BEWARE...SOME DAYS ARE NOT VERY PRETTY. I GET CRABBY LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE DO. AND I DO SPEAK MY MIND.
DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO TRUE, REAL, EVERYDAY FEELINGS LIKE MINE.(But I think you would enjoy it)
DON'T FORGET...FREEDOM OF SPEECH !
The taxpayer watchdog organization American Transparency has
revealed that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
spent nearly $500,000 to try and turn monkeys transgender.
The shocking experiments were covered in the organization’s annual Where’s The Porkreport, but were originally uncovered in January by The National Pulse.
According to the report, “Fauci’s agency awarded grants totaling
$478,188 in Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022 to inject hormones into male
monkeys to make them female.”
The experiments were said to be an effort to understand why transgender “women” experience higher rates of HIV.
“Scientists planned to evaluate how the injected hormones altered the
males’ immune systems to determine if feminizing hormones had an
adverse effect on the strength of immune systems. If so, researchers
believed this weakening of the immune system could be responsible for
their increased likelihood of becoming HIV positive,” the National Pulse
reported.
According to a report from the Daily Telegraph, Fauci has been linked to research injecting monkeys with HIV dating back to the mid-1980s.
The National Institutes of Health spends millions breeding monkeys for experimentation on an island in South Carolina.
As of June 30, 2019, there were 3,044 primates living on Morgan Island, with 77% of the population being females, according to documents obtained
by White Coat Waste Project through a Freedom of Information Act
request. It is estimated that approximately 750 newborn monkeys are born
on the island to await their potential use for vivisection each year.
“The island is currently owned by the South Carolina
Department of Natural Resources and leased by Charles River
Laboratories, Inc., as part of a contract with NIAID. The nonhuman
primates raised on Morgan Island are owned by NIAID,” NIAID confirmed in
their email to Timcast.
According to federal spending databases,
a total of $13.5 million of a potential $27.5 million contract has been
given to Charles River Laboratories to maintain the monkey island
colony since March 2018. A sizable chunk of those funds, $8.9 million,
was paid by Dr. Fauci’s division (NIAID) of the NIH.
“Primate experimentation is a cruel and notoriously unreliable way to
develop drugs and treatments for humans, and it doesn’t deserve
taxpayers’ support,” Stacy Lopresti-Goodman, PhD., primate expert,
Marymount University psychology professor and WCW scientific adviser
told Timcast.
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE:
Information Uncovered Overnight Shows Highland Park Shooter, Bobby
Crimo, Is Tied to Socialists, Progressives, Antifa and the Occult
Police arrested Robert ‘Bobby’ Crimo III’, age 22, yesterday
as the shooter who killed six and injured many more at the 4th of July
parade in Highland Park, Illinois. This morning The Gateway Pundit has
uncovered information indicating Crimo is a radical progressive with
ties to Antifa, progressive groups, and the occult.
Looking over information that was collected following the deadly
shooting, the Highland Park 4th of July parade killer, Bobby Crimo, has a
very dark background.
We reported on the shooter yesterday when he was confirmed as a person of interest.
Now we have information tying Crimo to progressives,
socialists, Antifa and the occult. Crimo’s social network and lifestyle
are all progressively related.
Crimo has ties to the Democratic Socialists of America as noted by
the tattoo on his neck. This is the largest and fastest-growing
socialist organization in the US.
Crimo also has ties to Antifa. In one picture on social media, he shares his dark Antifa outfit.
Throughout his social media posts he shares Antifa and progressive symbology.
Evidence reveals Crimo is not a Trump supporter. He makes fun of
Trump and his followers in his social media posts. Crimo attended a
Trump event dressed up as ‘Where’s Waldo’ outfit. This appears to be
sarcasm and an attack on President 45 who may also be President 47.
His social media posts appear as if he wants to kill President 47.
Crimo’s work is also very dark. He uses an icon throughout his social media.
This icon comes from ‘mystic set with magic circles, pentagrams and
imaginary chakras symbols. Collection of icons with witchcraft and
occult handwriting letters.’
Crimo shares the icon throughout his media posts.
Via XRVision.
Below is the overall profile on Bobby (Robert) Crimo.
Trump supporters were framed by FBI and government operatives and BLM and Antifa terrorists.
