breathe that in? "Experience facial freedom." I thought that was when the Botox wore off.  I suppose this is an example of American ingenuity.  So was the Opti-grab.

We live in a nation where we have to tell consumers to not eat the pizza straight from the freezer. That the coffee they ordered is hot. That the cheap plastic bag they just paid $.10 for at the grocery store is NOT A TOY, although at some point soon, it might be a form of mask....  So, imagine the complications of adding boosters and new product variants to future Co vid V a cc ines?

I see many autism families on social media who are getting vaccinated and making sure their kids do too.  In the USA, recipients get the Pfizer or Moderna, with J&J perhaps coming on line. There's no choice. You get what's being dosed at your site. Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no Pfizer, MODERNA. We wish all recipients well.  The NPR article below makes the science sound like a recipe Grandma might make as drugmakers "tweak" their original vaccines. Note that the NPR article calls the vaccines "FDA approved". However, these products were given emergency usage approval under the PREP act, which is not the same. We are in a mass clinical trial.

###

COVID-19 Vaccine Makers' Booster Shots Aim At A Moving Target: Coronavirus Variants

Putting the boosters front-and-center: As drugmakers tweak their original vaccines to respond more acutely to variants, they will also consider whether new versions of their vaccines might effectively replace the initial recipes. Moderna says it will explore whether its variant-specific booster and its multivalent booster should become the primary vaccination series of shots for people who haven't been exposed to the coronavirus. 

In the future, different circumstances will likely determine which vaccine or booster a person receives.

Someone who has antibodies from a previous infection or immunization would probably only get a booster shot, for instance, while someone whose system hasn't been exposed to the coronavirus would receive "an updated vaccine that aims to provide immunity to both the ancestral strains and variants of concern," Moderna said on Thursday, during a call with investors.

It's also possible people could receive a vaccine that's tailored to variants that have been detected in their country.
Read more at NPR.

Zafir Elcik contacted us to see if we'd be interested in spreading the word about the AAC app series he co-created called OTSIMO. Yes please! Many of us use iPads and other devices to help our children learn, communicate and socialize. Video modeling is  a great way for our visual learners to process info. How many of you remember the "Watch Me Learn" DVD series from many years ago.  (Did you just sing the jingle? LOL.) DVDs and CD-ROMS have given way to apps.  Thanks to Zafir, a brother with a big heart and brain. Siblings will help make the world a better place for our children throughout the lifespan.  Visit Ostimo.com to learn more.

By Zafir Elcik, Founder Otsimo

How brotherly love inspired to democratize autism therapy solutions

My brother was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of 2 when I was 10 years old. Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that affects one in 54 children in the US according to CDC. It causes learning difficulties that can vary depending on where the individual is on the spectrum.Considering the average attention span of a child with autism is no more than 5 minutes, I was shocked when I realized my brother kept his interest in my first smart device for around 45 minutes. The first thought I had was to install an app for him that was designed for special needs children. But there weren’t any.

With my background in software engineering and the invaluable support of my co-founder, we started to build Otsimo, a special education app specifically designed for children with special needs . Despite the increased rate of prevalence, there weren't any unified efforts or an affordable solution. At Otsimo, we democratize access to special education through our leading game-based learning app by teaching children core skills vital to cognitive and behavioral development. Otsimo develops affordable, accessible, and easy-to-use mobile apps for kids with special needs.

What makes us unique is the state-of-the-art technology we employ in our apps, designed to empower and engage children with developmental disorders. Otsimo turns mobile devices into a platform for learning for those with special needs. First and only in its market, Otsimo utilizes novel technologies such as speech and face recognition with machine learning to give the most unique and tailor-made education experience possible.

With our apps you can practice anytime, anywhere, so it’s a great fit for homeschooling, too. Kids love playing on smart devices, right? Kids with special needs also love it. What better way is there to spend quality screen time on an educational app that helps with developmental milestones? The wide range of content in our apps allows children with special needs to develop core cognitive, social, and speech skills through gamification. Otsimo apps target specific concerns, while also being highly customizable to the needs of each individual.

We offer daily progress reports for parents and caregivers to track the educational experience their child will have and choose which games to be played. Many to choose from, the apps have over 200 games, packed full of materials meticulously selected and developed to help overcome difficulties and boost strengths.

Through the services we provide, families of all economic backgrounds can access forms of social and behavioral therapy methods without the need for a classroom or therapist present. Through democratization of access to early intervention methods, it is possible to help the child reach their full potential. 

With our latest Speech Therapy app in the market, we also focus on developing speech milestones as well. Our app was created to teach children sounds and words in the most engaging way possible. With over 500 exercises, your kid can practice anything from basic sounds to complex words and phrases, depending on the level families and kids feel most comfortable with. Kids learn the fastest from their peers and when under no pressure at all. That’s why Otsimo Speech combines the scientifically proven methods of video modeling and peer mimicking.

To this day, we have managed to reach and touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across 217 countries and territories, and we aim higher. At Otsimo, we strive to provide high quality and affordable special education to every household that needs it.

Building upon a strong foundation, we have designed apps in collaboration with professionals in their respective fields as well as parents who know the ins and outs of daily life struggle and their child’s needs. Through this know-how, we are working on expanding our platforms even further to reach every single child across the globe.

Zafer Elcik

CEO & Co-Founder of Otsimo

https://otsimo.com/en

A Global Compensation Program?

By Wayne Rohde Feb 23, 2021

On Monday, Feb 22, 2021, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a no-fault injury compensation program for COVID-19 vaccines. WHO has designated 92 low- and middle-income countries and economies eligible for support via the GAVI COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) of the COVAX Facility.^[1]

The COVAX Facility is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi and the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations and alongside key delivery partner UNICEF. Its aim is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.^[2]

Gavi, created in 2000 with start-up funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is an international organization -- a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world's poorest countries.^[3]

With this announcement, WHO is promoting this compensation program as the world’s first global program to provide for those who have suffered allegedly rare, serious adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines. In the COVAX announcement, it appears that the cutoff date, or statute of limitations to file a petition, is June 30, 2022.

Creating a compensation program is not a new process for the WHO or United Nations. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations created the UN Compensation Commission in 1991, evaluating nearly 2.7 million claims and issuing 1.5 million awards, totaling over $50 billion dollars.^[4]

As early as 2006, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, the global pharmaceutical-industry lobbying group, publicly demanded that manufacturers be granted liability protection from vaccine-related adverse events if they were going to participate in pandemic response initiatives.^[5]

The world has attempted to control other epidemics through the use of vaccines to mitigate the spread of the disease. During the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, one specific vaccine used in the UK and Northern Europe caused an increase in narcolepsy, which resulted in substantial compensation claims.

During the Ebola outbreaks in Western Africa, some nations refused to accept liability for vaccine injuries. The dilemma for these nations and others that are considered low income involves whether to continue to refuse to offer manufacturers liability protection or to go without vaccines. In the current situation, that means going without COVID-19 vaccines. Is the end game for this collaboration, to allow pharmaceutical industry to remove itself from any liability and member nations to cede away their citizens and the nation’s right to sue for damages?

The COVAX compensation program will start on March 31, 2021 through its web portal (www.covaxclaims.com). Individuals who have been injured may apply for compensation for a COVAX vaccine administered before March 31, 2021.^[6]  The funding will come from a levy on all distributed COVAX-19 vaccines.

View A Crash Course on the COVID Vaccine at Millions Against Medical Mandates

View A Crash Course on the COVID Vaccine on Rumble.

Does the COVID vaccine protect us against getting COVID? No.
Will we be able to stop wearing masks after getting the vaccine? No.
Can we end social distancing after getting the vaccine? No.

REFERENCES COVID VACCINE FOR VIDEO ANIMATION

1.Mayo Clinic Insights: Spreading Infection Following Vaccination

Andrew Badley M.D. - Jan 14, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3krKEKCyRs&feature=youtu.be

2. Moderna boss says COVID-19 vaccine not proven to stop spread of virus

IACC is defunct for all intents and purposes. Autism was no where to be found on either Presidential candidate's radar during the 2020 race.   Do President Biden and Vice President Harris have any plan? do we even want them to notice us?  Katie Wright has followed and written about IACC for us over the years.  Most reviews by her were half a star. The upside to being ignored is that is appears that the intense bias toward neurodiversity of the worst version is lessened. But families are still being crushed. COVID has worsened life for so many, from tots who can not get Early Intervention services in person (imagine Zoom speech therapy for a 2 year old?) to adults without job coaching or jobs, and day programming.

###

From Disability Scoop:

Federal Autism Committee Remains Defunct
A federal committee charged with guiding the nation’s priorities on autism remains in disarray nearly a year and a half after Congress reauthorized it.

The panel known as the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee — comprised of federal officials and members of the autism community — is tasked with advising the secretary of health and human services and coordinating federal activities related to the developmental disability.

