Tag Archives: COVID

medical news

‘Choice’ has its limits

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The idiocy being bandied about among conservative “thinkers” and assorted right-wing talking heads about those who “make a choice to forgo the COVID vaccine” miss a fundamental truth about society.

Yes, they are able to make that choice. I do not deny that obvious fact. However, making such a choice — if that is their call — carries with it some serious consequences that go far beyond their own well being.

We are able to choose to drink adult beverages. We do not have the right to do so and then drive a motor vehicle while impaired. Doing so endangers others who share the same public roadways.

We also have the choice to play music loudly. We can play rock ‘n roll music until our eardrums bleed. However, we have laws that prohibit us from doing so in the wee hours of the morning; we cannot disturb other people’s sleep.

Indeed, we have laws all over the place that regulate our behavior. Why? Because at times some of us commits acts that others either find offensive, or bothersome, or put them in potential grave danger.

Do you get my drift here?

Yes, we can choose to do without the vaccine. What happens, though, when that choice endangers others? What happens when, after choosing to go without the medicine that would prevent us from getting the COVID virus, we get sick? Or when we infect others? Or when our children get sick? Or when they infect their friends?

Our choices can have serious consequences that affect far more than just you and me.

As we battle these COVID variants — some of which have become highly contagious and highly transmissible — we should be mindful about the “choices” we make.

As for me and what I want for my family, we all have chosen to get vaccinated and, no, I have no problem at all with government telling us to get vaccinated if it keeps us safe from a potentially deadly infection.

national news

If only he would do this

1 Comment

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If the 45th president of the U.S. of A. had an ounce, a smidgen, a sliver, the tiniest grain of decency buried somewhere within his overfed body, he would call a press conference.

Then he would say the following before taking a few questions from the media:

My fellow Americans, I am here today to urge every resident of this great land to get vaccinated against the COVID pandemic virus.

As you know, my family and I all have received our vaccines. Yes, my wife and I did so secretly in our final months in the White House. My point, though, is that we did it. I urge you all to follow our lead.

Do not listen to those who question the effectiveness of the vaccine. Do not heed the warnings of crazy things happening to your body. I am going to be a human testament to the vaccines’ effectiveness and their safety.

The surge in the Delta variant is rooted solely in the unvaccinated among us. We must stop this spread. Vaccines are the only way to do it.

***

The 45th POTUS won’t ever say such a thing in public. Why not? Because doing so would require him to reveal that he actually cares about you and me, about the country he once swore an oath to defend and protect and about those who have been stricken by the virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans.

He won’t do it because he cares only about himself.

Lightning might strike. Were it to do so, we could save many thousands of lives.

medical news

Vaccines alone can kill the virus

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

If it weren’t so damn hot outside at the moment, I might be inclined to climb a ladder onto the roof of my North Texas house and shout at the top of my lungs: Get your sorry ass vaccinated!

The temperature is 100 degrees. I am too old to be climbing up on roofs. So I am left to use this forum — my blog — to repeat a mantra I will continue to repeat until we see a reduction in the infection/hospitalization/death rate from the COVID-19 virus.

Or the variant it has spawned.

The misinformation war is still being waged. The antagonists are the right-wing propagandists who insist the vaccine does harm to our bodies and the the medical experts who counter that the vaccines — all of them — are safe and effective.

President Biden wanted to turn the corner on the vaccine by the Fourth of July. The nation fell short of the total vaccination goal the president had set. It is not his fault, I must reiterate, that we have failed to meet the goal. It’s the fault of the legions of liars who continue to sow doubt about the vaccines. They have blood on their hands in the form of the lives that are still being lost to the pandemic.

The delta variant continues to fell Americans. The vast, overwhelming majority of those who are falling victim to it have not been vaccinated. It is on them, therefore, to take responsibility for the illness they are suffering. And for the misery they are creating among their family members. Oh, and for the threat they pose to others who also lack the full vaccine.

I just don’t know what it is going to take to persuade enough Americans of the fatal folly they are pursuing by refusing the give up the partisan politicking in the midst of this war against a killer virus.

Meanwhile, I will continue to insist from my fully vaccinated house in Collin County, Texas, that only the vaccine can eradicate the virus.

Are we crystal clear? Good. Now, get the shot(s) you need to eradicate this killer.

national news

GOP now joins the vaccine bandwagon

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

There can be no excusing or even forgiving many prominent Republican U.S. politicians’ shameful denigration of the effort to vaccinate Americans against the COVID-19 virus.

Still, it is with a qualified feeling of gratitude that I welcome their insistence now that it is time for all Americans to get vaccinated.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell arguably is the most prominent GOP pol to climb aboard the vaccine bandwagon. Others are singing from that song sheet: U.S. House whip Steve Scalise, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, even Kevin McCarthy, the embattled House GOP leader. They’re on board, too.