A leaked internal memo revealed that the US Capitol Police intel unit
warned that BLM from Baltimore was bussing in rioters for January 6th
protests.
According to the memo the rioters were going to blend in.
Via investigative reporter Paul Sperry:
“BLM/Antif will wear MAGA hats, wear camo,and attempt to blend in
with MAGA crowd” so violence blamed on Trump supporters attending Trump
rally
Antifa was actively involved in the January 6th protests and riots.
This has been widely discussed by officials and in reports on this website.
Cristina Laila wrote this back in February 2021 — Ex-Capitol Police
Chief Steven Sund dropped a bombshell in February 2021 during a hearing
before the Senate Rules and Homeland Security committees.
Wall Street is keeping these stocks a Secret from You..
Mr. Sund testified that according to intelligence gathered by law
enforcement groups, members of the Proud Boys, white supremacist groups,
ANTIFA and other extremist groups were expected to participate on
January 6 and that they may be inclined to become violent.
The Democrat-media complex has totally ignored eyewitness
accounts detailing how black bloc Antifa terrorists infiltrated the
peaceful MAGA demonstrations.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Tuesday entered into the record
explosive testimony of eyewitness accounts from Michael Waller detailing
how he saw “agents-provocateurs” at the Capitol.
Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Center for
Security Policy specializing in propaganda, political warfare,
psychological warfare, and subversion, said he was at the Capitol on January 6 and witnessed:
Plainclothes militants. Militant, aggressive men in
Donald Trump and MAGA gear at a front police line at the base of the
temporary presidential inaugural platform;
Agents-provocateurs. Scattered groups of men
exhorting the marchers to gather closely and tightly toward the center
of the outside of the Capitol building and prevent them from leaving;
Fake Trump protesters. A few young men wearing
Trump or MAGA hats backwards and who did not fit in with the rest of the
crowd in terms of their actions and demeanor, whom I presumed to be
Antifa or other leftist agitators; and
Disciplined, uniformed column of attackers. A
column of organized, disciplined men, wearing similar but not identical
camouflage uniforms and black gear, some with helmets and GoPro cameras
or wearing subdued Punisher skull patches.
Well-known Antifa-Insurgence leader John Sullivan was arrested in Utah after the US Capitol riots.
Sullivan also organized an Antifa rally on January 6th near the US Capitol. This has been ignored by the media.
From Sullivan’s Twitter page:
Despite all of the reports indicating that Antifa played a role in
the January 6 riot, the media continues to blame President Trump and his
supporters.
100-year-old World War Two veteran Carl Spurlin Dekel broke down into tears describing the state of America.
He said the United States is “just not the same” and that the country “is going to hell in a handbasket.”
“I’ve lived a good life. I’ve had a lot of love and happiness.
Smiling, telling everybody that everything was beautiful every day. If I
went into my church and didn’t think everything was beautiful they
would think that I was sick. I’m not that way. I sincerely believe in
this whole world that everything is beautiful. If I wake up in the
morning and see these plants out here and all those flowers that are in
there and green grass on the ground that’s beautiful. People don’t
realize what they have. They bitch about it. Nowadays I am so
upset that the things we did, the things we fought for, and the boys
that died for it are all going down the drain. Our country is
going to hell in a handbasket. We haven’t got the country we had when I
was raised, not at all. Nobody will have the fun I had. Nobody will have
the opportunity I had. It’s just not the same. That’s not what they died for. Just not it…It’s just not the same. This isn’t what we fought for.”
— Patriot for Freedom 🦅🇺🇸 (@InGodWeTrust4US) July 2, 2022
Don't ignore this. You know it's true. We lost. I
don't think it's ever coming back either. We need to be thinking of the
Hari Seldon option now… https://t.co/MqZt3fwiET
The Pima County, Arizona Democratic Party posted the message “F*ck the 4th” in posts on Facebook and Twitter
promoting a Women’s March protest in Tucson Monday evening. The Pima
Dems added a comment on Facebook, “July 4th. We are not celebrating
until we get our independence back.”