The IACC last met in July 2019 and every member of the panel saw their term expire at the end of that September. Congress renewed the committee in a version of the Autism CARES Act, which took effect in October 2019, and nominations for new members were accepted between Nov. 19, 2019 and Feb. 21, 2020.  Read more at Disability Scoop.

Note: The swamp is happily filling back up after limited draining during the last administration. Some would say very limited. After all, we locked down and the Trump administration jammed a warp speed vaccine program years after shutting down their own idea of a vaccine safety commission. In the USA, most large relief packages contain "boondoggles" and items fully unrelated to the catastrophe at hand. Politicians embed the relief package with cherry picked goodies so that if the package fails, they can blame the other side (they look a lot alike though) for denying help.

##
From Resist the Mainstream - Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill Includes Health Surveillance, Languages, Animal COVID Studies

House Democrats unveiled Friday the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package they hope to pass by late next week. Included in the bill are $1,400 stimulus checks and numerous other pandemic-related relief measures, like additional funding for state and local governments and more federal unemployment benefits.

The bill — which was “stitched together” by the Democratic-controlled House Budget Committee, according to Reuters — was also filled with dozens of items completely unrelated to direct pandemic relief.

Note: Many families with a child or adult with autism have felt left behind during the last 11+ months of lockdown. From stimulus checks to availability of school and state funded prorgams, SafeMinds asks if we can expect anything more in the current iteration of "relief."

Additional Funding Critical to Keep Individuals with Disabilities Safe at Home as Pandemic Continues

A new COVID relief bill is currently making its way through the halls of Congress. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the disability community has requested dedicated funding towards home and community-based services (HCBS) to be included in COVID relief legislation or packages. Neither the CARES Act passed last March or the $900 billion COVID relief package passed in December included this much needed funding, which is critical for helping people with disabilities continue to live safely in their homes, rather than ending up in congregate settings where COVID-19 has been widespread. In an effort to encourage Congress to include HCBS in the current proposed legislation, advocacy organizations like Center for Public Representation (CPR) are encouraging the disability community to contact their Senators and Representatives directly here. To make things easy, CPR has included information on contacting members of Congress, including email and call scripts. They have also provided sample tweets on their advocacy page. SafeMinds encourages our audience to take part in this advocacy effort. Read more here.

SEYMOUR CT— Police say an investigation has revealed a Monroe woman “intentionally drove” her vehicle into the Housatonic River in July, leading to her death and killing her son who was a passenger.

The Detective Division has deemed the crash a murder-suicide, Deputy Police Chief Roberto Rinaldi announced in a statement Wednesday that stated the investigation has been completed. Read more CT Post Police: Monroe mom 'intentionally' drove car into Housatonic in murder-suicide involving her son

Hello, readers. I live in Connecticut in the next town over from Monroe. The Housatonic river that runs up 149 miles up into Massachusetts, dotted with shuttered factories in the Housatonic Valley . Factories that used to manufacture the products that made America run back to Colonial times.  On a warm Summer day, powerboats and sailboats dot the water that flows into Long Island Sound in Bridgeport. We are not strangers to catastrophic death here. Sandy Hook School is just 14 miles up the road. The perpetrator of that horror was a boy with Asperger's. He killed his own mother in the spree. Here, Mom, as determined by an investigation, a woman known to so many as a strong advocate for her son with special needs, loved by so many, purposefully drove her vehicle off the road and into the Housatonic. And she turned down assistance.  “The boater made numerous attempts to rescue the occupants of the vehicle,” Rinaldi said. “However, Connie Crowell refused to acknowledge or accept the boater’s assistance and rescue efforts.”

I'm on a large Facebook group for CT Special Needs Families. We have members from all walks of life, whose loved ones have the full array of disabilities, autism included.  There was a tribute thread in which member after member expressed shock, dismay and a deep sympathy for Connie Crowell and her son John.  She was beloved. A great Mom. Strong. Moved heaven and earth for her son. Don't we all? Day in and day out. And then she drowned him. Will we never know what motivated her? Having covered stories other Mothers who murdered their special needs children including Gigi Jordan, Karen McCarron and Dorothy Spourdalakis, and not knowing Connie personally, I assumed my usual role of adding another perspective to the thread. Not sure it was welcome, but I have said this every time a parent has murdered his or her child with special needs.  WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KILL OUR CHILDREN.  And then asked if MEDICATIONS played a role.

My comment on Facebook: I’m going to poop in the punch bowl. This is a horror. I understand the depths of despair and the incredible stress we all face. We all do. Still, we don’t get to murder our children. If she had been a distressed Dad and shot himself and his son, would the thoughts be as kind and understanding? My first question is - was she on medications for which the side effect is suicidal ideation? I think that’s really important. Was this a medication driven decision?? She drowned her son. Years ago, Wealthy Gigi Jordan shoved pills into her son w autism until he seized and choked on his vomit at the ritzy Peninsula Hotel. Dr Karen McCarron put a bag over her autistic 3 year old daughter’s head. Dorothy Spourdalakis stabbed her son Alex to death after he had languished in a Chicago hospital for weeks bc of his violent behavior. This beautiful boy drowned at his Mother’s choice. We don’t get to murder our kids. I’m going to cry now.

By late July, Covid lockdown had taken a toll on all of us. We were four and a half months into the worry, the lack of services.  At age 22, John, called Jack,  would have just aged out of any school based services, and no one was taking in new adults into programs. My daughters' day program still has not enrolled adults who aged out last year. We are all exhausted, sometimes, maybe often, to the breaking point.  Now we have had a weather catastrophe that's impacts thousands of families with kids for whom routine and sameness is mother's milk. (Sorry, "people's chest expressed beverage.")

No one will know what darkness overtook Connie Crowell. Or how to prevent the darkness from devouring any of us. May God bless their souls, especially John, who died knowing that his mother killed him. It tears me up inside.

by Cathy Jameson

I’ve scaled back on posting on my personal social media accounts for about a year now.  Being online on those platforms isn’t as fun as it used to be.  When I joined them, they were a place to share things with close friends and family.  Over the years, the platforms became more than that.  A place to connect with other advocates, to share resources, and to keep updated with legislation and politics, those websites were a lifeline for me.  Available 24 hours every day, I loved being connected to so many people across the world. 

Lots has changed since I joined Facebook back in the mid-2000s.  The games and apps, like the Flair Board, were simple yet creative ways to pass the time.  Over time, I saw the platform turn into an interactive and useful message board.  People became more involved and invested in their online voice.  Groups, communities and followings shaped what I did both on and offline.  Connecting people from so many places, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were truly a great concept.  But the more people spoke up about their passions, the more silenced their voices were. 

I don’t recall exactly when, but the powers that be didn’t like what they were seeing.  That’s when the Fact Checkers showed up. 

Fact checkers took the fun out of social media, including on FB.  When they came out in full force, I’d still want to share funny things my kids say on my page and post silly memes hoping to make people laugh.  But long gone is the desire to use my account as a means to share personal stories or to use it as a virtual soapbox like I had been doing for years. 

Not that I shared anything inaccurate, but I got a warning just a few weeks ago from Facebook that a link I’d posted wasn’t completely true (according to their standards).  I supposedly had taken some news out of context.  In reality, what I’d shared didn’t fit their agenda.  That wasn’t the first time I’d been told to watch what I posted.  As the creator of our Age of Autism Pinterest page, I was permanently banned from using that platform in 2019. I was never a big fan of their setup, but their message was very clear–posting vaccine truths will get you deleted.  

In the beginning on other sites, people would just get a slap on the wrist like the one I had received on FB.  An opaque overlay would cover the information a user shared.  Some Fact Checkers went a step further and added several links at the bottom of the opaque overlay that countered the poster’s original message. 

Rarely would I ever click on the links when I saw them on my friends’ posts.  It’s a fact that for every study or article a friend might share, another study or article could say the exact opposite.  Those policing social media platforms still wished we’d stop thinking for ourselves entirely and stepped up their game.  Besides making it harder to read what others shared, people would lose the ability to log in for a certain amount of time.  I’ve yet to be put in it, but friends have done 1-, 3-, 7- and even 30-day stints in FB jail.  Others get the boot completely like what happened to us on Pinterest.  Without warning, accounts and pages are deleted altogether.  Some people are calling it quits themselves.  No longer willing to play the cat-and-mouse game, they want nothing to do with the censorship the social media giants are encouraging. 

We’ve not encountered that anywhere else yet, but other platforms, like Twitter, also like to contain the narrative.  They told AofA to hush up temporarily for a post written by Ginger Taylor.

Children's Health Defense shared data the deaths reported to VAERS post Co Vax. We know all too well that officials and average citizens will jump through hoops, bend over backward and do anything they can to refuse to believe that the Covior (new word, Covid Savior, perfect for this Lenten season) could cause the ultimate "event."  As far as awakening, most of us haven't slept in years.

