The Philippines is having trouble returning to pre-Covid levels of tourism.
The Philippines is having trouble returning to pre-Covid levels of tourism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr2vOfmfb1c
Tag: Covid-19
On the Origin of COVID: Research now shows it wasn’t a lab leak
Early on, there was a real disagreement between specialists on the origin on Covid, with some supporting natural origins and some supporting a lab leak. But that debate is now essentially over. With more data carefully examined, the evidence best supports natural origins.
The virus was initially repeatedly found in a specific animal market, and even a specific stall that appeared to be the source. For a lab leak to be the source, the person or people who leaked the virus would have to have repeatedly visited that market every time they leaked it and nowhere else so that it looked like that market was the source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fjXhOXl7VU
“but weren’t the democrats dictators during covid” | Destiny Reacts to Sam Harris on Triggernometry!
Donald Trump said he lied about public health during Covid in order to prevent a panic. He said he played down the deadliness of Covid in order to not create a panic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2tIzp7cvqY
COVID Origins: Debunking the Grift, Pseudoscience, and Politics of the Lab Leak Theory
The current available evidence points toward Covid coming from an animal market, not a lab. There have been a lot of claims about it coming from a lab which have received a lot of coverage, but these have not proven out. All but very few of the experts in the field think it likely came from nature, not a lab. Many prominent people spreading the lab theory made a lot of money from it and some got jobs in the Trump administration. Republicans and activists have unfairly attacked people talking about the science and defunded their legitimate research, and used this as an excuse to defund a lot of other science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra0WKNhQZ0U
French Study on mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Finds a Drop in Severe COVID—and No Increase in Deaths
“The researchers followed 22.7 million vaccinated individuals and 5.9 million unvaccinated individuals for nearly four years. They found not only that vaccinated people have a 74 percent lower risk of death from severe COVID-19, but also that those individuals have a lower risk of death, period. Specifically, people who received the shots have a 25 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.
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The researchers sought to control for various confounders, such as a healthy-vaccinee effect, where healthier individuals are more likely to opt for vaccination, or a frailty-related bias, where those in poorer health may avoid it.
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“This study helps to put an end to the misinformation spread about mRNA vaccines,” the study’s lead author, Mahmoud Zureik, told Le Monde. “Providing data on the absence of long-term risks helps strengthen confidence in these vaccines, which will be developed for other viruses and diseases.”
Their results should indeed strengthen confidence. But Kennedy, who has been shifting research dollars to purportedly “safer” vaccines, will likely ignore it.”
https://reason.com/2025/12/05/french-study-on-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-finds-a-drop-in-severe-covid-and-no-increase-in-deaths/
Trump Rants: ‘Let Them Go Back to Where They Came From’
Somalis in Minnesota were involved in fraudulent welfare schemes that stole a buttload of money from the U.S. government. Minnesota state officials were getting wind of the crimes, but failed to act in part because they feared being called racist in the post-George Floyd environment. Instead of seriously thinking about how to crack down on such schemes, Trump responded by calling all Somalis trash and saying he doesn’t want any Somalis in the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nWswQVRDx0
Vaccine Skeptics Said That COVID Shots Would Cause Mass Death. We’re Still Here.
“Millions, perhaps even billions of us who got ourselves vaccinated against COVID-19 should be dead by now, or if not yet, very soon. For years, prominent wellness influencers and other internet personalities have predicted that mRNA vaccines will lead to mass casualties. Infectious disease clinician Neil Stone has helpfully (and amusingly) compiled a number of such dire predictions.”
https://reason.com/2025/10/24/vaccine-skeptics-said-that-covid-shots-would-cause-mass-death-were-still-here/
Google Says Biden Admin Pressured Company To Remove Content
“While Alphabet “continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden Administration officials continued to press [Alphabet] to remove non-violative user-generated content,” a lawyer for Alphabet wrote in a September 23 letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. Administration officials including Biden “created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions” of private tech platforms regarding the moderation of misinformation.
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the Biden administration’s attempts to pressure private companies into doing their bidding with regard to free speech seems quite quaint in comparison to what the Trump administration has been doing.”
https://reason.com/2025/09/24/google-says-biden-admin-pressured-company-to-remove-content/
Is RFK Jr. ‘Weaponizing Public Health’?
“During the Biden administration’s four years, the CDC recorded a total of 527 cases. In just the first seven months of the Trump administration, there have been 1,408 cases with 176 hospitalizations and three deaths. That’s a 267 percent increase over the Biden administration’s entire toll. Instead of immediately recommending measles vaccines at the beginning of the outbreak, RFK Jr. initially advised giving vitamin A to children.
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The CDC’s manifold failures during the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that it needs drastic reform and a return to its roots as an agency focused on fighting infectious epidemic disease. This evidently is not the sort of reform that RFK Jr. intends. Firing Monarez may not be “weaponizing public health,” but it sure looks a lot like gutting it.”
https://reason.com/2025/08/28/is-rfk-jr-weaponizing-public-health/
Getting a Covid shot this fall could be a lot more complicated
“Pharmacists’ authority to vaccinate individuals varies across state lines. In some places, it’s dependent upon a federal advisory process that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has upended.
At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration has signaled that it will only approve updated Covid vaccines for individuals 65 and older and for younger people considered to be at high risk for severe disease. People, regardless of where they live, may need to prove that they need the shot.
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If the FDA narrows eligibility, people between 6 months and 65 years old who want a Covid vaccine this fall likely will have to navigate some roadblocks.
They, or their parents, may need to convince pharmacies and doctors that they have at least one of the underlying conditions that the FDA has suggested makes them eligible for a dose. The list includes asthma, diabetes, cancer, mood disorders and obesity. It’s unclear at this point what would serve as adequate proof.
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Further complicating vaccination efforts for children this year: the FDA may pull Covid vaccine-maker Pfizer’s emergency use authorization for its shots for children under 5.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/22/covid-shot-hhs-recommendations-fall-00519315