Tag Archives: Moderna

Rac-nophobia —

— six boats, thirteen Marines, and an attitude

Returned last night from the only Marine reunion I attend — the RACPAC. If you know not of whom I speak, shame on you as you’ve not read “The Book.” If you have but don’t remember, go to chapter 46 and refresh. This one was special as Lt Tim Armstrong USMC was there for the first time, but he is now Col, USMC (Ret). What a joy it was to see Tim again. Anyway, it was, as always, a grand time to see these Marines again; it’s always great joy to see how every one of them turned out, not a dammed liberal among them!!! All very successful in their afterlife, especially the young enlisted  Marines who were not careerists, but chose to take their hard learned knowledge to the civilian world and succeed!

I’ve often asked myself over the years since retirement, especially every September as I fly to Virginia Beach, what did I do to deserve to serve alongside such giants of our Corps. As my coxswain and I were cruising down the Appomattox  River one sunny afternoon, he asked, “Popeye, can you believe the Marine Corps is actually paying us to do this ?” Of course, my reply was, “No Crazy I can’t, but they sure are!”  Having said that, do not dismay as this was a grueling and very demanding eighteen months with no guidance from MCDEC or HQMC, often working under arduous weather conditions and usually six and sometimes seven days a week. And here they are in all their glory.                     Lord, what memories!!

 

 

 

 

 

Now to the sad state of affairs of our once great nation. Another good one from my friend Greg; thanks Greg, I love your missives, and so do my followers.

By: G. Maresca

Hooking off the jab

In the sweet science, a skilled pugilist will be able to hook off their jab. The same holds for COVID era politicians and their obsession with vaccine mandates and boosters.

President Biden leads the mandate vaccine charge yet allows tens of thousands to pass through the southern border daily who have not been tested let alone vaccinated.

Initially, “if vaccinated, you are not going to get COVID,” has devolved to “people who got vaccinated remain at risk.” Infections are increasing among the vaccinated as a plethora of evidence highlights how the vaccine’s efficacy is waning.

For those who were vaccinated but plan to refuse the booster shot will find themselves back at square one because COVID is here to stay, just like any other influenza virus.

Quite the bioweapon China unleashed.

Democrats politicized COVID by refusing to acknowledge that China covered up and lied about the virus. They then used the pandemic as an excuse to lockdown the country and change election rules.

A study from the University of California San Diego highlighted how the vaccine’s effectiveness dropped from 94% in June to 65% in July with a 19-fold increase of those already vaccinated. Israeli data said Pfizer’s vaccine went from a 95% effectiveness to 39% by July. Apparently, Delta is more contagious but less lethal, according to English data and runs at 0.2% ⸻ the same as the seasonal flu. The CDC said those vaccinated who contract COVID have as high a viral load in their nasal passages as those who are unvaccinated.

It is not the unvaccinated that are driving COVID’s mutations.

In February even NPR reported, “vaccines can contribute to virus mutations.”

National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins’s blog ridiculed a study his agency financed that said by December 2020, at least 100 million Americans were infected – five times the official count.

The pro-vaccine army that permeates government, the pharmaceutical industry and the mainstream media have cross-pollinated into a universal censorship android that prevents any information that conflicts with their narrative and balance sheets. They conveniently ignore the adverse health conditions and deaths resulting from the jab.

Texas is being sued by the Biden administration to protect a woman’s right of choice to an abortion. Yet, when it comes to a woman’s right to choose to vaccinate – forget it. It is only a choice when it can stop a baby’s beating heart.

Cells from an aborted fetus were used to test and produce the vaccine. Biden’s support of abortion only manifests itself in his vaccine mandate.

If this is about saving lives, access to every resource should be a given. The leftist media ignores or simply denies that Hydroxychloroquine has any efficacy in treating COVID when it has. Moreover, natural antibodies are a nonfactor even though studies say they provide greater immunity, both in breadth and duration. For those with immunity, vaccination is unnecessary and potentially grievous. However, there is no money or control in natural immunity underscoring how this is not about health care.

COVID conveniently removes the spotlight from the Afghanistan debacle, while Democrats would love to extend COVID through an unverifiable 2022 midterm mail-in ballot election. Initially, boosters were needed after eight months, then five, and arguably now for just susceptible groups like the elderly. With so many different versions and timelines, it is no wonder what the government and politicians say has no meaning.

Just months ago, Biden said he “would not demand that it be mandatory.” However, in Biden’s recent COVID vaccine mandate address, he flipped-flopped declaring: “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin.”

Since Biden is so impatient, perhaps he should resign.

Patience with Biden’s poor decisions from Afghanistan to the southern border is what is truly “wearing thin.” Apparently, unable to help himself or the nation, Biden compounded the issue by rejecting the Constitution he swore to uphold saying, “This is not about freedom or personal choice.”

Mandates are not only unconstitutional but polarizing and inherently un-American.

Mandates underscore how the left’s default position is always force.

What happened to unifying the country? Biden would rather lay blame while mandating vaccine compliance or lose your livelihood.

If it is your prerogative to jab your way into oblivion, knock yourself out.

Originally posted 2021-10-05 16:02:26.