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One-Third of Deaths Reported to CDC After COVID Vaccines Occurred Within 48 Hours of Vaccination

The numbers reflect the latest data available as of Feb. 12 from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System website. Of the 929 reported deaths, about one-third occurred within 48 hours.

According to new data released today, as of Feb. 12, 15,923 adverse reactions to COVID vaccines, including 9a29 deaths, have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since Dec. 14, 2020.

VAERS is the primary mechanism in the U.S. for reporting adverse vaccine reactions. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a determination can be made as to whether the reported adverse event was directly or indirectly caused by the vaccine.  Read more at Children's Health Defense.

Film review by Dan E. Burns, Producer.

Dear readers and friends:

In grade school choir we sang, “There is a bomb in Gilead.”  Or so I thought as a child.  But as an adult, I understand that the key word is “balm.”  Seemingly opposites – yet there is a connection.

On February 6 of this year my filmmaking team, Appleseed Ventures, premiered “Hide Your Love Away.”  The story: “When a bullied, abandoned, autistic teen threatens suicide, his group home manager, an autism dad, must throw him a lifeline or sink in the storm.”

I’ve submitted ‘Hide Your Love Away” to festivals and friends. Several AoA editors and contributors gave feedback that helped shape the final cut.  Praise has come from autism parents and advocates.  A few examples:

• “Hide Your Love Away” is terrific and packs a big, satisfying emotional punch. It does much to raise autism awareness.” – Robert Hughes, autism dad and author of Running with Walker: A Memoir, and Walker Finds a Way: Running into the Adult World with Autism.
• “This film handles the issues of isolation and depression for those with autism with sensitivity and realism.” –  Dianne Doggett, Organizer, Austin Autism Forum.
• “Hide Your Love Away” is powerful and gives you a glimpse into the reality and heartbreak of young adults on the autism spectrum and the people who love them. Beautifully crafted.” –  Nancy Master, autism mom and long-time advocate.

Below is an expert from an important article by by Dr. Meryl Nass. Numbers can be manipulated as easily as people. Molded. Shaped. Crafted to create a dialog of hope or fear.

Shameless manipulation: Positive PCR tests drop after WHO instructs vendors to lower cycle thresholds. We have been played like a fiddle

Hospitalization rates associated with Covid have dropped from a high of 132,500 Americans on January 6 to 71,500 on February 12.  The US had 920,000 staffed hospital beds in 2019, of which 14.4% harbored a Covid case last month, and 7.8% do now.

This tremendous drop was predicted. Every hospitalized patient is tested for Covid, often repeatedly, using PCR tests with high false positive rates. False positives are due in considerable part to exhorbitant cycle thresholds. This refers to the maximum number of doublings that are allowed during the test. The problem caused by excessive cycle thresholds was well described in a NY Times article last August, but has otherwise been ignored by the mass media. Dr. Sin Hang Lee challenged the FDA's reliance on exhorbitant cycle thresholds in its acceptance of efficacy claims for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in early December. He and FDA remain engaged in this debate.

The WHO instructed PCR test users and manufacturers on December 14 and again on January 20 that PCR cycle thresholds needed to come down. The December 14 guidance stated WHO's concern regarding "an elevated risk for false SARS-CoV-2 results" and pointed to "background noise which may lead to a specimen with a high cycle threshold value result being [incorrectly] interpreted as a positive result."

The Vatican has moved to clarify a decree that implied employees could lose their jobs if they refuse to get a Covid-19 vaccination without legitimate health reasons, after criticism on social media.

A decree on 8 February by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the governor of Vatican City, said getting a vaccine was "the responsible choice" because of the risk of harming other people.

Vatican City, at 108 acres the world's smallest state, has several thousand employees, most of whom live in Italy.

Its vaccination programme began last month and Pope Francis, 84, was among the first to get the vaccine.

The decree said that those who cannot get vaccinated for health reasons may be given another position, presumably where they would have contact with fewer people, but will receive the same pay even if the new post is a demotion.

But the decree said those who refuse to get a vaccination without sufficient reason would be subject to a specific provision in a 2011 law on employee rights and duties.

The article in the 2011 law says employees who refuse "preventive measures" could be subjected to "varying degrees of consequences that could lead to dismissal".

After news stories about the decree, many Italians took to Twitter to criticise it, with some saying it was contrary to Pope Francis' general call for mercy.  Read more at RTE HERE.

NY Times reports that a woman, 90, walked 6 miles to get her Botox. I mean..... you know. How long before there will be St. Bernards padding about the roadways soon delivering rum and vaxacola. I surely admire her stamina. I hope she keeps it.

“I’d walk a mile, for a Moderna” NYTimes article here.

Our friends at SafeMinds featured a disturbing study this week. Disturbing but not at all surprising to most of us. Medical Doctors have poor attitudes about their patients with disabilities. And they don't trust their ability to treat them. I have three adult daughters with full autism. Pediatricians were never openly disdainful of my girls, but they glossed over medical care constantly.  For instance, we NEVER had the hearing or vision tests routinely offered. Why? Because my girls could not answer. Not one tried to find a way to make sure my kids had this important health. And they often ignored me when I told them what was going on. When they listened, they would tell me outright that they had no answers. Our most recent pediatrician's office just sent us the "too old" letter for my youngest, who is 20. I liked Dr. S. I'll miss her. Her Dad was a pediatrician, and she always took my concerns seriously. She never made me feel like a whackadoodle. She spoke directly to my daughter as if she was in the room on the table. We have a primary care doc for my older daughters. He's my doc too. He's terrific and kind and listens. Each question I have had, he opens his laptop and Googles it. He doesn't know a single thing about autism. He should be paying me a fee for the continued education credits. I ask, he delivers. Not bad. But I won't always be at every visit with my daughters forever and ever. And that's what we are all going to run into moving into adulthood.  I'm looking for a new primary care doctor for the four of us. Someone younger, which makes me nervous, as I think so many of the young docs are indoctrinated into really hating thinkers like me. But, my girls will need basic care for decades to come, and I'd like a younger doc who will be in practice for 30 or more years. To make matters worse, many people with disabilities like autism are on Medicaid. And few adult-practice MDs take Medicaid because it pays so poorly. Our kids are double screwed. What's your experience to date?

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Health AffairsVol. 40, No. 2: Vital Directions, Quality & More

Physicians’ Perceptions Of People With Disability And Their Health Care

Approximately 12% of  Americans have at least one disability. Growing evidence shows that individuals living with disabilities experience healthcare disparities compared to the general population. A new study published in the journal Health Affairs was the first of its kind to examine doctors’ attitudes on treating people with disabilities. The research involved surveying 714 practicing physicians. Sadly, the study’s initial finding revealed that 82% of the physician respondents believed that people with significant disabilities experience a worse quality of life than those without disabilities. Two other depressing statistics came out of this research. Only 40% of doctors were confident they could provide the same quality of care to a patient with a disability than they could for those without. Additionally, just a mere 56% “strongly agreed” that they welcome people with disabilities into their practice even though the Americans with Disabilities Act requires equal access to healthcare. The study’s lead author, Lisa I. Iezzoni,  a health care policy researcher at both Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, was not surprised that most doctors had negative attitudes about patients with disabilities. However, she reported to be shocked by the magnitude of physicians stigmatizing views. Iezzoni along with the other study’s authors suggest that adding disability training in medical school could be an excellent way to change perceptions about treating those with disabilities. Adding this curriculum may help correct healthcare disparities for this fragile population in the future.

Thank you to Children's Health Defense for crunching this important safety data. VAERS is the Vaccine Adverse Event Response System, and part of the Federal government. Reports of post v a x  cardiac events are frightening. Many of us have friends and family are are getting this new product. Some of our readers are likely getting it too.  From the CHD site:

What VAERS Data Reveal About Cardiac-Related Reactions to COVID Vaccines

As of Feb. 4, 1,171 cases of cardiac-related reactions were reported to VAERS, including 134 cases where the patient died — or 21% of the total COVID vaccine deaths reported to VAERS.

We are exactly two months into the COVID 19 vaccine rollout, which began on Dec. 14, 2020. Each Friday The Defender  reports on the latest vaccine reaction numbers from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database.

As of Feb. 4, 12,697 reactions, including 653 deaths, had been reported to the system, out of 35 million doses of vaccines administered.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using the VAERS system as an passive reaction surveillance tool following the fast-tracked, Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Other systems being used are V-Safe and the Vaccine Safety Database.

We looked at the data we have so far to see if we could identify any emerging patterns. What immediately stands out is that the 12,697 reactions reported as of Feb. 4 are not limited to injection-site reactions. These appear to be serious reactions reported by medical personnel from all over the country.

One trend worth noting is the number of reported cardiological reactions, including myocardial and tachycardia disorders. We found 1,171 cases using the more common symptoms reported, including 134 cases where the patient died — or 21% of the total COVID vaccine deaths reported to VAERS.

