I'm not posting conspiracy theories but the egg shortage was tied to Chicken Feed and Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2.

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Originally posted by mark123:
I'm not posting conspiracy theories but the egg shortage was tied to Chicken Feed and Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2.

MY BIL actually experienced this. He was giving his chickens feed from Tractor Supply and noticed that they were not producing eggs since late October. He started giving them table scraps and within a few days they started producing eggs. God Bless

Merck and Co. has a drug called molnupiravir that is designed to cause mutations in the Covid virus. You’ve probably heard of it and that it is associated with Covid. The “idea” is to cause it to mutate so rapidly that it cannot reproduce properly. What it APPEARS to do is create new variants at a faster pace than nature would allow. Who does Merck think they are creating this garbage and loosing it upon the world? It’s no coincidence that the countries experiencing the greatest number of emerging variants are those that have the highest rates of the drugs usage. Merck says we have nothing to worry about; that actually gives me more reason to worry, not less.

https://www.science.org/conten...supercharge-pandemic

A widely used COVID-19 drug may be driving the appearance of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, sparking concerns it could prolong and even reinvigorate the pandemic. The drug, molnupiravir, produced by Merck & Co., is designed to kill the virus by inducing mutations in the viral genome. A survey of viral genomes reported in a new preprint, however, suggests some people treated with the drug generate novel viruses that not only remain viable, but spread.

“It’s very clear that viable mutant viruses can survive [molnupiravir treatment] and compete [with existing variants],” says virologist William Haseltine, chair of ACCESS Health International, who has repeatedly raised concerns about the drug. “I think we are courting disaster.” But a Merck spokesperson disputes that the drug has led to the emergence of widely circulating variants, and some researchers downplayed the significance of molnupiravir-caused mutations. “Right now, it’s much ado about nothing,” says Raymond Schinazi, a medicinal chemist at the Emory University School of Medicine, noting that with SARS-CoV-2 infecting millions of people worldwide, the virus is naturally mutating at a fast clip.

Authorized in the United Kingdom and the United States in late 2021, molnupiravir was the first oral antiviral approved anywhere to fight COVID-19. It has since been authorized in dozens of other countries. In 2022, Merck estimated global sales of the compound at more than $5 billion. Though that is well below the $18.9 billion in 2022 sales for Paxlovid, another oral SARS-CoV-2 antiviral, molnupiravir remains widely popular in certain countries.

From the start, however, Haseltine and others worried about the drug’s mechanism, which involves introducing so many mutations into the viral genome that it can no longer reproduce. One concern was that the drug might mutate not just the coronavirus, but the DNA of people receiving it—a side effect that has not been seen so far. Another was that mutated virus would survive and propagate—and perhaps turn out to be more transmissible or virulent than before. Before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the drug, a Merck spokesperson called the worry “an interesting hypothetical concern.”

Nevertheless, researchers and citizen scientists from around the globe began to scan SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences deposited in the international GISAID database, looking for the kinds of mutations expected to be caused by molnupiravir. Rather than inducing random changes in the virus’ RNA genome, the drug is more likely to cause specific nucleic acid substitutions, with guanine switching to adenine and cytosine to uracil.

One virus hunter, Ryan Hisner, a middle school science and math teacher in Monroe, Indiana, started to catalog suspect variants in August 2022 and quickly identified dozens of sequences that showed clusters of those hallmark substitutions. Hisner raised his concerns with researchers on Twitter and ultimately teamed up with Thomas Peacock, a virologist from Imperial College London. With other colleagues, the pair systematically reviewed more than 13 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences in GISAID and analyzed those with clusters of more than 20 mutations. In a preprint posted on 27 January, they report that a large subset showed the hallmark substitutions; all dated from 2022, after molnupiravir began to be widely used.

These signature clusters, the researchers found, were up to 100 times more common in countries where molnupiravir was widely used, including the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, than in countries such as France and Canada where it was not. Tracking the dates and locations of the sequences showed some of the mutated strains were spreading in the community. “Clearly something is happening here,” Peacock says.

