💉Pfizer Covid vaccine gets full FDA approval
The FDA approval opens the floodgates for cities, states and businesses to now mandate the Covid vaccine -- and NYC did just that with its schools.
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So it’s a big day in Covid news, as the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine just received final full approval from the FDA.
That approval isn’t just pro forma, it opens the doors for doctors to “prescribe” the shot at will — so you don’t necessarily have to wait eight months after your last shot, IF your doctor deems the shot medically necessary now (perhaps you have a weakened immune system, so the earlier dose might not have benefited you as much as others).
Also, there’s the hope, which I’m skeptical about, that full approval will lead more Americans to get the vaccine, as one big complaint among the vaccine-hesitant was that the shot was “experimental.” Personally, I’m not sure anything short of a close friend or relative dying will convince those folks to get vaccinated. They’ll simply come up with another excuse to dismiss the FDA approval (“Biden rushed the full approval!”). But prove me wrong.
There is something that could really be a game-changer with FDA approval. Companies, and state and local governments, may now be far more willing to require the vaccine for employment or public accommodations (shopping, gyms, air travel, etc.) And in fact, NYC is about to mandate the vaccine for all school staff, with NO testing alternative (many previous mandates included a provision that if you weren’t vaccinated, or refused to prove that you were, you could take a Covid test on a regular basis. Not anymore for NYC!)
Also good news: It looks like the Covid tide is turning in the southern US states. Rate of transmission — meaning, how many additional people each infected person infects — is now below 1 — and that means, some infected people aren’t spreading it at all. That’s a sign that the Delta surge may be ebbing in those states. A few caveats. In Florida, the rate of transmission is still bad, and rising, among kids under the age of 19. Also, because hospitalizations (and death) lag behind new infections by several weeks (it takes a few weeks for your infection to get so bad that it’s serious), hospitalizations are expected to increase over the next few weeks, before they too then drop. And finally, just because Delta is slowing down in those states doesn’t mean it won’t pick up in others, such as the midwest or northeast. Also, no one expects Delta to be the last variant we face — so this ain’t even close to over.
Another Covid story that’s getting a lot of coverage: Conservative Tennessee talk radio host Phil Valentine, who was avidly anti-vaxx, just died from Covid. (Here’s my video on that.) Valentine routinely criticized the Covid vaccine on his show, and even did so during his illness. While he was sick, he also promoted quack Covid cures like Ivermectin, the anti-parasitical animal drug. (I did a fact-checker on Ivermectin here — it doesn’t work.) Valentine’s brother claims that on Phil’s deathbed, he urged people to get vaccinated. Hmm. Maybe.
Trump held another super-spread event this weekend in Alabama, one of the states hardest hit by Covid, and he actually told the crowd to get vaccinated. Which was surprising, and great news. Of course, his comments were greeted with boos by some in the crowd. (There’s video!) And while in the video I posted, I criticize Trump harshly for getting us into this mess, nonetheless, if we want bad people to do good things, we need to praise them when they do. So, it’s a good thing that Trump did this, even if he’s an arrogant, egotistical, treasonous ass who helped fan this whole plague in the first place.
And finally, before we move on to Afghanistan, this video will either sadden you or crack you up. This woman, testifying in — you guessed it, Florida! — says the vaccine will turn you into a non-human glow-in-the-dark super-magnet. Which, I gotta tell you, isn’t a deal-breaker for me.
There really isn’t any new news on Afghanistan. The US has, thankfully, gotten a lot of Americans out, and is working on getting the Afghans who helped US troops (and their families). I know a lot of people felt that the media has been too harsh, but I disagree to a degree. This process was a mess — not the withdrawal, but the evacuation of Americans and Afghan nationals. If we needed 6,000 US troops to help get those people out, then we shouldn’t have removed those 6,000 troops in the first place. I get the desire to defend Biden in all of this, but on that aspect, the safety of Americans and Afghans who helped us, I think he fell short.
Also, I’m not sure Biden is doing himself any favors by getting defensive over all of this. Clearly, he got bad advice. He was told that this wan’t going to happen — not this quickly. And the advice, the intelligence assessment, was wrong. So, Biden is rightfully ticked that this blew up in his face. What I think isn’t helping him is showing that ire publicly. He’s been snippy in his various interviews on this. That’s not what the American people want or need to see. I think Biden should note that he got bad intelligence, but then own it — say the buck stops with you. To date, I think Biden has come across as simply pissed off, and I don’t think that works or helps.
Remember, I’ll be donating the first month’s profits of every new CyberDisobedience subscription between now and the end of August to the International Rescue Committee’s Afghan refugee relief program. You can sign up here:
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Other stuff
Amazing photo
Twitter suspends DeSantis press secretary
Another cute photo
GOP Spreadnecks think they’re going to defeat the Marines
Is this heaven?
I’m in Chicago for a few weeks visiting mom (my trusty friend Damian is house-sitting keeping the plants alive). So, I’ll probably be doing a few TikToks from mom’s yard. Stay tuned.
JOHN
PS If you like my content, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I work for myself, so all of my projects — this newsletter, my email action list, my TikToks, podcasts and more — are all funded by supporters like you. Thanks in advance. JA
Given your compliment to Trump, I hope you never compliment me! By the way, not only was Trump booed for telling people to get vaccinated. Alabama's Mo Brooks was booed when he told the crowd to move on and forget about the last election! Talk about creating a monster!