According to VAERS data, of the 1,171 serious cardiac-related cases reported, 1,021 (87.2%) occurred within 48 hours of receiving the vaccine. Of the 134 cases where the patient died, 50% occurred within 24 hours and 60% within 48 hours.

Read more here and share with friends and especially, older family. Knowledge is sometimes scary, but so important.

Update from “a friend of ours:” Ridiculous. #967 right here 🙋‍♀️ Not going to make it in. They will most likely only get to 400 of the over 1900 who signed up. And all of the written testimonies sent in have not been loaded. The legislators will not be able to read our testimonies before voting. Last year, it took a week to upload all of the written testimonies...

Connecticut politicians are likely to vote to deny school to thousands by passing HB6423. Kicked out when the Religious Exemption is removed. Covid Lockdown. Permanently. A hearing is today. Last year, constituents slept over at the Capitol, speaking one after another for more than 24 hours. This year, the legislature will only allow a much smaller list. And guess how it’s stacked? 

If CDC adds C v a x to the pediatric list, how many more will be banned from the schoolyard or Zoomyard? 

Note: Michelle Guppy posted this yesterday, on FaceBook, and I asked if I could share it here. The meaning of love changes as we grow up - old. For so many of us who are full time caretakers of our adult children with autism, love means an intense workload and exhaustion. Maybe that's a dirty secret I'm not supposed to share. Keeping my mouth shut has never been my strong suit. Michelle  has a strong partner in her husband. Thank goodness, because her handsome son is a strapping fully grown man with seizures and behaviors. Some of us are single parents.  My daughters' Dad sees them one weekend a month, kind of like ROTC without the push ups. Or as I told Gianna, like her period. (There's the mouth!) No matter the home set up, we are ALL wiped out at the end of the day. And we do this work with love, respect and a quiet determination so that our kids, toddler or teen, shorty or forty, will always remember that they had a Mom who loved them forever, liked them for always. As long as WE are living, our babies they'll be.

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What Valentine's Day has come to mean to me since "Life with Autism, Seizures, & a side of PANDAS"

I love how on each Valentine's Day until such time as Brandon is healed, I get to be reminded of what true, unconditional love is.

We went to court for Guardianship of Brandon on Valentine's Day of 2012...

On each Valentine's Day, I have his annual Guardianship update paperwork to fill out and submit. You have to submit that paperwork each year on the Anniversary of when Guardianship was Granted...

On Valentine's Day of 2012 Todd and I appeared in Harris County Court before a Judge to show the ultimate act of love for our son...

In swearing to care for and advocate for him as guardians.

To give our all to him in that way, meant that more often than not, there would be nothing left for us. Physically, Emotionally, Mentally, and most of all --- FINANCIALLY.

Guardianship - does not come with provision.

So many Valentine's Day gifts this week in white tents in parking lots full of the worlds view of "love" -- in things you can buy and give. Love isn't in those things at all. It is in what can't be bought and in what is given unconditionally. It is in doing something for someone who can never repay you. Love is a commitment to your son who cannot read, write, or talk, that you will advocate and protect his rights above all else. Love is being up all night, for 26 years and counting, with few exceptions. It is having traveled to so many doctors you lost count and doing anything you could to help. It is the determination in forging a path where there was none. Knowing that path would help others, though not necessarily you or your son. It is being bitten and bearing those scars. It is in the wretchedness of having to watch seizure upon seizure and not being able to stop them. It is in every cell in your mother's heart crying out in pain at the helplessness of it all. It is in constantly making the choices for him, not you, not your spouse, not your marriage. It is the financial, emotional, mental, & physical sacrifices you make for him each and every day. I say that last part again because it's worth repeating. The toll financially, emotionally, mentally, & physically is beyond imaginable. Borderline unsurvivable.

Below is the latest article from Dr. Meryl Nass. We aren't going to be wall to wall Covid - our main topic is and will always be autism. Of course, Covid has overtaken pretty much every topic for just about a year. Some of what I read here and there doesn't serve us as a community. I know how I feel when people tell me that vaccine injury doesn't exist. Dr. Nass deconstructs that arguments that there is no Covid virus. I don't mean to tiptoe around Covid- we aren't known for tiptoeing around anything.  But with so many from all walks of life and political points of view at each others' throats, good friends and even families turning their back on each other, I'm trying to focus on posts that can at least draw a line into our community. I hope you understand. Thanks.

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By Dr. Meryl Nass, MD

https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2021/02/again-is-virus-real.htmlhttps://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2021/02/again-is-virus-real.html

Is the Virus Real?

I continue to be asked if the virus is real.  I answered this question in 2 prior blog posts, below.  But Off-Guardian has a new article claiming the virus is fake, and I was again asked to comment. 

https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-testing-mess-lack-of-reliable-data.html

https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-virus-real-has-it-been-photographed.html

Here is a description of its culture and isolation, with additional details in the supplementary materials, for those who continue to clamour for it

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7228321/

Since I have explained some technical aspects in the two prior posts, I will be brief.  Please read John McGowan's comment to the second post for greater detail, which helps debunk the Off-Guardian article.

1. There has been tremendous falsification of information on almost every aspect of the pandemic.  I don't think there is much question about that, and I understand that it makes people understandably suspicious about the reality of the virus, too.  Particularly when people with MDs and PhDs after their names claim it does not exist.
2. I am willing to go on record to say that Andrew Kaufman, MD (a psychiatrist, not a molecular biologist, who got his undergrad degree in the same department I did at MIT--Biology) who is quoted in the piece, is wrong and ignorant, besides. As are others.
3. Here is the key argument:  I have challenged those who deny a real virus to explain what, exactly, is causing these symptoms if it is not a virus.  One suggested toxins.  Or 5G.  

• Well, toxins and 5G and exosomes are not contagious, but this disease is.  
• It has a very predictable incubation period, averaging 6 days.  
• Properly used PPE protects the wearer from exposure. 
• It causes mostly similar syndromes in those who get very ill.  
• The syndrome, while relatively unique, is similar to that caused by SARS-1 in 2003.  
• The illness responds well to antiviral drugs.  Patients get better quickly when viral-killing protocols, including hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, are used early in the illness. 

These simple facts, along with the arguments I have made in the two linked blog posts, confirm that we are facing an infectious disease, and it is caused by a virus.

4. Hundreds of thousands of whole genome sequences (maps of every nucleotide in the virus' RNA) have been uploaded by scientists in scores of countries to international databases, each with its own local mutations.  You would need to isolate and grow these viruses in order to sequence them.  Saying that all these sequences are false requires that thousands of scientists are lying, together, about the work they have done.  Since these scientists are from the US, China, Russia, and everywhere else, getting them all to tell the same lie would not be simple.

By Cathy Jameson

“Be curious and ask questions. Don’t just accept things as they are. Scientists always ask ‘why’ and ‘how.’ And…read as many books and magazines as you can about science.”

That advice was found in a textbook written for students in elementary school.  Had it been written as a stand-alone paragraph, I’d have thoroughly appreciated the quote.  But this advice was at the end of a one-page write up in a children’s Science textbook that promoted vaccines.  Had the authors of the book, or the doctor himself, an immunologist, added that some vaccines can cause some problems for some people, I’d have not been disappointed. 

But I was.  

I honestly shouldn’t have been, especially since this sentence was also included in that one-page write up:  “Many immunologists hope that vaccines—medicines usually given through a shot—will prevent people from getting sick.”  That was my hope, too, as a young mother.  Vaccines are the hope for a lot of young mothers. 

Until they’re not. 

The desire, to help our children be healthy, is strong.  So is putting faith into vaccines.  When you think you are doing the right thing for your child, like keeping them up-to-date on shots, all sorts of hope happens.  It’s only after a vaccine reaction occurs can that hope fade away.  Sometimes, depending on the severity of the injury, it will take time for that to happen.  Eventually, all hope may completely disappear.  When I finally realized what was happening to my own child, which was only after I thought to ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ like that immunologist encourages young students to do, it was too late. 

My son’s health was far worse post-vaccination. 

Vaccine reactions are not talked about like they should be.  Why they happen and how to prevent them are topics officials wish that you just not ask.  If you dare, you could be silenced.  We have been. So have others. More surely will be.  

Below is a link to a thoughtful opinion piece that ran in the New York Times. Frankly, I was shocked they ran it. Maybe folks are starting to wake up to our world. Please read and respond on the NYT site. Point of note: the URL is usually the first headline. When you change a headline after "publishing," the URL remains the same. Happens here too. Check it out: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/briefing/trump-covid-chick-corea-olympics-president.html

Covid testing as exercise

In a public health emergency, absolutism is a very tempting response: People should cease all behavior that creates additional risk.

That instinct led to calls for gay men to stop having sex during the AIDS crisis. It has also spurred campaigns for teen abstinence, to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies. And to fight obesity, people have been drawn to fads like the elimination of trans fats or carbohydrates.