Whether the changes will lead to variants that are more pathogenic or transmissible is unclear, the researchers say. “We are not coming to a conclusion about risk,” says team member Theo Sanderson, a geneticist at the Francis Crick Institute. Haseltine, however, likens the danger to keeping a pet lion. “Just because it didn’t bite you yesterday doesn’t mean it won’t bite you today,” he says.

The Merck spokesperson says the link between the mutations and the drug is unproved. “There is no evidence that any antiviral agent has contributed to the emergence of circulating variants,” she says. But the new result comes on the heels of two others that could change the risk-benefit calculus for the drug.

In one, researchers in Australia found evidence that molnupiravir treatment may be leading to new variants in immunocompromised patients. Because these patients’ immune systems have trouble clearing the virus, viral variants can accrue large numbers of mutations, possibly causing big leaps in viral behavior that can then be passed to others. (Researchers have speculated that Omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants evolved naturally in immunocompromised people.) Repeatedly sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nine patients, five of whom received the drug and four who did not, the researchers found that molnupiravir-treated individuals harbored an average of 30 new variants each within 10 days of the initial dose, far more than the untreated patients. “Our study demonstrates that this commonly used antiviral can ‘supercharge’ viral evolution in immunocompromised patients, potentially generating new variants and prolonging the pandemic,” the authors wrote in a 22 December 2022 preprint.

A second report, which appeared on 28 January in The Lancet, suggests that, at least among people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, molnupiravir offers limited benefits. The study tracked 26,411 vaccinated participants in the United Kingdom’s PANORAMIC clinical trial, roughly half of whom were given the drug. It did reduce symptom severity and improve patient recovery times, but the researchers found it did not lower the frequency of COVID-19–associated hospitalizations or deaths among high-risk adults.

The new U.K. and Australian studies don’t prove molnupiravir is causing the emergence of dangerous new SARS-CoV-2 variants, says Ravindra Gupta, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Cambridge. But he argues the drug’s limited benefit suggests it’s no longer worth the risk. “Taken together, these results do call into question whether molnupiravir should be used.”

Two years ago, if someone suggested or even outright said this thing was the fault of pharmaceutical companies dicking around with mutating diseases, they were silenced and had their life ruined to whatever extent was possible. Now pharmaceutical companies are telling us they're dicking around with mutating diseases. Unreal.

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Originally posted by VBVAGUY:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I'm not posting conspiracy theories but the egg shortage was tied to Chicken Feed and Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2.

MY BIL actually experienced this. He was giving his chickens feed from Tractor Supply and noticed that they were not producing eggs since late October. He started giving them table scraps and within a few days they started producing eggs. God Bless

Purposefully Poisoned Commercial Chicken Feed? Why have Chickens Have Stopped Laying Any Eggs?

https://www.city-sentinel.com/...e0-d28404932e1c.html

I saw an announcement at my company (defense contractor) that they’ve selected a new Covid contact tracing company.

Really? We are still playing this silly game?

There has to be some kind of incentive or coercion from the USG to do this otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it.

It’s a COLD at this point that ranges from very mild to pretty nasty but at the end of the day it’s a friggen’ COLD.

^^^ But it has a name....COVID!

How the “Unvaccinated” Got It Right
By Robin Koerner

Scott Adams is the creator of the famous cartoon strip, Dilbert. It is a strip whose brilliance derives from close observation and understanding of human behavior. Some time ago, Scott turned those skills to commenting insightfully and with notable intellectual humility on the politics and culture of our country.

Like many other commentators, and based on his own analysis of evidence available to him, he opted to take the Covid “vaccine.”

Recently, however, he posted a video on the topic that has been circulating on social media. It was a mea culpa in which he declared, “The unvaccinated were the winners,” and, to his great credit, “I want to find out how so many of [my viewers] got the right answer about the “vaccine” and I didn’t.”