It wasn’t that many weeks ago in which some GOP politicians were dismissing the vaccine. Some of the nut jobs among the Republican congressional caucus — namely the QAnon and Freedom Caucus cabal — continue to actually applaud Americans’ decision to forgo vaccination.

They are the loony birds among the politically powerful elite who hold tremendous sway among too many American voters.

President Biden laments the “pandemic among the unvaccinated” that is driving up infection/hospitalization/mortality rates in the country. Biden is fighting a GOP contingent in Congress and in statehouses across the nation that are arguing an opposite message. The sad truth is that the anti-vaxxers are winning the argument … at least for the time being.

A glimmer of good news, though, is surfacing among many Republican politicians who have decided that the more of their followers who get sick and possibly die from the virus, the less strong their political power base remains.

If they can persuade enough Americans to turn the tide against the variant that is sickening so many of us, then I might be willing to forgive them for their utter irresponsibility.

medical news

Fauci gets his dander up

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

When someone who is in the public eye gets riled at a congressional hearing, then you have to suspect he or she has ample reason to step out of what we see as “normal behavior.”

So it was this week as Dr. Anthony Fauci took down another physician, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who accused Fauci of lying to Congress about the status of the nation’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the delta variant that is wreaking so much havoc.

Let me be clear on this point. Sen. Paul is a medical doctor, but his specialty is ophthalmology. That is the study of disease involving one’s eyes. Dr. Fauci’s specialty involves infectious diseases of many stripes. Fauci is the expert on the COVID pandemic; Dr. Paul is not.

So … when Paul accused Fauci of lying to Congress, it fell on Fauci to fight back, to deliver a blistering retort, telling Paul that “you don’t know what you’re talking about,” and said that if “anyone is lying, it is you.”

Fauci took dead aim at the disinformation coming from the right wing of the political spectrum, where Sen. Paul sits.

Anthony Fauci took center stage when the 45th president appointed him to be part of the White House pandemic response team. He offered his advice and opinion on the state of play, only to be cast aside by the POTUS, who has called Fauci an “idiot.” He now serves as chief medical adviser to President Biden, who is letting the good doctor speak his mind without interference from the Oval Office.

Yes, Fauci has changed his tune a time or two about the virus. However, I continue to believe that he has learned about it as the world has learned more about the virus and its impact.

He has sought to de-politicize the argument about mask-wearing and other efforts to stem the infection, hospitalization and death rates caused by the virus. Yet when I hear cheap pols like Sen. Paul accuse him of lying while spewing the same fear-mongering nonsense that comes from the likes of the former Numbskull in Chief, it makes my blood boil.

I totally get why Dr. Fauci went off on Sen. Paul.

Joe Biden, medical news, science news

Biden’s not to ‘blame’

John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I am among the last people on Earth to criticize the media, given that I am among those who are still pursuing the craft (more or less) and that I believe the media are doing a good job of reporting the news.

That all said, I want to chide the media for suggesting/implying/inferring that President Biden is somehow to “blame” for the administration falling short of its goal of achieving “herd immunity” against the COVID pandemic by the Fourth of July.

Let us ponder this briefly …

Joe Biden promised to make the vaccines available to anyone who wants it. He delivered the goods there. The shortfall in getting 70 % percent of the nation inoculated is because of those who have bought into the right-wing claptrap about the vaccines.

President Biden has done what he can do. He has sought to persuade Americans that the vaccines are effective and will not cause undue harm to anyone who receives any of them.

Biden inherited a mess when he took office. The previous administration botched many aspects of its handling of the pandemic from the get-go. Yes, it enacted Operation Warp Speed in its effort to get vaccines developed and for that I am grateful. But the previous POTUS managed to contradict and undermine the medical experts he brought on board at every turn.

We continue to make progress against the pandemic, although it has slowed dramatically with the delta variant surge that has kicked the Biden administration in the teeth.

As for putting “blame” on President Biden for falling short of its herd immunity goal, well, the media should look instead at those who are outshouting the rest of us with their baseless condemnation of the vaccines.

medical news

Vaccines work … dammit!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

When you ponder all the infectious diseases that have been eliminated from Planet Earth over the years, you might then grasp the utterly absurdity of the criticism that is being leveled at the COVID-19 vaccine that is slowly doing the same thing to the current pandemic.

Polio has been eradicated. Smallpox, too. Same for tuberculosis. Measles and chicken pox are still around, but children get vaccinated against them anyway.

A friend of mine posted something on Facebook that wondered whether the right-wing media outlets had been around when the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines were being distributed and whether they would be critical of those research efforts, too.