The Facebook post was still live as of 3 p.m. MST. The post on
Twitter, featuring a similar graphic but with the comment by the
Democrats, “F*ck the 4th. See you at Reid Park,” was taken down after
the Democrats were called out by Leigh Wolf who commented, This is an
official verified page of @TheDemocrats. When people show you who they
are, believe them the first time. Democrats hate the 4th of July and
they hate everything America stands for.”
Democrats have become unhinged since a draft decision was leaked
showing the Supreme Court would be overturning Roe v. Wade and returning
the decision about abortion to the states (the decision was officially
released last Friday). Pro life pregnancy centers have been firebombed,
protest mobs have targeted the homes of Republican appointed Supreme
Court Justices with one Justice, Brett Kavanaugh having an armed
would-be assassin show up at his with plans to murder Kavanaugh and
perhaps his wife and children.
UPDATE: The Pima Dems posted an explanation:
“Thread: 1/3 PCDP posted a graphic advertising a women’s march which,
we agree, was in poor taste. We were eager to share the event, and in
our haste we used the graphic provided by the event organizer. That was a
mistake, and we will do better…2/3 Make no mistake, however. We support
the event which will be on July 4 at 7 pm at Reid Park. The event was
organized to help women in our community grieve for the loss of their
bodily autonomy, which we consider an elemental right…3/3 Our posting of
the graphic upset some people. We urge you to save your outrage for the
women in this state who will die of botched abortions. Arizona is not a
good place to be a woman right now.”
Folks aren’t buying it, including KOLD-TV anchor Dave Marries, “What
about the post itself where you wrote, “F*ck the Fourth. See you at Reid
Park”? Who wrote that?”
A commenter, “In a our eagerness we accidentally showed who we really are and that we hate America”
UPDATE 7 p.n. NST: Pima County Dems still have their ‘F*ck the 4th’ post up on Facebook.
PCDP posted a graphic advertising a women’s march which, we agree,
was in poor taste. We were eager to share the event, and in our haste we
used the graphic provided by the event organizer. That was a mistake,
and we will do better.
Make no mistake, however. We support the event which will be on July 4
at 7 pm at Reid Park. The event was organized to help women in our
community grieve for the loss of their bodily autonomy, which we
consider an elemental right.
Our posting of the graphic upset some people. We urge you to save your
outrage for the women in this state who will die of botched abortions.
Arizona is not a good place to be a woman right now.
Arizona Democrats promote 'f--k the 4th' event to 'mourn' Supreme Court abortion decision
One
Arizona Republican candidate for governor said that the Democratic
Party's tweet is an example of the 'modern Democratic Party'By
Adam Sabes | Fox News
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
The event, which the now-deleted tweet said was being hosted by the Tucson Women's March, was promoted by the Pima County Democratic Party on Twitter.
"F--k the Fourth. See you at Reid Park," the tweet stated.
A local Arizona Democratic Party deleted a tweet promoting an event called "F--k the Fourth."
(Pima County Democratic Party/Twitter)
"Bring comfortable shoes, water, lawn chairs, posters, and your anger," the event description reads.
After Fox News Digital reached out for comment, the Pima County Democratic Party deleted the tweet.
In
a follow-up tweet thread, the Pima County Democratic Party said that
posting the graphic was a "mistake," but said it still supports the
"F--k the 4th" event.
"PCDP posted a graphic advertising a women's
march which, we agree, was in poor taste. We were eager to share the
event, and in our haste we used the graphic provided by the event
organizer. That was a mistake, and we will do better," the Pima County
Democratic Party tweeted. "Make no mistake, however. We support the
event which will be on July 4 at 7 pm at Reid Park. The event was
organized to help women in our community grieve for the loss of their
bodily autonomy, which we consider an elemental right."
They also
said that while the graphic "upset some people," the outrage should be
saved for "the women in this state who will die of botched abortions."
"Our
posting of the graphic upset some people. We urge you to save your
outrage for the women in this state who will die of botched abortions.
Arizona is not a good place to be a woman right now," the group said.
The Tucson Women's March has posted multiple retweets of other users tweets with the hashtag "#F--kthefourth."
"This July4th won’t be the same, it will be a solemn occasion. We have lost rights," one retweet states.
"I will not celebrate a country that doesn't recognize my rights to my own body," states another.
A local Arizona Democratic Party is promoting an event called "F--k the Fourth."
(iStock)
The event from the Tucson Women's March was planned following the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade on June 24.