“Winners” was perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek: he seemingly means that the “unvaccinated” do not have to worry about the long-term consequences of having the “vaccine” in their bodies since enough data concerning the lack of safety of the “vaccines” have now appeared to demonstrate that, on the balance of risks, the choice not to be “vaccinated” has been vindicated for individuals without comorbidities.

What follows is a personal response to Scott, which explains how consideration of the information that was available at the time led one person – me – to decline the “vaccine.” It is not meant to imply that all who accepted the “vaccine” made the wrong decision or, indeed, that everyone who declined it did so for good reasons.

(19 minute read, but worth it)

https://brownstone.org/article...inated-got-it-right/

#itoldyouso

^^^^^^^^
[heart emoji]

Has the tide finally turned with this silly masking bullshit at medical facilities who have been thus far to my experience the lone holdouts still enforcing it?

Had a yearly sleep center appointment to go over my CPAP and how it’s been going and they had “Masks Are Optional” signs up which was a good sign to me.

Maybe the tide IS finally turning

https://www.wdrb.com/news/nort...40-771d7a29c42e.html

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Norton Healthcare announced it is restoring the mask requirements for Louisville-area hospitals starting on Friday, Feb. 3.

A Norton Healthcare spokesperson said Norton Healthcare monitors the "transmission rate" of Covid-19 and not the "incident rate."

They recommend all Norton Healthcare employees, patients and visitors wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

WDRB reported on Feb. 1, 2023 that UofL Health is ending its mask requirement on Monday, Feb. 6. UofL Health also announced they are ending mandatory COVID-19 testing prior to admission.

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Has the tide finally turned with this silly masking bullshit at medical facilities who have been thus far to my experience the lone holdouts still enforcing it?

It's a week by week thing. If community rates are high, masks required. If low, not required.

At least that is the way it is here, and I presume it is a nationwide dictate.

quote:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Norton Healthcare announced it is restoring the mask requirements for Louisville-area hospitals starting on Friday, Feb. 3.

A Norton Healthcare spokesperson said Norton Healthcare monitors the "transmission rate" of Covid-19 and not the "incident rate."

WDRB reported on Feb. 1, 2023 that UofL Health is ending its mask requirement on Monday, Feb. 6. UofL Health also announced they are ending mandatory COVID-19 testing prior to admission.

How the hell does Norton monitor the "transmission rate" of Covid-19???

Nevermind, wait 3 days and go to UofL Health which is ending its mask requirement on Monday, Feb. 6.

Beginning on Monday, the "transmission" will all be moved back to Norton.

Similar to how it works in restaurants:

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Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Has the tide finally turned with this silly masking bullshit at medical facilities who have been thus far to my experience the lone holdouts still enforcing it?

It's a week by week thing. If community rates are high, masks required. If low, not required.

At least that is the way it is here, and I presume it is a nationwide dictate.

I'd assume it's actually resulting from non-science type 'corporate' imbeciles/true believers dictating this policy within their own organizations rather than a 'nationwide dictate' coming from upon high directed any .gov related institution of public health, etc.

^^^^^ We were told it was a CMS requirement.

^^^Around here, it simply depends on where you go...Every office/facility seems to have it's own individual policy. Some don't require masks at all and there isn't even any signage on the subject, while others not only require it, but the staff is belligerent about chastising anyone that does not display absolute professional-level mask wearing prowess. Shockingly, my sons Orthodontist office, still has staff in the vestibule taking temperatures and interviewing 'patients' prior to entering to office. That practice used to be our Family Dentist too, but NOT ANY MORE!

On the opposite end on the spectrum, an Orthopedic Surgeon Practice associated with a large local hospital displays signs that Masks are not only NOT required, but on request all staff you interact with will wear one if you so desire.

We haven’t had mandatory masking at my work for probably 18 months now, but it’s still amazes me that the younger generation of workers, the ones that are on their first job, right out of college or interns, etc. are all walking around with their cuck masks on.