Biden’s Vaccine IP Debacle

Okay Mr. Joe Sanders-Pelosi-Harris-Warren-Ocasio-Cortez , you have done it now. How dare you do this to companies who have spent billions on research and development providing the world with safe, effective vaccines. You sir are a blooming idiot. If I were the CEO’s of Pfizer and BioNTech. I would tell you to go pound sand and refuse to give up the ingredients and processes for my vaccines. What would that fool do, close my business? Yeah, right. How would that settle with the American public? This is a travesty that we as Americans should not put up with. Note my opening sentence, Biden’s name isn’t there since I feel certain he was not able to come up with this communist scheme, they did! WHO IS IN CHARGE IN AT THAT PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE BUILDING? It sure isn’t him. 

Date: May 9, 2021 at 8:29:31 AM PDT

 “In one fell swoop he has destroyed tens of billions of dollars in U.S. intellectual property, set a destructive precedent that will reduce pharmaceutical investment, and surrendered America’s advantage in biotech, a key growth industry of the future.”

His patent heist is a blow to the Covid fight and U.S. biotech.

By The Editorial Board

May 6, 2021

We’ve already criticized President Biden’s bewildering decision Wednesday to endorse a patent waiver for Covid vaccines and therapies. But upon more reflection this may be the single worst presidential economic decision since Nixon’s wage-and-price controls.

In one fell swoop he has destroyed tens of billions of dollars in U.S. intellectual property, set a destructive precedent that will reduce pharmaceutical investment, and surrendered America’s advantage in biotech, a key growth industry of the future. Handed an American triumph of innovation and a great soft-power opportunity, Mr. Biden throws it all away.

***

India and South Africa have been pushing to suspend patents at the World Trade Organization for months. They claim that waiving IP protections for Covid vaccines and therapies is necessary to expand global access, but their motivation is patently self-interested.

Both are large producers of generic drugs, though they have less expertise and capacity to make complex biologics like mRNA vaccines. They want to force Western pharmaceutical companies to hand over IP free of charge so they can produce and export vaccines and therapies for profit. Their strategy has been to shame Western leaders into surrendering with the help of Democrats in the U.S.

But suspending IP isn’t necessary to expand supply and will impede safe vaccine production. The global vaccine supply is already increasing rapidly thanks to licensing agreements the vaccine makers have made with manufacturers around the world.

Pfizer and BioNTech this week said they aimed to deliver three billion doses this year, up from last summer’s 1.2 billion estimate. Moderna increased its supply forecast for this year to between 800 million and a billion from 600 million. AstraZeneca says it has built a supply network with 25 manufacturing organizations in 15 countries to produce three billion doses this year.

AstraZeneca and Novavax have leaned heavily on manufacturers in India to produce billions of doses reserved for lower-income countries. But India has restricted vaccine exports to supply its own population. IP simply isn’t restraining vaccine production.

Busting patents also won’t speed up production, since it would take months for these countries to set up new facilities. Competition will increase for scarce ingredients, and less efficient manufacturers with little expertise would make it harder for licensed partners to produce vaccines.

There’s also the problem of safety. Johnson & Johnson has experienced quality problems at an Emergent plant making its vaccines, and that’s in Baltimore. Imagine the potential problems with unlicensed producers in, say, Malaysia or Brazil. If vaccines made there have complications, confidence in licensed vaccines could plummet too. And who would Pfizer and Moderna sue to get their reputations back?

The economic self-damage is also hard to fathom. The U.S. currently has a competitive advantage in biotech and biologics manufacturing, which could be a growing export industry. Waiving IP protections for Covid vaccines and medicines will give away America’s crown pharmaceutical jewels and make the U.S. and world more reliant on India and China for pharmaceuticals.

Moderna has been working on mRNA vaccines for a decade. Covid represents its first success. Ditto for Novavax, which has been at it for three decades. Small biotech companies in the U.S. have been studying how to create vaccines using nasal sprays, pills and patches.

Thanks to Mr. Biden, all this could become the property of foreign governments. Licensing agreements allow developers to share their IP while maintaining quality control. Breaking patents and forcing tech transfers will enable China and low-income countries to manufacture U.S. biotech products on their own.

China’s current crop of vaccines are far less effective than those in the West, but soon Beijing might be able to purvey Pfizer knock-offs. The U.S. has spent years deploring China’s theft of American IP, and now the Biden Administration may voluntarily let China could reap profits from decades of American innovation.

***

Instead of handing over American IP to the world, Mr. Biden could negotiate bilateral vaccine agreements and export excess U.S. supply. If Mr. Biden wants to increase global supply safely, the U.S. could spend more to help the companies produce more for export. Then the jobs would go to Americans. We thought this was the point of the production deal Mr. Biden negotiated between J&J and Merck.

Alas, this President seems to be paying more attention these days to Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi. They think vaccines and new drugs can be conjured by government as a public good with no incentive for risk-taking or profit. This really is destructive socialism.

Mr. Biden ought to listen to Angela Merkel. Pfizer’s partner BioNTech is a German firm, and the German Chancellor said Thursday that she opposes the WTO heist: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and it must remain so in the future.”

At least IP is safe in Germany. Mr. Biden has sent a signal around the world that nobody’s intellectual property is safe in America.

There is nothing I can add to this pitiful, destructive, and downright idiotic  decision by that fellow who is supposed to be our president.

 

Originally posted 2021-05-10 12:37:20.