These days, there is a new absolutist health fad: the discouragement — or even prohibition — of any behavior that seems to increase the risk of coronavirus infection, even minutely.

People continue to scream at joggers, walkers and cyclists who are not wearing masks. The University of California, Berkeley, this week banned outdoor exercise by on-campus students, masked or not, saying, “The risk is real.” The University of Massachusetts Amherst has banned outdoor walks. It encouraged students to get exercise by “accessing food and participating in twice-weekly Covid testing.”

A related trend is “hygiene theater,” as Derek Thompson of The Atlantic described it: The New York City subway system closes every night, for example, so that workers can perform a deep cleaning.  Read the full article HERE.

Below is a link to the video that got Robert Kennedy, Jr booted from Instagram. More than 43,000 people signed up to watch the webinar in a matter of days. Please share far and wide.  Knowledge is power. I learned that on Schoolhouse Rock in 1974.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/webinar/the-covid-vaccine-on-trial-if-you-only-knew/

Robert Kennedy Jr was "deplatformed" from Instagram because he created and shared an event (with over 43,000 participants) that discussed the safety, efficacy and very existence of the 2021 Messiah. Co V A X.  From Children's Health Defense:

RFK, Jr. Responds to Instagram’s Removal of His Account

RFK, Jr.’s Instagram account was deplatformed Wednesday. Dozens of media outlets reported the censorship, saying the account was removed over “vaccine misinformation,” a characterization Kennedy unequivocally rejected.
By

Children's Health Defense Team

Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Instagram account was deplatformed without advanced notice. Dozens of media outlets reporting on this censorship asserted the account was removed over “false COVID vaccine claims” or “vaccine misinformation.” Some reports referred to Kennedy as an “anti-vaxxer.”

Kennedy, founder, chairman and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense,” unequivocally rejects those characterizations as false and misleading.

Children’s Health Defense (CHD), including Kennedy, advocates for vaccine safety and health freedom. CHD’s mission is to end childhood health epidemics by exposing the causes, eliminating harmful exposures, holding those responsible accountable and seeking justice for those harmed.

As Kennedy has said many times, for a democracy to function, civil debate of issues —  including vaccine science — must be allowed. Censorship of that debate is anathema to democracy.

Kennedy and Mary Holland, CHD president and general counsel, issued the following statements on Instagram’s removal of Kennedy’s account:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Chairman of Children’s Health Defense, said:

“Every statement I put on Instagram was sourced from a government database, from peer-reviewed publications and from carefully confirmed news stories. None of my posts were false. Facebook, the pharmaceutical industry and its captive regulators use the term ‘vaccine misinformation’ as a euphemism for any factual assertion that departs from official pronouncements about vaccine health and safety, whether true or not. This kind of censorship is counterproductive if our objective is a safe and effective vaccine supply.

“The pharmaceutical industry is hastily creating vaccines using taxpayer money and untested technologies. These include a rash of risky new products that are exempt from liability, from long-term safety testing and that have not received FDA approval. Emergency Use Authorization is a mass population scientific experiment. If it has any prayer of working, it will require extraordinary scrutiny from the press and the public. READ THE REST AT THE DEFENDER.

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Meanwhile, this article was published yesterday from a small school district near Syracuse, New York, and it's not the first district to suffer system wide adverse reactions that shut down classes. Can you afford to take time off from taking care of your family? Your job? Short term? We have no idea about long time effects. None. Nada. Zero. We just had a "Snow Day" here in Connecticut. Guess we need to build in "Co" days now too?

CNY Schools & Colleges Central NY school district closes after many staff sick with side effects from Covid vaccine

Evidence in my daughter's case

From the Washington Post.  Our children, from young through adulthood, deserve respect and proper treatment. As someone whose daughter was abused, leading to a criminal case and felony result, there are few pains as sharp as knowing people who are supposed to care for ,teach, assist are too angry, underpaid, untrained and lazy to do their jobs without resorting to base actions.

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The very real, very painful reasons the autistic community demanded two restraint scenes be removed from Sia’s new film ‘Music

At least 745.

That’s how many times, court documents say, Jennifer Tidd’s son was restrained and secluded in school.

The Northern Virginia mother can’t say much about the lawsuit she and other parents launched about a year and a half ago against Fairfax County Public Schools. But what Tidd can share, and is eager to, is what her inbox has shown since she became a receptacle for questions, complaints and worries from parents across the country: Too many autistic people have been restrained against their will, and too often that action has resulted in injuries, trauma or death.

“This is what we’re dealing with when we have kids who have intellectual and developmental disabilities,” says Tidd, who has two autistic sons. “They’re not seen as people.”

If they were, she says, people wouldn’t do things to them that they would never consider doing to other children. They wouldn’t respond to their meltdowns by holding them down or locking them away, instead of taking the time to figure out what is bothering them.  Read more here.

"The injection site was a thousand times more intense than regular shots. I felt like a full grown male punched me in the arm. It throbbed, it tingled or buzzed all the way down my arm and up into my neck. The other odd sensation was the outer rim of my ears felt like they were on fire."

That is the report of an adult after the first dose of the Covid vaccine. I'm not writing this post to question the decision of an adult to be vaccinated, and I know that this person is aware of vaccine injury, and deliberated before making a personal, informed choice. Is it the choice you or I might have made?  That's one question.  Can you afford to be sidelined for a day, a week, a month or worse?

The bigger questions speaks to the huge responsibility too many of us bear for every aspect of our children's lives. Is it the choice you or I would make for our own children with autism, whether minor or over the age of 18? After reading the above description of an actual reaction, my first thought was, "Holy cow, my daughters would be trapped in this an unable to tell me!" Can your child tell you if his or her throat is closing up in anaphylaxis? Can your child tell you if he is in severe distress? The kind that requires immediate medical care? 

Many years ago, my youngest daughter choked on a round ravioli. We did not know until she was turning blue at the table. She did not call for us in any way. She did not come to us. She did not slam the table to get our attention. She did not appear to be in distress at all - until the Heimlich was needed and used to no avail. We had to call 911. If you read my memoir a hundred years ago, this is the same child that I put to bed with a broken arm, because she was not screaming in pain.  When she arrived at the hospital, the doctors were AGHAST that she was quiet and not writhing and howling. Such is autism. So if our kids have a reaction to a Covid vaccine, it's unlikely we will have any idea at all. Or that whatever behavior changes we see, because pain masquerades as behavior,  even if WE know they are different, will be written off by medical professionals as, "just autism." Of course, one can argue  the same thing about COVID symptoms - if they worsen to a critical point and we are unaware. Here's a list of symptoms. The ones in red are physically, externally visible.

Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches

Event Planning a la CDC. Take a look. The "event" is death, in this report generated from VAERS, our national vaccine adverse event reporting system, Dec 2019 through Jan 2020.

Open Letter from the UK Medical Freedom Alliance to:

Nadhim Zahawi – Minister for Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment

Matt Hancock – Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

MHRA

JCVI

Cc: Boris Johnson – Prime Minister 05 February 2021

Re: Urgent warning re Covid-19 vaccine-related deaths in the elderly and Care Homes

In our Open Letter of 23 November 2020, addressed to the MHRA, JCVI and Matt Hancocki, we outlined our concerns of potential public health risks from a mass roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccines because of only limited short-term safety data and no long-term safety data.

In this letter we draw to your attention the mounting evidence that the public health risks we identified may be materialising.

We now call for an immediate and urgent audit of deaths that have occurred since the beginning of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, to ascertain if Covid-19 vaccines (in general or any one brand in particular) are leading to an increased number of deaths (Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related), Covid-19 cases or increased risk of death in certain age groups or cohorts.

Among our concerns in our previous Open Letter, we raised the potential issues of:

1. Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) induced by the vaccines causing more severe Covid-19, with increased hospitalisations and deaths in the weeks or months after vaccinations.
2. The lack of safety data on elderly people with multiple comorbidities. This cohort was under represented and a statistically insignificant group in the clinical vaccine trials . We postulated that there may be increased vaccine side-effects in this group, which would only become apparent when many thousands of them had received vaccinations.
3. The absence of any safety data regarding those who have already had Covid-19, and the possibility that prior immunity may lead to increased side-effects from the Covid-19 vaccines.

CURRENT CONCERNS AND CONTEXT

Our particular concern is the impact of Covid-19 vaccines on the very elderly and those in care homes. ONS data shows that weekly care home deaths tripled in the two weeks between 8th and 22nd January 2021ii, at a time when there was a massive increase in the rate of vaccinations of care home residents iii (Fig 1 and Fig 2).

Read the full letter at  UK Medical Freedom Alliance Letter.