Karrin
Taylor Robson, a Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, tweeted
in response to the event that "This sickens me," adding the event is an
example of "the modern Democrat Party in a single tweet."
"There it is - the modern Democrat Party in
a single tweet. Arizona patriots will gather w/ friends/family on
Independence Day to celebrate our nation’s birth & honor those who
sacrificed for our freedom. But these Democrats will be doing something
very different. Shameful," Robson said.
Conservatives were quick
to criticize the tweet, with one person saying that the county
Democratic Party is "digging themselves" into a hole.
"Pima County
Democrats must be in the shovel business with the hole they're digging
themselves into," Cameron Arcand, a writer for Red State, wrote.
Democrat
Adrian Fontes, who's running for Secretary of State in Arizona, also
criticized the tweet, asking "What the h--l are you thinking @PimaDems?"
"Absolutely
NOT how this Democrat feels. What the h--l are you thinking
@PimaDems?!? How does this help us WIN? Standby for an official
statement condemning this tweet. Take this trash down!," Fontes wrote.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.
Nearly six months after former MLB player Jeremy Giambi was found dead inside his parents’ Southern California home, details about his untimely death have been uncovered.
An autopsy obtained by the New York Post confirmed that Giambi, 47, committed suicide
by shooting himself in the chest. He also left behind a suicide note.
The Post went on to report that the gun used by Giambi was a Winchester
Model 94AE Level action repeating rifle.
Jeremy Giambi, #7 of the Oakland Athletics, walks on the field
during a game against the Chicago White Sox at the Network Associates
Coliseum in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the White Sox
14-2.
(Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport)
Giambi, who played for four teams throughout a major league career that spanned from 1998 through 2003, was found by his mother February 9.
The
autopsy report, which was filed by the Los Angeles County Department Of
Coroner, stated that Giambi had stints of addictive drug use
(methamphetamine and Percocet) throughout the ’90s and parts of the
2000s, but he was not believed to have been using drugs around the time
of his suicide.
Brothers Jason Giambi, #16, and Jeremy Giambi of the Oakland A's
pose together before a game at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland,
California.
(Michael Zagaris/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Foul
play was not expected, and the autopsy report indicates that Giambi had
not been the same since being struck in the head by a foul ball last
year while working as a pitching coach. The foul ball resulted in a
broken zygomatic bone.
Per the New York Post’s retelling of the
autopsy report, Giambi "had not been the same since and was very
negative, emotional and paranoid since the head injury."
Jeremy Giambi, #7 of the Oakland Athletics, gives a high five
during a game against the Chicago White Sox at the Network Associates
Coliseum in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the White Sox
14-2.
(Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport)
Giambi was a career .263 hitter with 52 home runs. He was the younger brother of former New York Yankee Jason Giambi.
BOMBSHELL: Recent
Conference Uncovered Between Government Entities (FBI, DOJ, CISA, and
EAC) with Liberal Groups (ERIC, CTCL and Elections Group) and
Corporations Like Microsoft – What’s Going On?
PJ Media
released a bombshell report yesterday showing collusion between the US
government (the FBI, DOJ, EAC, and CISA), with progressive groups and
individuals fueled by progressive money related to US elections (like
the Elections Group, CTCL, and Brennan Center), along with individuals
from US corporations like Microsoft. (Also, an individual working for
Maricopa County, Arizona was present.)
J. Christian Adams at PJ Media reported the following yesterday:
A strange constellation has emerged through public records requests
of coordination between progressive funders, federal authorities,
corporations, state election officials, and leftist organizations.
Freedom of
information requests have uncovered oddball and opaque relationships
between some state election officials, federal officials, corporations,
progressive activists, and those trying to influence the conduct of
those same election officials. These relationships extend to junkets
that include baseball games, travel, and even data exchanges between
state officials and outside progressive groups.
The story begins with a series of freedom of information act requests
aimed at a number of states to see if any election officials are
tempted to apply for now-illegal money from the Mark Zuckerberg-funded
Center for Technology and Civic Life. Such grants and the wild
expenditures of these funds altered the course of the 2020 election.
(Read The Real Kraken, What Really Happened to Donald Trump in the 2020 Election at PJ Media.)
