Tag Archives: pandemic

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!

State news

AG hopeful stung by this reality

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This clearly won’t help George P. Bush push his candidacy to become the next Texas attorney general.

It turns out, according to the Texas Tribune, that the state’s veterans homes — which are administered by the office Bush runs — have been dying of COVID pandemic complications at a rate greater than the state and national averages.

Bush serves as Texas land commissioner. The General Land Office runs programs aimed at helping Texas veterans. Bush now wants to be the next Texas attorney general. He is running in the 2022 Republican primary against incumbent Ken Paxton; former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman also is running for the AG’s post in the GOP primary.

But wait! Now we hear that Texas veterans who live in GLO-administered veterans homes have fared poorly as the state has battled the COVID virus.

That’s on George P. Bush.

As the Texas Tribune reports: Nursing homes, which care for people who are already medically vulnerable, were ravaged by the pandemic. But Texas’ state-run veterans homes were often the deadliest places to be.

The nine state homes had more than double the death rate among COVID-19-infected residents compared with other nursing homes in the state, according to a Texas Tribune-Houston Chronicle analysis of state data from the pandemic’s start until June 2021.

Texas veterans homes were deadly during the COVID-19 pandemic | The Texas Tribune

Also from the Texas Tribune: Three of the state’s nine veterans homes — including Ambrosio Guillen in El Paso — had the highest death rate among all nursing homes in their county. Seven had a fatality rate of 25% or more, far higher than the statewide average of 11% across Texas nursing homes.

Bush wants to restore integrity in the attorney general’s office. Indeed, Paxton’s tenure since his taking office in 2015 has been fraught with scandal and suspicion of malfeasance and outright corruption.

Texas veterans and their family members need and deserve answers as to why state-run nursing homes have become synonymous with the term “death sentence.”

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.

medical news

Hypocrisy? Anyone?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Democratic politicians have made quite a bit of hay about their Republican colleagues’ effort to lie about the efficacy of various COVID 19 vaccines and have blasted them to smithereens for refusing to wear masks in group settings.

As the saying goes … oops!

At least six Democratic politicians — all Texas pols holed up in Washington over a dispute involving voter suppression efforts in Austin — have tested positive for the coronavirus. They haven’t worn masks in their own group settings. Are they going to get sick and possibly die? Probably not. All of ’em have been vaccinated, but they reportedly have come down with the delta variant that now accounts for the vast majority of new infections being reported.

I mention this only to call attention to the harsh rhetoric that flies back and forth across partisan lines.

The Democrats who have tested positive are members of the Texas Legislature. They left Austin to stop a voter overhaul effort launched by Texas Republican lawmakers. Clearly they should have known better than to expose themselves to the variant that is creating considerable havoc across the nation, accounting for the increases in infection, hospitalization and death.

They no doubt will get a snootful from their Republican colleagues.

Sadly, they have it coming.

medical news

Ignore the know-nothings

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

While visiting with a family member this afternoon, chatting about this and that, I made a command decision about how I will treat the yammering that comes from the anti-vaxxers out there who say we should ignore pleas to inoculate ourselves against the COVID-19 pandemic.

I will ignore them.

When Fox News blowhard Tucker Carlson says we should forgo the vaccine, I will ignore him. When such nonsense spills from the pie holes of politicians wedded to the nonsense spouted by POTUS 45, I will ignore them, too.

FYI, my family member happens to be on my side in this argument.

Now, that said … if a learned physician with the skill and knowledge credentials of, say, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says we should refuse the vaccine, I’ll give it all due consideration. Then I’ll disregard what he or she says, too.

The blowhards are know-nothing gasbags. They make handsome livings by being able to articulate half-baked opinions in a witty, reasonably articulate manner. They have their followers. I am not one of them. Thus, I do not take their blathering seriously; hell, I usually choose to avoid listening to it in the first place.

I established long ago my own bias. We all have it. You do, too. I am going to accept the opinions of those I trust. Dr. Fauci — the nation’s premier infectious disease expert — says the vaccines are safe and effective. That, dear friends, is good enough for me.

As for those who refuse to get vaccinated, or refuse to inoculate their children against the killer virus and its variant(s), they are putting themselves in dire peril. Worse, they are endangering their children.

All of them — every single one of them — should be ashamed.

medical news

Pandemic ‘not over’

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy today told us a horrifying truth. The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, he told Fox News Sunday.

“We’re seeing increases in cases, particularly in parts of the country where the vaccination rates are low,” Dr. Murthy explained.

I’ll embellish a mere sigh with an anguished “arrrgghh!”

We now hear Facebook firing back at President Biden who blames social media platforms for spreading lies about the pandemic vaccines. I am going to stand with the president on this one.

There needs to be greater accountability among social media outlets and the disinformation they distribute. Such as the phony claims of danger posed by the vaccines. There can be no denying the link between the surge in cases and the fact that they are occurring in parts of the country where vaccination rates are low.

It ain’t happening in regions where vaccination rates exceed state and national averages.

Hmm. Is there a message to be learned? Uhh, yeah. Get vaccinated!