This article came into my email yesterday. Thank for Lord I wasn't mid-coffee sip. I'd have choked or had a major keyboard clean up laughing.  If you'd like to have a frank conversation with the vast majority of us who have kids with vax injury and who have dedicated and sacrificed to try to prevent others from falling into the same rabbit hole, check out the tax returns of the non-profits. The kitchen table non profits. Age of Autism? We file the post card tax return every year.  Google it. Most of the orgs doing on the ground work have salaries that could fill a thimble and leave room for your thumb. Do we deserve to make a decent salary? Hell yes. I made more money when the Apple Mac was the new kid on the block.  This work is a labor of agony and love and a refusal to quit. Stubborn. That's what we are. Too stubborn to walk away and make more doing unfulfilling work. Too stubborn to leave behind friends who've become family. Our autism family. Sure, the big orgs like Autism Speaks, who were never about to jeopardize funds by pursuing the V is for Verboten topic, had huge salaries. Maybe other orgs we know do too. God bless them. The orgs that have fought for more than 15 years for every individual with autism that I know and respect operate on shoestrings.  Some have partners who help support our work. Others successful non-autism businesses that allow them to rock the autism work. And thank God for that.

Are there shysters and opportunists? Yes. And we've seen some come and go over the years. But I will tell you in no uncertain terms, we do not get rich doing this. WE GET BROKE. 

We were here through H1N1 Swine flu. Antivaxxing. We were here through Ebola. Antivaxxing. (By the way, the Ebola vaccine was announced just before Covid, and went into hiding I guess.) And we'll be here during and after the Covid hysteria. Because autism doesn't wax or wane. It's here and even if it disappeared tonight, our loved ones have a long life ahead of them and they need us.

The article below has one mission. Protect the Covax. Become one of the Vaccinointed and you too can join the choir.

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How COVID-conspiracists and anti-vaxxers are getting organised and making money

By Sanya Burgess and Victoria Elms, reporters

It's easy to dismiss conspiracy theorists who say COVID-19 doesn't exist, or that we are all living through a "plandemic" - an event orchestrated by the evil and powerful.

But NHS workers and the police have told Sky News the people who spread those theories are a "genuine problem", whose "fake news" may damage generations to come.

The Police Federation told Sky News currently around three quarters of protests are against lockdown restrictions. Worryingly, the remainder are largely organised by COVID-conspiracists and anti-vaxxers.

Sky News took a detailed look at those promoting COVID conspiracy theories in the UK - online and offline.

We found endless groups and pages circulating conspiracies, but three organisations dominate the landscape - Stand Up X, Stop New Normal and Save Our Rights UK.

These groups seek to generate money, often through donations. The leader of one group has amassed at least £45,000 from the public. Other groups have launched paid-for social media platforms and a shop.

Our investigation into these three groups shows they push an array of conspiracies including that coronavirus is less harmful than science says, to denying COVID-19 exists at all, to the debunked dangers of taking the vaccine.  Read more here.

Note: While scrolling Facebook yesterday, I came across a post from a well known, "celeb" member of our community. She was cautioning her readers to do their homework on the Covid v acc inations that are available or coming online soon. One comment caught my eye:

In other words, keep quiet. Don't tell anyone about adverse reactions. It might make people think twice. No. This is not how we should operate. It's not how we are legally required to operate with drugs in the USA. I heard the most disgusting list of side effects ever on some ad on television over the weekend. But for "biologics" especially those for emergency use?  Never.

501 Deaths + 10,748 Other Injuries Reported Following COVID Vaccine, Latest CDC Data Show

These numbers reflect the latest data available as of Jan. 29 from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System website. Of the 501 reported deaths, 453 were from the U.S. The average age of those who died was 77, the youngest was 23. Read more from The Defender at Children's Health Defense.

Hey! WE ARE THE KEEPERS OF THE CHEEEESE!  (Apologies to Ren and Stimpy and readers too young to get it.) If you've been around as long as I have, and many of our readers have, you're familiar with the Encyclopedia of American Loons. I'm no Mother Teresa or Stagliano, but I am still a proud American Loon. This was a site cataloguing "anti-vaxxers" like birds, from the ODD-uban Society of folks who used to troll parents of vaccine injured children and had meaning in their lives via their wee blogs that now collect dust like T ball trophies in Mom's paneled basement.

The news story that has circulated about the "anti-vaxxers" who interrupted the LA Dodger Stadium Co-vax administration event has me riled up. First off, I don't trust a word the LA Times writes about anything other than "the ink we use is black."  They have proven over and over again to be solidly anti-anti-vax, pro-Kaiser, pro-pharma and anything but concerned about our children. I don't even recognize California any longer, a state I used to think of as magical and the ne plus ultra of American success.

On Thursday, Robert Kennedy and CHD wrote a post Children’s Health Defense Condemns Protest at Dodger Stadium Vaccination Site, Advocates Safety, Supports Choice.

One commenter at CHD claimed to be responsible for the LA event. His name is Jason Lefkowitz. He was quick to take responsibility.

It seems Mr. Lefkowitz is a President Trump MAGA supporter. Not a problem here. We’re Switzerland. But a quick ask around town turned up nothing about his previous involvement in say SB277, the biggest CA vaccine legislation since the NVICP. His Facebook page shows no kids. (Of course they could just be ugly.) I’m kidding.  Where are his bona fides in the vax choice community? I have nothing against him. I'm sure he is pissed off to be described so badly by the LA Times (welcome to our world, Jason.)

If you read his description of the event, he asked participants to leave their red MAGA hats at home. (What? no red hats? Well, there go the Auntie Vackers of a certain age.)  One can not help but wonder if perhaps the event, and the ensuing kerfuffle was not about protecting anyone from vaccine injury. But we took the heat. And this makes us more “dangerous” to society. it was a protest against "all things Covid." Whatever that means. 

But the media took the chance to slam our work, our worries, our science. Like Kennedy, I have no place in my heart or head for disruptive violence. And I can be quite disruptive.  I'm well trained. I've always said that I am pro-choice. You can call me an American Loon too if you want. 

I looked up Mr. OutofLeftfifeldkowitz on Facebook after reading his comment on the CHD site. His page is sparsely populated with no details about him. He has 1,111 (yes, the angel number) of friends and not one is a mutual with me. We American Loons are a sociable group, we travel in packs, gaggles, pods. It's odd we would not have one mutual friend.

Will the real Auntie Vacker please stand up? Or do we have to cry Uncle?

Over the last few years, New York and California dumped more than 75,000 students from school when they removed the religious exemption to vaccination.   My home state of Connecticut is ramming through a similar bill, after having tabled it last winter. Children in Connecticut will be sent home without access to school because of their vaccination status. Healthy children. During COVID, we have watched our nations' children freefall into depression, families pushed to the brink of financial ruin and fatigue.  And experts are coming to  their defense. Rightly so.  But why did none of this matter for the families whose kids were kicked out for lack of X, Y or Z vaccination before COVID? Student equity was never mentioned.

At my youngest daughter's small school for special education, mostly autism, 40% of the 42 students used the religious exemption.  When COVID struck last Spring, the Founder and board closed the school for good, with two weeks notice to staff and families. Bella was home for 5 months until we were able to enroll her in a new program close to home and where she is thriving. When her school closed, families wondered what was the real reason, surely it wasn't COVID restrictions as so many private and special education schools have found a way to stay open. They sold the land in well to do Southport, Connecticut for more than $5,000,000 according to news reports. And the land had been DONATED when the school launched. A ha! But the tired cynic in me wonders if they did not see the writing on the wall regarding vaccination choice and knew that 40% of their kids would be tossed out and their six figure tuition lost once Connecticut forced through the removal of the Religious Exemption?

Healthy children belong in school. Period. Take a look at Chicago, where the Teachers' Union is refusing to go back and the even the Mayor is losing her patience. For us? Mayors and Governors lost their tempers, their heads and their compassion. What a difference a pandemic makes?

ABC 7 Chicago: CHICAGO (WLS) -- In an update Thursday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union still have not reached a deal, despite progress being made throughout the week.

Lightfoot reiterated what steps the city has taken in an effort to ensure safety and said the CTU created chaos, and the ball is in their court.

Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union still have not agreed to a deal Thursday.

"Schools are safe," Lightfoot said. "My patience is up."

Wayne Rohde, author of Vaccine Court and host of the podcast Right On Point has an interview with The Practical Nomad, Edward Hasbrouk on the inner workings of the Do Not Fly list and how those in the vaccine choice community could find themselves grounded. What happens to families where Mom and Dad might be Co vaxxed, but one or more children might not? No more family vacations? What would happen to our  conferences (remember them?) if we were barred from flying due to our vaccination status? Pie in the sky tin foil hat musings are looming large.

Listen here at Right On Point.