The FOIAs were submitted by the Public Interest Legal Foundation—with which I am associated—and were aimed broadly at election officials across the United States.
While no election official in a state that now prohibits private
funding of elections has applied for new funding, something stranger,
and more dangerous has emerged from the public information requests.
In one email, we find that the Democracy Fund—a hyper-funded progressive money source—is organizing state officials and third parties to discuss election administration…
…No conservative or right-of-center groups are invited.
From the above, you can see members of government agencies including
the FBI, DOJ, EAC and CISA. These individuals and entities are at a
function with progressives from the Democracy Fund, the CTCL and
corporations like Microsoft.
We know the FBI and DOJ looked the other way in November of 2020 when
the election was stolen for Joe Biden. This may have been the biggest
sin of the election. The FBI, CISA, and other government bodies came
out before and after the 2020 Election announcing the Election was the
most secure ever.
The CTCL was a non-profit doling out Zuckerbucks money across the
country. Nearly half a billion was given to states and localities
before the election for what, we really don’t know.
ERIC is now used in 31 states as the mechanism to maintain voter
rolls. What The Gatewaypundit (TGP) found was that the system hoards
names but rarely removes names from rolls building a pile of excess
names across the country potentially available to bad actors who can get
to them during elections to manufacture votes.
The Elections Group’s Jennifer Morrell was all over the place before,
during, and after the 2020 Election, showing up at parties with
Dominion Voting systems employees, at the State Farm Arena during the
election, and after the election in Arizona at the audit there.
Liz Howard from the Brennan Center was also all over the place before
the 2020 Election and after. She even appeared at an event at the UN
before the 2020 Election to discuss US Elections.
Microsoft employees were present at the meeting noted by PJ Media above as well as members of the government body, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). This government entity also appears to have been taken over by left-wing radicals.
A
Even one individual with a Maricopa County email address was present at the above event.
Fauci was experiencing mild symptoms and went into isolation.
On Tuesday, Dr. Fauci confirmed that he is experiencing “COVID rebound” after taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid, the so-called silver bullet that Biden wasted billions in taxpayer dollars to support.
Paxlovid appears to have almost zero effectiveness for people that
are already vaccinated, according to the manufacturer Pfizer’s data.
Fauci shared his health update while speaking remotely at the Foreign Policy Global Health Forum.
“The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases had attended a 60th class reunion dinner ceremony at the
Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex, named in his honor, at the
College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts.” The Daily Mail
reported.
“At least two other attendees at the June 11 dinner tested positive
for COVID, but it is still unclear if Fauci had contracted the virus at
the event.” the British newspaper reported.
Fauci told the New York Times that he was forced to miss his daughter’s wedding in New Orleans and attended the ceremony via FaceTime
Oh well.
Megalomaniac Fauci destroyed millions of lives and may be remembered as one of the greatest mass killers of our time.
Dr. Fauci flip-flopped and lied for over a year to the American
public about the seriousness of the China Virus and his background
funding the Chinese virology lab and the origins of the virus.
(Why do people keep believing this crap? And its sad that there will be so many to believe it.)
( She's NOT the first you bunch of idiots !!!)
Good Morning America finally deletes tweet praising Justice Jackson as 'the first Black Supreme Court justice'
Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn into the Supreme Court on Thursday
On
today’s episode, Joey Jones is 'Outnumbered' as the Supreme Court rules
to end remain in Mexico policy. Plus, Biden trying to sell 2024 to
Democratic Party.
ABC’s "Good Morning America" Twitter account made a major historic mistake when reporting on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s swearing-in ceremony as a Supreme Court justice.
On
Thursday, Jackson was officially sworn in as a justice of the Supreme
Court following Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement. GMA covered the
moment she was welcomed onto the court by Justice John Roberts, but
their Twitter account claimed that Jackson was "the first Black Supreme
Court justice."
"Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court justice in U.S. history," GMA tweeted at 1:46 p.m.
GMA's tweet originally read, "Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in as
the first Black Supreme Court justice in U.S. history."
(Twitter)
Jackson
is officially the third Black person to sit on the Supreme Court. The
first Black Supreme Court justice was Thurgood Marshall who served on
the court from 1967 to 1991. The second Black justice is Clarence Thomas, Marshall’s successor in 1991, who currently sits on the bench.
