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We continue coverage of the US House of Representatives AFTER ACTION REVIEW OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward” report published on the 4th December 2024
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The report is extensive, and summarising or covering its content is impossible, given the limited resources at our disposal. However, if you click the link above, you can scan the index and read whatever interests you. Inevitably, our selection is dictated by our interests or involvement. We have already reported that Carl was accused of having blood on his hand,s and Tom was called a bozo fraudster for pointing out the current absence of evidence of the effects of masks.
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So, let’s stay on the topic of mask use and mask mandates, which starts on page 203 (pdf page 240), and see what the Select Subcommittee thought and how this relates to what we have published in TTE.
The report lays out the extensive contradictory advice received by the US public from officials who changed their minds according to how the wind blew, what we called “flip-flopping”. We were pleasantly surprised to read this:
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As we pointed out to a senior staffer, the 2020 review version reached the same conclusions as the 2023 version. However, Cochrane's delayed release in November 2020 meant crucial time was lost. This time was filled with rapid reviews based on poor-quality science, including predictive models based on “assumptions” by influencers, lobbyists, and extremists with no background on the topic.
The report records the efforts of the Biden administration to coerce people to wear masks. However, in April 2021, those who were fully vaccinated were exempt. We cannot recall a similar exemption in the UK. But to be sure, we checked our UK Covid Response Timeline and found nothing.
UK Covid Response Timeline | ||||||
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On 6 September, we asked whether Grant Shapps was right to do his own research on Christmas lockdowns. | ||||||
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If any of our readers worldwide have evidence of such an exemption, please let us know.
Why this interest?
If you believe (belief, not proof) that masks interfered with SARS-CoV-2 transmission and you believe (belief, not proof) that Comirnaty did the same, then exempting vaccines from mask-wearing makes some sort of sense. However, it is a further “incentive” to be vaccinated.
The trouble is that neither assumption is based on evidence. In the case of Comirnaty and other vaccines used in the US, prophylaxis trials have never been carried out. There is no study, and there is no proof.
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All you need is a junior clerk looking at the package insert approved by the US FDA.
So here you see the most unambiguous indication of ideology at work, at all levels of the US administration.
The following paragraphs relate some of the utter confusion that public health officials in the US managed to create, including the then-CDC Director, Dr. Walensky, misleading Congress about the Cochrane review.
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Ah! But no flip-flopping took place in Europe; we are wonderful. Really?
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And just to finish on the topic, here are two conclusions from the report
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Ah! But in Europe, we relied on solid evidence; aren’t we wonderful? Really?
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So you see, dear readers, serious work always pays, but the democratic institutions in the USA are far more potent than those in Europe, and that is the most critical message for TTE.
This post was written by two old geezers who are not interested in politics but in ethics, evidence, golf, archaeology, and taking dogs for walks. Of note, they won't be on honour's list this year or any year.
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