It’s mainly 20-25 year old males, you don’t see hardly anyone over age 30-40 generation wearing one.

Whatever happened with the younger generation and questioning authority, and not bowing to authority, something happened along the way, and they became these obedient non-questioning drones.

I swear to God if my company mandated you walked around with one finger up your ass to help combat Covid, they would be eagerly lining up to do it.

Well, if you wanted to know when the Covid emergency would be over, look no further than the perfect canary in the coal mine- the people making the garbage. The language is very clear; Pfizer and others are already planning for Covid sales to evaporate in 2023. Uncle sugar’s cash cow is about dead and big pharma executives indicate that commercial sales don’t look promising.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news...alyst-232944434.html

COVID is 'pretty much out of the models' for pharma companies: Wells Fargo analyst

Some health companies' quarterly earnings were boosted by COVID-19 products in the past few years, and most are starting to see a shift away from pandemic profits for 2023.

Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal said as much about three companies reporting earnings this week: "COVID is pretty much out of the models. Pfizer (PFE) is probably the only one in our coverage where it is still a significant part of it because it was their biggest business last year."

In fact, between Pfizer, Merck (MRK) and Eli Lilly (LLY) this week — all of which had some COVID business— Pfizer is the only one that can still be evaluated on its pandemic business.

"You kind of have to look at Pfizer as two different businesses. They have an ex-COVID business and the COVID business," Bansal told Yahoo Finance.

But the company has been trying to pull the spotlight away from its COVID business, anticipating a decline in demand, and onto its broader pipeline, particularly as several blockbuster drugs will lose patent exclusivity in the next few years.

Pfizer expects a loss of $17 billion from its pending patent cliff, but CEO Albert Bourla said on an earnings call this week that there are 19 products in the pipeline that will balance out that loss from its internal pipeline and external acquisitions. Pfizer also projected a decrease in sales of both the vaccine, Comirnaty, and its treatment, Paxlovid.

Merck, meanwhile, has struggled with its COVID-19 business from the start. It failed to launch a vaccine, and its treatment, molnupiravir, has been a last resort for doctors. A recent study hasn't helped. The treatment has been linked to mutations of the virus — though none have been lethal or immune-evasive.

Still, its drug is being considered for use in China, and the U.S. is removing requirements of a COVID positive test in order to get access to the treatments, which could open up the market for the drug. In addition, the company has been producing COVID-19 vaccines for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which is also winding down its Covid business.

But Merck is also facing a patent cliff for its biggest blockbuster, cancer drug Keytruda, even as it is expecting a reformulation to extend the patent.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly had a successful run with its COVID-19 monoclonal antibody, but the company recently took a hit on sales as the treatment is no longer effective against the latest variants. Its share of the COVID business is smaller, though.

Bansal noted that he had even forgotten about the antibody.

"Lilly is a really good growth story. ... I think today's weakness has less to do with the numbers, per se, and more to do with some rotation out of biotech and pharma," he said.

"Overall, COVID is pretty much going to be zero for them this year, and I don't think investors even think about (Eli Lilly's) COVID business," Bansal added.

The only other major COVID players, Moderna (MRNA) and Novavax (NVAX), are expected to report earnings and 2023 outlooks later this month. Both, along with Pfizer, face a shift to a commercial market for vaccines this year. The latter has struggled to gain traction in the U.S. and the government is no longer purchasing doses, the impact of which remains to be seen.

Pfizer's Bourla previously told Yahoo Finance he doesn't expect "that people will comply" with booster recommendations.

"Complacency will be getting in the way, so I see that volumes of people that will be getting the vaccines will be less," Bourla said.

quote:

Pfizer's Bourla previously told Yahoo Finance he doesn't expect "that people will comply" with booster recommendations.

"Complacency will be getting in the way...

Complacency?
Is that what you call it when people start learning the truth about your product?