GMA made the same mistake on their YouTube account.
"Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first Black Supreme Court justice in US history," the video headline read.
GMA's original YouTube video was titled, "Ketanji Brown Jackson
sworn in as first Black Supreme Court justice in US history"
(Youtube)
The
tweet was deleted almost five hours later, and the YouTube video was
corrected shortly afterward that. A new tweet issued a correction.
"CORRECTION:
Video shows Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as the first Black female
Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. A previous tweet erroneously
stated Jackson is the first Black Supreme Court justice," GMA wrote.
Before the tweet was deleted, however, several Twitter users called out the misstep by GMA.
"They
didn’t vote for Biden, so they ‘ain’t black’ in Democrat/media world
view," Ron DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw tweeted.
Townhall.com web editor Rebecca Downs tweeted, "Really curious if the social media person still has a job…"
Author Max Abrahms joked, "Did Clarence Thomas cease being black because of his politics?"
Newsbusters
Managing editor Curtis Houck wrote, "D*mn you all are so superficial
with mindless segments on Disney cruise ships, giving away free
vacations, and doing ‘Steals and Deals’ that you can't be bothered to
know basic facts!"
Media Research Center's Nick Fondacaro noted,
"Even if ABC's intention was to spite Justice Clarence Thomas, they
still overlooked Justice Thurgood Marshall."
Back
in April, during Jackson’s original Senate Judiciary hearing, Politico
made a similar mistake, claiming in a tweet and article that Jackson was
the "first Black Supreme Court justice."
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, accompanied by Vice President Kamala
Harris, speaks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House in
Washington, Friday, April 8, 2022, celebrating the confirmation of
Jackson as the first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court. (AP
Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Although
Jackson is not the first Black Supreme Court justice to sit on the
bench, she is the first Black woman to serve as a justice. She will
begin her first term in October.
Lindsay
Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be
sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
For
the last 18 months, the original COVID-19 vaccines — first as a
two-dose series, then as boosters — have done an extraordinary job
shielding us from illness, hospitalization and death. Globally, they saved nearly 20 million lives in 2021 alone. Even today, unvaccinated Americans are twice as likely as vaccinated Americans to test positive for COVID — and six times as likely to die from the disease.
But viruses evolve, and vaccines should too.
That
was the big-picture takeaway from a pivotal meeting this week of the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s expert advisory panel. The question
before them was simple: Ahead of an expected winter surge, should
vaccine manufacturers tweak their forthcoming booster shots to target
Omicron — the ultra-infectious variant that has spent the last seven
months surging throughout the world in one form or another — or should
they stick with the tried-and-true 2020 recipe?
The panel voted 19-2 on Tuesday in favor of Omicron boosters. The question now, however, is which version of Omicron the next round of shots should target.
A health worker administers a dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Norristown, Pa., in 2021. (Matt Rourke/AP)
For
anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, the Omicron strain that
triggered last winter’s massive COVID wave (BA.1) is now extinct. In
March, it was supplanted by the even more transmissible BA.2 … which was
supplanted in May by the even more transmissible BA.2.12.1 … which is
now being supplanted by the (you guessed it) even more transmissible
BA.4 and BA.5.
Experts say BA.5 is the one to worry about: “The
worst version of the virus that we’ve seen,” as Dr. Eric Topol, the
founder of Scripps Research Translational Institute, recently put it. Together, the closely related BA.4 and BA.5 now account for the majority of new U.S. COVID cases, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but BA.5 (36.6%) is spreading a lot faster than BA.4 (15.7%). By early July, it will be the dominant strain in the U.S.
That’s troublesome for several reasons. To our immune system, the distance from BA.1 to heavily mutated BA.4 and BA.5 is “far greater,” Topol writes, than the distance from the original BA.1virus
to previous blockbuster variants such as Alpha and Delta — which makes
them harder to recognize and respond to. According to the latest
research, that could mean:
More symptoms. BA.4 and BA.5 are also better at replicating in lung cells than BA.2 — a shift that could mean, according to one experimental model, that they’re more “pathogenic” as well (i.e., more likely to make you sick).
More resistance to treatments. At the same time, BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be 20-fold more resistant than BA.2 to Evusheld — an important monoclonal antibody treatment that has been providing preemptive protection for immunocompromised people.