Friends, JB Handley is one of my career Godfathers. Many years ago he made me an offer I could not refuse. Start a blog for autism. That blog called Rescue Post grew into Age of Autism 14 years ago. JB has been a booming voice for people with autism. He co-founded Generation Rescue and has never backed down from the truth of what happened to his son Jamsion. Jamison is a lot like many of our children. Some call him "non-verbal." Some assume he is low IQ . For a long time, I have said that we need to use autism and its many stupid definitions (yes, I said stupid) as a credit card for services. I still believe that. My daughters also test with low IQ - and therefore qualify for services and supports here in Connecticut. And believe you me, I  need those services for them. But my daughters, like Jamison Handley, are not really intellectually disabled. Their intelligence and ability to SHOW it are held captive within autism. I see my Bella very much in Jamison's story. I have read JB's newest book, Underestimated: An Autism Miracle. Coming this Spring from Skyhorse Publishing. I saw Bella on every page. JB and Jamison  share how a therapy called Spell2Communicate (thanks R!) finally opened the channels. Two of my daughters saw Soma, twice, many years ago. While S2C is not Soma's HALO program, it is similar, and I can tell you that what my girls produced was nothing short of astounding and gut wrenching.

I'm going to talk to JB about ways to bring what he has learned closer to the AofA community. Maybe a Zoom event would be fun. 

You can pre-order the book now. Stay tuned for much more info.  From Amazon:

In Underestimated: An Autism Miracle, Generation Rescue’s cofounder J.B. Handley and his teenage son Jamison tell the remarkable story of Jamison’s journey to find a method of communication that allowed him to show the world that he was a brilliant, wise, generous, and complex individual who had been misunderstood and underestimated by everyone in his life.

Jamison’s emergence at the age of seventeen from his self-described “prison of silence” took place over a profoundly emotional and dramatic twelve-month period that is retold from his father’s perspective. The book reads like a spy thriller while allowing the reader to share in the complex emotions of both exhilaration and anguish that accompany Jamison’s journey for him and his family. Once Jamison’s extraordinary story has been told, Jamison takes over the narrative to share the story from his perspective, allowing the world to hear from someone who many had dismissed and cast aside as incapable.

REGISTER HERE

World renowned experts (physicians, scientists, lawyers, activists etc.) discuss the many unanswered questions regarding the safety and effectiveness of the COVID vaccine.

Topics

Are they safe and effective?
Can you be forced to take one?
Who’s liable if anything goes wrong?
How do I protect my right to choose?
Discover what the mainstream media is not telling you!

Confirmed Speakers

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Del Bigtree
Thomas Cowan, MD
Mary Holland, Esq.
Christiane Northrup,MD
John Gilmore
Michael Kane
Larry Palevsky,MD
Sherri Tenpenny, DO
David Rasnick, PhD
Kevin Jenkins

Emcees

Curtis Cost
Maureen McDonnell

Sponsors

Children’s Health Defense
Millions Against Medical Mandates
Autism Action Network

Additional Groups

NY Alliance For Vaccine Rights
Family Freedom Alliance
Liberate NY
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Note: Safeminds reported a frightening study from Denmark on autism and suicide on their site yesterday. As Mom to three adult women with autism, the statistic is paralyzing. My daughters appear to be healthy and happy young adults. Appear. For those with more severe autism, especially the pre-verbal, how does depression, deep depression present? For those who are able to attend school and work in the neurotypical world, the sense of difference must be profound. Women have a very different set of social expectations than men. I am old enough to start worrying in earnest about the life my children will lead when I am gone. I used to think of it as some future event, worth writing about, but it did not cross my mind every time I tucked them into bed. It does now.

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Women on the Spectrum and Those with Additional Psychiatric Conditions Have an Even Higher Risk of Suicide

New research generated from Denmark has discovered a shocking new statistic. People with autism have more than three times the rate of suicide and suicide attempt compared to the general population. The Danish research team’s study also reported that females on the spectrum and individuals with additional mental health conditions have a notably higher risk of suicide. In fact, women who hold an autism diagnosis had a four-fold higher risk of suicide attempt when compared to men. Additionally, more than 90% of individuals with autism who attempted suicide or died by suicide had a co-occuring pyschiatric disorder. Another important finding from this research is that unlike the general population, the risk of suicide doesn’t decrease with age for people on the spectrum. Danish experts are calling for expanded support and services for adults with autism, especially for those who have additional mental health disorders to mitigate the risk of suicide attempt throughout their lifespan.  Read the original article at Safeminds.

Check out the iPhone’s “concierge” feature. Exposure notifications for Covid. I can think of a thousands notifications I'd prefer before this one....  Ice cream parlor two streets away! Slow down, lady in a black Escalade with road rage and PMS just a half 1/2 mile in front of you. You kids are really grumpy, make a U-turn ahead. Covid sure has provided many new ways to digitally track citizens, hasn't it. Speaking of "digital" attacks, did you hear about the "new and improved" swabbing method out of China?

I prepared this post mid-afternoon yesterday in the middle of a blizzard, hoping we would not lose power or Internet service. I don't have to tell AofA readers what a house without WiFi is like when you have one (or two or three) children with ASD. WiFi is our lifeline. I shoveled twice hoping to get ahead of the snowfall. However, I was like Sisyphus pushing the stone uphill, only to have it roll back down. Maybe you've heard the phrase, "The snow is coming down in buckets."  Today it's coming down in barrels. Kegs. Maybe even giant shipping containers! It's beautiful, and kind of nice to be "trapped" not by Covid, but by Mother Nature's beautiful blanket of white snow. I'm on several Health Choice groups on Facebook. The religious exemption is on the chopping block here in Connecticut again this year.  Almost a year ago to the day, we were in Hartford expressing our dismay to the Health Committee about the removal of our religious rights for our children. We staved off the bill. But like that stone rolling back downhill, it's up for legislation again, and the Democrats who were in favor of keeping the Religious Exemption were removed from the health committee.

I was so pleased to see this graphic on Facebook. Tony Hwang is my state Senator. Let's thank him and share the hashtag "#BODILYAUTONOMYISNOTPARTISAN far and wide.  Bodily autonomy is not party based. Or it shouldn't be, Here in Connecticut we have a right to choose each aspect of our health and also our personal gender identification, male, female or non-binary.  We believe in letting people make their own choices. Until we don't. On one topic.

Despite the Covid lockdowns, many of our kids with special needs are in school and face all of the safety issues that existed before Covid. Please invite your child's teacher to apply for an NAA Big Red Safety Box Teachers Toolkit.

Apply Here

NAA’s Big Red Safety Teacher Toolkit® includes:

• Printed educational materials and tools in our BeREDy booklet for teachers
• Two (2) Door/Window Alarms including batteries
• Five (5) Laminated Adhesive Stop Sign Visual Prompts for doors and windows

Please note:

• If you need additional stop signs, alarms, or other safety-related items, they can be purchased separately in our Big Red Safety Shop.
• All printed materials can be downloaded for free here.
• NAA Big Red Safety Teacher Toolkit® grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to all qualifying applicants while supplies last. You are not required to make a donation to receive one.

NAA’s Big Red Safety Teacher Toolkits® have a retail value of over $25.00. If you would like to help NAA continue this program, we ask you to please consider Paying it Forward by making an optional donation when requesting your free NAA Big Red Safety Teacher Toolkit®.

Regardless of any tools already in place, if an individual’s medical condition interferes with their ability to recognize danger or stay safe, it is critical to maintain close supervision and security in all settings. For more information and ways to prevent wandering-related incidents, please visit http://awaare.org.

NAA thanks Jasco Products for their generous assistance
in making this important program possible.

By Cathy Jameson

Extra appointments and errands had me out of the house a little bit longer than usual last week.  I didn’t mind the driving around, especially since I could listen to the radio uninterrupted while I was out.  Since it was just me in the car, I had no one asking me to change the station, to turn on a movie, or to turn a movie off.  I was glad for the chance to catch up on some news and follow-up analysis on a new fave XM station, 125.  But some days, with just how much is going on out there in the world, I just needed my music. 

This song came on a few times when I’d had enough of listening to talk radio.  It wasn’t just on my other go-to XM stations either.  I heard it on several stations at least once on one of the local ones.  I knew which artist was singing, but in the 4 or 5 times I’d heard it, I never caught the title. 

It’s quite the song!

The title is perfect.  

And the lyrics? 

They are so very good.

Is there anybody out there payin’ attention?

Is there anybody out there payin’ attention?

Is there anybody out there payin’ attention?

Is there anybody out there payin’ attention?

grandson asks that 4 times in a row at one point.  How many times have asked I myself that over and over again this last year?  Too many times!  I don’t agree with some of his politics, but I do echo his question, “…is anybody…payin’ attention?”  I’ve been asking myself that since January of 2020.   

Each year, like clockwork, several of us in this community wait with bated breath as to what the “new virus” of the year would be.  Like Ebola, like zika, like the measles.  It was no coincidence that this meme was making the rounds this week exactly one year ago. 