Of course they would!

We have entered some sort of political twilight zone. A U.S. president bungled the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it gripped the nation and the world. Instead of taking ownership of his mistakes and his failure, he initiates a campaign that denigrates the vaccine and those who promote it.

It has snowballed ever since, becoming a monstrous liability in the effort to get all Americans vaccinated against the killer disease and the variants it has spawned.

Good grief, man! The historical evidence is all around us that well-researched, heavily tested and certified vaccines do the job they are intended to do. Those who refuse to protect themselves and their children put not only themselves at risk, they pose an existential threat to us all.

They should be deemed a menace to society.

medical news

POTUS 45’s silence: reprehensible

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

It is beyond my capacity to understand the silence of one prominent American politician, but it requires me to lament it nonetheless.

The 45th president of the United States has received his vaccination against the COVID-19 virus, along with his wife and children.

It boggles my mind why the ex-POTUS doesn’t speak out now to encourage those among his millions of adherents to get vaccinated … just as he did!

He has remained silent. He says not a damn thing to encourage those who are most susceptible to the delta variant to get the vaccine that would protect them.

I mean, think of it in terms of political payback.

If this former Moron in Chief wants to run for the presidency again in 2024, it would serve his political interest to keep them around. Right?

Do not misunderstand me. I do not want this reprehensible individual to reap any political benefit. Were he to possess an ounce of empathy or compassion POTUS 45 would step up and seek to dispel the hideous misinformation that has seeped into the minds of those who have refused to receive the vaccine that could save their lives. Doing so well could prevent governments at all levels from reinstating restrictions that no one wants them to do.

The evidence of the delta variant’s impact is clear. It is sickening and killing un-vaccinated Americans at a far greater rat than it is harming those who are vaccinated.

Didn’t the ex-POTUS run for the nation’s highest office proclaiming to be a “populist”? My definition of the term tells me he is supposed to favor policies and make pronouncements that benefit the non-rich among us. Except that he isn’t a populist. He is a serial liar and con man.

That reality likely makes my humble plea an exercise in futility.

Instead of spreading The Big Lie about phony voter fraud and suggesting he will be “reinstated” as POTUS by the end of the summer, the former Imbecile in Chief can perform — finally! — an act of public service.

How? Just tell his fanatics to get vaccinated!

medical news

Pandemic ain’t over!

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What in the name of sound medical science does it take for the cold, hard truth to sink in to some people’s noggins?

Many hard-right-wingers keep insisting that the COVID pandemic is over. That it’s OK to gallivant about sans face masks. That it’s time to  restore normal lifestyles. That it’s time to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the doomsayer who serves as senior medical adviser to President Biden.

One of them, rookie Republican U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson — the former physician who now represents the 13th Congressional District in the Texas Panhandle — has been particularly reprehensible in his messaging. “The pandemic is over,” he bellowed via Twitter recently.

No, Dr. Dipsh**! It’s not over. Have you seen the papers lately? The delta variant is sickening people, almost all of whom are not vaccinated.

Bottom line: The vaccines are working. Whether it’s from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson or Moderna, they’re doing what researchers intend for them to do, which is protect us.

I won’t toss stones at all Republicans. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said it is time for all Americans to get vaccinated. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has put out the call for vaccinations, too. Other Republicans in Congress have spoken forcefully in favor of the vaccines. However, they are being outshouted by the loons on the right wing of their party, the nut jobs who keep telling dangerous lies about the impact of the vaccines.

This struggle against the pandemic never should have devolved into the political mud-wrestling match it has become. But it has.

We need to pull together. All of us. In the same direction, with the same level of high energy to fight this killer.

What we need is what Gov. Ivey says is missing: “common sense.”

medical news

Red vs. Blue in variant standoff

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This much has been clear since the politicization of the COVID pandemic took center stage.

It is that Republicans are leading the chorus against the vaccines; Democrats support them. As a result, we are seeing a spike in delta variant virus infections in GOP-leaning states and regions while Democratic-leaning areas are, well, remaining somewhat stable.

What are we to make of that?

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the MAGA crowd is wrong about the efficacy of the vaccines. They are paying the price with sickness, hospitalization and even death. It’s a terrible waste of human life.

President Biden calls the surge an affliction of the unvaccinated. He is correct.

I will not stand by and let the fanatics who continue to support the former Insurrectionist in Chief continue to spew their lies about the vaccine. They have lied through their teeth about the vaccines. They have disputed the best medical minds on Earth. They are killing human beings and they have blood on their hands.

You want to play politics with this disease? Keep refusing to be vaccinated against the killer. The stakes then become a matter of life and death.