None
of this will set the U.S. back to square one. Despite elevated case
levels, there are now fewer U.S. COVID patients in intensive care units
than there were during previous phases of the pandemic, and the national
death rate (about 300-400 per day) is near the all-time low. Acquired
immunity, multiple rounds of vaccination and improved treatment options
are helping — a lot.
It could also endanger vulnerable Americans in the months ahead.
A sign seen in March in New York City outlining the CDC’s guidelines to control the spread of COVID. (John Minchillo/AP)
In late April, BA.5 hit Portugal; by June, more Portuguese people were dying of COVID each day
than during the country’s winter Omicron peak. To be sure, Portugal has
a larger senior population (23%) than the U.S. (16%), but not by much.
And the vaccination rate there is 87%, compared to just 67% in America.
Portugal’s booster rate, meanwhile, is nearly twice as high as ours. Infection and hospitalization rates are now rising across much of the rest of Europe as well.
At
Tuesday’s FDA advisory meeting, Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented a series of
projections about how the virus could affect the U.S. in the months
ahead. The most optimistic scenario? About 95,000 new deaths between
March 2022 and March 2023. The most pessimistic? More than 200,000.
So
given that BA.5 — which, again, is outcompeting its cousin BA.4 — will
soon be everywhere, it seems logical that the next version of the
vaccine should be tailored to fight it.
Yet that hasn’t
necessarily been the plan. Both Pfizer and Moderna have already launched
clinical trials for redesigned fall boosters … but those boosters are
optimized to counter the now-nonexistent BA.1 rather than the
soon-to-be-dominant BA.5. According to data presented Tuesday by Pfizer,
their existing BA.1 booster generated a significantly lower level of neutralizing antibodies against BA.4 and BA.5 than against BA.1.
Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared for packaging in 2021. (Pfizer via AP)
Yet in mice, at least, a booster containing BA.4 and BA.5 produced a higher neutralizing response to all Omicron variants (including BA.4 and BA.5) than the original vaccine.
Despite
concerns about “scant” data about whether bivalent boosters (equal
parts original strain and Omicron) work better than monovalent boosters
(100% Omicron), and about whether it’s worth waiting for Novavax’s
promising non-mRNA vaccine to hit the market, the panel mostly agreed
that BA.4/BA.5 boosters make sense. The FDA is leaning that way as well.
Pfizer said it was “prepared” to deliver the new boosters by the first
week of October; Moderna, by the last week of October or early November —
“assuming no clinical data requirements.”
That means no human
trials — just animal trials and laboratory tests. That might sound scary
to some, but regulators already use the same accelerated process to
update the flu vaccine each year — and there is no mechanism by which
minor mRNA tweaks will make revised Pfizer and Moderna shots any less
safe than the billions of doses administered so far worldwide.
Otherwise, the U.S. will miss its fall-winter deadline, and the
fast-evolving virus will continue to outrun the vaccines.
The FDA itself will decide “very rapidly” what to recommend; manufacturers will follow their lead.
A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Chester, Pa., in 2021. (Matt Rourke/AP)
In
the future, chasing variants may not prove to be the most effective or
efficient approach to COVID vaccination. As Topol put it, “by the time a
BA.5 vaccine booster is potentially available, who knows what … the
predominant strain” will be? That’s why it was welcome news Wednesday
when Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they plan to “start tests on
humans of next-generation shots that protect against a wide variety of
coronaviruses in the second half of the year,” according to a Reuters report.
These
include “T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against
severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous,” and
“pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of
viruses and its mutations.” Nasal vaccines meant to stop infection
before it starts are promising as well.
But
those are all longer-term propositions. This year, at least, a BA.5
booster is probably our best bet to minimize infection, illness and
death during another likely winter surge.
“I fully expect further
evolution to occur in the coming months, but that this evolution will
most likely be on top of BA.4/BA.5 — and so [it] shouldn’t dissuade
vaccine updates,” virologist Trevor Bedford of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center in Seattle wrote earlier this week.
“I believe that the decision making process can be boiled down to: of
vaccine compositions that can be manufactured in time for fall
distribution, which do we expect to generate the highest [protection]
against BA.4/BA.5?”