This year, everyone is ‘freaking’ out about the vaccine for the new virus.  Their screaming isn’t in retaliation because a vaccine was fast-tracked or that it has no long-term studies.  They’re freaking out because they want a liability-free countermeasure that they feel is not being distributed fast enough.  Having “gotten my hands dirty” knowing the ins and outs of how vaccines work (and don’t work), I’m walking around dazed listening to the public.  They want the newest vaccines that comes with, some consider, the greatest risk.

Never in the last 16 years of reading about vaccines have I ever watched people rush themselves to get tested for an illness they’re showing no signs of.  And never have I ever seen so many people so willing to roll up their sleeves for a medical product that is so brand new, some questions about it can’t be answered:   

Will either vaccine prevent COVID19?  Maybe.  But maybe not.

I saw a post by Children's Health Defense on Instagram yesterday. Instagram is part of Facebook. But the photo was hidden behind a wall, like a blue movie on early cable. I had to click through both these screens to see it. Nonsense. And they lead you to CDC and their information on vaccines. Frustrating. The CHS post wasn't even about autism, which makes the censoring even worse.

Excerpted from Children's Health Defense's The Defender with permission:

By John Stone and Dr. Meryl Nass, MD

On Jan. 13, California health officials issued a hold on 330,000 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine after “fewer than 10” people at San Diego’s Petco Park stadium vaccine clinic suffered allergic reactions to the vaccine. Santa Clara County officials lifted the hold on the vaccine lot in question on Jan. 21.

One day later, on Jan. 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Morbidity Mortality Weekly “early release” report on Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. For the report, the CDC used data reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) between Dec. 21, 2020  – Jan. 10, 2021 to investigate cases of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, following injections of Moderna’s vaccine.

The CDC’s choice to use VAERS data to calculate the rate of anaphylaxis associated with Moderna’s vaccine is idiosyncratic and troubling. Why?

First, VAERS is a “passive” reporting system, which results in a high degree of underreporting. In fact, a 2010 study (Lazarus et al, 2010) commissioned by the CDC, concluded that “fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries” are reported to VAERS. A 2015 study (Shimabukuro et al, 2015) similarly concluded that vaccine adverse events are underreported.

The other problem with VAERS? Reports often get filed only weeks or months after the event, which means the data is not current.

There are other reporting systems that the CDC could have used to calculate anaphylactic reactions to Moderna’s vaccine.

For example, the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) data, which the CDC used to calculate its overall rate of 1.3 events per million doses, updates in real time. So does the V-safe database, which was created specifically to assess the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. V-safe sends text message prompts to vaccine recipients on a daily basis for a week after a person is vaccinated, and occasionally thereafter. The prompts urge vaccine recipients to report any side effects directly using a cell phone app.

CDC notified the public of six cases of anaphylaxis following Pfizer’s COVID vaccine during the first week of the vaccination program. Its information came from the V-safe active surveillance data.

Both the Vaccine Safety Datalink and V-safe are considered “active” surveillance systems, sensitive for identifying events and fit for calculating event rates in a vaccinated population. However, unlike VAERS, neither systems’ contents are available for public scrutiny.

CDC’s Jan. 22 report on the Moderna reactions surprisingly asserted that “reporting efficiency to VAERS … is believed to be high,” and “VAERS is likely sensitive at capturing anaphylaxis cases occurring after COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Read more at The Defender.

Last night, I was at the kitchen table, eating a small container of leftover pasta with pesto that I had made for dinner at 3:00pm and left on a warming tray for my helpers to serve for dinner while I worked from 4:00 - 7:30 teaching karate. Let me explain. I teach four nights a week. In order to do so, I have a team of kind, smart, funny, beautiful, caring, logical, intuitive helpers that I am able to hire with a budget through DDS here in Connecticut. They are well paid, well fed (ha  ha) and part of the fabric our our lives. Without them, I would never leave the house. No joke. I trust them with my daughters' psyches, well being, health and their very lives. 

At 8:41pm, my 26 year old with severe autism walked over and stood in front of me.  She usually brushes her teeth and tucks herself into bed when she feels tired. Last night was different. She took my hand.  Which told me she needed something. I walked with her to the bedroom she shares with her sister. I waited. She took my hand and looked at me. Not a word. She speaks with prompting. Short 2 or 3 word sentences. I looked at what she was wearing and knew right away what she needed. She got a pair of black sweatpants with a drawstring waist for Christmas. She needed me to tie a bow in the  dangling strings. I tied them. She got into bed. Content. Now, I know well enough never to buy pants with a drawstring. She wears yoga pants that do NOT need to be tied. She can not tie and frankly, I don't give two poops that she can not tie. I saw that goal on her IEP for 17 years. It's enough. But the person who bought her the sweatpants did not take into account that Mia does not tie, and that the untied strings would bother her. And that someone would need to help her. Me. Her Mom. It was a simple moment that brought the crushing weight of the responsibility I bear and that so  many of our readers bear. I had just read the story below. What of those children without Mom to know what they need. Or worse, monsters wearing the mask of staff, caretakers. But monsters down to their souls:

The story will sicken you. Scare you. More that any of us is already sick and scared. And we are. Sick of being ignored. Scared of dying and leaving our children behind. Because there will always be strings to tie. And monsters in masks. Always.

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Twenty Chester County Devereux staffers allegedly harmed children — or kept quiet about the abuse — since 2018. The company says it's continuing its reforms.

Note: At the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the day we are site about autism. Today I want to share Michelle Guppy's very personal update posted on From Hell to Hopeism, her blog that follows life with a severely affected adult son. Her handsome Brandon. Wracked with seizures. Tall. Blond. Smile that would fell a sorority house if he could ever have gone to college. He, like so many of our "kids,"  is home with Michelle and her husband. Every day. And COVID is taking a toll on them. 

The entire world changed literally overnight for COVID. For those of us who have been in the autism world for going on decades, it's a kick in the teeth knowing the government can effect change (for better or worse, and we won't go there today) while all of us have been left behind and not just ignored, but vilified. It ain't right.

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By Michelle Guppy

I write this for me.

That I am sharing it with you is a miracle of sorts. There was only one other time I allowed my "vanity to vanish" in the face of such pain and darkness. That post can be found by clicking here.

I want to remember how I felt on this day, so that days, weeks, or months from now when I've healed, I will be able to look back and see what great works God has done.

I don't even think this picture does justice to the pain I've been feeling for a while now.

No, not that pain, that cruel, relentless, hideous, nighmarish pain of watching my son suffer in his vaccine injury "Life with Autism, Seizures, and a side of PANDAS".

Rather the pain my body is feeling from the chronic, continual, equally cruel stress of having absolutely no consistency. No balance. No me.

Yeah, that sounds pretty selfish. "No me".

I get it.

I've read the books where it says it's not about "me".

We warriors get that.

Trust me.

In fact, the past year has so not been about me, my body has rebelled.

It has said enough.

No more.

Problem is, there is more.

That's the beauty of this life with vaccine injury. It is a beast that keeps roaring. It doesn't understand enough. It demands more. More time, more money, more attention, more sacrifice. It demands everything you have, and then it demands even more.

And so I find myself in this state of such pain.

I feel a bit like Rizzo in Grease. Yesterday, for the first time in almost 15 years, we were shutdown on social media. Twitter blocked our post on the Centers for Disease Control having made a change to their website relevant to our core topic. 
Our information was accurate to a fault. I guess that was the problem.

I have copied below the COVID policy currently at Twitter.  This was our first offense, so the Tweet was deleted. I don't know how many violations the post ticked, and the policy is clear as mud. Who defines false or misleading uncontextualized info that can prevent the public from making informed decisions regarding their health, and puts individuals, families and communities at risk that could lead to harm?  Stopping information leads to more informed decision making? 

I don't feel confident we'll be around the Twitterverse much longer - The accumulation of multiple violations of this policy will result in suspension. Further, if we determine that an account is dedicated to Tweeting or promoting a particular misleading narrative (or set of narratives) about COVID-19, this would also be grounds for suspension.

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COVID-19 misleading information policy
Overview

You may not use Twitter’s services to share false or misleading information about COVID-19 which may lead to harm.

Even as scientific understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop, we’ve observed the emergence of persistent conspiracy theories, alarmist rhetoric unfounded in research or credible reporting, and a wide range of unsubstantiated rumors, which left uncontextualized can prevent the public from making informed decisions regarding their health, and puts individuals, families and communities at risk.

Content that is demonstrably false or misleading and may lead to significant risk of harm (such as increased exposure to the virus, or adverse effects on public health systems) may not be shared on Twitter. This includes sharing content that may mislead people about the nature of the COVID-19 virus; the efficacy and/or safety of preventative measures, treatments, or other precautions to mitigate or treat the disease; official regulations, restrictions, or exemptions pertaining to health advisories; or the prevalence of the virus or risk of infection or death associated with COVID-19. In addition, we may label Tweets which share misleading information about COVID-19 to reduce their spread and provide additional context.

What is in violation of this policy?